Help:Template

A template is a page anyone can create. An example template is Template:Stub. If someone creates an article that belongs in a certain category, they can add the template name for that category by adding the template name in double brackets at the bottom of the page, like so: Template:Category name. For example, this page has the the template {{Tutorial}} at the bottom of the page.

List of Templates

All templates can be found here.

How to Create a Template

To create a template, which we will call "Sample" for the purposes of this tutorial, first navigate to the page Template:Sample. Edit the page, then add the following text (anything in bold can be changed):

This article is a sample. It's purpose is to do this and that and this that.

<noinclude>''This template will categorize articles that include it into [[:Category:Samples]].''</noinclude>

[[Category:Samples]]

Now, whenever you add the code {{sample}} at the end of an article, it will display the text "This article is a sample. It's purpose is to do this and that and this that. Also, the page Category:Samples will be automatically created. Any pages tagged with {{sample}} will automatically be added to Category:Samples.

Parameters

A template can hold parameters. On the template page, add {{{1}}} to create a parameter. When transcluding the template, use the format:

{{TemplateName| PARAMETER GOES HERE }}

Similarly, names can be used in the parameters. To create a parameter with a year, use {{{year}}}. For example, Template:Succession box uses:

{{Succesion box|before=1|title=The Number 2|after=3}}

For more information about parameters, view the Wikipedia page on templates (note that Parser Functions are disabled). This article is a tutorial about the AoPSWiki or AoPS Forum.