Forum:Infobox templates: how do I get started?

So I am trying to create a basic infobox template for my wikia. I've got the basic concept of templates figured out, but I am intimidated by the mountains of code I see on template pages. What I am trying to do is pretty simple: the wikia is about the stories my siblings and I made up about our stuffed animals when we were little. For each animal's page, I want to make an infobox with the animals name at the top, a photograph off the animal below it, and then a number of fields to fill in with the animal's age, job, marital status, species, etc.

I've read all the help pages on templates and infoboxes, but I still can't make it work. I've even tried copying other people's code, but for some reason the page always shows up blank. How do I start out if I want to do something like this?

http://kingdom.wikia.com/wiki/Kingdom_Wiki --Wuggs 02:07, 20 June 2009 (UTC)


 * The template you copied was really not a simple one. It seems to contain many unnescessary code. — TulipVorlax 07:47, 20 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I dont know if it can help but, the following two templates i've done from scratch each time, adding features one at a time :
 * http://fractal.wikia.com/wiki/Template:Software
 * http://roseonline.wikia.com/wiki/Template:Item
 * It's not a good idea to copy templates because you get a lot of unescessary code. — TulipVorlax 07:56, 20 June 2009 (UTC)
 * (Forgot to say, i know copying might be the only way for starters — TulipVorlax 07:57, 20 June 2009 (UTC))


 * If you want my advice, don't copy from bigger wikis, especially Wikipedia. They have templates inside other templates, inside other templates. If you want to get one from Wikipedia, you'll end up importing quite a few more templates than you need. If infoboxes confuse you, look at this example on Wikia templates, copy it and this one as well, fill out the parameters, change the colours, and you'll be good. Hope that helps. Wjxhuang,  the 888th Avatar  {Talk} 08:10, 20 June 2009 (UTC)