Template:Message/doc

Usage

{{Message
 | email        = yes
 | bgcolor      = background color
 | border-color = border color
 | color        = text color
 | linkcolor    = link color (for "new message" or {{{message}}} link)
 | message      = the text of the link
 | link         = the actual link, if it is not your user talk page; type out the full link
 | extra-style  = extra styles, like border-radius etc...
 | width        = box width
 | margin       = margin measurements
 | padding      = padding measurements
 | text-align   = text alignment (left, right, center)
}}

All parameters are optional, and default to the appearance shown above.

Just put {{Message}} at the top of your talk page or user page. This will create the "Please leave a new message" link as shown above. You can use subst: if you want to, but then you won't benefit from updates to this template.