Please do not use redirects or shortcuts for this template, as they cause problems with theshort description editing gadget and other maintenance tools.
Template:Short description is used to add ashort description (which can be edited from within Wikipedia) to a Wikipedia page. These descriptions appear in Wikipedia searches and elsewhere, and help users identify the desired article.
Usage
{{Short description|Write your short description here}}
This should be limited to about 40 characters, as explained atWP:SDFORMAT, along with the other guidance atWP:SDCONTENT.
The short description of the article or 'none'. It should be limited to about 40 characters.
Example
Endangered species of South American fish
Content
required
No replace?
2
Should be unused or 'noreplace'. Templates with noreplace will not replace a short description defined by an earlier template. Mainly for use within transcluded templates.
Suggested values
noreplace
Auto value
noreplace
String
optional
pagetype
pagetype
The type of page. This puts it in the appropriate category - Things with short description. Normally unneeded, since handled through namespace detection.
Example
Redirect, Disambiguation page
String
optional
About writing good short descriptions
This page is about the short descriptiontemplate; it does not provide guidelines for writing a good short description. If you plan to use this template, you should make sure you read and follow the detailed guidance atWP:HOWTOSD. General information can be found atWikipedia:Short description.
Template information
Eventually all articles should have a short description:
by directly using this template, in which case the short description will be unique to the article
transcluded in another template, such as a disambiguation template, where a generic short description is adequate for a large class of pages
where the short description is assembled from data in an infobox
Automatically generated descriptions within templates should set the second parameter asnoreplace so they do not override any short descriptions specifically added to the transcluding article.
Short descriptions are not normally needed for non-article pages, such as redirects, but can be added if useful.
If the article title alone is sufficient to ensure reliable identification of the desired article, a null value of{{Short description|none}} may be used.
Short descriptions do not necessarily serve the same function as the Wikidata description for an item and they do not have to be the same, but some overlap is expected in many cases. Some Wikidata descriptions may be unsuitable, and if imported must be checked for relevance, accuracy and fitness for purpose. Responsibility for such imports lies with the importer.(See alsoWikidata:Help:Description.)
Example
AtOxygen therapy, add the following at the very top of the article, above everything else:
{{Short description|Use of oxygen as medical treatment}}
Testing
For testing purposes, the display of this template can be enabled by adding a line to yourSpecial:MyPage/common.css:
.shortdescription{display:block!important;}
This can be easily removed or disabled when testing is finished.
If you want toalways see short descriptions, you may prefer a more utilitarian layout, such as:
{{short description/test|Underwater diving where breathing is from equipment independent of the surface}} →Underwater diving where breathing is from equipment independent of the surface
{{short description/test|none}} →
{{short description/test|wikidata}} →underwater diving where the diver breathes from apparatus (scuba) which is completely independent of surface supply
Pagetype parameter
If{{{Pagetype}}} isnot set, then this template adds the article to a category based on the namespace:
Other templates and gadgets attempt to extract short descriptions from pages by explicitly searching for the transclusions of the{{Short description}} template.
For example,{{Annotated link}} searches for the template in its uppercase "Short description" and lowercase form "short description"; either form is acceptable.
Do not start the template with a space:{{ Short description.... While this does create a valid short description, the space will prevent searches for the{{Short description... text.
