MW 1.15.1 (and before)
Does anyone know what causes this and how to remedy?
Wiki code only recognizes table commands ("{|", "|-", "|}") when they begin on a new line. Therefore if your template is using these commands, the first line of your template MUST be a newline - otherwise the wiki code is likely to be continued on the line in which it is referenced.
In the mediawiki article editor, this newline is stripped when it is re-edited and must be manually reinserted. So if you create a template such as this (note the necessary preceeding empty new line): --------
{| class="smwtable sortable" ! Col Hdr 1 ! Col Hdr 2 --------
When you go in and edit again - even though the preceeding new line had been saved, it will be removed, and you will need to add it again. Example, before line reinserted:
-------- {| class="smwtable sortable" ! Col Hdr 1 ! Col Hdr 2 --------
Any ideas?
Jack