Editing Help:Template (section)

====Creating====

To create a template, choose an appropriate name, navigate to that page, then click the "Edit" tab or create a new page as needed.

Templates are normally placed in the [[WP:Template namespace|template namespace]], though you can place a template intended for your own personal use or for experimentation in your own [[WP:User pages|user space]].

Before creating a template, do a quick search for existing templates (such as by exploring [[:Category:Wikipedia templates]]) to see if there is already a template that does what you want or a similar template whose code can be copied and modified (or left in place and expanded). Look for generic templates on which the new template can be based; for example, you can create a [[WP:Navbox|navbox]] template easily by creating a brief template that calls the generic [[Template:Navbox]].

There is no hard rule about what name to choose for a template—make it short but reasonably descriptive. The [[Wikipedia:Template namespace|naming guideline]] says: "Template function should be clear from the template name". If similar templates exist, try to follow a consistent naming pattern. You can rename a template without breaking existing [[Help:Transclusion|transclusions]] (what is called ''breakage'') by leaving a [[WP:Redirect|redirect]] to the new template name.