Writing in Markdown

A page's text is written in Markdown: plain text with a little punctuation to say what is a heading, a list, a link. You type the marks; the site draws the result. This page shows each thing the editor understands, with the marks on the left of each example and what they produce below.

Anything that is not Markdown is shown as the text you typed. Raw HTML is removed.

Headings and paragraphs

A heading is a line starting with ## (two for a heading, three for a smaller one inside it):

## A heading
### A smaller one

Every heading can be linked to — from another page with [[Page#Heading]], or by address (linking explains both). The page's title is its one big heading, so a # heading in the text is shown the same as ##.

Contents

Write __TOC__ on a line of its own and a Contents box stands there — a list of the page's headings and the headings under them, each a link, wherever on the page they are. It is open on a wide screen and folded to one line on a phone. Put the line where you want the box, usually after the opening text; a second line lower down makes a second box. No line, no box.

Paragraphs are separated by a blank line. A single line break inside a paragraph does not start a new one.

Emphasis: *this* gives this, **this** gives this, and ~~this~~ gives this.

A line of three dashes on its own makes a horizontal rule; two spaces at the end of a line force a line break inside a paragraph; and a backslash before a mark shows the mark itself, so \*not italic\* gives *not italic*.

Lists

- one thing
- another thing
  - a smaller thing under it

1. first
2. second

• one thing
• another thing
  • a smaller thing under it

1. first
2. second

A list of things to do can carry boxes:

- [x] done
- [ ] not yet

• done
• not yet

Links to other sites

[the airline's site](https://example.com/)

gives the airline's site. A bare address like https://example.com/ becomes a link on its own. Links to other pages on this site use double brackets — see linking pages.

Tables

| Aircraft | Seats | In service |
| :--- | ---: | :---: |
| A321neo | 180 | 2019 |
| 777-300ER | 358 | 2014 |

The colons in the second line set the alignment of each column: left, right or centred.

A card of facts

A label line followed by a line starting with a colon makes a two-column card — handy at the top of a page. A note to the next editor inside <!-- … --> is invisible to readers and does not break the card, the list or the paragraph it sits in:

Founded
: 1959

Hub
: Taoyuan (TPE)

Fleet
: 90 aircraft

Founded

1959

Hub

Taoyuan (TPE)

Fleet

90 aircraft

Footnotes and quotes

The route opened in 1993.[^1]

[^1]: Annual report, 1994.

The route opened in 1993.¹

A quotation is a line starting with >:

> Ladies and gentlemen, we have begun our descent.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have begun our descent.

Code

Text that must be shown exactly as typed — a command, an identifier — goes in backticks: `like this`. A block of it goes between two lines of three backticks:

```
FLIGHT  DEP   ARR
CI 100  09:00 13:10
```

FLIGHT  DEP   ARR
CI 100  09:00 13:10

Every block has a Copy button in its corner that puts the whole block on the clipboard in one click.

Pictures

Upload an image from the Images page (a verified account is needed), then place it with the line the image's own page gives you:

![A 747 at Taoyuan](media:47 "China Airlines 747-400, 2019")

The number is the image; the text in square brackets describes it for readers who cannot see it; the text in quotes is an optional caption. The image's own page shows that line with a Copy button beside it, and the editor's image picker shows the same line beside every image you may place. Images are converted and resized when uploaded, and there is a limit on each image's size and on how much each account may keep.

Size and side

Braces straight after the picture choose how wide it is and which side it sits on:

![A 747 at Taoyuan](media:47){300}
![A 747 at Taoyuan](media:47){50%}
![A 747 at Taoyuan](media:47){40% right}
![A 747 at Taoyuan](media:47 "A caption"){left}

A number is a width in pixels; a percent is a share of the text column for the picture's box, rounded to the nearest five. left or right floats the picture to that side with the text wrapping around it, no wider than half the column; on a narrow screen it sits in the flow instead. The height always follows the picture's own proportions, and a picture is never drawn larger than it was uploaded — a small picture at {100%} sits at its own size in a full-width box. Braces the site does not understand are shown as typed.

Effects

A few effects take the form $[name content], and the content can hold ordinary Markdown:

$[ruby 高雄 Gāoxióng] is the second city.
$[small Photo by the author]
$[center Welcome to the page]
$[right Updated yesterday]

高雄(Gāoxióng) is the second city.

Photo by the author

Welcome to the page

Updated yesterday

ruby shows a reading above the characters — the first word is the text, the rest is the reading. Formatting works inside it and covers whatever it wraps: $[ruby **Air 航空**] is bold text under a bold reading, and $[ruby **Air** 航空] bolds the text alone. To give each word or each character its own reading, write one ruby per piece with nothing between them: $[ruby 中国 Zhōngguó]$[ruby 北方 Běifāng]$[ruby 航空 Hángkōng] gives 中国(Zhōngguó)北方(Běifāng)航空(Hángkōng). small makes the text smaller. center and right align a line or a paragraph. A name the site does not know is shown as typed.

Three more move or turn the text, with arguments after a dot:

$[spin Round and round]
$[spin.left,speed=2s Slower, the other way]
$[spin.y Around the vertical axis]
$[sparkle Twinkle]
$[rotate Tilted a quarter turn]
$[rotate.deg=30 Tilted a little]

Round and round · Slower, the other way · Around the vertical axis · Twinkle · Tilted a quarter turn · Tilted a little

spin turns the text continuously — left reverses it, alternate swings it back and forth, x or y spins it around that axis, and speed= takes seconds, rounded to the nearest of ½, 1, 1½, 2, 3 and 5. sparkle twinkles. rotate tilts the text by deg=, rounded to the nearest 15 degrees; without one it is a quarter turn. Readers who have asked their device for less motion see spin and sparkle standing still.

Tags in prose

A word starting with # is a tag: #taiwan, or #country:taiwan to say which kind of thing it is. Tags are how readers find pages — see tags and tag groups. A # that does not turn out to be a tag is just shown as text.