JKN: 1 revision

2013-01-23T14:42:09Z

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SMcCandlish: typo

2012-11-19T20:31:10Z

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{{Documentation subpage}}


==Usage==
This template is to help facilitate the displaying of variable names (in mathematics, computer source code, etc.) with the [[Semantic markup|semantically correct]] <code><nowiki><var>...</var></nowiki></code>, which also renders the variable in italics, as is customary. This method is preferred to simply italicizing, for [[WP:Accessibility|accessibility]], [[Separation of presentation and content|content/presentation separation]], [[semantic Web]], and [[WP:METADATA|metadata]] reasons; [[[XHTML|X]]][[HTML]]'s <code><nowiki><var></nowiki></code> element has semantic meaning, while simple italicization does not. "Variable" in this sense may include arbitrary or unknown names or terms, example human input, arithmetical variables in equations, etc. This template (and the underlying XHTML) are generally {{em|not}} used if MediaWiki's {{tag|math}} (or any other stand-alone mathematical markup) are being used.

Example:

:<code><nowiki>{{var|username}}</nowiki></code>

outputs

:<code><nowiki><var>username</var></nowiki></code>

which renders as:

:{{var|username}}

compare to simple <code><nowiki>''username''</nowiki></code> italicization:

:''username''

When used alone as variables, the letters "I" (upper-case "i") and "l" (lower-case "L") should be rendered with {{tlx|varserif}} instead of {{tnull|var}}, to make them more distinguishable: {{varserif|I}}, {{varserif|l}}.

More examples:

* {{tnull|kbd|1{{=}}ssh <nowiki>{{var|hostname}}</nowiki>}} with {{tnull|samp|%}}: "At the {{samp|%}} prompt, the user must enter {{kbd|1=ssh {{var|hostname}}}}."
* Inside {{tag|code}} and {{tnull|kbd}}: "The commandline should read: <code>% {{kbd|1=ssh {{var|hostname}}}}</code> (where {{var|hostname}} is the IP address or domain name of the system to connect to); if this is correct, press {{key press|Enter}}."

Some of these examples may look slightly different outside this documentation, because the default background color varies by page type (articles are stark white, template documentation pale green, most other pages very pale grey). In-article example:

<div style="background:#FFFFFF;">:
* {{tnull|kbd|1{{=}}ssh <nowiki>{{var|hostname}}</nowiki>}} with {{tnull|samp|%}}: "At the {{samp|%}} prompt, the user must enter {{kbd|1=ssh {{var|hostname}}}}."
* Inside {{tag|code}} and {{tnull|kbd}}: "The commandline should read: <code>% {{kbd|1=ssh {{var|hostname}}}}</code> (where {{var|hostname}} is the IP address or domain name of the system to connect to); if this is correct, press {{key press|Enter}}."
</div>

==See also==
{{Var/seealso}}

<includeonly>

[[Category:Mathematics templates|{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Programming typing-aid templates|{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Semantic markup templates|{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Wikipedia XHTML tag replacing templates|{{PAGENAME}}]]
</includeonly>

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