Ring of Brodgar:Templates

There are many templates in use in Ring of Brodgar; these are only a subset, representing some of the most important and commonly used ones. If you feel that a template belongs on this page, do not hesitate to add it.

Category:Templates is intended to categorize templates into the various subcategories.
A list of all wiki templates can be found by selecting the "Templates" Namespace in the Special:Allpages page.

What are templates?

Wiki templates provide a means to insert the same content over and over in different (or the same) pages. This saves editors the hassle of duplicating the same text again and again, and also helps ensure consistency.

Templates are generally shown with the format required to use the template (e.g. {{stub}}). Clicking the template name takes you to the template's page, where you can see what it looks like and how it is used.

Detailed instructions on the usage of each template should exist on:

a subpage using {{documentation}}; or
the template page itself (inside "noinclude" tags); or
the template's talk page.

Article management templates

Nominate an article for deletion

Add this to an article to nominate it for deletion. It will add the article to Category:Candidates for deletion.

Disambiguation articles

If you have several articles that have similar or identical names, you may wish to create a "disambiguation" page at the main article name, with the articles taking an extra phrase in brackets afterwards. For example:

Magpie <-- disambiguation page, with links to:

Magpie (Bird)

Magpie (Pie)

Using {{disambig}} marks an article as a disambiguation page by adding a banner to the article and categorizing it under Category:Disambiguations. Add links to the various articles under the banner.

Stubs

When a page has little or no useful information, then it is likely a stub. This template will include them in Category:Article stubs, and is used to list which articles need expanding.

Category templates

This should be added to any template-related categories, to list template-specific categorising details, which differ from those of normal pages.

placed on big categories. Makes a A-0 box to help users navigate to desired letter/number

General wiki templates

Clear

{{clr}}, plus {{clrl}} and {{clrr}}

This template is used to reduce the amount of non-wikicode used on pages, replacing the code <br style="clear:both;" />. Its use should generally be avoided.
You can use {{clr}} instead of the HTML tag that clears space below things like images, pictures and tables, so the following stuff doesn't begin until the bottom of the image, picture or table box.
You can also use {{clrl}} or {{clrr}} to clear only left or right floats.

For

Use at the top of articles as a simple "for x see y" template.

Main article

Use at the start of a section to link to the main article on it.

Right-aligned Table of Contents

This template floats the table of contents (toc) on the right. It should only be used when absolutely necessary, to keep consistent design.

T is for template

This template allows you to show example template code (with a link to the templates) without using the template itself. It is used extensively on this page.

Welcome

The template is for welcoming new registered users. Should be customized for the wiki, indicating the pages we most want newcomers to visit.
The template is very suitable for having "subst:" (subst:welcome) prefixed, because they can be edited with additions or deletions appropriate to the apparent strengths of the person being welcomed; e.g. if the contributor has already demonstrated good wiki editing skills you could delete references to pages about "how to edit".

Where you may find more templates

Wikia Templates
Wikipedia; may be copied with the proper acknowledgment, but some need tweaking to work properly on Wikia, so use a Wikia one if possible.

Editing and Testing

For learning or playing around with MediaWiki stuff. Please use some test-wiki for that. ... And keep MediaWiki documentation pages on speed dial.

General saving rule: Don't save every little edit you make. Use [Show Preview] and make that a habit. For one the preview will show you the same result (and can also show some additional SMW-property related info/data). And second: It will not generate unnecessary and useless bloating edit-histories. (So to prevent accidental saving something where it should not be saved, use a (or the) Sandbox page.)

(Trivia: With the Firefox browser one can even leave an edited page open, and restart the browser or computer, without losing the edited version. Only checked with source code editing mode though. And generally not an advised practice.)

General template editing: Check the "What links here" page to see how many pages are using that template. Any template that is used by a lot of pages should not be directly used for testing & debugging of new stuff. The thing here is that with every edit all those pages that use that template are flagged as "in need of re-parsing", which is a done by the MW system in the background (potentially in a random order).
How to setup a basic test page:

...(wip mode). User space, sandbox space, minimal code, ...

(infobox), Source template: Copy whole <includeonly>..</includeonly> part, Append a <noinclude>, Append the infobox part of a page that uses the template, Change the "{{infobox_name" to "{{:{{PAGENAME}}". The ':' here will tell MW to use the current (and active edited version in this case!) page instead of looking for a "template:<current-pagename>" page.