Forum:Articles as templates
There are articles that share the exact same info, and I wonder: why have it pasted in two locations? That's wasted memory, and when editing, you have to go to all the copies in order to update the text.
The solution would be to make a template, but, well, I think things like a paragraph or whatever don't deserve to become templates, and they will be used only in 2-3 articles.
And here I got my idea, for which I'll be asking permission since it seems it hasn't been applied in the wowwiki, only in same pages, like templates when adding information.
My idea is to subpage content on some articles, and link it. For example:
We have an article with text and whatever, and we want to have some part of the content in other page, too, so we take that information we want to share and paste it at ArticleName/Whatever. Then, we go back to the article and we put {{:ArticleName/Whatever}} where the text was placed. Then, we go to the other article where we wanted to paste that already existing info and we put {{:ArticleName/Whatever}} again.
Also, there are no problems, since the info can be edited from both articles, with no need of going to the subpage. We would only need to advertise about the section being a shared one, and not adding content inside it unless it fits with all the sharing pages.
Am I allowed to do this, or should I create templates for this or copy-paste? I don't think templates are the answer, just because, well, most of the cases are o just 2 pages sharing the info.--Lon-ami (talk) 14:49, 28 July 2009 (UTC)
- Depends on what the information is. You really should consider why you are duplicating content at all and whether it would be better to have the information just show up on one page and have the others link to it, not include it. --Pcj (T•C) 14:51, 28 July 2009 (UTC)
- One example would be the lists of comics. There's a page listing WoW's and Ashbringer's, and then, inside WoW's and Ashbringer's, there's a list of the comics under that name.
- I'll make an example and show you, wait a second.--Lon-ami (talk) 15:04, 28 July 2009 (UTC)
- Done, see the example at:
- I'm unsure if no-include functions could be used, to add an explanation in the subpage. Must check.--Lon-ami (talk) 15:09, 28 July 2009 (UTC)
- And what if you want to see all the comics in a single page? It would be annoying to have to open each page.
- Also, this could work for W3 spells, too, if some day we decide to make an article with all of them, that already are at each caster's page.--Lon-ami (talk) 15:20, 28 July 2009 (UTC)
- No-include works. I'd ask for an "official" information phrase. I put:
- This is a subpage of an article, used as template for more than one article. Please check all of them before editing it, to avoid inappropriate contributions.
- We should write a definitive one, make it a template with an attached category and apply it to all the subpages.--Lon-ami (talk) 15:34, 28 July 2009 (UTC)