Help:Templates/Types

Templates fall under two categories. Inline templates exist within the text of an article, and are mostly text-based. Block templates take up space around the text, like images.

Notice templates and navigation templates are block templates. Formatting templates and maintenance templates can be block or inline.

Formatting Templates

 * See Category:Formatting Templates

Formatting templates standardize wiki content and relieve the editor from the task of formatting, making editing faster and less error-prone.

Examples of formatting templates:
 * Template:Cite ensures that in-game citations are formatted consistently throughout the wiki.
 * Template:Romanize helps format the romanization of non-Latin text.
 * Template:BotW is one of the many game shortcuts.

Infoboxes

 * See Category:Infobox Templates

Infoboxes are a special kind of block formatting template placed at top of every page, beneath any notice templates. They provide a summary of the article's subject. Each infobox template will have several specific fields which cover topics relating to the subject. For example, Template:Infobox Game has fields for a game's release date, publisher, ESRB rating, etc.

Notice Templates

 * See Category:Notice Templates

Notice templates inform users about present conditions or the state of an article. They are placed at the top of pages or sections of pages. Most notice templates are temporary maintenance templates, but a few are permanent notices.

Examples of notice templates:
 * Template:Future Release for content on something that hasn't been released yet.
 * Template:Noncanon for content on something that does not fall within the Zelda canon.
 * Template:Imdel to flag an image to be deleted by an administrator.

Navigation Templates

 * See Category:Navigation Templates

Navigation templates are used to link together pages on related subjects. They are typically placed either top or bottom of the page.

Examples of navigation templates include Songs or Pickups. s are useful for making navigation templates such as STNavMap, by allowing the reader to click different places on an image to navigate to other pages.

Maintenance Templates

 * ''See Category:Maintenance templates

Maintenance templates are temporarily placed on pages to flag content for editor attention. They're basically for saying to everyone, "Hey look, we know this content isn't good enough. Can you help make it better?"

Maintenance templates can be notice templates, or they can be inline formatting templates.

Examples of maintenance notices:
 * Template:Stub for sections that need to be expanded
 * Template:Sources for articles or sections generally lacking citations
 * Template:Improve for content that just suck in general

Examples of inline maintenance templates:
 * Template:When for statements that are vague about when exactly a certain event happens
 * Template:Fact for a statement that needs a source citation
 * Template:Verify for statements that need to be fact-checked through gameplay

Use inline maintenance templates over notice templates where possible. Inline maintenance templates are specific and less obtrusive.

Maintenance templates automatically add pages to Category:Articles Needing Attention.

Auto-categorizing Templates
Many templates automatically pages when used. For example, an article tagged with Sources will automatically be added to Category:Articles Lacking Sources.

Most of these templates have a parameter for disabling automatic categorization. This is known as. Category suppression is useful when using a template for something other than its intended purpose—for instance, a template gallery or list.

Some templates automatically suppress categories when used in the "User" namespace. This prevents these articles from appearing in categories intended for the only.