Wikipedia:Template namespace:
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This page documents an English Wikipedia guideline. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should follow, though it should be treated with common sense and the occasional exception. When editing this page, please ensure that your revision reflects consensus. When in doubt, discuss your idea on the talk page. |
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This page in a nutshell:
- Templates duplicate the same content across more than one page. You can change a template in one place and it will immediately propagate to the pages that use it.
- Templates should not normally be used as a substitute for usual article content, in the main article namespace.
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Wikipedia:Template messages (Changes) contains an index of the most commonly used templates.
Wikipedia:Navigational templates (Changes) contains a partial list of various subject-class navigational elements.
[edit] Introduction to templates
Templates often look like text boxes with a different background color from that of normal text. They are in the template namespace, i.e. they are defined in pages with "Template:" in front of the name.
For example, consider the template Template:Disambig (follow the link to see the page where it can be edited). To insert the template's content into an article, type {{Disambig}} in the wiki page ( {{Disambig}} is called a template tag ). Every article with that tag in it will display the following text:
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This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. |
This technique is commonly known as transclusion. Templates can also include calculated and substituted elements, as well as parameters, allowing for complex usage. For a table of some useful templates, see Wikipedia:Template messages. For detailed templating documentation see m:Help:Template.
Spaces in the name are allowed, e.g. {{train topics}}. The first character (only) is not case-sensitive, so {{cleanup}} and {{Cleanup}} are the same template, but {{cfd}} and {{cfD}} are not.
Templates can also accept template parameters which are then inserted into the output of the template.
Templates used in pages from the article namespace provide information to help readers. These can include navigation aids, or warnings that content is sub-standard. Templates that provide information only of service to editors belong on an article's talk page.
With the template namespace it is possible to include the contents of a page in that namespace within a page in a different namespace, using double curly braces around the template title (for example, {{title}} would import Template:Title). This is used to:
- place recurring messages (such as those to denote stubs, disambiguation pages, etc.) into articles in a consistent manner;
- insert boilerplate messages for various issues like copyright violation, neutrality disputes, etc., using a simple shortcut command; and
- create navigational templates and sidebars to link series of related articles together.
- create infoboxes
- provide cross-language portability of texts which are largely internationally the same, but contain some standard terms different in each language; the standard terms are replaced by {{..}} referring to Template pages which have the same name but localised content in each language. This is applied for taxoboxes.
Templates should not masquerade as article content in the main article namespace; instead, place the text directly into the article.
Templates should not be used to create lists of links to other articles when a category or a See also list can perform the same function.
For further instructions on using this namespace, and for more information about it, please see m:Template.
[edit] Instructions
[edit] New template creation
To create a new custom message, simply create a page in the Template namespace, named "Template:", followed by a name for the message, that contains the text of the message. Names can now contain spaces and initial case is irrelevant. To create such a page, enter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:TheNameOfYourTemplate in the address bar of your browser and edit the page. An alternate method is to create a link something like [[Template:mymessage]] on your user page or in the sandbox and then click on it. Any new high-risk templates should be semiprotected or fully protected as appropriate.
[edit] Adding a template to a page
To add a template to the page, simply type the name of the template with two braces on each side. For example, to add Template:Wikify to a page, type {{Wikify}}.
If a template takes a number of parameters, it is suggested that the template be formatted as the following:
{{TemplateName
| param = Param value
| parameter2 = Text
| variable = Variable text
}}
Putting each parameter on a separate line and aligning them by the equals sign make it easier to read the wikicode.
[edit] Dynamic or full substitution (subst:)
- Main article: Wikipedia:Template substitution
There are two major ways to include custom messages, {{Your message}} and {{subst:Your message}}. {{subst:Your message}} makes a copy of the message text and places it where you put the tag after you save an article (substitution). Without "subst", the message will be loaded and put on the page every time you view it, a process known as transclusion.
In other words, when the message is updated, you do not need to update a page that uses it if you use {{Your message}}. As a guideline, short temporary messages that will be removed soon should be copied using subst (which has the advantage of showing the message in the wiki source), and standard notices that might remain on a page for months or forever should be transcluded for easy updating. (You should not use {{Your message}} for a message which contains any links which may change in the future. This method doesn't refresh "What links here" unless every article containing the {{Your message}} gets changed after the modification of the link in the message.)
If you need to edit the template message individually after you put it on your page, use subst. If you don't need to edit it, and would rather the message is automatically updated along with changes made to the template, don't use subst.
For an example of how to substitute variables at the time of their inclusion see the subst magic section in Help:Variables.
[edit] Template documentation
A template can sometimes be difficult to use by only looking at the source of the template, so you are encouraged to document your template.
There are two different ways to do this.
One alternative is to use <noinclude> to include a minor description direct into the template, for example:
'''This is a {{{1}}} article.'''<noinclude>
Place this template on any article that requires description. It
takes one parameter, an adjective used to describe the article.
For example, {{article-describe|bad}} produces the text,
'''This is a bad article.'''
</noinclude>
Another alternative is to create a /doc subpage for the documentation (preferred for templates with multiple parameters etc.) and add <noinclude>{{Documentation}}</noinclude> below the actual template.
[edit] A caution about line breaks
Note that some templates may accidentally cause extra linebreaks in the rendered articles. This is especially true of Wikipedia:Infobox templates and other template boxes that usually float on the right side of an article, since the additional lines will not be seen on the template page.
As a general guideline, avoid two linebreaks together in your template. These may "add up" with other linebreaks in the article and be displayed as unwanted white space.
[edit] Sandbox for experiments
If you wish to experiment with templates (and not have your experiments deleted before you are done with them), you may do so in the Template sandbox. You may also use the templates X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, X7, X8 and X9 for experimental purposes. To include a test template, use the form {{X1}} for template X1, {{X2}} for template X2, etc.
[edit] History
Historically, an "msg:" prefix had to be added in front of the template name when it was used on a page. For example, {{msg:stub}} was typed instead of {{stub}}. This is no longer necessary.
In Wikipedia's first 35 months, there was no template or transclusion mechanism at all. The MediaWiki namespace was introduced with MediaWiki 1.2.6 on December 6, 2003, and was used not only for the user interface but also for creating boilerplate text messages, to be inserted in articles, using the {{msg: ...}} syntax. This function was replaced with the Template namespace during the software upgrade to MediaWiki 1.3 on May 30, 2004. As a function of the "Template namespace initialisation script", all non-system messages were moved to the new namespace. The initialisation script also replaced MediaWiki: references in articles with Template: in order to bypass the redirects created by the moves.
For a short time, Wikipedia:Articles for deletion (then known as votes for deletion or VfD) used MediaWiki: messages named in the format "MediaWiki:VfD-articlename". These were moved to the Template: space in June 2004 and were named "Template:VfD-articlename". This usage is deprecated now in favor of subpages. A (long) list of these VfD vote pages can be found in the page history of Wikipedia:VfD votes in the Template namespace.
[edit] Searching in the template and template talk namespaces
To search in the template or template talk namespaces only, put "template:" or "template_talk:" before the search term. For example, this URL searches for "transclude" in the template namespace while this one searches for "transclude" in the template talk namespace.
It is possible to manipulate the URL to allow searching in both the template and template talk namespaces. E.g.
Wikipedia template search for regnum searches the Template and Template talk namespaces for "regnum".
See Help:Searching for more information.
[edit] See also
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Key Wikipedia policies and guidelines |
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| Overview |
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| Global principles |
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| Article standards policies |
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| Behavioral policies |
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| Behavioral guidelines |
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| Classification guidelines |
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| Content guidelines |
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| Editing guidelines |
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| Style conventions |
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