All The Tropes:Page Templates: Difference between revisions

In case it's not obvious, All The Tropes tries to have a consistent style across similar pages. All Works pages (and their subpages) should have the same features, all Trope pages likewise, and so on. To this end, we have a predefined set of page templates called "boilerplates" which layoutlay out the basic structure of the various page types.

If you create a new page with the "Create New" button that appears as part of the menu that can be found at the top of most pages, the correct boilerplate will be pre-loaded for you into the page editor. (If it isn't, please let the ATT Staff know in the [[Forum:Tech Wishlist And Bug Reports|Tech Wishlist And Bug Reports forum]].) However, if you are creating a page from scratch -- say, from clicking a [[Red Link]], or choosing "Edit (or create)Create this page" from a search results page that did not find what you were looking for -- you will have to select the correct boilerplate yourself before proceeding.

This is done very easily. Whenever you create a brand-new page, above the edit box will be a dropdown menu entitled "Select boilerplate". (See the illustration to the right.) Select the appropriate page type from the list and click the "Load" button, and the boilerplate will be loaded into the editor. You can change your mind, but be aware that changing the boilerplate will delete everything you may have already typed into the page; you will be asked if you really want leave the page and effectively open a new one when you do.

Most of the boilerplates come with at least two [[Help:Categories|categories]] predefined as part of the page footer template built into it -- the base page name plus whatever type of page it is (Work, Trope, Trivia, etc.). It is your responsibility when creating the page to add any other appropriate categories.

Also, when creating entirely new works, creators and tropes, you will also need to create their categories. These will show up as [[Red Link]]s in the category bar at the bottom of the page once you save it; click the link, populate the resulting new page with the [[MediaWiki:Index|Index Page]] boilerplate, and save the page. That's all you need to do.

When proposing a trope, use this template and not the "Tropes Page" boilerplate. Use thisthe "Tropes Page" boilerplate only when [[About/Pages Needing Restoration|restoring trope pages]] lost either to [[TV Tropes]]' censorship or during our moves between wiki farms.

The main page types -- Works, Trope Workshop and Creators -- all come with "stub" flags on them: <code><nowiki>{{workstub}}</nowiki></code>, <code><nowiki>{{tropestub}}</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>{{creatorstub}}</nowiki></code>. These add a banner to the page identifying it as the "start" of a larger article, and asking for contributions. It is ''not'' mandatory to keep these. If you feel your new page is sufficiently complete, you can delete them. You won't be penalized if someone disagrees with you.

The following boilerplates are available on All The Tropes as of AugustOctober 20162020:

* [[Template:FA Blurb|Featured Article Blurb]]<ref>Included for completeness. WhileWe have not accepted new [[Featured Article]]s for several years as of this writing because of the unexpected overhead the function imposed on the wiki servers. Plus, while this will create a page with the basic form of a [[Featured Article]] blurb, be aware that saving such a page does not in fact ''make'' a new Featured Article. This is something that only the Wiki Administrators can do.</ref>

* [[MediaWiki:TropesTropesWorkshop|Tropes Page]]<ref>Do not use this to create a new trope. New tropes start with the Trope Workshop boilerplate. <s>Use this boilerplate only when [[About/Pages Needing Restoration|restoring lost trope pages]].</s> Since people kept ignoring this footnote, this boilerplace now duplicates the Trope Workshop boilerplate.</ref>

Note that this list is alphabetized by page type. The boilerplate drop down list is organized by first main page types, followed by subpage types.