Template:Talk header
| This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Talk header template. |
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| Find sources: Google (books⧼Dot-separator⧽news⧼Dot-separator⧽scholar⧼Dot-separator⧽free images⧼Dot-separator⧽WP refs)⧼Dot-separator⧽FENS⧼Dot-separator⧽JSTOR⧼Dot-separator⧽NYT⧼Dot-separator⧽TWL |
 | This template is used on approximately 700,000 pages, or roughly 1814% of all pages. To avoid major disruption and server load, any changes should be tested in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. The tested changes can be added to this page in a single edit. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them. |
 |
This template should not be substituted. |
 | This template uses TemplateStyles: |
This template is a signpost. It displays a talk page message box with four sections of content:
- § Intro – a short introduction and appropriate links for newcomers
- § Policies – a reminder of important policies for experienced users
- § "Find sources links" – a set of links to aid in finding reliable sources for the article topic
- § Archives – a list of links to the current talk page's archives, and a search box to search them
Portions of the standard boilerplate text may be modified with params that specify additional or replacement text.
Usage[kulemba source]
{{Talk header}}
To add this template to a talk page, just open an edit of the talk page, and put {{Talk header}} at the top of the page.
By convention, this template goes at the very top of the talk page, above WikiProject templates and other talk-page banners. However, this is not an absolute rule, and editors should use common sense when deciding its placement. See also: Wikipedia:Talk page layout § Lead (bannerspace).
Should this be added to every talk page?[kulemba source]
This template should be placed in accordance with talk page guidelines. This template does not need to be placed on every talk page, and should not be indiscriminately added to talk pages using automated editing tools. Talk pages that are frequently misused, that attract frequent debate, articles often subject to controversy, articles that typically attract new editors, and highly-visible or popular topics may be appropriate for this template.
For more information on this topic, see the talk page for this template, including the talk archives and the TfD logs.
Parameters[kulemba source]
Full syntax – Vertical
{{talk header
|bottom= [lower-alpha 1]
|custom_header= [lower-alpha 2]
|wp= [lower-alpha 3]
|display_title= [lower-alpha 4]
|arpol= [lower-alpha 5]
|sc1= [lower-alpha 6]
|sc2=
|sc3=
|sc4=
|sc5=
|demospace= [lower-alpha 7]
|hide_find_sources= [lower-alpha 8]
|search_term1= [lower-alpha 9]
|search_term2=
|search-domain= [lower-alpha 10]
|search= [lower-alpha 11]
|noarchive= [lower-alpha 12]
|bot= [lower-alpha 13]
|age= [lower-alpha 13]
|units= [lower-alpha 13]
|minthreadsleft= [lower-alpha 13]
}}
Horizontal
{{talk header |bottom= |custom_header= |wp= |display_title= |arpol= |sc1= |sc2= |sc3= |sc4= |sc5= |demospace= |hide_find_sources= |search_term1= |search_term2= |search-domain= |search= |noarchive= |age= |bot= |units= |minthreadsleft= }}
Hiding the template[kulemba source]
A registered user who prefers not to see this template on any talk page, may hide it from view. Note that this hides page archive links and the archive search box as well if they are configured to be shown through this template. You'll need to have an account to do this.
- Edit your user style page at Special:Mypage/common.css.
- Add a line:
#talkheader {display:none;} - Save the change.
- Bypass your cache.
Portions of the template may be hidden for all viewers using a template parameter: see here to hide the "find sources" links; see here to hide the archive links.
Parts of the header[kulemba source]
This section describes the different parts of the header. Each subsection below corresponds to one of the four main areas of functionality listed in the bullet items at the top, and explains which parameters are available to modify their appearance.
Intro and newcomer links[kulemba source]
Basic tips for newcomers are boxed with a white background and appear top left, and includes starting a new section and how to get help. The intro links are displayed in the top left portion of the message box:
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Policies[kulemba source]
Talk page policies[kulemba source]
A bullet list of policies, and behavioral and talk page guidelines is included by default in the top right portion of the message box.
Article policies[kulemba source]
In the article namespace only, a list of bulleted "Article policies" is included by default. It occupies part of the top right section of the message box, to the right of the talk page policies.
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In non-article namespaces, the "Article policies" box is absent by default, but it may be added via |arpol=yes. For example:
{{talk header|arpol=yes}}
Note: |arpol=no is an invalid setting, and has no effect on header display in any namespace. The article policies may be suppressed from view in all namespaces by adding #talkheader .talkheader-policies{display:none} to your common.css.
"Find sources" links[kulemba source]
For article Talk pages, a set of "find sources" links appears by default in the Talk header box. The default links correspond to the output of Template:Find sources; see Talk:Europe for an example. These links appear after the initial article policies and links for newcomers, and above the archiving section. For the article Europe, it looks like this:
| Find sources: Google (books⧼Dot-separator⧽news⧼Dot-separator⧽scholar⧼Dot-separator⧽free images⧼Dot-separator⧽WP refs)⧼Dot-separator⧽FENS⧼Dot-separator⧽JSTOR⧼Dot-separator⧽NYT⧼Dot-separator⧽TWL |
Background[kulemba source]
There are several flavors of "find sources" links (medical, video, general) targeted to different search domains. The flavor of "find sources" links displayed in the Talk header depends on WikiProject membership of the article and may correspond to one of these:
- {{find medical sources}} – for articles in the medical search domain
- {{find video game sources}} – for articles in the video game search domain
- {{find general sources}} – the default, for everything else, is the general domain.
The default search domain is "general", which is the large majority of all Talk pages, and displays the links found in template {{find general sources}}. The search domain is determined automatically by the template, depending on the presence of the corresponding WikiProject. If an article belongs to WikiProject Medicine, it is in the medical search domain by default; if it belongs to WikiProject Video games, it is in the video game search domain by default. (If it is in both, then the highest domain in the list above is chosen; i.e, 'medical'.)
Example
For the page Talk:Giardiasis, which belongs to WP:WikiProject Medicine, it looks like this:
 | Find medical sources: Source guidelines⧼Dot-separator⧽PubMed⧼Dot-separator⧽Cochrane⧼Dot-separator⧽DOAJ⧼Dot-separator⧽Gale⧼Dot-separator⧽OpenMD⧼Dot-separator⧽ScienceDirect⧼Dot-separator⧽Springer⧼Dot-separator⧽Trip⧼Dot-separator⧽Wiley⧼Dot-separator⧽TWL |
You can modify the nature of the source links displayed by § Hiding the links, § modifying the query terms, or by § modifying the search domain.
Hiding the links[kulemba source]
By default, these links do not appear outside of article Talk space (ns=1).
Within article Talk space, the "find sources" links may be suppressed by setting parameter |hide_find_sources=yes.
Modifying the "find sources" query terms[kulemba source]
The find sources links use the article title by default as the search term and forms an "exact search" (or "double-quoted query")[lower-alpha 14] from the title. If the article title contains parenthetical disambiguation portion, this is appended after the exact search query term, as an additional, unquoted phrase.
In place of the default, the query terms may be specified by using |search_term= (alias: |search_term1=) to specify the exact search string. Parameter |search_term2= may be added to specify additional, unquoted query terms, as many as desired.
Search domain override[kulemba source]
The default domain chosen by automatic WikiProject detection may be overridden using param |search-domain=:
|search-domain=medical– usemedicalas the search domain, regardless what projects it belongs to (value alias:med)|search-domain=video game– usevideo gamesas the search domain, regardless what projects it belongs to (value alias:video, andvg))|search-domain=general– usegeneralas the search domain, regardless what projects it belongs to (value alias:gen)
The parameter alias |domain= may be used instead; thus, |domain=med means the same thing as |search-domain=medical.
Archives[kulemba source]
The archives section of the Talk header occupies the bottom of the Talk header box. It consists of (up to) three portions:
- a set of links to Talk page archives
- archive bot notice
- an archive search box
The first and last portions are displayed automatically at the bottom of this template when used on a talk page that has archives that are named in the standard way. If no archives exist for the current talk page, or if they have non-standard names, no archive links or search box is displayed. The archive bot notice is only displayed if parameters are manually added.
Parameters |noarchive=yes and |search=no are available to suppress the links to Talk archive pages and to the search box. Four additional parameters are available to add an optional § archive bot notice adjacent to the archive links and to control its appearance.
Links to archives[kulemba source]
If Talk page archives exist and are named in the standard sequential way, using either a numeric sequence or the alphabetic system with names like /Archive A, or with yearly archives of the format /Archive 2024, links to all of the archive pages are displayed. If this template cannot find any archives because they are not named the standard sequential way, it will behave as if no archive pages exist.
|noarchive=yes suppresses links to archives.
For archives using numeric sequencing, the archive links look like this (example shown is for Talk:Europe):
Auto-archiving period 180 days 
Archives: Index, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 |
A link to the archive index is included in the list if it exists and has the standard name "/Archive index". There is no parameter to independently suppress this.
Archive bot notice[kulemba source]
Pages can be set up to be automatically archived by a bot (typically by Lowercase sigmabot III or ClueBot III).
The talk header offers an archive bot notice containing the text "Auto-archiving period" at the right for informational purposes. It does not set up automatic archiving, and it isn't automatically shown just because automatic archiving has been set up. It simply informs the reader that automatic archiving takes place, whether or not that actually is the case. For instructions on how to configure Talk page archiving, see Help:Archiving a talk page.
This is controlled by four related parameters: |archive_bot=, |archive_age=, |archive_units=, and |minthreadsleft=. Remember, these parameters are completely independent of the configuration of the archiving bot, and do not impact archiving, even if set to values that do not match the bot configuration. You are responsible for updating these parameters whenever you update the bot's configuration.
The following parameters may be used to control the display of the archive bot notice:
|archive_bot=– The bot used to archive the page, unwikilinked. (Alias:|bot=.)
|archive_age=– Enter a number to convey the amount of time the bot must wait after the last update to a discussion section or thread before archiving the discussion, as expressed as a number of time units. The default time unit is "days", see the next parameter. (Alias:|age=.)
|archive_units=– Enter a string to convey the time unit thearchive_ageparameter refers to. (Alias:|units=.) If omitted, the default is "days" in plural. Useful alternatives includemonth,months, etc. As this is just an advisory notice and not a configuration parameter, you can use any string you wish here: if you want to inform readers archiving takes place every "2 fortnights" for example, you can: use|age=2 |units=fortnights. You are responsible for specifying a time unit in the singular, if the|archive_age=is set to 1 (1 month, for example).
|minthreadsleft=– The amount of discussion sections or threads the bot will leave. This information is not shown directly. Instead, a tooltip informs readers that once the Talk page contains more thanminthreadsleftthreads, threads older thanarchive_agewill be archived.
Note that an archive bot can be instructed to only archive when more than one discussion section or thread is eligible; this behavior cannot be expressed using this notice. That is; there is no counterpart to, for example, the |minthreadstoarchive= used by Lowercase sigmabot III.
Some examples:
- {{talk header|archive_bot=lowercase sigmabot III|archive_age=30}} – This informs the user that lowercase sigmabot III will autoarchive talk page discussion sections or threads that are older than 30 days (the example retains the default time unit "days").
- {{talk header|bot=lowercase sigmabot III|age=6|units=months|minthreadsleft=4}} – This informs the user that the lowercase sigmabot III bot will autoarchive talk page discussion sections or threads that are older than six months, as long as at least four sections or threads remain.
These parameters are for informational purposes in the talk header, and do not actually set up archiving or interact with the bot in any way. Make sure they are not misleading by making sure to update them whenever you update the configuration of an archive bot. For instructions on how to configure Talk page archiving, see Help:Archiving a talk page.
If you wish to include an independent, stand-alone archive bot notice on the page outside of the Talk header message box, set |noarchive=yes in this template, and see Template:Archives for an alternative method of generating an archive bot notice.
Search box[kulemba source]
The archive search box may be used to search the Talk page archives, and is displayed automatically at the bottom of this template just below the archive page links, when used on a talk page that has archives that are named in the standard way. If no archives exist for the current talk page, or if they have non-standard names, no search box is displayed.
Parameter |search=no may be used to suppress the search box only, while still displaying the archive links themselves.
If present, the search box appears below the Archiving links, and is the last element to appear in the template:
In this working example, entering search terms searches the talk page archives of the article Europe.
Suppressing links or search box[kulemba source]
By default, the Talk header template displays a list of archive links, if any archives are present. Parameter |noarchive=yes may be used to suppress the list.
By default, the template displays an archive search box if any archives are present.
Parameter |search=no may be used to suppress display of the archive search box. Note that, in particular |search=yes has no effect, and will not place a search box on a talk page that has no archives.
Additional and replacement text[kulemba source]
Besides the four main sections of the talk header box, the template provides three parameters which may be used to include additional sections or modified text:
|bottom=|custom header=|wp=.
bottom[kulemba source]
|bottom=yes – adds a message above the main talk header box, separately bordered, about where to place new discussions:
| Please place new discussions at the bottom of the talk page. |
custom_header[kulemba source]
|custom_header=your text here – adds any desired text above the main talk header. Text is in boldface by default, and has a horizontal rule below, separating it from the rest of the content.
Example
Showing |custom_header= with the first line of Lorem ipsum text:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
|
If used together with |bottom=: the "New discussions placement" text appears above everything in a separately bordered box; the main talk header box is below that, and the custom text appears in the main box, above the newbie and article policy links and separated from them by a horizontal rule.
wp[kulemba source]
|wp=yes – Extends the bolded lead sentence of the header, to add the words "Pagename and anything related to its purposes and tasks" as follows:
| This is the talk page for discussing Pagename and anything related to its purposes and tasks. |
This parameter has no effect on pages outside of the Wikipedia talk namespace.
Testing issues[kulemba source]
Find sources testing[kulemba source]
For testing and demonstration purposes, this template accepts parameter |demospace= which enables testing of the find sources opt-out parameter |hide_find_sources= from other namespaces.
- If
|demospace=has the valuemainor the value1it returns the findsources text it would normally return when transcluded from mainspace. - If
|demospace=has any other value such as the name of some other namespace it returns the text it would if transcluded outside of mainspace. - If the parameter is empty or undefined, the actual page type determines the result.
The dynamic features of WikiProject autodetection and § Search domain override depend on the article title where it appears, and therefore cannot be tested in the normal way. The test cases page provides an explanation of how to test these features using Special:ExpandTemplates with the ContextTitle enabled, or by using in situ testing.
Expensive parser functions[kulemba source]
This template uses up to 22 expensive parser functions (during 2024, with it increasing by one a year) depending on what parameters are used. In theory, on pages with very large numbers of other templates using expensive parser functions this could result in template limits being reached, but this is very unlikely. It could also affect expansion of templates on a test page that has more than 22 uncollapsed invocations of this template, especially ones appearing lower on the page.
TemplateData[kulemba source]
A signpost for the top of talk pages
| Parameter | Description | Type | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shortcut | 1 shortcut shortcut1 sc sc1 | Shortcut that displays similar to the {{shortcut}} template, but within the Talk header message box
| Page name | suggested |
| Shortcut 2 | 2 shortcut2 sc2 | A second shortcut | Page name | optional |
| bottom | bottom | Set to "yes" to add additional instructions at the top to "please place new discussions at the bottom of the talk page"
| Boolean | optional |
| Custom header | custom_header | Replaces the entire header with customized text | Line | optional |
| WikiProject? | wp | For use on WikiProject talk pages; set to "yes" to add "and anything related to its purposes and tasks" to the header | Boolean | optional |
| Display title | display_title | Displays a custom page title | String | optional |
| Article policies | arpol | Adds a link to the article policy pages
| Boolean | optional |
| demospace | demospace | Namespace number or name for testing purposes | String | optional |
| Hide find sources? | hide_find_sources | Set to "yes" to hide the find sources banner on article talk pages | Boolean | optional |
| Search term | search_term search_term1 | Changes the search term used in the {{find sources}} module | String | optional |
| Search term 2 | search_term2 | Adds a second search term for unquoted search, as used in the {{find sources}} module | String | optional |
| Search domain | search-domain domain | Changes the default search domain used in the {{find sources}} module
| String | optional |
| No archives? | noarchive noarchives archives | Set to "yes" to hide the archives links
| Boolean | optional |
| Archive age | archive_age age | Amount of time, by default in days, before discussions will be automatically archived. Note: Does not actually trigger automatic archiving; see [[WP:ARCHIVE]]. | Number | suggested |
| Archive bot | archive_bot bot | The bot used to archive the page. Note: Does not actually trigger automatic archiving; see [[WP:ARCHIVE]].
| String | suggested |
| Archive units | archive_units units | The units for archive_age
| String | optional |
| Minimum threads left | minthreadsleft | The number of threads the archiving bot will leave. Currently affects only the tooltip. | Number | suggested |
| Search | search | Set to "no" to override the default behavior for the search box appearance | Boolean | optional |
Tracking categories[kulemba source]
See also[kulemba source]
- {{New discussion}}
- {{Not a forum}}
- {{Portal talk}}
- {{Skip to talk}}
- {{WikiProject banner shell}}
- Wikipedia:Template index/Talk namespace
- Wikipedia:Template index/User talk namespace
- MediaWiki:Talkpagetext
Notes[kulemba source]
- ↑ Use
|bottom=yesto add additional instructions above the talk header box to "place new discussions at the bottom of the talk page"; see details here. - ↑ To add customized text in the talk header box, use
|custom_header=Your custom text; see details here. - ↑ Designed for use on project (Wikipedia namespace) talk pages, parameter
|wp=yesmay be used to alter the intro line of the banner ("This is the talk page for...") in order to add "and anything related to its purposes and tasks". Details here. - ↑ To display a custom page title, use
|display_title=custom page title. - ↑ To force inclusion of the "Article policies" section of the template in non-article namespaces where they are normally excluded, use
|arpol=yes. (See § Article policies below for an example.) - ↑ Up to five shortcuts may be added to the template, as unnamed parameters, or as named ones (any of
|1=,|sc=,|sc1=,|shortcut=or|shortcut1=, then|2=,|sc2=or|shortcut2=, etc., work). For example, {{Talk header|WP:SHOR|WP:TCUT}}. They display similar to the {{shortcut}} template, but within the Talk header message box. - ↑ For additional information on
|demospace=see § Testing issues. - ↑ To hide "Find sources" on article talk pages, use
|hide_find_sources=yes. More details at § "Find sources" links and § Testing issues below. - ↑ To override the article title as the default search used by § "Find sources" links, use params
|search_term1=and|search_term2=. Details at § Modifying the "find sources" query terms below. - ↑ To override the search domain chosen automatically by the template, use
|search-domain=domain value. See details at § Search domain override. - ↑ To suppress the archive search box from the template, use
|search=no; see section § Search box for details. - ↑ Archive links and an archive search box are displayed automatically at the bottom of the template. Use parameter
|noarchive=yesto suppress display of the archive links and search box. See section § Archives below. - ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 An optional notice regarding automatic archiving by bot may be displayed near the archive search box. Use optional parameters
|bot=,|age=,|units=, and|minthreadsleft=to control display of this notice. See section § archive bot notice below. - ↑ Exact search is also known as a "double-quoted query" because major search engines interpret paired double-quote characters as indicating that everything between the double quotes must be found exactly as specified.
Userspace messages and disclaimers | |
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| User pages |
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| User talk pages |
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| Editnotices | |
| Drafts and sandboxes |
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| Blanking |
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