= The Trac Wiki Engine =
[[TracGuideToc]]

Trac has a built-in wiki engine, used for text and documentation throughout the system. WikiFormatting is used in [wiki:TitleIndex wiki pages], [wiki:TracTickets tickets], [wiki:TracChangeset check-in log messages], [wiki:TracRoadmap milestone] and [wiki:TracReports report] descriptions.  It allows for formatted text and hyperlinks in and between all Trac modules.

Editing wiki text is easy, using any web browser and a simple [WikiFormatting formatting system], rather than more complex markup languages like HTML.  The reasoning behind its design is that HTML, with its large collection of nestable tags, is too complicated to allow fast-paced editing, and distracts from the actual content of the pages. Note though that Trac also supports [WikiHtml HTML], [WikiRestructuredText reStructuredText] and [http://www.textism.com/tools/textile/ Textile] as alternative markup formats.

The main goal of the wiki is to make editing text easier and ''encourage'' people to contribute and annotate text content for a project. Trac also provides a simple toolbar to make formatting text even easier, and supports the [http://universaleditbutton.org/Universal_Edit_Button universal edit button] of your browser.

The wiki itself does not enforce any structure, but rather resembles a stack of empty sheets of paper, where you can organize information and documentation as you see fit, and later reorganize if necessary. 
As contributing to a wiki is essentially building an hypertext, 
general advice regarding HTML authoring apply here as well.
For example, the ''[http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style Style Guide for online hypertext]'' explains how to think about the
[http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/Structure.html overall structure of a work] 
and how to organize information [http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/WithinDocument.html within each document]. One of the most important tip is “make your HTML page such that you can read it even if you don't follow any links.”

Learn more about:
 * WikiNewPage creation, which can be configured to start from a [PageTemplates page template]
 * WikiFormatting rules, including advanced topics like WikiMacros and WikiProcessors
 * How to use WikiPageNames and other forms of TracLinks which are used to refer in a precise way to any resource within Trac

If you want to practice editing, please use the SandBox.

Before saving your changes, you can ''Preview'' the page or ''Review the Changes'' you've made.
You can get an automatic preview of the formatting as you type when you activate the ''Edit Side-by-side'' mode. '' There is a [wiki:/TracIni#trac-section configurable delay] between when you make your edit and when the automatic preview will update.''

Some more information about wikis on the web:
 * A definition of [http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki Wiki], in a famous  wiki encyclopedia
 * The [http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiHistory History] of the original wiki
 * A wiki page explaining [http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?WhyWikiWorks why wiki works]

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See also: TracGuide
