Forum:How to write templates and stuff...
Just wondered whether it's better to write
[[Image]]{{Template
or
[[Image]]
{{Template
Just thought I'd ask about this, since otherwise we'll just keep changing this back and forth. Neither has different effects, and it's not important, but which of the sources do you think look the best?
Examples are Feed your Reprehensible Lizard a treat and Something tapping at the window. Also, while talking about it, would you prefer to write {{Template:Action}} or {{Action}}? Both seem to be possible, but I think the latter looks more appealing in source.
It doesn't make much difference, but convenient to know when making new pages =)
— Aximillio (talk) 21:26, May 15, 2013 (UTC)
You've probably noticed my tendency to move the templates up till they're nesting beside the main image (like in your first example). It usually makes no difference, but there are a few rare instances when images & text won't align properly unless you move the template to the first line of source code. I want to avoid future instances of misalignment in case templates undergo a change which heavily impacts display; it's simply my paranoid editing habit. On an average Published page, templates are supposed to initiate their display at the 1st line, so I place them the same way in Source.
It normally doesn't make a lick of difference, even in mobile mode: add "?useskin=wikiamobile" (no quotes) to the end of a wikia.com web address to see what I mean.
Your second example looks neater and it's easier for a beginner editor to visually digest. I actually used to move the templates down to the second line of source code for this specific reason... That is, till I stumbled into some situations where it negatively affected a Published page's aesthetics. Then I stopped. :P Again, it rarely matters. Just take care to examine a Published page after you've edited something and things will work out. After all, Previews don't always show 100% accuracy.
As for starting templates with the word "Template:" in Source, I prefer the shorter version which excludes the word. It's faster to type out, but I worry that it confuses some editors when they view source code. To beginners, it's not obvious a template is a template. This is a minor concern, though. If we explain it in Editing Guidelines and/or the Templates page, people should understand.
ZDee (talk) 23:10, May 15, 2013 (UTC)
I'm the one who's been moving the templates down. I thought that it both looks better and is easier on the editor when two "commands" are on different levels. I didn't know that it could lead to misalignment of images and text. However, now that I know better I'll stop moving the template down. Sorry for the inconvenience. Vae Victis (talk) 23:28, May 15, 2013 (UTC)
BTW, I'm also making a single line of space between any bulleted listings becasue in my earlier edits I saw that sometimes the bullets don't align with the picture. Is that OK? Should I stop?
P.S. ZDee, did you record over 2000 runs with a single action? Good fellow! Vae Victis (talk) 23:56, May 15, 2013 (UTC)
No need to apologize! I wasn't referring to you. Heck, I didn't even know you were doing it! It seriously doesn't affect a Published page 99% of the time. (I don't think it affects the mobile pages, either. Admittedly, I've only checked a dozen of those, so I don't really know what helps or doesn't help their proper display.)
If we ever start using super fancy tables and such stuff en masse, it could -- maybe, possibly, but not right now -- be an issue. It's just a vague possibility. I only ran into problems a handful of times (think single digit), and that was my own fault back then, haha. I fixed everything up nice, though. Jemann probably doesn't even know... Okay, well, he does now 'cause I just blabbed about it, but he certainly didn't say anything back then.
I always leave a space between bulleted listings. It's consistent with the wiki's style, and I think icons look better with that gap between them.
Yeah, including failures, it was ~2,300 total runs. It was done across a couple different characters, though. Over the course of a month... Not on one character with a mind towards insanity. :P
ZDee (talk) 00:07, May 16, 2013 (UTC)
Ah, good for me to read this. I'm usually doing minor edits to the pages, I'll keep to this agreed upon style. I typically include breaks so it's visually easier for other wiki editors.
Bertrandwins (talk) 1:44, June 9, 2013 (UTC)
I may agree that the lists look kinda better with a little more space between the items, BUT in the source (the HTML source) each item is in its own list (like this: <ul><li>item</li></ul> <ul><li>item</li></ul> <ul><li>item</li></ul> ... ). Because a break after an item means that the list has ended. I guess it doesn't matter a lot, and since the list items here pretty much everywhere have a space between them then I follow the same style here, but personally it bothers me that the HTML is, well, wrong. Also there's some (very) minor chance that someone reads this Wikia with a screen-reader (if they're blind/have terrible eyesight, tho then they're probably not playing FL), and screen-readers would read those lists here like each item is a new list. (Something like, "A list -- (item blah blah) -- end list -- a list -- (item blah blah) -- end list -- a list ... ) --DrinkKryptonitetalk 04:43, June 9, 2013 (UTC)
It's not just that the list looks better, but that without enough spacing sometimes the items would climb on each others pictures. Since the items' small images aren't all that small we need to keep enough space between them. The coding may be bad, but it's for a good reason :) Vae Victis (talk) 22:58, June 9, 2013 (UTC)
