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Zelda Wiki's
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Templates (Template List)

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Glossary

See also: Help:Templates on MediaWiki

Templates are just that: templates that can be used on any page to standardize some element, by simply filling in the required information for that particular situation. There are many kinds of templates, each serving a different goal.

Essentially, a template is a separate page in the "Template" namespace. By including the name of that page enclosed in {{two curly brackets}} and placing it on another page, the entire contents of that template page will be displayed where you've placed it - this is called transclusion. Note that the Wikitext typed remains as it was typed, while when reading the page it is replaced by the template content. For the Wikitext to change as well, substitution must be used. Many templates have parameters, or fields, that modify its appearance and content, so it can be customized to any situation.

Types of Templates

Navigation Templates

See all navigation templates

Navigation templates are used to link together pages with related subjects, for the benefit of readers. As the name suggests, they facilitate navigation between these pages, by providing an organized set of links to other articles. They are typically placed at the bottom of pages. Navigation templates contain little or no parameters to modify.

Examples of navigation templates include {{Songs}} or {{Pickups}}. Image maps are useful for making navigation templates such as {{STNavMap}}, by allowing the reader to click different places on an image to navigate to other pages.

Infoboxes

See all infobox templates

Infobox templates - typically placed near the top of pages, beneath notice templates - provide a summary of the article's subject. Each infobox template will have several specific fields which cover topics relating to the subject. For example, {{Game}} has fields for the game's release date, the publisher, the ESRB rating, etc.

Notice Templates

See all notice templates

These templates inform users about present conditions or situations that a given article is currently in. They are placed at the top of pages. Most notice templates temporarily mark articles needing attention, calling for editors to fix them. For example, {{Sources}} marks articles lacking sources, {{Merge}} marks articles proposed for merging, and so on. When such templates beneficial to editors are placed on a page, these templates automatically the page to maintenance categories so editors can find them. The templates are removed once the corresponding issues are addressed. Some notice templates have a date parameter to show how long an article has been flagged.

Some notice templates are placed permanently on pages. These are for the benefit of readers rather than editors. For example, {{Noncanon}} is permanently placed on articles or sections that cover non-canon topics.

Formatting Templates

See all formatting templates

Formatting templates help the standardization of formatting across the Wiki - they essentially mold what you've written to appear a certain way. An excellent example would be the {{Cite}} template, which ensures that all in-game citations in references appear the same and consistent throughout the entire site. These templates also make formatting quicker and simpler and reduce mistakes - take the game shortcuts, for example.

Formatting templates may contain extra parameters to modify it's appearance when customization is desired.

Inline Templates

See all inline templates

Inline templates display messages within an article's text, and are a type of notice template. They are essentially miniature notice templates: instead of marking entire articles, they mark specific sentences in articles. Like regular notice templates, an inline template identifies a problem with a sentence and is removed once an editor addresses the problem. {{Fact}}, {{Verify}}, {{Clarify}}, {{Which}}, {{Whom}}, and {{How many}} are examples of such templates. {{Name}} is a permanent inline template used to mark conjectural or fan-made names.

Making a Template

The easiest way is to type {{your template name}} to the Sandbox, and click on the red link that appears after saving or previewing. At the resulting editing page, you can create your template, which is most easily done by copying and pasting the code from a similar template; then you can just modify it.

Make sure that directly after the end of your template text (not even leaving a space nor new line!) you add <noinclude> to begin any section detailing how to use the template, and also the add the necessary category for that template, and at the very end type </noinclude> to enclose the section and category. Do not finish the template, create a new line, and then add the <noinclude> tag.

Testing a Template

When editing a template, a "preview page with this template" option will appear at the bottom of the edit form. In the "page title" box, enter the name of a page that currently uses the template and pressing the adjacent "show preview" button. This allows you to preview the template as it would appear on that page if you had saved the edit.

The template sandbox Template:Test (in the list of sandboxes at Zelda Wiki:Sandbox) can be used to test your templates.

Sandboxed templates can also be tested on pages using Special:TemplateSandbox. Please refer to MediaWiki for more information on this feature.

Alternatively, since one can transclude not only Templates but ordinary pages (e.g. {{:Bombchu}} will display the entire bombchu article content), then for example you can create your own template sandbox on http://zeldawiki.org/User:{MyUserName}/Sandbox/Template:Testing, and type {{:User:{MyUserName}/Sandbox/Template:Testing}} into a sandbox to use it.

Examples

The following is a list of popular notice and inline templates. A list of formatting templates can be found here.

Notice Templates

What to type

What it's for

What it makes

{{Accuracy}}

Alert readers to disputed accuracy.

The factual accuracy of this article or section is disputed.

Please see the relevant discussion on the article's talk page.

{{Ambig}}

Alert readers to ambiguous canon status.

Ambiguously Canon Content

{{Archive}}

Alert readers to read but not edit the archive.

This page is an archive. The contents have been moved from another page for reference purposes only, and should be preserved in their current form. Discussion or voting on this page is not current. Please do not add new comments to this page because they probably won't be noticed by anyone. Instead, direct any comments to the current talk page.

{{Archives|~Start}}
* <A link to an archive>
* <A link to an archive>
* <...and so on!>
{{Archives|~Stop}}

A nav template to get to archived versions. (Note: It floats to the right.)

Archives:

Put a link to an archive here
Link to another archive

{{Improve|<date>|<game>}}

Used to identify pages in general need of improvement. Replace <date> with that day's date or ~~~~~, and <game> with a valid name from here

File:Injured Link.png

This article or section does not meet Zelda Wiki's quality standards.

Please improve it as you see fit. Editing help is available.
This article has been flagged since <date>.

{{Copyvio}}

or

{{Copyvio|action= |category= }}

Alert editors to potential copyright issues. See Template:Copyvio for information on <action> and <category>.

The following content may constitute copyright violation.
It may need to be properly attributed or removed from the wiki entirely.
Please discuss this issue on the article's talk page.

Alerts staff to an image to be deleted, and a reason. See Template:Imdel for parameter information.

File:Midna03.png

It has been suggested that this image be deleted because it meets Zelda Wiki's deletion standards.

If you disagree with the deletion of this image, discuss this on the image's talk page. Please do not place this template on a file until you have removed all links to the file.

{{delete|<reason>|<date>}}

Alerts staff to an article to be deleted, preferably after seeking consensus.

File:Big Bomb.png

This article may meet Zelda Wiki's criteria for deletion.

Discuss this on the article's talk page, and if possible, improve the article in order to extend its life.

{{Disambig}}

Alerts readers that the page is a disambiguation page for articles of the same name, designed to list these articles. Such a page is usually found from performing a search. (An article should not link to such a page if the intended topic has its own specific article).

This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. If an internal link referred you to this page, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

{{Fact}}

or

{{Fact|<game>}}

(Inline template) Notifies editors that a source is needed for a statement. See Template:Fact for <game>.

^{[citation needed]}

{{Future game}}

or

{{Future game|<cat sort> }}

Use on content concerning unreleased material. See Template:Future game for <cat sort>.

This article or section contains information about an unreleased video game.
It is likely to contain information of a speculative nature, and the content may change dramatically as more information becomes available.

{{GalleryPage}}

or

{{GalleryPage|<gallery page name>}}

If the article topic has its own gallery page, use to send viewers to this page. (Gallery:Link used for <gallery page name> in this example)

View Gallery

View Gallery

{{Guide}}

or

{{guide|<area>|<date>|<cat sort>}}

Notifies editors to remove the strategy guide style of the article. For <area>, put Article or Section corresponding to where the template needs to be, and is, placed.

File:Book of Mudora.png

This article is written like a strategy guide.

It should be rewritten in a more encyclopedic manner to conform with the standards of Zelda Wiki.

{{Howtosig}}

A message to inform people that haven't been signing their talkspace posts. Use this as a message on their User Talk page. Note that the template does not automatically put your signature.

Signatures

Hello, <user>! I noticed that you seem to be having some trouble with the signature coding — don't worry, it happens a lot. You only need to type one thing:

~~~~

That's it. Just those four tildes. They automatically add your name and the time you made your post, so you don't have to type any of that yourself!

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