Do we need both {documentclass} and {templates}?

Question

Browsing through page 2 of our "Tags" site, you'll find the templates tag with 72 questions and the documentclass tag with 70 questions. I can't name the difference between the two tags (classes are templates, aren't they?), and looking at the top-scoring questions of each tag, I can't see a distinction, either.

Can someone enlighten me what is the difference between classes and templates? If there is one, is it big enough (and clear enough) to warrant two separate tags? Or would it be preferable to merge these tags into a single tag, say, classes-templates?

Answer 1

• Templates are built on classes, however sometimes you could switch to a similar base class. Questions about templates don't have to be class specific.

• Very different templates for different purposes can use the same class.

• Templates can provide additional features in different ways. I expect that questions about templates are about such additional features, not about class features.

• In contrast to classes, some templates come with a prebuilt text structure, such as certain sections or chapters in a prepared order for users to fill in text. Thesis and some letter templates may be such examples.

• Templates may consist of several files or even a prepared directory structure, such as a main document, a preamble file for \input, chapter files for \include, image directory etc.

Regarding these reasons, I vote for keeping both tags which keeps the possibility to separate questions about classes from questions about templates.