Help:Templates

A template is a page, like its title says, a page which can be included into any other page, and sometimes be customized. This page gives tips on creating and using templates.

Creating templates
Templates in most cases, are very easy to create. They should have the prefix Template: (see Help:Namespaces), but it doesn't need to be included to other pages. This template below is an example. It can be included in the current page by typing example. "Example" is the name of the template, and the two curly braces are used to include it:

Sometimes, you may want to write about the template on its page (often to explain how and when to use it), but you don't want this text to appear on the template itself. To do this, you should enclose such text with and so that it does not appear on every page you use the template on. An example can be found in the policy template. Below the box is a line of text that does not appear on policy pages. The opposite can also be made, by writing and tags around to only make text appear when included. This is very useful for categories.

Non-template namespace
By writing, pages from various namespaces can be included.

Substitution
Templates can be substituted by writing, or. By writing, the content on Example is placed on the page instead of just  when someone edits.

Linking
To link to a template without inserting it, use brackets instead of curly braces.
 * Template:Stub will link to Template:Stub
 * will insert that template into an article.