Help:Templates
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 Help:
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If you have standard texts you want to include on several pages, the MediaWiki template feature comes into play (like the tag above which is included in the pages of the Help namespace).
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[edit] Creating a template
Template names are prefixed with Template:, you create them like any other wiki page.
[edit] Using a template
Templates are wiki pages which can be used in other pages in three ways:
{{Name}}includes the current content of the page "[[Template:Name]]".{{subst:Name}}inserts the content of the page "[[Template:Name]]" when you save your text.{{msgnw:Name}}includes the template in raw wiki syntax, like<nowiki>does
[edit] Using parameters in templates
| Template with numbered parameters | |
'''A little thank you...'''<br>
<small>for {{{1}}}.<br>
hugs, {subst:{{2}}}</small>
| |
| You type | You get |
{{Thankyou|all|Joe}}
| |
| with named parameters | |
'''A little thank you...'''<br>
<small>for {{{reason}}}.<br>
hugs, {{{signature}}}</small>
| |
| You type | You get |
{{Thankyou
|reason=all
|signature=Joe}}
| |
You can define parameters in templates either numbered as {{{1}}} or named {{{param}}}.
Example: you want a little thank you note you can put other users on their talk page with a reason and your signature. In the Template:Thankyou you enter your text.
When using the template on a page, you fill in the parameter values, separated by a pipe char (|): {{Thankyou|all|Joe}}. For named parameters use "name=value" pairs separated by a pipe char: {{Thankyou|reason=all|signature=Joe}}. The advantage of using named parameters in your template is that they are flexible in order. It also makes the template easier to understand if you have many parameters. If you want to change the order of numbered parameters, you have to mention them explicitly: {{Thankyou|2=Joe|1=all}}.
[edit] Control template inclusion
You can control template inclusion by the use of <noinclude> and
<includeonly> tags.
Anything between <noinclude> and </noinclude> will be processed and
displayed only when the page is being viewed directly, not included.
Possible applications are:
- Categorising templates
- Interlanguage links to similar templates in other languages
- Explanatory text about how to use the template
The converse is <includeonly>. Text between <includeonly> and
</includeonly> will be processed and displayed only when the page is
being included. The obvious application is to add all pages containing a given template to a category.
Note that the usual update problems apply -- if you change the categories inside a template, the categories of the referring pages won't be updated until those pages are edited.
[edit] Making templates useful
For templates to be effective users need to find them and be able to use them. Wiki are not user friendly when it comes to finding, using and working with templates. A simple technique is to have a usage on the template page. For example
==Usage==
Allows to establish a link to a subject:
{{NameOfTemplate|Term1|Term2|Term3}}
The user can simply copy and paste the template to establish a new page that is similar to other pages. The example demonstrated is indeed trivial, however a working example that demonstrates how templates can be used in complex situations to save time, accuracy and help categories pages on specialty topics more easily.
[edit] External links
A template is a special type of page that has been designed so its content can be included in one or more other pages. Since a given template can be included in many pages, templates can help reduce duplication and promote a uniform style between pages.
Templates are usually located in the Template namespace, which means any page name beginning with Template:, such as Template:Name. However, any page can act as a template.
Referencing templates
The content of a template can be added to a page by referencing it using the wiki markup: {{templatename}}. This references the template and includes its output at the point of insertion. Articles will be updated automatically when referenced templates are changed. A page that references templates cannot be edited to change the content of a referenced template, although a list of referenced templates will be displayed at the bottom of the page for convenience while editing it.
Substituting templates
A different way to use a template is to substitute its content into a page. This is done by inserting subst: immediately after the opening braces: {{subst:templatename}}. Once the page is saved, the link to the template is removed and the template output is substituted in its place and can be further edited. Any updates to the template will not affect the content that was substituted into the page.
Benefits of templates
Templates are used to add recurring messages to pages in a consistent way, to add boilerplate messages, to create infoboxes and navigational boxes, and to provide cross-language portability of texts.
Templates can also make it much easier for new and casual editors to use advanced designs, features and extensions by hiding confusing code.
Creating a template
In short, create the text you want to have copied onto the target pages on a page in the Template namespace. Creating Template:Templatename will allow users to insert {{templatename}} into a page to display your text.
See Help:Creating templates for details.
For an overview, see the quick guide to templates on Wikimedia's Meta-Wiki.
Creating an advanced template
To learn how to change the output of the template based on what the user inputs, see Help:Template parameters and Help:Parser functions.
Updating and adding standard templates
Wikia's Starter Pages and Templates wikis occasionally improve some of their documentation as well as adding new templates specifically designed for Wikia sites, and are therefore worth checking from time to time. For sites created before about December 2008, the Starter Pages wiki should be compared and ideally used for upgrading to its standard documentation system similar to that introduced in Wikipedia.
