Help:Templates

The wiki provides templates for common tasks.

Those templates can range from simple to complex, being almost invisible to the end-user to provide a complete harmonized template between articles.

In addition to the visual aspect, using some templates will automatically file and categorize articles in ways indispensable to the end-users.

Available templates

These templates are meant to be used across the whole wiki.

There are other section-specific templates, and templates for internal use available too.

Status notices

Status notices are essential to our own housekeeping, as well as making the reader aware of certain caveats related to articles. They generally prompt the reader to contribute, edit, navigate or otherwise exercise caution when reading a certain article or section.

Template	Example	Notes
`{{disambiguation}}`	⤧︎ Disambiguation: Not to be confused with Help:Help.	Sometimes a single page can refer to more than one thing; use this template to link to the other pages
`{{merge}}`	⤟︎ This article or section is a candidate for merging with Help:Help. Further information may be found in the relevant discussion page.	If two pages are closely related, they might become merge candidates. Use this template to propose a page merger
`{{cleanup}}`	⚟︎ This article or section needs cleanup. Please edit the article, paying special attention to fixing any formatting issues, inconsistencies, grammar, or phrasing. Make sure to consult the Manual of Style for guidance.	Use this to mark articles or pages that don't follow the Manual of Style
`{{low quality}}`	⍼︎ This article or section is of low quality. Further information may be found in the related discussion page. Editors that are knowledgeable in this area are encouraged to expand it, otherwise this page could become a candidate for deletion.	Use this template to mark articles that are poorly written, are not substantial enough, or that have big issues and don't meet our standards of quality
`{{expand}}`	☶︎ This article or section needs to be expanded. Further information may be found in the related discussion page. Please consult the pedia article metapage for guidelines on contributing.	Use this template to mark articles that contain too little information
`{{outdated}}`	⏲︎︎ This article or section is outdated. Further information might be found in the corresponding discussion. Please remove this notice once the information has been updated.	When the information in an article becomes stale, you can use this template to prompt the user to take the information with a grain of salt, and prompt other editors to contribute by updating it.
`{{delete}}`	✖︎︎ This article is a deletion candidate. Further information may be found on the related discussion page.	When the relevance of an article can be disputed, or is otherwise not needed on the wiki, it can be proposed for deletion. In that case, this template is to be used.

Notice templates

In general, there are two kinds of notes you can use: big and small notices. Small notices integrate well within the flow of the text, and are meant to convey information that shouldn't distract too much from the reading flow. The table below shows the main small notes available:

Template	Example	Notes
`{{note}}`	Note: This is some important information	To be used for important information that shouldn't break the reading flow.
`{{aside}}`	Sidenote: This information is not that important.	To be used for related information that is not essential for the main body of an article.

Big notices are purposefully disruptive, and are meant to capture a reader's attention. Use these to convey information that should be read first, especially when the user is glancing over a page without reading it in detail.

Template	Example	Notes
`{{tip}}`	🟆︎ Tip: Something you might easily miss	To be used for quick reminders that users often miss.
`{{info}}`	ⓘ︎ Note: Some key information you should be aware of	To be used for bringing key information to the reader's attention.
`{{warning}}`	⚠︎ Warning: This information is highly important.	To be used for marking potentially dangerous, disruptive or destructive actions.
`{{security Warning}}`	🛡︎︎ Security information: This information is paramount.	To be used for marking key security concerns.

Prefab tips

Common repeated tips in template form.

{{evaluate}} reminder to evaluate a NixOS configuration with nixos-rebuild.
{{unfree}} a note that a package is unfree, with a link for more help.

Formatting

Misc. prefabs

{{app}} for a card with details about an application.
{{man}} to refer to a man page (and section).

Code and commands

{{commands}} for a list of commands.
{{file}} for a formatted code block with a filename header.
Prefer the SyntaxHighlight extension with e.g. <syntaxhighlight lang="nix"></syntaxhighlight> otherwise.

These are more raw implementation blocks. They are not recommended for broad use.

{{ic}} for inline code.
{{bc}} for a block of code.

Nix, Nixpkgs and NixOS

These helpers link to specific project parts.

Nix

{{nix:option}} links to a given Nix option documentation.
{{Nix Manual}} links to the Nix manual (with optional chapter and version).

Nixpkgs

{{Nixpkgs Link}} links to a given Nixpkgs file (with optional revision).
{{Nixpkgs Manual}} links to the Nixpkgs manual (with optional chapter and version).

NixOS

{{nixos:package}} links to a given NixOS package search result.
{{nixos:option}} links to a given NixOS option search result.
{{NixOS Manual}} links to the NixOS manual (with optional chapter and version).

Page construction

Templates helping in building pages with common forms.

{{lowercase title}} to lowercase the first character of a page name.
{{main}} to refer back to a main article.
{{PrefixIndex}} to add a list of pages starting with a given prefix.

Visual Guidelines

The icons used are from Breeze, the default icon set of KDE.

Since the icons from Breeze are used, the colours from HIG, which is the Breeze Color Palette are used.

Sometimes, there isn't an icon in the Breeze theme that can be used for the purpose. In this case, alternative free and open source icons can be used. Once a stand-in is used, someone with the necessary skills can create the needed icon in the breeze style.

Magic words

Main article: Help:Magic words

There are a number of syntax elements in MediaWiki that have special functionality, usually relevant to how the page is presented to the reader, but also useful in template development. Read more on the magic words help page.