Forum:Wikipedia template?

I was wondering if it was possible to use/adopt actual wikipedia templates on a wikia? I have use for some of them and they are rather difficult to make. Thank you. - Aeaolen Kicka™ 03:47, May 4, 2012 (UTC)
 * It is, but it's advised to copy the page history of the Wikipedia templates into the talk page of the template on Wikia. Also, make sure the template doesn't use any other Wikipedia templates in it.
 * What templates, BTW, do you need to use? Cat: meow ∙ hunt 05:09, May 4, 2012 (UTC)


 * Note - Not all Wikipedia templates are 100% compatable with Wikia's version of mediawiki. A lot of Wikipedia templates use many sub templates & also need a fair bit of work to 'localise them' -Importing the documentation also leades to a need for many other templates to make it work + hundreds of red links, But not having the documentation can cause problems as nobody understands how to use it, so add a 'basic' version with the usage example with a link to the full wikipedia page for more detail. (Also remember Wikipedia templates and docs change regularly - link to the 'current' page in the history so when its changed you can go back to the old copy & work out what has changed)


 * When copying pages be very carefull not to add extra line breakes and spaces or anything after the standard 'Noinclude' section at the end that has the documentation template and categories in it, as this can cause problems which are very hard to track down. Remember to remove interwiki links as 99% dont work on wikia or are irelavant. Similar named templates from other wikis may not be compatable as they may be older Wikipedia versions or have a completly differnt straucture. Infobox being the most common one as Wikias std Infobox that comes with new wikis since ~ 2009 uses a completly different structure for the dat & heading inputs to Wikipedia's std version. Some Wikipedia infoboxes use template 'infobox' for the core structure and other were created from scratch (some are rather dated code). The message box series are another that are quite complex but a 'simple' version is available on wikia.


 * And add the source as wikipedia or which ever wiki the template is copied from in the initial edit summary as it helps other user know were to look for help when problems occur later on & also attributes it as required under the cc-by-sa License - adding a hidden comment to the template and/or note on the doc page is also an option but comments can break some templates.


 * The templates Wiki on Wikia has a number of 'simplified common templates that work.


 * As User:Cat says above let us know which templates you are inteested in and we can probably advise on the issues or offer a wikia based alternative that is simpler to implement. (based on past experience of trying to get what looked like a quick fix of simply copying a wikipedia template to use on Wikia).

- IHBTD6-Drott 11:29, May 4, 2012 (UTC)


 * Thank you for the responses! I appreciate it. I need the following templates for the wikia that I run: Template:Infobox militant organization, Template:Infobox military person, Template:Infobox law enforcement agency, Template:Infobox country and Template:Infobox former country. I run a wikia based on a fictional world thus all these are relatively useful to contributing to successful historical background. - Aeaolen Kicka™ 15:25, May 4, 2012 (UTC)


 * Two use the std wikipedia Infobox template, the other 3 are built from tables (which is all an infobox is really - a 2 column table with some styling options). They are all quite big templates and several are made up of several sections. IMO to copy them you are looking at in excess of 100 templates (if you avoid the documentation as it is loaded up call to use Icon, country code and ISO templates used in the examples, or you will end up heading for the 1000+ mark). Or a large number of red links/wanted templates which are time consuming/tricky to remove from within templates without breaking them unless you understand how they work to a degree.


 * A quick look at the bottom of the page for Infobox military person shows some of the templates with it (each of those may use several others as well when you copy them) BTW Wikia has a simpler version of Documentation that dosent use the 6+ sub templates that wikipedia does. Pp-meta & pp-template etc want removing from imported templates its only to display an icon to indicate the page is locked. A few of them may actually be redirects.


 * I'd look carefully at the 'input lists' and see how many of the items you really need as they cover a vast number of options which are rarely used even on wikipedia. A simpler version of each based on a basic std infobox template may be easier to use and update long term. Look at the templates used on a few other wikis and how they are built (look in edit mode at the actual code & at what templates they use within them).


 * As you have not linked to your wiki its all in very general terms as i canot see what templates you have already and any example articles to look at. But if its for the Particracy Wiki you edit at it will have (major) problems as a lot of templates exist with the same names, some of which are broken / incomplete and other are old versions from ? sources. If other templates use them they may (probably will) break when they are changed.
 * - IHBTD6-Drott 22:24, May 4, 2012 (UTC)