Portal:Templates

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How to add a template to a page

• See Using templates.

How to create a template

It's very easy to build or create a new template. All you do is start a new article with the prefix, Template:.

• For example, if you were to add some content to this page Template:Good new things and then click "save", you would just have created a new template.

• The name of your new template is the words in the title of the article after the prefix; in this case, "Good new things".

• For more information about how templates are created, see MediaWiki's template handbook.

• Can anyone create a template or do I need special permission to do that? Anyone with regular editing privileges can build templates without any special permission.

Categorizing a template

Templates should be categorized, just like any other page or article.

Generally speaking, you want to put your template into two different categories (and sometimes more than two). The two basic categories you'd put your template in are:

• The category that represents the type of template it is. Putting your template in the right category or subcategory makes it easier for others to find just the right template and to browse through related sets of templates.

• Is it a state court template? That is, a template that relates in some way to the state judicial system?
• Is it an article improvement template?
• Is it a federal court template?
• Is it a community template?

• The category for the type of article it is a template for. For example, if you create a template such as the Template:Montana Supreme Court template, this template should be added to the Category:Montana Supreme Court. There are several reasons for this. One reason is that if you put the template in that category, then a future contributor to articles that relate to the Montana Supreme Court stands a better chance of discovering that there is such a template before inadvertentently re-creating the wheel. Another reason is that if you put the template in that category, seeing it there will remind any future contributors who are embarking on a general clean-up or revision and updating of articles in that category that they might want to also buff up the template.

The "no include" option

Templates have a special feature when it comes to categories; namely, you can put a category tag on a template as a "no include" or not.

• If you don't put your template in the "no include" category, then whatever category you do put your template in will automatically cause any article you attach your template to to also appear in that category.
• Depending on the type of template you've created, this can be a good thing or a bad thing. That's why the "no include" option exists.
• Consider Template:Kansas Supreme Court. This template has two categories:

• Kansas Supreme Court
• State supreme court templates

Both categories are "no include" categories. That means that whenever you add the template {{Kansas Supreme Court}} to an article, the article won't automatically be added to those categories.

Lists of templates

• Horizontal navigational templates
• Horizontal navigational templates/U.S. Circuits
• Horizontal navigational templates/U.S. Districts
• Judgepedia:Horizontal navigational templates/Nominating president

List of requested templates

Would you like a template that doesn't already exist to be built by someone else who is more familiar with building templates?

If so, you can leave a request here for that template:

• (describe the template you'd like)
• You can also discuss a desired template on Judgepedia:Editorial discussions.
• The fastest way to get the attention of someone who is skilled at creating templates is to leave that person a note on his or her user talk page because then the next time that person logs on, he or she will automatically be alerted that there is a new message on the talk page. (If you leave a message here, it might be awhile before anyone notices it.) Madison makes a lot of templates, so try leaving a message on Madison's talk page.