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How to use Templates

Templates are a way of reusing pieces of content in Knowledge Base articles. Instead of writing a set of instructions multiple times, you can create and update it in one place, and then refer to it in other pages. The other pages will stay up-to-date with changes to the Template automatically! __TOC__ = What are Templates = A Template is just a special wiki page whose name starts with "Template:". It has all the features of a wiki page: it can be localized, it has a history, it understands wiki markup. {note}A list of existing Templates can be found [/en-US/kb/category/60 '''here'''].{/note} =How to make a Template= #[/en-US/kb/new Create a new KB article]. Try it out by [https://support.allizom.org/en-US/kb/new creating a new KB article on our test server]. #Make sure the name begins with "Template:" - for example, [/en-US/kb/Template:aboutconfig Template:aboutconfig]. #Set the Category to "Template". #Continue writing the Template the same way you would any other Knowledge Base article. = How to include a Template in an Article = To use a template in a wiki page, all you have to do is "link" to the template. For example: <code><nowiki>[[Template:Some Template]]</nowiki></code> or <code><nowiki>[[T:Some Template]]</nowiki></code> Instead of creating a link, the content of '''Template:Some Template''' will be included into the current page. Any wiki markup in the template will be rendered. =Templates and numbered lists= For most purposes, using numbered list in a template works exactly the same way as it does in any other Knowledge Base document. There is one important exception — '''if your template is a numbered list that will be used as part of a larger numbered list, the numbering will break.''' '''Workaround:'''<br> '''Don't''' use "#" on any of the steps and '''Do''' add <nowiki><li></nowiki> <nowiki></li></nowiki> around the second and subsequent steps, like this: <code>This is the first step in your list<br> <nowiki><li></nowiki>This is the second step<nowiki></li></nowiki><br> <nowiki><li></nowiki>This is the third step<nowiki></li></nowiki><br></code> Then, when adding the template to an article, add the "#" before the template: <code><nowiki>#</nowiki><nowiki>[[</nowiki>T:List]]<br> <nowiki>#</nowiki>This is another step that's not part of the template</code> It will look like this: #This is the first step in your list #This is the second step #This is the third step #This is another step that's not part of the template Another important piece - you can't use [[How to use For#w_inline-and-block-level-contexts|block level <nowiki>{</nowiki>for}]] in these templates. For example:<br> '''Bad:'''<br> <code><nowiki>{</nowiki>for not fx10}<br> First step - Firefox 9 and lower<br> <nowiki>{</nowiki>/for}<br> <nowiki>{</nowiki>for fx10}<br> First step - Firefox 10 and higher<br> <nowiki>{</nowiki>/for}<br> <nowiki><li></nowiki>This is the second step<nowiki></li></nowiki></code> '''Good:'''<br> <code><nowiki>{</nowiki>for not fx10}First step - Firefox 9 and lower<nowiki>{</nowiki>/for}<nowiki>{</nowiki>for fx10}<br> First step - Firefox 10 and higher<nowiki>{</nowiki>/for}<br> <nowiki><li></nowiki>This is the second step<nowiki></li></nowiki></code> = Using arguments with a Template = Templates support passing in arguments, to let you reuse content that is ''almost'' the same. Say, for example, you had a standard notice that told users that a document only applied to Firefox 4, and another version that said it only applied to Firefox 3.6. The text of those notices might be identical except for the Firefox version: a perfect time to use a template! '''Template:OnlyVersionX''': {<!-- -->note}This document or section only applies to <nowiki>'''Firefox {{{1}}}'''</nowiki>!{<!-- -->/note} Then, in one wiki page, you could do this: <nowiki>[[Template:OnlyVersionX|4]]</nowiki> And in another page, you could do: <nowiki>[[Template:OnlyVersionX|3.6]]</nowiki> You can use multiple arguments, or the same argument twice, too! '''Template:XLikesY''': <pre><nowiki># {{{2}}} likes {{{1}}}. # {{{3}}} likes {{{2}}}. # Class! Nobody likes {{{2}}}!</nowiki></pre> Then to use it: <nowiki>[[Template:XLikesY|Lisa|Milhouse|Janey]]</nowiki> This would result in: <blockquote> # Milhouse likes Lisa. # Janey likes Milhouse. # Class! Nobody likes Milhouse! </blockquote> Keeping track of all those numbers can get confusing, so you can also ''name'' arguments to a template: '''Template:XPrecededY''': First comes {{{first}}}, then comes {{{second}}}. And using it: <nowiki>[[Template:XPrecededY|first=love|second=marriage]]</nowiki> With named arguments, you don't need to worry about the order when you use the template: <nowiki>[[Template:XPrecededY|second=marriage|first=love]]</nowiki> Both examples of using '''Template:XPrecededY''' will have the same result.