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 | This page in a nutshell: Templates can be useful, but not every subject needs one created for it. |
Templates on Wikipedia are meant to provide useful information and navigation across articles for a specific subject. The most common form of templates on Wikipedia are
- navigational templates: also known as navboxes, connect related articles pertaining to a specific topic
- infoboxes: normally found at the top-right corner of articles, where they present a summary of some unifying aspects that articles share, and sometimes improve navigation to other interrelated articles
- sidebars: vertical navigation templates, usually found on the right-side of articles.
While these three forms of templates are useful and necessary, they are created for a specific purpose. Thus, not every subject on Wikipedia needs a template created for it.
Articles that qualify as being notable don't necessarily warrant navboxes, infoboxes, and sidebars. The same standard applies to categories being created for the article mainspace. Templates and categories should only be created if it helps to navigate and classify articles that are related to one another. Templates created for every subject would go against template creep which clutters articles when templates for the broader subject can do the same job. Avoiding redundancy is a key part of the process. Two heads are better than one, but two templates are usually not.