Help:Template

This article is under construction. Therefore, please excuse its informal appearance while it is being worked on. We hope to have it completed as soon as possible.

As in several wikis, the Super Mario Wiki provides templates that help the user to browse any information quickly and efficiently.

Usage

To understand their usage, the templates existing in this Wiki are classified in this way:

• Navigation Templates – These templates has links that are directly or indirectly related to a topic. A good example can be the {{SMG}} template that shows all the elements related to the game Super Mario Galaxy.
• Notice Templates – These templates serve to notice readers the current state of a page. Arguably the most used templates found in this category are the {{stub}} and {{upcoming}} templates. The first describes a page or article needs to be deeply developed and the latter talks about a future project, like a new game.
• Formatting Templates – These templates allow users to change elements of a page quickly by just adding them. Examples are the {{color}} template to change the color of the text and {{refneeded}} the add over a text that lacks a citation to make it valid.
• Infobox Templates – These templates contain the essential information about the topic of an article. Examples are {{Character-infobox}} and {{Infobox}}.
• Internal Link Templates – Similar to Formatting Templates, but made for the links.
• Media Templates – These templates serve to contain media such as images, videos and audio files.
• Project Templates – These templates are made for the internal projects of this Wiki, for example The 'Shroom and the Pipe Plaza.
• Userbox Templates – These templates are decorative tables to describe our users in the Mariowiki. Used only for your userpages.
• Image Maps – These templates has an image with links. By cliking on an linked area of the image, the user will be sent to the article in question.

Code

Make sure you know the MediaWiki syntax for a template:

To create a template, it's needed to put the tittle starting Template and then the name of the template. Example: Template:Name of template

Add the content you want to show for the template in the edit area. To insert an input, type {{{1}}} for the first input, {{{2}}} for the second, and so on. You can also specify the input by inserting a name like this {{{name}}}.

Once you've finished, it's possible that you have to use the coding <includeonly> </includeonly> to tag the content of the template that will be shown and <noinclude> </noinclude> to tag the rest that shouldn't be shown. Usually the Noinclude tag is used to add the template's own category and prevent to be inserted in an article.

To embed a template, simply type {{Name of template}} in a page.

If the template is in any other namespace, simply type {{namespace:Name of template}} to use it.

If the template has inputs, type {{Name of template|write here to change the parameters of a template}}

If the template has specified inputs, type {{Name of template|name=The name of something}}

To include text in the template that you don't want to show up in pages that use it, such as:

• Instructions on how to use the template
• A category to organize the template

Place the text in a set of <noinclude> tags at the bottom of the template page.

Substituting

For some templates, it is a better idea to take load off the server and use subst: before the template name. This substitutes the dynamic code on the page with static text. For example, {{tick}} will display as {{tick}} in the code, while {{subst:tick}} will display as [[File:wiki tick.GIF]] in the code.

Example

Here is a simple example, creating a signature for any user typing {{Sig|User}}:

If the template contains the code:

[[User:{{{1}}}|{{{1}}}]] ([[User talk:{{{1}}}|talk]] · [[Special:Contributions/{{{1}}}|edits]])

Typing {{Sig|user}} inserts this code:

[[User:User|User]] ([[User talk:User|talk]] · [[Special:Contributions/User|edits]])

Which shows on the page as:

User (talk · edits)