Chunks are blocks of HTML that can be used again and again, they are also used for holding blocks of HTML used by snippets.
Chunks can also be passed values for placeholders when they are rendered, by doing so the designer can choose the formatting while letting the end user create the content. Consider the following chunk which we will name test:
<h2>[[+section]]</h2> <p>[[+body]]</p>
It has two placeholders which can be set when the chunk is called e.g.
[[$test §ion=`Section 1` &body=`This is the copy to show in section 1`]] [[$test §ion=`Section 2` &body=`This is the copy to show in section 2`]]
Then the output would be:
<h2>Section 1</h2> <p>This is the copy to show in section 1</p> <h2>Section 2</h2> <p>This is the copy to show in section 2</p>
If the output format needs changing then it is simply a matter of updating the chunk.
As with snippets chunks can come from different sources, installed modules, part of the core system and those you create yourself.
Note: Chunks that you create yourself within the manager interface override chunks from any other source with the same name.