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SyntaxHighlight-Comparison

Wikitext with and without syntax highlighting

Syntax highlighting is a feature designed to improve readability of code on Wikia. It is currently being beta tested - you can read more about the progress of this here.

Essentially, syntax highlighting takes what is written in the editor and highlights the various types of code in different colours to help a reader identify what part does what.

It exists in two main forms - wikitext highlighting and CSS/JS/Lua highlighting.

Wikitext highlighting

SyntaxHighlight-WikitextDark

Wikitext highlighting on a dark theme

wikitext is the main building block of articles across Wikia, 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:

  • blue = links
  • red = general wikitext and HTML
  • purple = section headings
  • yellow/brown = templates

CSS/JS/Lua highlighting

CSS, JS and Lua module pages are also affected, much like currently seen on Special:CSS. It is active on user-specific CSS and JS pages, too - such as Special:MyPage/global.js.

Beyond simple readability, these updated pages will also help you spot code issues, helping to prevent you from ending up with broken JavaScript, for example.

See also

Further Help and Feedback