Contents

Template:Wikipedia how-to

This help page is a how-to guide. It details processes or procedures of some aspect(s) of Wikipedia's norms and practices. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, and may reflect varying levels of consensus and vetting.

Shortcut [[:|{{{1}}}]]

This template adds an automatically generated short description when it is used in Wikipedia, Help, or User space. If the automatic short description is not optimal, replace it by adding {{Short description}} at the top of the article.

This is the page banner template for Wikipedia how-to.

It can be placed on top of administration pages (not-articles) when appropriate (see WP:INFOPAGES for details). This usually means pages in the "Wikipedia:" and "Help:" namespaces, but sometimes how-to guides also exist as user subpages.

Categorization

If a page that uses this template is in the "Wikipedia:" or "Help:" namespace, then this template adds Category:Wikipedia how-to to the page.

If the page is in the "User:" namespace, it will be put into Category:User essays. If your page is just a draft, please use the |nocat= parameter to prevent categorization, until it is finished.

If it is in some other namespace, it will not be auto-categorized, and it may be in the wrong place.

Usage

This template can be used as is, like this:

{{Wikipedia how-to}}

But it can also take up to three shortcuts as parameters. It then displays a small shortcut box inside it. Like this:

{{Wikipedia how-to|WP:SHORT|WP:LONG}}

Then it looks like this:

This help page is a how-to guide. It details processes or procedures of some aspect(s) of Wikipedia's norms and practices. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, and may reflect varying levels of consensus and vetting.

Shortcuts WP:SHORT WP:LONG

If you want to feed more than one or two shortcuts then the shortcut box becomes too high, which doesn't look good. In such a case it is better to use a {{shortcut}} box directly below this template, like this:

Optional parameters

• |1=or|sc1=, |shortcut1=, |shortcut=, or first unnamed parameter – First shortcut. Don't include [[...]] linking brackets in this or other shortcut parameters.
• |2=or|sc2=, |shortcut2=, or first unnamed parameter – Second shortcut
• |3=or|sc3=, |shortcut3=, or first unnamed parameter – Third shortcut (deprecated; please use separate Template:Shortcut for three or more)
• |interprets=or|page=or|pages= – Specify name of page (policy, process, etc.) that this essay provides advice about. For a single page, it is not necessary to include [[...]] linking brackets;. This will replace the wording "some aspect or aspects of Wikipedia's norms and practices". If more than one page and/or any notes are intended, links must be manually coded, e.g.: |interprets=[[Wikipedia:Verifiability]] policy and the [[Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources]] guideline
• |sort-by= – Specify a sort key for the category. For example, if the how-to page is Wikipedia:Producing maps with xplanet and you want it category-sorted to appear under "X", use |sort-by=Xplanet, Producing maps with. This has no effect on the user essays category.
• |category= – Specify a complete wikilink (i.e, do include the [[...]] linking brackets) to one or more categories to override the default Category:Wikipedia how-to. May include a category sort; example: [[Category:WikiProject Underwater Basketweaving|Article structure advice]] This parameter does not replace the Category:User essays categorization for pages in the "User:" namespace, but can be used to add them manually to Category:Wikipedia how-to, in addition to the automatic user category.
• |nocat=yor|demo=y – Bypass all categorization, when the template is used for demo purposes, e.g. in template documentation, on talk pages, etc.
• |style= – Pass arbitrary CSS to the Template:Ombox base template that this template uses.

TemplateData

See also

• {{How-to}} – the cleanup/dispute tag for articles written in a "how-to" style.
• {{Information page}} – the banner template for pages that are more just informational than directly instructional like WP:GOV.
• {{Essay|interprets=}} – the banner template for pages that are more opinionated then instructional or technical; there are several parameters and variations.
• {{Supplement|interprets=}} – to tag a well-established page that adds something to a policy or guideline, to make up for a deficiency, and when it is referenced in the guideline or policy like WP:BRD.
• Wikipedia:Template messages/Project namespace – for other "Wikipedia:"-namespace banner templates.