If you're in a hurry, see the Formatting rules in a nutshell or QuickReference.
For ease of editing, wikis generate web pages from plain-text source according to some simple formatting rules. A number of these markup schemes have been invented; ZWiki supports several of the most popular:
- StructuredText - from the ZoPe world. Also allows HTML (and DTML if enabled).
- RestructuredText - a newer, more formalized alternative with its own pros and cons. The default on this and new zwiki sites. Allows DTML if enabled.
- MoinMoinMarkup - the markup used by MoinMoin
- WikiWikiWebMarkup - the markup used by WikiWikiWeb
- HTML - allows HTML (and DTML if enabled), does no special linking or formatting.
- Plain text - displays the source text, no formatting or linking at all.
If the wiki admin has granted permission, you can change a page's formatting rules in the edit form; most wikis use one kind of formatting throughout though.
As well as the formatting rules, Zwiki usually applies additional rules for linking WikiNames and free-form links, formatting mbox-style messages, displaying IssueTracker properties, executing ZwikiAndFit, adding PurpleNumbers, working around known formatting problems, etc.
See also:
Use the SandBox to play around