topic
The parameter |topic= or |1= can be used to override the default topic display, which is the base pagename. This is primarily to disambiguate or clarity; while our portal names are as concise as we can make them while still being recognizable, this is not always ideal, descriptively.
- Example:
- Portal:English would get a default description of "Wikipedia portal for content related to English", which might be confusing to some readers (English culture and people? English history?).
- Code:
{{Portal description|the English language}}
or
{{Portal description}}
Do not add a separate {{Short description}} template to the portal in attempt to override the default output of this template; use this template's parameter instead, or the page will have two conflicting short descriptions. If a different style of short description is necessary, replace {{Portal description}} with {{Short description}}, in which the full short description is required as the parameter.
lc
By default, this template preserves the case of the portal's page name, e.g. "Portal:Dogs" would result in the not-quite-valid short description "Wikipedia portal for content related to Dogs". The |lc= parameter, set to any value, will lower-case the full page name, so "Portal:Dogs" with |lc=yes results in the short description "Wikipedia portal for content related to dogs".
