WikiAdmin: Add advanced editing help and readable syntax highlighting

2026-09-15T23:05:48Z

Add advanced editing help and readable syntax highlighting

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<div class="fw-hub-intro"><span class="fw-eyebrow">ADVANCED EDITING</span>
<p>Use the wiki's editing, navigation, and template tools to make documented information easier to maintain and find.</p></div>

Start with [[Help:Editing|the editing guide]] for reference forms, citations, and review statuses. This page contains live navigation examples and code patterns. The examples do not create game records or supply missing game facts.

== Source editing and discussions ==
Choose '''Edit source''' to work with wikitext. WikiEditor supplies the toolbar; CodeMirror adds syntax highlighting. Both are enabled by default, and you can toggle highlighting in the editor. Check [[Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-editing|your editing preferences]] if the toolbar is hidden. Highlighting helps you read markup; always preview to check the rendered result. Continue using '''Edit with form''' for the structured fields on reference pages.

Use an article's '''Discussion''' tab to suggest a correction, explain conflicting evidence, or discuss a substantial change. DiscussionTools adds '''Reply''' controls to recognized signed comments and a new-topic editor. Include a descriptive topic and a source link. When writing a comment directly in source mode, end it with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code> so it has a signature and timestamp. Article prose does not need signatures.

== Tabs for related information ==
TabberNeue can group substantial related sections. Keep the introduction, important qualifications, and source context visible outside tabs. These tabs link to existing reference pages:

<tabber>
|-|Places=
* [[Duskwood]]
* [[Riverglades]]
* [[Ironforge]]
|-|Characters=
* [[Mor'ladim]]
* [[Hemet Nesingwary]]
|-|Items=
* [[Ladimore Heirloom Ring]]
* [[Master Hunter's Spellsword]]
</tabber>

Create a small tab group with this pattern:
<pre><nowiki>
<tabber>
|-|Places=
[[Duskwood]] · [[Riverglades]]
|-|Items=
[[Ladimore Heirloom Ring]] · [[Master Hunter's Spellsword]]
</tabber>
</nowiki></pre>

== Browse a category ==
CategoryTree lists the existing members of a category. Expand an arrow when a category has additional levels. This example reads the wiki's zone category:

<categorytree mode="pages" depth="1">Zones</categorytree>

<pre><nowiki><categorytree mode="pages" depth="1">Zones</categorytree></nowiki></pre>
Use [[Special:CategoryTree|the category browser]] to start from another category. Category membership comes from the actual articles; a tree does not create or categorize pages.

== Group semantic results ==
Semantic Result Formats adds presentation choices to Semantic MediaWiki's queries. This live outline groups existing items by their recorded review status. Open each article for its evidence and game-version context; '''Source checked''' does not mean tested in-game.

{{#ask:
[[Category:Items]]
[[Verification status::+]]
|?Verification status
|format=outline
|outlineproperties=Verification status
|limit=20
|default=No matching item records yet.
}}

<pre><nowiki>
{{#ask:
[[Category:Items]]
[[Verification status::+]]
|?Verification status
|format=outline
|outlineproperties=Verification status
|limit=20
|default=No matching item records yet.
}}
</nowiki></pre>

Keep queries bounded and request the properties they need. Use [[Special:Ask|the query builder]] to try a query. The [[Items|item browser]] already provides filters, sorting, and shareable result links; use it for routine item searches.

== Styles for a template ==
TemplateStyles keeps a template's CSS with that template. For a new template, first create a matching <code>Template:Your template/styles.css</code> page. Its content model must be '''Sanitized CSS'''. Use a distinctive class, for example:

<pre><nowiki>
.fw-source-note {
border-left: 3px solid #b88940;
padding: 0.75em 1em;
margin: 1em 0;
}
</nowiki></pre>

Then include the stylesheet in the template before its markup:

<pre><nowiki>
<templatestyles src="Your template/styles.css" />
<div class="fw-source-note">{{{1|}}}</div>
</nowiki></pre>

The names above are placeholders. Create the actual stylesheet before using the tag, and preview the template on narrow and wide screens. Shared navigation and the overall site theme remain in [[MediaWiki:Common.css]], which requires an interface administrator to edit.

== Reusable Lua formatting ==
Scribunto runs Lua modules in the <code>Module:</code> namespace. Use a module when repeated formatting or conditional logic is becoming difficult to maintain in wikitext. Keep game facts in the reference articles and their structured fields.

For example, a module named <code>Module:Field label</code> could contain this function:

<pre><nowiki>
local p = {}

function p.show(frame)
local value = mw.text.trim(frame.args[1] or '')
if value == '' then
return 'Not recorded'
end
return mw.text.nowiki(value)
end

return p
</nowiki></pre>

After creating that module, invoke it with <code><nowiki>{{#invoke:Field label|show|0}}</nowiki></code>. It keeps a recorded zero as <code>0</code>; a blank argument displays <code>Not recorded</code>. This is a code pattern, not a pre-created module. Document a module's inputs and preview its callers before replacing shared template logic.

== Images and clickable maps ==
Upload a suitable image through [[Special:Upload]], record its source and permission or license on the file page, and add a useful caption and alternative text when embedding it. MultimediaViewer opens supported article images in a larger viewer; its file-details link leads to the image description and attribution.

ImageMap links regions of an image to articles. The following is a syntax example only: the filename and rectangle are placeholders, not a real map or location claim.

<pre><nowiki>
<imagemap>
File:Your uploaded map.png|thumb|300px|A caption describing the map
rect 0 0 100 100 [[Duskwood|Duskwood article]]
desc bottom-right
</imagemap>
</nowiki></pre>

Replace the filename and measure the region on the original uploaded image. Coordinates use that original image's pixels even when the displayed thumbnail is smaller. Add ordinary text links beside the map so its destinations are also easy to reach without selecting an image region.

== Search and maintenance tools ==
TitleKey improves page-title suggestions by matching capitalization consistently. Try a title prefix such as <code>dUsKwOoD</code> in the site's search box. Use full-text search when you need words inside articles.

The following maintenance tools are intended for experienced editors or administrators:

{| class="wikitable fw-data-table"
! Tool !! Use
|-
| [[Special:LintErrors|Linter reports]] || Find markup problems reported by the parser. Check the affected page and template, then preview a focused correction. Reports are populated as content is processed.
|-
| [[Special:ReplaceText|Replace Text]] || Administrators can find and replace repeated wording or parameter names. Restrict the namespace, category, or title prefix and review the selected pages before applying a change. Replacements run through background jobs.
|-
| [[MediaWiki:Titleblacklist|TitleBlacklist rules]] || Authorized administrators can maintain patterns for titles that should be blocked. Rules are a policy choice; installation alone does not define which names are inappropriate.
|-
| [[Special:Nuke|Nuke]] || Administrators can review a selected group of pages for bulk deletion after spam or another incident. Check every selected page before deleting; do not use this tool for ordinary wording changes.
|}

== Extension references ==
* [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:WikiEditor WikiEditor] · [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:CodeMirror CodeMirror] · [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:DiscussionTools DiscussionTools]
* [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:TabberNeue TabberNeue] · [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:CategoryTree CategoryTree] · [https://www.semantic-mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Outline_format Semantic Result Formats: outline]
* [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:TemplateStyles TemplateStyles] · [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Scribunto Scribunto]
* [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ImageMap ImageMap] · [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:MultimediaViewer MultimediaViewer] · [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:TitleKey TitleKey]
* [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Linter Linter] · [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Replace_Text Replace Text] · [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:TitleBlacklist TitleBlacklist] · [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Nuke Nuke]

[[Help:Editing|Return to the editing guide]] · [[Project:Data policy|Sources and review policy]]

Help:Advanced editing - Revision history

WikiAdmin: Add advanced editing help and readable syntax highlighting