Help:Syntax highlighting

SyntaxHighlight-Comparison — Wikitext with and without syntax highlighting

Syntax highlighting is a feature designed to improve readability of code on FANDOM. It takes what is written in the editor and highlights the various types of code in different colours to help a reader identify which parts do what.

It exists in three main forms - simple wikitext highlighting, CSS/JS/template/Lua page highlighting, and as a tag usable on articles.

Editor highlightingEdit

Simple wikitext highlightingEdit

SyntaxHighlight-WikitextDark — Wikitext highlighting on a dark theme

Wikitext is the main building block of articles across FANDOM, but it can often be hard to comprehend what you're seeing at a glance, especially on more complex pages.

Syntax highlighting takes this code and adds blocks of colour behind the text. The main colors involved are:

blue-violet = section headings, bold and italic text
light blue = internal links
pale blue = external links
red = general wikitext
red-violet = tags
grey/brown = templates

CSS, JS, infobox template and Lua highlightingEdit

CSS, JS, infobox templates, and Lua module pages have a more advanced syntax highlighter active.

Beyond simple readability improvements, the highlighting will also help you spot code issues - helping to prevent JavaScript errors, for example.

User preferenceEdit

If you do not wish to use syntax highlighting, simply visit the 'Editing' tab in your preferences, and tick the "Do not show syntax highlighting in Source mode" option.

This will switch off all forms of syntax highlighting, including on CSS and JS pages.

Article highlightingEdit

The <syntaxhighlight> tag can be used on articles to syntax highlight sections of code for readers. A rough list of supported languages can be found here, on MediaWiki.org.

For example, CSS highlighting:

<syntaxhighlight lang="css">
.class {
  font-size:110%;
}
</syntaxhighlight>

creates:

.class {
  font-size:110%;
}

Further help and feedbackEdit

Browse and search other help pages at Help:Contents
Check FANDOM Community Central for sources of further help and support
Check Contacting FANDOM for how to report any errors or unclear steps in this article
Learn how to use Fandom in FANDOM University: short how-to videos for all levels of experience

Fandom