Forum:Are there any easy resources for template creation?

I want to get the hellblazer.wikia.com site kickstarted, but to do so I need to set up templates for the various places, characters and objects - rather like the comic book character templates seen on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Constantine. Unfortunately, the template help given on Wikia and Wikipedia is like so much gibberish to me. Are there any good webpages (preferably step-by-step guides with visuals) that will help me create and style a template?

Alternatively, would any kind soul be able to go on the site and create templates to my specifications? I get the impression that this stuff is dead easy once you know it, but I'll be buggered if I can work out where to start... Mister Six 10:45, August 30, 2010 (UTC)
 * Templates get easier once you learn how they work, etc. I'd suggest you head to http://templates.wikia.com - which is a wiki dedicated to storing templates for other wikis - and have a look round, feel free to copy the code to your own to make the templates you want. If you need additional help, just ask here -- Random Time  11:10, August 30, 2010 (UTC)


 * Personally I learned templates by copying a small template with only one parameter to a user sub-page and then messed around with the code, while asking a few questions either here, on #wikia IRC or a more experienced editor on the wiki. I'll have to agree with you, I didn't use the help pages much. Duskey ( talk ) 12:05, August 30, 2010 (UTC)


 * You need to learn templates, keeping track of complicated templates requires some experience in formatting and reading code, and you need to know some tricks (such as when to use Template:!).
 * A simple Template:infobox would usually look like this:


 * You'd call this infobox with


 * Feel free to rename "data1" etc. to something more sensible.


 * You also need to learn styling, that typically means learning "Cascading Style Sheets" (CSS) version 2. You'll find lots of resources for that on the web.
 * In the case of my example, you might set styles for
 * table.infobox (table borders, margin, background, font and text alignment, also float:right)
 * .infobox th (section header formatting)
 * .infobox td (cell formatting, borders etc.)
 * These should be either in MediaWiki:common.css (for all skins) or in MediaWiki:skin.css, where "skin" is monobook, monaco or oasis. (E.g. Oasis should probably have float:left instead of float:right). -- ◄mendel► 21:21, August 30, 2010 (UTC)