RationalWiki:Help/About templates

From RationalWiki

Any page can be used as a template. All that is necessary is to put its title between two pairs of braces ( { ) ( {{namespace:pagename}}).

A purpose-made template is usually in the Template namespace and, if it is, the namespace need not be included in the braces: {{pagename}}). The official term used when a template is put into a page is transclusion. What is on the transcluded page is entirely up to its author.

In order to transclude just part of a page, sections can be blocked out with "noinclude" pairs of tags, also, content can be made to show up only in transclusions by using "includeonly" tags.

The easiest way to learn about templates is to copy and alter an existing one, testing the results on your user page or in a sandbox before placing it all over the site, of course.

Templates can be extremely complex, allowing the use of many variables and subtemplates. If you really want to know about them try Wikipedia but be warned, it's not simple. A better "Help" page is here at meta Wikimedia.

If (when) you create a new template, especially if it's more than a simple transclusion, PLEASE include instructions on the Template page. Render them safe using <noinclude> </noinclude> tags around the instructions so they aren't transcluded.

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