---
title: Writing articles
tags: [Writing]
---
Articles are written in **Forge Markdown**: standard [Markdown](https://commonmark.org) plus what a wiki needs, namely links between pages, citations, components and emotes. If you know Markdown, you already know most of it. Open any page and choose **Edit**.
## The editor works with you
You don't need to remember the syntax, the names of pages or what files are called: the editor knows the wiki and offers them as you type. A new page starts at its title, with a short guide to the syntax where the text goes until you start writing.
:::screenshot[The article editor: page details and source on the left, live preview on the right]{url="apex.fanforge.wiki/a/k3v9qa/edit"}
:::
- **Live preview.** The page as readers will see it, hero and title included, next to the source, updated as you type, scrolling along with you. **Source**, **Split** and **Preview** switch between them; on a phone, **Write** and **Preview**.
- **Page details as fields.** Title, tags and the hero image sit above the text. They edit the page's frontmatter (see below), which stays in the text, folded to one line: change a field and the frontmatter changes, edit the frontmatter and the fields follow.
- **`@` for anything.** New to Markdown? Type `@` at the start of a line (or after a space), or choose **Insert @**, for a list of what can go in a page: the wiki's own components first, then headings, bold, links, an image, lists, a table, a citation, and every platform component, each with what it's for and an example. Pick one and it's written for you, with the cursor where you type next (Tab moves on).
- **A toolbar** for the common ones: headings (three levels, or back to plain text), bold, italic, a link, a citation, an image, and a table (a Markdown table, or the table component, which takes CSV or rows pasted from a spreadsheet). **Syntax help** is a one-card guide. On a phone, a writing bar sits above the keyboard.
- **Shortcuts.** With Ctrl (⌘ on a Mac): **B** bold, **I** italic (press again to undo either), **K** a link, **Alt+2** to **Alt+4** headings, **Alt+0** plain text, **S** save.
- **Completions everywhere.** Type `[[` for the wiki's pages, `media:` for its files (folders first), `:::` for components with what each one is for, `:` for emotes with a picture of each, and a blank line at the top for the frontmatter's fields, then `tags: [` for the tags the wiki already uses.
- **Notes as you type.** A file that isn't uploaded, a component that doesn't exist or is given the wrong kind of value, a citation without a source: each is underlined where it happens, and the note shows under the line when the cursor is on it. One count in the bar opens the whole list. Errors stop a save; warnings don't.
- **Pages still to write.** A link to a page that doesn't exist yet is a warning, with a dashed yellow underline, and it can be saved: readers see it the same way, as an invitation to write the page. When those are all the notes, the count says so ("2 pages to write").
- **Images without leaving.** The image button picks one of the wiki's files or uploads a new one; or drop or paste images into the text. They go in at the cursor.
:::screenshot[Completions: typing two square brackets offers the wiki's pages]{url="apex.fanforge.wiki/a/k3v9qa/edit"}
:::
:::screenshot[A page still to write, with its note and the list of notes]{url="apex.fanforge.wiki/a/k3v9qa/edit"}
:::
**Save…** (or **Ctrl/⌘ + S**) shows what changed and asks for a short summary of what you changed and why; then **Save page**. If you're new on the wiki, it also says whether a trusted editor will look at your edit before it appears.
Unsaved changes are kept in your browser as you type, so a crash or a closed tab doesn't lose them: open the editor again and it offers them back (**Restore** or **Discard**). They're only offered on top of the version you started from, never over someone else's newer edit, and they're dropped after a week, when you save, or when you press Cancel. The component and Wiki Data editors do the same.
## The top of the page
Every article starts with a short block between `---` lines, its **frontmatter**. The **Title**, **Tags** and **Hero** fields above the editor write it for you, and the block itself is folded to one **Page details** line; open it to see or change the rest:
```yaml
---
title: Dovetail joint
tags: [Joinery, Hand tools]
todo: [Needs photos]
---
```
- `title` is required; it's the page's name and heading.
- `tags` list the topics the page belongs to. See [[Tags and to-dos]].
- `todo` notes what the page still needs, for editors only.
- `slug` (optional) sets the end of the page's address; it's made from the title otherwise.
- `hero` (optional) is an uploaded image shown behind the title, or `none` for a plain header.
## Text
The usual Markdown: `**bold**`, `*italic*`, `## headings` (each `##` heading appears in the page's contents), lists, `> quotes`, `` `code` ``, links like `[text](https://example.com)`, and pipe tables. Raw HTML isn't allowed; it's shown as text.
## Links between pages
Write a page's title in double brackets: `[[Dovetail joint]]`. Give it different text with a bar: `[[Dovetail joint|dovetails]]`. A link to a page that doesn't exist yet has a dashed yellow underline: it's not a mistake, it invites someone to write the page, and clicking it starts it. Links are stored by the page's id, so renaming a page never breaks them.
## Citations
Put `[^key]` after a claim and define it anywhere on the page:
```forge
Rampart was released in Season 6.[^s6]
[^s6]: Apex Legends patch notes, Season 6 (August 2020).
```
Sources appear as a numbered **References** section at the end. `[^]` on its own marks a claim that needs a source.
## Components
Components add structure: infoboxes, notices, tabs, galleries, spoilers, tables and the wiki's own. They're written as fenced blocks:
```forge
:::notice[Before you start]{warning}
Sharpen the chisel first.
:::
```
See [[Platform components]] for the built-in ones, and the wiki's **Components** page (in the sidebar's Help) for all of them, with examples to copy.
## Images
Upload images on the **Files** page, or straight from the editor with the image button (or by dropping or pasting them into the text), then write ``. See [[Images and files]].
## Emotes
`:name:` shows one of the wiki's emotes in a line of text, like a small inline picture. Trusted editors add them on the **Emotes** page.
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