FFXIclopedia:How to use the Item Template and other useful Editing Tips

Welcome new users and old, to my guide. I am Chrisjander, Jr Administrator, and otherwise FFXIclopedia Mentor. You've probably been directed to the Item Template to help you edit pages correctly, only to find that you've run into a confusing mess of code. Well, no need to fear. In this guide, I'll be going thru this "template" section by section to explain how to use it to create the perfect item page. There are many different types of items out there, and many different ways to edit them, so I'll just take you through it step-by-step.

First, I'll explain the sections. You will want to hit the Edit button on your template to see the code behind this, because it is likely this that you will be copying and pasting as you base. You have the top section, the Statistics, Other Uses, Sythesis Recipe, Used in Recipe, Desynthesis Recipe, Obtained from Desythesis, and finally, How to Obtain. Each section, with the exception of the top, is marked by two equal signs

 ==Statistics== 

and has various coding that may be confusing nearby. Don't worry, I'll be explaining what it means right now. Each section is split into either the left or the right column, and to get this columns, that's what all that code is for. For now, lets take the top section

The Top Section
[[Category:]] {|cellpadding="5" width="100%" |width="50%" valign="top" align="left"|

Lets start with the first line:

[[Category:]]

This first line is for you to categorize the item. Most of these are self explainitory; If its a weapon, you put weapon, if its armor, put armor. But some are more ambiguous. Allow me to help. For a Weapon, you want two or more things, but two are essential; The weapons category, and the sub category.

This is what you'd put for a one handed sword. Also, if the item is crafted, we put the craft(s) that make it.

The same will go for armor, as well as any item that is crafted. If an item is simply a base material (such as an Ingot) you can add it to the Materials category as well as the craft.

Next comes some confusing bit of code. Its actually threaded throughout the template, so I'll remove it for you.

This is the column code. Its what separates the sections into columns. " " is the code at the top that tells the template not to include a Table of Contents. If you have a picture, place it after this line; If you don't, insert   instead. The item stub will automatically add your item to a list of articles that need pictures, so someone else can come back and add one.

The next bit of code is the actual columnation code. The first two lines are important, because they start the code. The |} at the end tells the article to stop using columns at that point. That little bit also is used to end tables. The " |width="50%" valign="top" align="left"| " line tells the article to make a new column. Anything under it will be in that new column. Also note there's something there in the line that says width="50%". That means your column will take up 50% of the page, hence why there is room for two columns. Now for the important, often overlooked bit; The " |- " means "go to the next line", making another row, so you don't want to delete this.

Now that I've showed you what not to delete, lets move on to the Statistics section.

The Statistics Section
==Statistics==     All Races DEF: DMG: Delay: Lv. 0 WAR / MNK / WHM / BLM / RDM / THF PLD / DRK / BST / BRD / RNG / SAM NIN / DRG / SMN / BLU / COR / PUP Damage Per Second: 0.00 TP Per Hit: 0.00% |width="50%" valign="top" align="left"|

The Statistics section is arguably (and the community has argued over it) the most important section next to How to Obtain. It shows everyone what the item is, and what it can do. This includes a description of the item, if its not armor or a weapon, as well as information like damage per second, shield type, and other things pertaining to what the weapons can do (not what it can be used for). The item template shows you the most complex example of statistics, and that's weapons. Things that are included in carots "< >" are meant to be replaced. I'll just go over each type of item in detail to help you edit this section, starting with weapons.

Weapons have alot to talk about, since they have an extra section, Damage per Second and TP per Hit. Here's an example of a weapon statistics section, and the code behind it.

Gluttony Sword (Sword) All Races DMG: 44 Delay: 295 STR -1 DEX -1 VIT +7 AGI -1 INT -1 MND -1 CHR -1 Lv. 57 WAR / PLD / DRK Damage Per Second: 8.94 TP Per Hit: 2.78%

Gluttony Sword (Sword) All Races DMG: 44 Delay: 295 STR -1 DEX -1 VIT +7 AGI -1 INT -1 MND -1 CHR -1 Lv. 57 WAR / PLD / DRK Damage Per Second: 8.94 TP Per Hit: 2.78%

Notice, we bold the stat, but we do not bold the number. Also, since we try to get this to look like the picture of the item itself, we use colons only on DMG and Delay (just like in FFXI). At the end of a line, when you want to have it go to the next line, you put    at the end, as you may see in the example.

You may notice   near the item name. You may remember the   code from earlier, when we used   , and its very similar. When you use   around a name, it called a Template. Yes yes, I know we can the Item Template a template, but its really just an article with the name template. A real template in wiki is like a little program that tells the article to insert something preprogramed. In this case, the template   tells the article to put the little picture  where we insert the template, as well as add the item to.

Making Armor is much the same, except you do not include the Damage per Second and TP per Hit lines, since they do not apply.

Making other items isn't so easy. There's no example to go off of. Have no fear, here you go.

Square of Rheiyoh Leather A square of leather made from the  skin of a variety of deer found in  countries to the south. Stackable: 12

Square of Rheiyoh Leather A square of leather made from the  skin of a variety of deer found in  countries to the south. Stackable: 12

When an item just has a description, we still make it look like it does in the picture. But since it has no "Stats" per se, we just add the quote in the box, add two lines with    and then add whether it stacks or not.

This seems to conclude the statistics section, so lets move on to Other Uses.