Community:Templates

Conditions for Templating

Editors should avoid creating or editing system templates without consulting with an administrator or discussing it with the community (such as on a talk page or on the forums), as system templates are usually considerable volatile and difficult to maintain if done wrong. Both Visual and Data Templates however are open for editors to create as they see the need for it, although with more of a freedom allowance for data templates than visual templates (Visual Templates should not be attempted by someone without a history of visual design on the wiki, unless they have consulted with staff/community on the matter). It is good practice to apply Data Templates using the Datafield Template, so that editors can easily update the value when required, although this won't occur in every case. Obviously, any Data Template with a Datafield is open for edit by anyone (why it has that template in the first place). It is also always good that, regardless of template, editors should carefully check if their template exists already before creating one.