Template:Google+/doc

Purpose
The template is designed to replace hard-coded URLs to Google+'s website, http://plus.google.com, with a syntax that is both easy to understand and use. There are two main examples of its use: in "External links" sections, and in reference citations (although you may use the template anywhere that is permitted under policy guidelines and consensus). The template is designed to improve and standardise the formatting and rendering of Google+ URLs.

Benefits
Using the template provides the following benefits:
 * It makes it easier for readers to locate similar information in different articles. Because the template is rendered the same way on every article, it is more intuitive for the reader to locate Google+ links.
 * It makes it simpler for editors to insert appropriate Google+ links into articles. Because editors now only have to supply an ID, they no longer have to enter the full Google+ URL, nor do they have to second-guess the link text to use (which varies widely without the use of templates). For example, instead of entering in the External links section of an article: Sergey Brin on Google Plus, an editor now need only enter:.
 * The template renders to a succinct link text which helps to reduce clutter for the reader.
 * When used in a reference (e.g. in Cite web), the template helps editors by using less syntax. This helps to reduce the space that coding occupies in an article.

Usage
Up to three parameters can be supplied to the template:
 * The first parameter is the numerical ID or a username as it appears in the Google+ url, e.g. 109813896768294978296 in https://plus.google.com/109813896768294978296 or +SergeyBrin in https://plus.google.com/+SergeyBrin.
 * The ID parameter is mandatory. To find the ID, locate the required account at Google+ (e.g. by performing a search there), and then copying the long string of digits out of the URL (in the address bar of the browser) after selecting a search result.


 * The second parameter is the account name as it should appear in the visible text of the link, e.g. "Sergey Brin". It defaults to the article title if not supplied.
 * The name parameter is not needed if the article title is the actual name of the person. Supply the name parameter if the name of the person is not the same as the article title, e.g. if there are brackets after the name, as is the case with the "Tony Horton (exercise instructor)" example below.


 * The third parameter is the destination sub-page for the Google+ account, e.g. about in https://plus.google.com/109813896768294978296/about.
 * The page parameter can be one of the following values: posts, about, photos, videos, or plusones. If the page parameter is not supplied, or if something other than one of the accepted values is supplied, the page parameter will default to: about. The default (about) is a good choice to be used when the Google+ account is to be used in a citation.

Note that if using named parameters (e.g. "id=", "name=", or "page="), it is not necessary to provide all parameters, e.g. as is the case in the third example given below (where there is no name parameter).

To-do

 * None at the moment.