Creole Additions

This page is in no way yet official. This is somewhat a sandbox for starting work on a Creole Additions page. This would have optional markup that wiki developers can choose whether they wish to implement or not.

Plug-in/Extension#

For those wiki engines which wish to support plug-ins, we recommend double angle brackets:

 <<CurrentTimePlugin format='yyyy.MM.dd'>> 

Output: 2024.11.21

see GenericExtensionElementProposal and HintsOnExtending

Monospace#

For those wiki engines which wish to support monospace, we recommend the following syntax.

 This is ##monospace## text. 

Recommended XHTML: This is <tt>monospace</tt> text.

:Note that tt is a deprecated XHTML tag, XHTML 1.1 doesn't support this! This is <span class="mono">monospace</span> text. is better, but is still not a very good idea. Since class is used for describing structure not presentation. Usually monospace is used for code. So it's no use of using ##monospace## since we already have inline {{{ and }}}.

Output: This is monospace text.

Comparison: http://www.wikimatrix.org/syntax.php?i=28

Superscript#

For those wiki engines which wish to support superscript, we recommend the following syntax.

 This is ^^superscripted^^ text. 

Recommended XHTML: This is ^{superscripted} text.

Output: This is superscripted text.

Comparison: http://www.wikimatrix.org/syntax.php?i=28

see also SuperscriptAndSubscriptProposal

Subscript#

For those wiki engines which wish to support subscript, we recommend the following syntax.

 This is ,,subscripted,, text. 

Recommended XHTML: This is _subscripted text.

This is subscripted text.

Comparison on wikimatrix: http://www.wikimatrix.org/syntax.php?i=29

see also SuperscriptAndSubscriptProposal

Underline#

For those wiki engines which wish to support underlining, we recommend the following syntax.

 This is __underlined__ text. 

Recommended XHTML: This is <u>underlined</u> text.

Output: This is underlined text.

Using u is not a very good idea. See the reason at section Monospace.

Usually underline is used to emphasis words. For that we can use * or **. In some case, we can customize it via css. For example, in Chinese, underline means the word is a name (people name, place, etc) just as first-character-Caps in English. For those wikis, we can produce this XHTML,

 This is  <span class="name">underlined</span>. 

We may set the class name as a variable in wiki engine, so wiki admins can write customize the class name to fit their needs in a config file/page.

Alternate Link Syntax#

Spaces before and after the arrow are not required. If there are multiple ->, then a link cannot have a ->, so that gets passed to the description.

[[description -> link]]
[[the -> can be used to make a link -> TextFormattingRules]]

Recommended XHTML:

<a href="http://www.examplewiki.com/link">description</a>
<a href="http://www.examplewiki.com/TextFormattingRules">the -> can be used to make a link</a>

Sample output:

description
the characters -> can be used to make a link

Indented paragraphs#

Indented paragraphs are paragraphs which begin with a colon or > sign. The colon must be the first character of the line. Multiple colons define the level of indenting. Indented paragraphs can contain styled text, links, spans of verbatim text, and inline extensions.

This is a normal paragraph.
:This is an indented
paragraph in two lines.
::This is more indented.

or

This is a normal paragraph.
> This is an indented
paragraph in two lines.
>> This is more indented.

Possible XHTML (separate stylesheets or <dl><dd></dd></dl> also possible):

At least MediaWiki and Oddmuse are using dl with empty or no dt to indent text. This is simple, but it's a wrong use of definition list.

<p>This is a normal paragraph.</p>
<div style="margin-left:2em">
<p>This is an indented paragraph in two lines.</p>
<div style="margin-left:2em">
<p>This is more indented.</p>
</div>
</div>

Definition lists#

Definition lists are made of two kinds of items: title, typically displayed in bold font, and definition, typically displayed indented. Titles begin with a semicolon at the beginning of a line. Definitions either follow the title, separated with a colon; or they begin on a new line beginning with a colon.

; First title of definition list
: Definition of first item.
; Second title: Second definition
beginning on the same line.

Recommended XHTML:

<dl>
<dt>First title of definition list</dt>
<dd>Definition of first item.</dd>
<dt>Second title</dt>
<dd>Second definition beginning on the same line.</dd>
</dl>

Sometimes we want to use colon (:) in the term, requiring ~ to quit is inconvinient. Also,

; term: some definition
beginning the same line.

is hard to read in source. Usrs usually cannot distinct terms and descriptions at a glance.

So I suggest that descriptions (or definitions) must begin on a new line beginning with a colon.

;term1
:description1
;term2
:description2

And sometimes we may need one term with multi-definitions:

;E. M. A. C. S. 
:Emacs Makes A Computer Slow
:Escape Meta Alt Control Shift
:Emacs Makers Are Crazy Sickos