Forum:Template issue

If I see a useful template on another wiki, like a template that allows you to use other templates can I just create the same template on my wiki? Or do I need to ask permission or put a references topic on the page? If I do need to include the info that the template came from another wiki can I put that info on the templates talk page? Cuz when I try to put it in the Template page it messes with the templates coding. Progmansp 15:57, March 21, 2010 (UTC)

You can just copy it, as far as I know (I do at least). Even though you may just give credits out of courtesy.

Also, you can just use [noinclude] and [/noinclude] (replace the [] with <>) to add extra information, categories, etc. Although most people use documentation templates in that case. -- Light Daxter  - User - Talk 16:10, March 21, 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. I hope your right.Progmansp 16:15, March 21, 2010 (UTC)


 * You should give the source credit under the wikia license to others material any way. templates are a slight anomaly in that most are based on others from other sites such as Wikipedia and the core Mediawiki software 'home' site anyway. The way of crediting the source i've copied the base template from is to give an edit summary when creating it e.g "Created from Wikipedia template of same name" (or "Created from template xyz on abc wikia" if it has a different name on the wiki).  This is then permanently in the history of the page for any editor looking to update the page they can see the origins and also know were (date wise) to go back to at the source to see any changes. (what i should really also do is save it without modifications first then customise it for 'my' wikia's use so the diffs are easier to see and fix if required, but most of the changes are just removing / updating wikipedia directed URLs and links to non existent (local) pages that were on the source wiki site).


 * Note: documentation pages from wikipedia can cause issues as they often call many other (sub) templates which can result in importing an ever expanding number of templates. Wikipedia documentation system has been updated recently and is far more complex than the wikia 'light version'.


 * NOT all wikipedia templates are compatible and some wikia templates use very advanced coding on the bigger sites. - BulldozerD11 12:58, March 23, 2010 (UTC)


 * Also, some complex templates make heavy use of CSS, javascript or custom extensions, so they may not be easily copied. -- Fandyllic  (talk &middot; contr) 4:35 AM PST 25 Mar 2010