View source for SeptemWiki:Style Guide/Templates

The judicious use of '''templates''' will make it easier for SeptemWiki editors to write clear, consistent articles.  This guide contains information on templates which editors should know about and use appropriately.

== Syntax ==

{{main|Help:Templates}}

Templates are embedded in your article using the template syntax described in the [[Help:Templates]] page.  For each template described in this page, examples are given.

== Subtypes ==

{{main|Help:Templates}}

Some templates take a lot of parameters, but most of the time, only a few of them are used.  So we create a "subtype" template which provides most of the parameters for you, like [[Template:Stub]], which just calls [[Template:Ambox]] but provides most of the parameters to produce a convenient "stub article" banner.

This process can subdivide further, and further.  The Stub template itself has several [[:Category:Stub templates|subtypes]], which produce different looking stubs, with different icons and text, for articles about [[Triparic]], the [[Turnpike]], and so forth.

== Stubs ==

{{hatnote|Category: [[:Category:Stub templates|Stub templates]]}}

The stub templates indicate that your article is in need of expansion.  You can use the generic version:

{{tx|stub}}

which yields:
{{stub|nocategory=yes}}
Or you can use more specific ones.

{{tx|TriparicStub}}
{{TriparicStub|nocategory=yes}}
All stub templates should be found in [[:Category:Stub templates]].

== Banners ==

{{hatnote|Category: [[:Category:Banner templates|Banner templates]]}}

Stub templates are a subtype of ''banners.'' Banners are nice boxes which run across the width of your article.  

There are two main types of banners: "meta" and "content".

=== Meta banners ===

Meta banners are information about your article, rather than about your subject.  They have colored tabs which indicate their "severity".  They are produced using the "Article Message Box" template, fully documented at [[Template:Ambox]].

The color of the tab (and the default icon) is determined by the {{c|type}} parameter, and you can make banners which are smaller and appear at the left.

{{tx|ambox|type{{=}}delete|text{{=}}Articles to be deleted.}}

{{ambox|type=delete|text=Articles to be deleted.}}

{{tx|ambox|type{{=}}notice|small{{=}}left|text{{=}}This is a small notice message.}}

{{ambox|type=notice|small=left|text=This is a small notice message.}}

See [[Template:Ambox]] for further details.

=== Content banners ===

Content banners are more "generic".  They are banners you display in your article which are about your topic itself.  You can produce them with the "Color Paragraph" template, documented at [[Template:Colorparagraph]]:

 <nowiki>{{colorparagraph
|background=#3333ff
|color=#ffcc00
|image=[[File:Ambox_content.png|20px]]
|text='''"I'll have a blue / paragraph / without you ..."'''
}}</nowiki>

{{colorparagraph
|background=#3333ff
|color=#ffcc00
|image=[[File:Ambox_content.png|20px]]
|text='''"I'll have a blue / paragraph / without you ..."'''
}}

== Text Formatting ==

{{hatnote|Category: [[:Category:Text formatting templates|Text formatting templates]]}}

For formatting linguistic documentation, the [[Template:Ab|angle bracket template]] is useful for producing angle brackets, which are the conventional way to display orthography: {{txi|ab|ch}} produces "{{ab|ch}}".

[[Category:Style Guide]]

== Infoboxes and Clearing Margins ==

{{hatnote|Category: [[:Category:Infobox templates|Infobox templates]]}}

{{PlazaBox
|county=Fulton
|caption=We've put this infobox here to demonstrate what they look like in general, and how to use the {{txi|clear}} template in conjunction with them to fix any issues caused by infoboxes taking up margins.  By the way, that is [[Sideling Hill Plaza]] in the picture.
|name=Infobox for a
|image=[[File:Sideling_Hill_Plaza.jpg|200px]]
|direction=Eastbound and Westbound
|state=Kalmont}}

Infoboxes are for compact, standardized summaries of facts about a topic.  For details on parameters, see each template in [[:Category:Infobox templates]].

You often want to insert an infobox template at the top of a section and allow the remaining text in the section to flow around it, which is what we did here; the template code to generate the infobox at the right was put at the top of this section, just under the header.

But the rest of your page, including additional sections, will continue to flow to the left of the infobox.  If you want to force your page to "clear its margins", you simply include the template {{txi|clear}}, which is what we do right after this sentence.
{{clear}}
And you can see how no further content appears until after the margins are clear of the infobox.  This paragraph, and the rest of the guide, are pushed down below the infobox.

== Hatnotes ==

{{hatnote|Category: [[:Category:Hatnote templates|Hatnote templates]]}}

"Hatnote" is the Wikipedia term for those handy notes you see at the top of articles or sections, explaining disambiguations or referring you to more detailed articles.

The most commonly used one is perhaps [[Template:Main]]:

{{tx|main|Triparic language}}
{{main|Triparic language}}

Also encountered are the closely-related [[Template:About]] and [[Template:Redirect]]:

{{tx|about|the hill itself|the tunnel|Sideling Hill Tunnel|{{!}}Sideling Hill (disambiguation)}}
{{about|the hill itself|the tunnel|Sideling Hill Tunnel||Sideling Hill (disambiguation)}}

{{tx|redirect|Sideling Hill Plaza|other plazas|Turnpike}}
{{redirect|Sideling Hill Plaza|other plazas|Turnpike}}

These are all subtypes of [[Template:Hatnote]], which is used itself more directly at the top of this section:

 <nowiki>{{hatnote|Category: [[:Category:Hatnote templates|]]}}</nowiki>