Simple Text Formatting

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HTML or other formatting is not recognized inside MAE except for one simple formatting style originally developed for wiki pages. This style allows for the simple text styles of italic and bold. It also allows block styles such as headings, bullets, numbered items, tables, and code text.

A line is a paragraph. Each line of text is a separate paragraph. Blank lines are ignored.

Text Styles

Italic

The italic text style is achieve by using two single quotes together to start and stop the italic region.

For example: ' 'This is italic.' '

Bold

The bold text style is achieve by using three single quotes together to start and stop the bold region.

For example: ' ' 'This is bold.' ' '

Bold Italic

Italic and bold styles may be combined to achieve the third style - bold italic.

For example: ' ' ' ' 'This is bold italic. ' ' ' ' '

Underline

The underline text style is achieve by using two single underscores together to start and stop the italic region.

For example: __This is underlined.__

Formatting Trick

If you need to present text that will instead be interpretted as formatting, consider inserting six (6) single quotes.  It will turn on bold and then turn it off, but nothing will be visible, except for what you intended.

For example, [' ' ' ' ' '[ will be displayed as [[

Images

Refer to an image by preceding the image file's name with "Image:" and placing it inside double square brackets.  No check is performed to see if the image file exists or not until the browser loads the file.

For example: [[Image:filename]]

Block Styles

Headings

A heading line begins with '=' as the first character.  The heading depth is determined by the number of '=' that repeat.  The end of the heading line must have an equal number of symbols.

For example: == Heading 2 ==

Bulleted List

A bulleted list is a series of lines that begins with '*' as the first character. Each line in the bullet list is displayed together until there is a break in the list. A sub-bullet list is achieved by using multipe '*'s.

For example: * bulleted item

Numbered List

A numbered list is a series of lines that begins with '#' as the first character. Each line in the numbered list is displayed with successive numbers until there is a break in the list. A sub-numbered list is achieved by using multipe '#'s.

For example: # bulleted item

Which generates: 1. bulleted item

Indented Text

Indented text is specified begins with ':' as the first character. Additional indentation is achieved by using multipe ':'s.

For example: : indented item

Tables

A table spans multiple lines. Special characters at the beginning of the line indicate which part of the table is being specified; they specify the start of a table, start of a row, start of next column, and the end of the table.

A table may be defined inside a table. Just make sure you end the embedded table before you continue with the outer table.

Start Table

Begin a table by specifying '{|' at the start of a line.

Table Caption

A table may have a caption by specifying '|+' at the start of a line inside the table.

Start a Row

Begin a new table row by specifying '|-' at the start of a line.

Start a Column (Header)

Begin a new table column to be used as a column header by specifying '!' at the start of a line. A table column may appear anywhere in the table; the text will appear in bold font with a darker background.

Start a Column (Normal Table Data)

Begin a new table column to be used as a column header by specifying '|' at the start of a line.

End Table

End a table by specifying '|}' at the start of a line.

Table Example

If you specify this text:

{|

|-

! Header 1

! Header 2

|-

| Black

| White

|}

You will see this table:

Horizontal Line

When you need a horizontal line to separate two sections of text, start a line with four dashes; a horizontal line will be displayed there.

For example: ----

Document Formatting

When creating formatted text inside a larger document, additional formatting is available for cross-referencing. A cross-reference appears as a link when displayed interactively to a user; when the user clicks on that link, they jump to viewing that section of the document.

Wiki Document Reference

You can reference another named wiki document by name.  Place the document title text inside double square brackets to refer to it.

For example: See [[Introduction]].

The heading text will be displayed for the user to see.  If you desire to display different text, separate the heading from your desired text with a vertical bar.

For example: See [[Introduction|intro]].

Document Heading Reference

When a document has headings, you can cross-reference a heading elsewhere in your document. Place the referenced heading text inside double square brackets followed by '#' to refer to it.

For example: See [[#Introduction]].

If you wish to refer to a heading in another wiki file, specify the filename before the '#'. A cross reference such as this often gets busy, so you will likely want to specify alternate text as well.

For example: See [[MAE#Introduction|intro]].

Document Anchor/Bookmark

If you need to reference a part of the document that is not a header, use an anchor.  This is a bookmark that can be referenced from elsewhere.  This may be handy when creating a compound document where one part of the document needs to refer to another part of the document and headers are liquid.  To do so, put the bookmark label inside triple square brackets.

For example: The bookmark [[[Place.13]]] appears as .

Alternate text may follow the pipe symbol. If present, it will appear in the document.

For example: The bookmark [[[Place.13|bookmark]]] appears as bookmark.

Index Reference

If your compound document is going to have an index, you can reference an indexable item using a variation of the anchor, above. Start the reference with a # symbol.

For example: This is [[[#Ancenon]]] and it appears as Ancenon.

You can specify the text that appears in the index following a pipe symbol.

For example: This is [[[#Ancenon|here]]] and it appears as Ancenon and the index will show: Ancenon here.

Multiple indexes may be created. To specify which index this reference belongs to, just another vertical bar and specify the index name.

For example: This is [[[#Ancenon|here|PC]]] and it appears as Ancenon and the index will show: Ancenon here in the PC index. For example:

External Document Reference

You can cross-reference external documents. Place the full URL inside square brackets to refer to it.

For example: See [http://aranaworld.com].

The URL will be displayed for the user to see.  If you desire to display different text, separate the URL from your desired text with a space.

For example: See [http://aranaworld.com Home Page].

Metacommands

Metacommands are used when creating a collection of wiki documents.  They are advanced and typically ignored inside the MAE software.  However, the wiki2doc utility interprets them appropriately.

When creating .wiki files for documentation, the metacommands are interpretted to generate extra text.