This is an
explanatory essay about the
Wikipedia:Categories, lists, and navigation templates guideline. This page provides additional information about concepts in the page(s) it supplements. This page is not one of
Wikipedia's policies or guidelines as it has not been
thoroughly vetted by the community. |
This page in a nutshell: A navigation template links between existing articles belonging to the same topic on English Wikipedia. There are two types: "navigation boxes" (or navboxes) and "sidebars". |
Linking and page manipulation |
---|
A navigation template is a grouping of links used in multiple related articles to facilitate navigation between those articles. Editing of a navigation template is done in a central place, the template page.
There are two main varieties of navigation template: navigation boxes (or navboxes), designed to sit at the very bottom of articles, and sidebars, designed to sit at the side of the article text. The two are complementary and either or both may be appropriate in different situations.
The usual way to create navigation templates is to use the {{ navbox}} or {{ sidebar}} master templates. This simplifies the process of creating a functional and consistent template.
Do not rely solely on navboxes for links to articles highly relevant to a particular article. Navboxes are not displayed on the mobile website for Wikipedia, which accounts for around half of readers. See Phabricator ticket T124168 for progress on the mobile issue.
Navboxes are categorized under Category:Navigational boxes. Some WikiProjects maintain a list of their navigation templates.
The two main types of navigation template are navboxes and sidebars. The two serve similar purposes: to allow related subjects to link to each other easily in a consistent manner.
Geodesy |
---|
The two types are used interchangeably, and either or both may be appropriate in different circumstances. The primary differences between the two are:
The style of any navigation template depends on its articles, how they are most intuitively presented, and previously established convention.
Advantages of using navigation templates rather than listing all the links under " See also" sections include:
In certain cases, there are alternatives preferable over the creation of a new navigation template.
There are limits to the number of templates an article may have. When a page exceeds this limit it may look fine in preview but, after the edit is saved, one or more footer navboxes display as wikilinks to the now excess navboxes (for example, displaying a link to "Template:Navbox" rather than the Navbox template itself). Solutions for this problem include (a) removing a template, and (b) setting up the footer navboxes so the least important one becomes the "extra" navbox (the one the reader will have to navigate to a separate page to in order to view).
Template | Collapsible | Header color | Image | Groups | Style (body) parameter/s |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
{{ Navbox}} | collapsible | navbox | Left/right of body | Yes | Yes |
{{ Navbox with collapsible groups}} | collapsible | navbox | Left/right of body and/or in each list | Yes | Yes |
{{ Navbox with columns}} | collapsible | navbox | Left/right of columns | No | Yes |
Type | CSS classes | JavaScript | Collapses when | Custom initial state |
Nesting |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Collapsible tables | mw-collapsible | jQuery.makeCollapsible | 2 or more autocollapse on page | Yes | Yes |
This is an
explanatory essay about the
Wikipedia:Categories, lists, and navigation templates guideline. This page provides additional information about concepts in the page(s) it supplements. This page is not one of
Wikipedia's policies or guidelines as it has not been
thoroughly vetted by the community. |
This page in a nutshell: A navigation template links between existing articles belonging to the same topic on English Wikipedia. There are two types: "navigation boxes" (or navboxes) and "sidebars". |
Linking and page manipulation |
---|
A navigation template is a grouping of links used in multiple related articles to facilitate navigation between those articles. Editing of a navigation template is done in a central place, the template page.
There are two main varieties of navigation template: navigation boxes (or navboxes), designed to sit at the very bottom of articles, and sidebars, designed to sit at the side of the article text. The two are complementary and either or both may be appropriate in different situations.
The usual way to create navigation templates is to use the {{ navbox}} or {{ sidebar}} master templates. This simplifies the process of creating a functional and consistent template.
Do not rely solely on navboxes for links to articles highly relevant to a particular article. Navboxes are not displayed on the mobile website for Wikipedia, which accounts for around half of readers. See Phabricator ticket T124168 for progress on the mobile issue.
Navboxes are categorized under Category:Navigational boxes. Some WikiProjects maintain a list of their navigation templates.
The two main types of navigation template are navboxes and sidebars. The two serve similar purposes: to allow related subjects to link to each other easily in a consistent manner.
Geodesy |
---|
The two types are used interchangeably, and either or both may be appropriate in different circumstances. The primary differences between the two are:
The style of any navigation template depends on its articles, how they are most intuitively presented, and previously established convention.
Advantages of using navigation templates rather than listing all the links under " See also" sections include:
In certain cases, there are alternatives preferable over the creation of a new navigation template.
There are limits to the number of templates an article may have. When a page exceeds this limit it may look fine in preview but, after the edit is saved, one or more footer navboxes display as wikilinks to the now excess navboxes (for example, displaying a link to "Template:Navbox" rather than the Navbox template itself). Solutions for this problem include (a) removing a template, and (b) setting up the footer navboxes so the least important one becomes the "extra" navbox (the one the reader will have to navigate to a separate page to in order to view).
Template | Collapsible | Header color | Image | Groups | Style (body) parameter/s |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
{{ Navbox}} | collapsible | navbox | Left/right of body | Yes | Yes |
{{ Navbox with collapsible groups}} | collapsible | navbox | Left/right of body and/or in each list | Yes | Yes |
{{ Navbox with columns}} | collapsible | navbox | Left/right of columns | No | Yes |
Type | CSS classes | JavaScript | Collapses when | Custom initial state |
Nesting |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Collapsible tables | mw-collapsible | jQuery.makeCollapsible | 2 or more autocollapse on page | Yes | Yes |