It is easy to collaborate; just type your text. You don't need to know HTML at all, though you can use it if you prefer. Links to topics will be created automatically, as long as you follow these simple Text Formatting Rules. TextFormattingFAQ has answers to frequently asked questions about text formatting.

Links

The Collaborative Work Area is a bunch of related links that are editable through your web browser.

TWiki Internal Links

• GoodStyle is a WikiWord that links to the GoodStyle topic located in the current TWiki web.
• NotExistingYet is a topic waiting to be written. You could create that topic by clicking on the question mark. (Do not create that topic; you would wreck this example!)

External Links

• http://..., https://..., ftp://... and mailto:...@... are linked automatically.
• Email addresses like name@domain.com are linked automatically.

Editing

Formatting Command:	Example: You write:	You get:
Paragraphs: Blank lines will create new paragraphs.	1st paragraph 2nd paragraph	1st paragraph 2nd paragraph
Headings: At least three dashes at the beginning of a line, followed by plus signs and the heading text. One plus creates a level 1 heading (most important), two pluses a level 2 heading; the maximum is level 6. Note: A Table of Content can be created automatically with the %TOC% variable, see TWikiVariables.	---++ Sushi ---+++ Maguro	Sushi Maguro
Bold Text: Words get bold by enclosing them in * asterisks.	*Bold*	Bold
Italic Text: Words get italic by enclosing them in _ underscores.	_Italic_	Italic
Bold Italic: Words get _bold italic by enclosing them in _ double-underscores.	__Bold italic__	Bold italic
Fixed Font: Words get shown in fixed font by enclosing them in = equal signs.	=Fixed font=	Fixed font
Bold Fixed Font: Words get shown in bold fixed font by enclosing them in double equal signs.	==Bold fixed==	Bold fixed
Note: Make sure to "stick" the * _ = == signs to the words, e.g. take away spaces.	_This works_, _this not _	This works, _this not _
Verbatim Mode: Surround code excerpts and other formatted text with <verbatim> and </verbatim> tags. Note: Use <pre> and </pre> tags instead if you want that HTML code is interpreted. Note: Each tag must be on a line by itself.	<verbatim> class CatAnimal { void purr() { <code here> } } </verbatim>	class CatAnimal { void purr() { <code here> } }
Separator: At least three dashes at the beginning of a line.	-------
List Item: Three spaces and an asterisk.	* bullet item	bullet item
Nested List Item: Six, nine, ... spaces and an asterisk.	* nested stuff	nested stuff
Ordered List: Three spaces and a number.	1 Sushi 1 Dim Sum	Sushi Dim Sum
Definition List: Three spaces, the term, a colon, a space, followed by the definition. Note: Terms with spaces are not supported. In case you do have a term with more then one word, separate the words with dashes or with the &nbsp; non-breaking-space entity.	Sushi: Japan Dim&nbsp;Sum: S.F.	Sushi Japan Dim Sum S.F.
Table: Optional spaces followed by the cells enclosed in vertical bars. Note: | *bold* | cells are rendered as table headers. Note: |   spaced   | cells are rendered center aligned. Note: |     spaced | cells are rendered right aligned. Note: | 2 colspan || cells are rendered as multi-span columns. Note: In case you have a long row and you want it to be more readable when you edit the table you can split the row into lines that end with a '\' backslash character.	| *L* | *C* | *R* | | A2 | 2 | 2 | | A3 | 3 | 3 | | multi span ||| | A4 \ | next \ | next |	L C R A2 2 2 A3 3 3 multi span A4 next next
WikiWord Links: CapitalizedWordsStuckTogether (or WikiWords) will produce a link automatically. Note: In case you want to link to a topic in a different TWiki web write Webname.TopicName.	WebNotify Know.ReadmeFirst	WebNotify ReadmeFirst
Forced Links: You can create a forced internal link by enclosing words in double square brackets. Note: Text within the brackets may contain optional spaces; the topic name is formed by capitalizing the initial letter and by removing the spaces; i.e. [[text formatting FAQ]] links to topic TextFormattingFAQ. You can also refer to a different web and use anchors.	[[wiki syntax]] [[Main.TWiki users]]	wiki syntax Main.TWiki users
Specific Links: Create a link where you can specify the link text and the link reference separately, using nested square brackets like [[reference][text]]. Internal link references (i.e. WikiSyntax) and external link references (i.e. http://TWiki.org/) are supported. The same Forced Links rules apply for internal link references. Anchor names can be added as well, like [[WebHome#MyAnchor][go home]] and [[http://www.yahoo.com/#somewhere][Yahoo!]].	[[WikiSyntax][syntax]] [[http://gnu.org][GNU]]	syntax GNU
Anchors: You can define a link reference inside a TWiki topic (called an anchor name) and link to that. To define an anchor write #AnchorName at the beginning of a line. The anchor name must be a WikiWord. To link to an anchor name use the [[MyTopic#MyAnchor]] syntax. You can omit the topic name if you want to link within the same topic.	[[WebHome#NotThere]] [[#MyAnchor][Jump]] #MyAnchor To here	WebHome#NotThere Jump To here
Prevent a Link: Prevent a WikiWord from being linked by prepending it with the <nop> tag.	<nop>SunOS	SunOS

Using HTML

Most HTML tags will work, but it's almost always preferable not to use HTML, so that the markup remains easy for everyone to edit.

• HTML 4.01 Reference Specification: http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/
• Quick reference of all HTML elements: http://werbach.com/barebones/barebones.html

TWiki Variables

Variables are names that are enclosed in percent signs; they get expanded on the fly.

• %TOC% : The table of content, is based on headings in a topic.
• %WEB% : The current web, is TWiki .
• %TOPIC% : The current topic name, is TextFormattingRules .
• %ATTACHURL% : The attachment URL of the current topic. Example usage: If you attach a file to a topic you can refer to it as %ATTACHURL%/image.gif to show the URL of the file or the image in your text.
• %INCLUDE{"SomeTopic"}% : Server side include, includes another topic. The current TWiki web is the default web. Example: %INCLUDE{"TWiki.TWikiWebsTable"}%
• There are many more variables, see TWikiVariables.

"Gotchas" when Editing Text

The formatting rules are fairly simple to use and fast to type. However, there are some things to watch out for:

• Q: Text enclosed in angle brackets like <filename> is not displayed. How can I show it as it is?
  • A: The '<' and '>' characters have a special meaning in HTML, they define HTML tags. You need to escape them, so write '<' instead of '<', and '>' instead of '>'.
    Example: Type 'prog <filename>' to get 'prog <filename>'.

• Q: Why is the '&' character sometimes not displayed?
  • A: The '&' character has a special meaning in HTML, it starts a so called character entity, i.e. '©' is the © copyright character. You need to escape '&' to see it as it is, so write '&' instead of '&'.
    Example: Type 'This & that' to get 'This & that'.

• See more TextFormattingFAQs

TWiki Plugins

Plugins offer additional text formatting rules and extend the functionality of TWiki. Currently enabled plugins are:

• SpreadSheetPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30478 (2018-07-16) $): Add spreadsheet calculation like "$SUM( $ABOVE() )" to TWiki tables or anywhere in topic text
• BackupRestorePlugin (2018-07-10, $Rev: 30551 (2018-07-16) $): Administrator utility to backup, restore and upgrade a TWiki site
• ColorPickerPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30442 (2018-07-16) $): Color picker, packaged for use in TWiki forms and TWiki applications
• CommentPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30530 (2018-07-16) $): Quickly post comments to a page without an edit/preview/save cycle
• DatePickerPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30446 (2018-07-16) $): Pop-up calendar with date picker, for use in TWiki forms, HTML forms and TWiki plugins
• EditTablePlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30448 (2018-07-16) $): Edit TWiki tables using edit fields, date pickers and drop down boxes
• HeadlinesPlugin (2018-07-13, $Rev: 30560 (2018-07-16) $): Show headline news in TWiki pages based on RSS and ATOM news feeds from external sites
• InterwikiPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30454 (2018-07-16) $): Write ExternalSite:Page to link to a page on an external site based on aliases defined in a rules topic
• JQueryPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30456 (2018-07-16) $): jQuery JavaScript library for TWiki
• JqPlotPlugin (2013-03-04 jquery.jqplot.1.0.7r1224, $Rev: 25369 (2013-03-06) $): Add line, bar and pie charts to TWiki topics using jqPlot JavaScript library
• LatexModePlugin (3.71, $Rev: 16926 (12 Dec 2008) $):
• NewUserPlugin (2011-01-14, $Rev: 20222 (2011-01-14) $): Create a user topic if it does not exist yet
• PreferencesPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30528 (2018-07-16) $): Allows editing of preferences using fields predefined in a form
• SetGetPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30472 (2018-07-16) $): Set and get variables and JSON objects in topics, optionally persistently across topic views
• SlideShowPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30474 (2018-07-16) $): Create web based presentations based on topics with headings.
• SmiliesPlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30476 (2018-07-16) $): Render smilies as icons, like  :-)  as or  :eek:  as
• SyntaxHighlightingPlugin (2016-01-22, $Rev): Highlight source code fragments for many languages
• TWikiSheetPlugin (2018-07-15, $Rev: 30604 (2018-07-16) $): Add TWiki Sheet spreadsheet functionality to TWiki tables
• TablePlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30480 (2018-07-16) $): Control attributes of tables and sorting of table columns
• TagMePlugin (2018-07-05, $Rev: 30482 (2018-07-16) $): Tag wiki content collectively or authoritatively to find content by keywords
• TinyMCEPlugin (2018-07-10, $Rev: 30541 (2018-07-16) $): Integration of the Tiny MCE WYSIWYG Editor
• TwistyPlugin (2018-07-06, $Rev: 30497 (2018-07-16) $): Twisty section JavaScript library to open/close content dynamically
• WatchlistPlugin (2018-07-10, $Rev: 30536 (2018-07-16) $): Watch topics of interest and get notified of changes by e-mail
• WysiwygPlugin (2018-07-06, $Rev: 30528 (2018-07-16) $): Translator framework for WYSIWYG editors

Learn more about plugins in TWikiPlugins and TWikiPreferences.