Usage

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This template is to help facilitate the displaying of variable names (in mathematics, computer source code, etc.) with the semantically correct <var>...</var>, which also renders the variable in italics, as is customary. This method is preferred to simply italicizing, for accessibility, content/presentation separation, semantic Web, and metadata reasons; [X]HTML's <var> element has semantic meaning, while simple italicization does not.

Example:

{{var|username}}

outputs

<var>username</var>

which renders as:

username

compare to simple ''username'' italicization:

username

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

See also

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  • {{strong}} – for semantically indicating strong emphasis instead of simple typographical boldfacing
  • {{strongbad}} – same as {{strong}} but red like this: Never use {{strongbad}} in articles.
  • {{stronggood}} – same as {{strongbad}} but green like this: Only use {{stronggood}} on non-article pages.
  • {{em}} – similar template for semantically indicating mild emphasis instead of simple typographical italicization
  • {{var}} – same as {{varserif}} use for all variables other than I (upper-case i) and l (lower-case L), for which use {{varserif}}
  • {{varserif}} – same as {{var}} but uses serif font, especially for distinguishing between I (upper-case i) and l (lower-case L) as variables
  • {{wikivar}} – for displaying wikicode variables and magicwords as they would appear in source code, e.g. {{PAGENAME}}, {{DEFAULTSORT:Lastname, Firstname}}
  • {{para}} – for displaying wiki template parameters (|title=) or parameters and values (|year=2008)
  • {{tlx}} and related – for displaying entire templates (with or without parameters and values) as code
  • {{tag}} – for using HTML elements ("tags") in prose, e.g. source code examples
  • {{code}} – for computer source code ({{var}} and other templates cannot be used inside it; in that case use <code>...</code> as the wrapper, not {{code}})
  • {{syntaxhighlight}} or {{sxhl}} – wrapper for <syntaxhighlight>...</syntaxhighlight>, but will wrap overflowing text
  • {{deprecated code}} or {{dc}} – for deprecated source code in template documentation, articles on HTML specs, etc.
  • {{pre}} – for larger blocks of source code and other pre-formatted text
  • {{bq}} – for indented blocks of content, such as block quotations, examples, poems, etc.
  • {{kbd}} – for indicating user input
  • {{key press}} – for indicating the input of specific keystrokes, e.g. CtrlX
  • {{PlayStation key press}} – for indicating PS-style gamepad key presses, e.g. Template:Pskeypress
  • {{samp}} – for example output