Page Templates Guide
From FrugalWiki
- This article is a DRAFT and it's not meant for general use until FrugalWiki users agree as to its content.--Devil505 17:49, 10 December 2009 (PST)
- This page introduces wiki editors to the concept of page templates, and explains how templates are used.
Contents |
Before you read this article
First off, please familiarize yourself with FrugalWiki Tutorial and read some Wiki pages to see what sort of pages are there on FrugalWiki. Check out WikiTodo page and try to understand the direction FrugalWiki is taking. Make sure you understand how wiki pages work and practice page creation in Sandbox. Note the general style and tone of FrugalWiki articles.
Page Templates Overview
Page Templates category of FrugalWiki contains a set of templates for wiki page creation. The templates serve two purposes.
- Templates are used as a skeleton for new pages.
- Templates are used as a guide for writing effective articles.
There are many templates for different tasks, and an appropriate template should be selected when starting a new page. Template selection should not be based on how a template looks, but on the underlaying logic of information presentation.
Template naming and selection
Templates are named in a manner that makes their intended use fairly obvious to an average user. Names of the templates are based on the Category an article is supposed to be placed in. However, if you are unsure as to what template is best suited for your topic, first try to find an article that covers a similar topic, note its Category (top right corner of the article) and use the template with a similar name.
Template names are abbreviated so as to make them shorter, but still descriptive enough. For example, System Administration is abbreviated as SysAdmin, and so on.
As an example of template selection, if your article is about hardware-related system administration, pick a template that is called Sysadmin-Hardware, and place your new article under System Administration > Hardware.
Types of templates
Basic template types are:
- Procedures
- Tutorials
- Dictionaries
- Information
- Books
Procedures templates
Procedures templates describe a single task. A task may be some installing software, securing your system, installing new hardware, etc. If you want to describe more than one task, you need to use the Tutorials templates.
Procedures templates are:
- Sysadmin-Software (installing software)
- Sysadmin-Hardware (installing hardware)
- Sysadmin-Networking (networking-related tasks)
- TroubShoot-Software (troubleshooting of software problems)
- TroubShoot-Hardware (troubleshooting of hardware problems)
- TroubShoot-Networking (troubleshooting of networking-related problems)
- ...
Tutorials templates
Tutorials templates describe a set of tasks aimed at achieving a single goal. It may or may not refer to a set of Procedures (i.e., a Tutorial may be just a collection of procedures in a sensible order, adding just an overview of how to carry procedures out). If your tutorial comprizes of a single task, you may want to use the Procedures templates.
Tutorials templates are:
- Tut-System installation (installation of the Arch system; this is a separate template because there may be many different ways of installing the Arch Linux)
- Tut-System configuration (a complex configuration of the system involving administering various pieces of hardware and many software packages)
- Tut-Application guide (guides for installing and using an application or an application suite)
- ...
Here is an example of a tutorial. Topic of the Tutorial is "Boost Pacman Performance" (there is an actual article Boost Pacman that covers this topic, so you may read it to get some idea as to how Tutorials templates will work).
You will choose Tut: System configuration template for this article.
There are two topics covered by this article. One of them is "Boost Pacman using Wget". The other is "Boost Pacman using Snarf". Using Sysadmin: Software Procedure template, you may create two new articles, "Boost Pacman using Wget", and "Boost Pacman using Snarf". Then make a tutorial about how to boost pacman, and include the two new articles in it. This may seem like an inconvenience at first, but it may actually benefit later searching by users of the FrugalWiki, because it offers two ways of accessing parts of the tutorial.
Dictionaries templates
There are two dictionaries templates. Dictionary templates are used to define either a single term (with detailed explanation and background, as well as references to relevant wiki pages), or a set of terms that are used in common context.
- Dict-WordBook (Short definitions for two or more terms)
- Dict-TermDef (Long definitions for a single term)
If you intend to write a Word Book, then please make sure you include references to Term Definitions of the terms you include if applicable, so that other FrugalWiki users can write in-depth definitions of those terms. For example, if you are writing a dictionary of computer-related terms, you may want to link Hard Drive entry to Hard Drive term definition article. If you are writing a Term Definition, you may want to link to a WordBook containing related terms.
Information templates
Information templates are used to offer a single piece of information. The information is offered unrelated to any concrete administrative procedure or guidance. For example, "Arch Phylosophy", or "Arch Linux Overview", or an "Overview of Pacman GUI frontents" articles may be good candidates for Information templates.
There are two types of Information templates:
- Info-General (general informational articles)
- Info-Guideline (code of conduct type articles)
- Info-FAQ (FAQ type templates for FAQs and Q&As)
Please do not use FAQ templates for word definitions. This template is meant to be used for Question-Answer type articles. Use Dict-WordBook for word definitions.
Use Info-Guidelines for articles about codes of conduct, such as ArchForum Guidelines, FrugalWiki Guidelines, AUR Users Guidelines, etc. Please do not confuse Guidelines with Tutorials and Gudes. Guidelines define desirable and undesirable behavior of people, whereas Tutorials (or Guides) give step-by-step instructions for some task.
NOTE: Info-General is considered a generic template.
Books templates
Books are simply a collection of tutorials and other articles with a common theme. Books are used to organize wiki tutorials into larger conceptual units. Difference between a book and a wiki Category is that books contain in-depth commentary by wiki editors.
There is only one book template.
For example, a book on Arch would consist of "Arch Linux", "The Arch Way", "Installing Arch Linux", and so on. The introductory commentary by wiki authors at the beginning of the book, as well as extensive commenting between article references would make a book different from a category.
How to use a template
Open a page containing a template. Click on "Edit this page" link at the bottom of the page. Copy the contents of the template's Edit box nad paste it into a new article's Edit box.
Carefully read the template directions and revise your article if necessary. Do not try to deviate too much from the basic template layout.
Replace template's instruction text by your text.
How to create a template
First of all, read this article carefully. Then decide on an appropriate name for the template.
The basic structure of a template is as follows:
- Overview
- Template specific header
- Template body
Overview
An overview of an article is a short paragraph (or paragraphs) that describe the intent of the article. What the article is meant to achieve and how it does that. In a template, the template author describes the intended purpose of the template and general directions as to how users should use it.
Template specific header
For some articles, there needs to exist a header that explains the requirements of carrying out tasks described on the page as well as warnings, notes and references to prerequisites. The template specific header describes what an article header needs to contain.
Template body
Template body contains detailed directions as to formatting rules, use of headings, etc. It also gives an overview of the headers that are commonly used in articles that fall under the category the template is for.
For example, a template body may contain:
- Use bold for important terms
- Use code for shell commands
- Place a picture of the hardware described here
- etc.
Also, the heading structure:
- Header 1: Preparation for a task
- Header 2: The task
- Header 3: Checking if everything works
- Header 4: Further reading
Using existing templates for new templates
It is certainly a good idea to base templates on one another. Feel free to use any template to create new ones. Please be reminded that Info-General is considered a generic template, so if you need to create an entirely new type of template, Info-Generic would be a good starting point.
Templates on FrugalWiki
These templates are currently available in the templates category: