Wikipedia:Article series

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This page's designation as a policy or guideline is disputed or under discussion. Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page for further information. The issue is that WP should not recommend such structure, and de facto it is rarely used on recent Featured Articles.

For "series" of articles summarized in one overview article (main article), see WP:Summary style.

Article series are useful for easing navigation for very broad subjects. For example, the article Israeli-Palestinian conflict contains a table that provides links to all the major issues surrounding that subject, such as Constitution of Palestine or Israel and the European Union.

1 An alternative to summary style
2 Article series boxes
3 See also

[edit] An alternative to summary style

Main article: Wikipedia:Summary style

If a group of articles is interrelated tightly enough, a single overview article (summary article, main article) can be created in a manner described in Wikipedia:Summary style guideline. Such hierarchical style should be preferred over the one described here.

[edit] Article series boxes

Navigation between articles in a series is achieved with templates known as article series boxes. Use the same template for all articles in the series – there is no need to maintain separate boxes on each page.

[edit] A vertical series box

Timeline
This article is part of a series on the History of the United States
Pre-colonial period (Pre-Columbian period)
Colonial period
1776 – 1789
1789 – 1849
1849 – 1865
1865 – 1918
1918 – 1945
1945 – 1964
1964 – 1980
1980 – 1991
since 1991

This example has been inserted here using the following syntax: {{United States history (sidebar)}}
The contents can be edited by using the following link: Template:United States history (sidebar)
You can create similar boxes in a similar way.

[edit] Source of the template

The page Template:United States history (sidebar) might contain the following (or similar) wiki markup:

{| cellpadding="1" style="float: right; border: 1px solid #8888aa; background: #f7f8ff; 
padding: 5px; font-size: 85%; margin: 0 15px 0 15px;"
| style="background: #ccf; text-align: center;" | '''This article is part of'''
<br>'''the [[History of the United States|U.S. History]]'''<br>'''series.'''
|-
| style="text-align: center;"|[[Native Americans in the United States|Pre - Colonial America]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"|[[Colonial America]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"|[[History of the United States (1776–1789)| 1776–1789]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"|[[History of the United States (1789–1849)| 1789–1849]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"|[[History of the United States (1849–1865)| 1849–1865]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"|[[History of the United States (1865–1918)| 1865–1918]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"|[[History of the United States (1918–1945)| 1918–1945]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"|[[History of the United States (1945–1964)| 1945–1964]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"|[[History of the United States (1964–1980)| 1964–1980]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"|[[History of the United States (1980–1988)| 1980–1987]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"|[[History of the United States (1988–present)|  1988–present]]
|-
| style="text-align: center;"|[[Timeline of United States history|Timeline]] · 
[[List of United States history articles|Topics]]
|}<noinclude>[[Category:United States navigational boxes|History]]</noinclude>

[edit] Footer boxes

Main article: WP:Categories, lists, and navigational templates

Footer navigational boxes (called navboxes) may contain links about a broader topic. For example the footer of The Netherlands shows all countries of the European Union - as The Netherlands is a member state. These boxes are created by inserting the template {{Navbox}} and adding the relevant information.

[edit] Blended series tables

This article is part of the

History of France series.

Gaul

Franks

France in the Middle Ages

France during World War II

Fourth Republic

Fifth Republic

This article is part of the

History of Germany series.

It is also possible to place an article in two different series. For example, Franks is part of both the History of France and History of Germany series. But you should not join the two boxes as pictured. This syntax is deprecated, because it does not lend itself to using identical templates, and thus is highly fragile.