I'm trying to create a template to use as a sidebar with links. The template will be static (no variables are used). I first created a page with this directive: [[!template id=sidebar]], and then created the template with the web interface.

This is the code I put in the template:

<div class="infobox">
<ul>
<li>[[Existing internal link|exists]]</li>
<li>[[Non-existing internal link|doesnotexist]]</li>
<li>[External link](http://google.com/)</li>
</ul>
<http://google.com/>
</div>

This is the relevant part of the resulting html file template/sidebar.html:

<div class="infobox">
<ul>
<li><a href="../exists.html">Existing internal link</a></li>
<li><span class="createlink"><a href="http://localhost/cgi-bin/itesohome.cgi?page=doesnotexist&amp;from=templates%2Fsidebar&amp;do=create" rel="nofollow">?</a>Non-existing internal link</span></li>
<li>[External link](http://google.com/)</li>
</ul>
</div>

Note that the <http://google.com/> link has disappeared, and that [External link](http://google.com/) has been copied literally instead of being converted to a link, as I expected.

Templates aren't Markdown page. WikiLink only are expanded. --Jogo

Thanks for the help Jogo. Looking at the templates page, it says that "...you can include WikiLinks and all other forms of wiki markup in the template." I read this to mean that a template may indeed include Markdown. Am I wrong in my interpratation? --?buo

I discovered that if I eliminate all html from my sidebar.mdwn template, the links are rendered properly. It seems that the mix of Markdown and html is confusing some part of Ikiwiki. --?buo

Worse, this is the relevant part of the html file of the page that includes the template:

<div class="infobox">
<ul>
<li><span class="selflink">Existing internal link</span></li>
<li><span class="createlink"><a href="http://localhost/cgi-bin/itesohome.cgi?page=doesnotexist&amp;from=research&amp;do=create" rel="nofollow">?</a>Non-existing internal link</span></li>
<li>[External link](http://google.com/)</li>
</ul>
</div>

Note that the Existing internal link is no longer a link. It is only text.

What am I doing wrong? Any help or pointers will be appreciated. --?buo

---

I think I have figured this out. I thought the template was filled and then processed to convert Markdown to html. Instead, the text in each variable is processed and then the template is filled. I somehow misunderstood the templates page. -- ?buo