Forum:Createplates

The following is a proposal that this community ask Wikia to enable the CreatePage/createplate function on Phineas and Ferb Wiki.
 * Original Proposal by: Topher 23:26, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

What is a createplate?
The main idea behind CreatePage is to facilitate creation of articles based on their type and structure. A user will be able to pick from a set of article types. We've called these createplates (since they're so similar to templates, yet are to be used only when creating new articles).

Each createplate, when selected, presents the user a different set of fields to fill out and then transforms the text given into a fully-fledged article.

Why use a createplate?
Many people, especially younger people, who would like to contribute get scared off by wikitext and infoboxes. By creating standard templates that feel more like a form to fill out, you'll make your wiki a more friendly and inviting place for people to add some information and ensure your information has a more standardized look and feel.

What should be a createplate?
The first thing we have to determine is what sort of article groups deserve to have createplates. The obvious answer is the same articles that we are creating infobox templates for:
 * Episodes - We want episode articles to look the same with the same headings, etc. It would also ensure that writers include the correct infobox without needing to know the "scary" wiki markup.
 * Characters - Not quite as structured, but it would mainly just be for making sure the infoboxes get included properly and pages get categorized.
 * Performers - Again, standardization is one of the keys to having a well read wiki. Performers, for the most part include an introduction paragraph about their birth, etc., then have a bunch of different headings that can all be setup using the createplate format.

Also, createplates would be useful for:
 * Songs - Useful for having things in the same order and knowing what is the community standard for different types of articles.

These are categories that have lots of articles that need to be created and lend themselves to standardization.

Implementation
Just because an article has a createplate, doesn't mean that it is mandatory to use that template for every article in such categories. Take a look at this page for an example of what we're considering at the Pirates of the Black Sea Wiki. The wiki is active, however, so please don't save edits.
 * For more information see CreatePage on Wikia Help.