| Information about this template and examples can be found below |
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| To edit the template "Documentation" itself, click here. To edit the information and examples below, click here. (How does this work?) |
What is template Documentation?
Templates can be confusing to new users and even experienced users can have difficulty making sense of the more complex ones. Templates should therefore be accompanied by documentation to improve usability.
Template documentation should explain what a template does and how to use it. It should be simple enough that a user without complete knowledge of the intricacies of template syntax—which includes many experienced contributors who focus their attention elsewhere—can use it correctly. This is especially true in the case of very widely used templates.
Description
This template is used to include information on another template's page.
Syntax
To add documentation to a template page, add <noinclude>{{documentation{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}{{#ifeq: ---|---|||<--->}}}}</noinclude> at the end of the template page.
Usage
On the Template page
This is the normal format when used:
<includeonly>Any categories to be inserted into articles by the template</includeonly><noinclude>{{documentation}}</noinclude>
On the Template/doc page
Normally, you will want to write something like the following on the documentation page:
==Description==
This template is used to do something.
==Syntax==
Type <code>{{t|templatename}}</code> somewhere.
==Samples==
<code><nowiki>{{templatename|input}}</nowiki></code>
results in...
{{templatename|input}}
<includeonly>Any categories for the template itself</includeonly><noinclude>[[Category:Template documentation|{{PAGENAME}}]]</noinclude>
Note that the above example also uses the Template:T template.