Probably want a template/infobox for engineer modifications, one that would make adding the information that are in the tables here http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Engineer_Upgrades%3A_Multi-cannon easier than manually copy pasting a blank formated table (see revision history for Engineer Upgrades Multi Cannon for example) and then editing it in classic source mode as there were bugs making it appear weird when edited in visual.  Would need to have info slots for Primary Effect (probalby need 10 just in case they release one with lots of effects), info slots for Attribute Min (need one for each Primary effect slot, probably named AttributeMin1 or something), info slots for Attribute Max (need one for each primary effect, follow similar naming convention), and info slot for "Positive or Negative Effect" (need one for each primary effect, named something like PosOrNeg1).  It would also be useful if this template had a space for the material cost, and which engineers it is available from.  This template would help speed data transfer from http://inara.cz as they have a really detailed list of stats for each engineering modification.

Unfortunately, I do not have the necessary coding experience to implement this by myself.

I have attempted to make the above navbox, but have failed.  The guides for creating an infobox and template really need to be better and fully explain things.  This would be so much easier for me in C++ commands.

I'm not sure creating a template to do the job of tables is a good idea. It creates a lot of work to create it with little to no effort. People still need to read how the template works instead of copy-pasting, and if I understand correctly it would look the same..

In regards to navbox, the Engineer Upgrades tables should not be replaced with a navbox, they're only for articles with navigation :P I'd suggest checking source for Template:ShipNavbox as it's fairly straight-forward.

Infoboxes are odd one as Wikia is desperately pushing their new infobox type, which they advertise whenever you edit infoboxes. But that one is not suited for us as it doesn't allow for scripting. The one we use is based on Lua and isn't well documented. Easiest here would also be to see source for Template:CharacterInfobox and Module:CharacterInfobox

Sorry I meant to say infobox not nav box. 

Would a data template that inserts a table with just the column headers be more feasible? On the Help:Template_Types page they list a data template type such as this one from the borderlands wiki which with changed column headers is what I was trying to do.

The Borderlands one is certainly possible. Do we want any special functionality other than just listing stuff as they are? If we just have a template for tables it's no different from using tables themselves. Only difference in functionality that they have is that they put images as a reference and shows them at the bottom

Unless there is a way to make them display the data graphically (sort of like http://inara.cz/galaxy-blueprint/55) in a way  that is worth the time to implement, then I guess its no different than just making tables.  Although when I tried making it with the new wikia infobox type I saw that there was a way to make parts collapsible.  I don't know if that was something easy to do using the lua coded ones, but with collapsible sections it would make things flow nicer on the page as everything could be in one "insert appropriate box type here" box.  As it is, our current page setup makes for a lot of scrolling unless people notice the page content links near the top of the page. 

It would also be nice if there was a way to setup some form of data parser template that would take as input the info from a copy paste of the section of inara and format it into a table. 

Example: highlighting the data and copy paste into notepad gives

Multi-cannon - High Capacity Magazine (Grade 4)
Primary effects
Attribute
Min
Max

Ammo Clip Size
39%
90%

Ammo Maximum
39%
89%

Mass
100%
39%

Reload Time
81%
31%

Power Draw
35%
25%

Cost
Micromaterial:
1x  High Density Composites
Micromaterial:
1x  Mechanical Equipment
Micromaterial:
1x  Tin
Commodity:
1x  Reinforced Mounting Plate

Engineers
Tod "The Blaster" McQuinn

which when formatted becomes this table

It would be great if we could have a box to drop what was copied to notepad into and then it spits out the appropriately formated table.

Having a graph like Inara's can probably be done.. would require some either JavaScript or CSS knowledge, would need to look into that. You could also make use of tabber

I should have read this thread an hour ago, because I just tried creating a new template to indicate when a material is used in an Engineer Blueprint (as opposed to synthesis, which are the only templates right now), but couldn't see any obvious way of doing it. I accidentally ended up creating a new page instead which I can now not delete:

http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Material_Engineer

So:

1. Please could someone delete that page for me?

2. Tell me how I can create a new template? I have an SVG icon of the Engineer symbol that would be suitable. I tried to upload it, but can't find an obvious way to do so.

EDIT: I've created a template now: http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Template:Material_Engineer

Let me know if you're happy with it or not. 

(Sorry for the inconvenience...)