Template:How to

Template documentation

Not to be confused with Template:Information.

This is the page banner template for How-to.

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

Categorization

If a page that uses this template is in the "BattleTechWiki:" or "Help:" namespace, then this template adds Category: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:

{{How to}}

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

{{How to|BTW:SHORT|BTW:LONG}}

Then it looks like this:

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:

{{How to}}
{{shortcut|BTW:SHORT|BTW:SHORT2|BTW:SHORT3|BTW:SHORT4}}

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 BattleTechWiki's norms and practices". If more than one page and/or any notes are intended, links must be manually coded, e.g.: |interprets=[[BattleTechWiki:Verifiability]] policy and the [[BattleTechWiki:Identifying reliable sources]] guideline
• |sort-by= – Specify a sort key for the category. 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:how-to. May include a category sort; example: [[Category:WikiProject Underwater Basketweaving|Article structure advice]] This parameter does not replace the Category:Essays categorization for pages in the "User:" namespace, but can be used to add them manually to Category:how-to, in addition to the automatic user category.
• |nocat=y or |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

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools.

TemplateData for How to

Template parameters

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Page	page	Guideline or other page being interpreted	Page	optional
Shortcut1	shortcut1	Shortcut to this page	Page	optional
Shortcut2	shortcut2	Shortcut to this page	Page	optional
Shortcut3	shortcut3	Shortcut to this page	Page	optional
Nocat	nocat	Any value prevents addition of project category	String	optional

See also

• {{Information page}} – the banner template for pages that are more just informational than directly instructional.
• {{Essay|interprets=}} – the banner template for pages that are more opinionated then instructional or technical; there are several parameters and variations.

Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox (create | mirror) and testcases (create) pages.
Subpages of this template.