Q: What is a Template? Do I need them? How do I use them?
Templates are reusable markup that can be applied to your page. They might be compared to VBA functions in the sense that you call them, sometimes with a parameter, and the return something to you. There's all sorts of things that templates can be used for. DisplayBoxes for instance are template driven. While you can write the markup to create a display box directly from your page, templates allow you to use a predefined format, with which you just pass it the text you want to appear inside the box, and the template "returns" all the markup required to make it happen as the page is displayed.

Templates are not a requirement for wiki editing, although it is recommended to be familiarized with them as they can make your editing life a lot easier. Anything that can be created and return via a template can be done directly on the page without using the template, so if there's concerns about them, feel free to disregard them.

To find more information about how to use templates, visit the help topic: Help:Templates. This article gives a description of how to call templates and supply parameters.

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