Wiki markup

Wikitext language, or wiki markup, is a markup language used to write pages in wiki websites, such as Wikipedia. It is a simplified alternative to HTML. It is converted by wiki software (like MediaWiki) into regular HTML, which the user's web browser will render.

Wikitext editor on Wikipedia

Example

MediaWiki syntax	Equivalent HTML	Rendered output
"Take some more [[tea]]," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. "I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone: "so I can't take more." "You mean you can't take ''less''," said the Hatter: "it's very easy to take ''more'' than nothing."	<p>"Take some more <a href="/wiki/Tea" title="Tea">tea</a> ," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.</p> <p>"I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone: "so I can't take more."</p> <p>"You mean you can't take <i>less</i>," said the Hatter: "it's very easy to take <i>more</i> than nothing."</p>	"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. "I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone: "so I can't take more." "You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter: "it's very easy to take more than nothing."

(Quotation above from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll)

Purpose

The main purpose of having Wikitext in wikis instead of HTML is because HTML is more complicated and not many people know how to use it. Therefore, it is easier to use Wikitext rather than HTML and thus makes editors contributing to a wiki easier to create content.

Related pages

• HTML
• WYSIWYG editor

Other websites

• Help on editing on Meta Wiki