User blog:Wingstrike/Crash course in linking

So a few people new to the wiki, GFW or wikis in general, may not be sure how to link between pages neatly with minimum hassle in source mode. So here's a quick guide to fix that.

Square Brackets
Also called chrochets, square brackets ( [ ] ) are used to link pages other pages, files or categories, depending how used.

Hyperlinking inside a wiki

 * The most common hyperlinking is usually to pages within the wiki. It's very simple to do; simply type the page name you want to link to inside double square brackets ( PAGE NAME ). So to link to the about page (Gundam Fanon:About), type Gundam Fanon:About, which appears as Gundam Fanon:About. A dialogue box will appear as you type, letting you find pages more quickly.


 * The hyperlinked text can also be changed: Gundam Fanon:About and About both link to the same page ( TEXT ).


 * Files and categories are a little tricky in this case, to add a file it's simple: ( [[File:FILE NAME]] ). But, linking directly to an image page will need a slight change in name: ( File:FILE NAME ). Categories follow a similar rule: typing will add a page to that category (though you can use the Categories panel on the right), typing Category:CATEGORY NAME creates a hyperlink to the category page.

Interwiki links

 * This will typically involve linking to pages back on the Gundam Wiki. The neatest way of doing this is using an interwiki link: TEXT, where wiki link is the name you see in the URL before .wikia (this one being gundamfanon).


 * Alternatively, a template for linking especially to the gundam wiki exists. See here.

Hyperlinking to outside websites

 * It's very easy to link websites from outside a wiki, instead of double square brackets, it's just single: [URL] . By default the hyperlink will appear as a number, this can be easily changed to text: [URL TEXT] (Note: It's a space between the URL and text, not a | like with the other links).

Curly Brackets
Aka "braces", these are used for transcluding templates into your pages, instead of linking to them.

Templates

 * Often template pages will provide text to copy and page, along with explanations on how to use them. Like wiki hyperlinks they must be typed in pairs at the beginning and end of templates. You can either start with {{Template:TEMPLATE NAME... or simply {{TEMPLATE NAME... for short.