Template talk:Infobox U.S. state

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

See Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. States#Template

Contents

[edit] Syntax

{{US state |
 Name = Arizona |
 Fullname = State of Arizona |
 Flag = Flag of Arizona.svg |
 Flaglink = [[Flag of Arizona]] |
 Seal = Arizonastateseal.jpg |
 Former = Arizona Territory |
 Former_flag = Flag of Arizona.svg |
 Map = Map_of_USA_highlighting_Arizona.png |
 Nickname = The [[Grand Canyon]] State,<br/> The Copper State |
 Capital = [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]] |
 OfficialLang = None |
 Languages = [[English language|English]] 74.1%, [[Spanish language|Spanish]] 19.5%, [[Navajo]] 1.9% |
 LargestCity = [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]] |
 Governor = [[Janet Napolitano]] (D)|
 Senators = [[John McCain]] (R) <br> [[Jon Kyl]] (R) |
 PostalAbbreviation = AZ |
 AreaRank = 6<sup>th</sup> |
 TotalArea = 295,254 |
 TotalAreaUS = 113,998 |
 LandArea = 294,312 |
 LandAreaUS = 113,634 |
 WaterArea = 942 |
 WaterAreaUS = 364 |
 PCWater = 0.32 |
 PopRank = 20<sup>th</sup> |
 2000Pop = 5,939,292 |
 DensityRank = 36th |
 2000Density = 17.43 |
 2000DensityUS = 45.2 |
 AdmittanceOrder = 48th |
 AdmittanceDate = [[February 14]], [[1912]] |
 TimeZone = [[Mountain Standard Time Zone|Mountain]]: [[Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]]-7<br />|
 Latitude = 31°20'N to 37°N |
 Longitude = 109°3'W to 114°50'W |
 Width = 500 |
 WidthUS = 310 |
 Length = 645 |
 LengthUS = 400 |
 HighestPoint = [[Humphreys Peak]] |
 HighestElev = 3,851 |
 HighestElevUS = 12,633 |
 MeanElev = 1,250 |
 MeanElevUS = 4,100 |
 LowestPoint = [[Colorado River]] |
 LowestElev = 21 |
 LowestElevUS = 70 |
 ISOCode = US-AZ |
 Website = www.az.gov
}}

[edit] States using the template that have various oddities

[edit] Unemployment rate

Any objection to adding unemployment rate and linking to List of U.S. states by unemployment rate? Cburnett 20:59, 27 Jan 2005 (UTC)

overall a beautiful table, but far too much data. conciseness! 90% of viewers won't care about the same 90% of that data. get rid of it.

[edit] Languages spoken

An anonymous user added a "languages spoken" line to the infobox. There are a couple problems with this: First, none of the state articles have this information in their infobox template, so it shows up as an ugly {{{Languages}}} tag. Second, I'm not sure how this is intended to work. I'm sure that every state has English speakers, French speakers, Spanish speakers, Chinese speakers, etc. Are we supposed to put percentages here? Is there a threshold for including a language? The third problem is the infobox is already very large, and I don't think we should add more information to it. For these reasons, I'm reverting the template. Rhobite 20:41, Mar 26, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] km2

My wife complained at me that the area for New Jersey is expressed in square kilometers. It seems unintuitive that the template for US States be metric. I'm not advocating we go through and change all them to SAE, but it would be nice to have both values. the page for kilometer has conversion values. the unix program units(1) can also convert. i'd like to see square miles (as opposed to, say, acres). Avriette 19:51, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Kansas and Missouri already list both. If you simply want to update New Jersey in a similar fashion go right ahead. If you want to change the template to explicitly include both measurement forms it's a bigger change, but I suspect no one would exactly mind. To do this, the least instrusive way is to first change all the state articles to reference the new parameters (presumably something like TotalAreaMi2, LandAreaMi2, ..., and don't forget about width, length, and elevation), and then change the template. Since the units are clearly labeled when you look at the article I personally don't think this is worthwhile (and I think it's nuts that the US hasn't switched to metric, but that's another issue). -- Rick Block 20:27, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC)
I doubt very much that the original complainant really just wants to see New Jersey that way, in a way different from the rest of the states.
What's this "similar fashion" nonsense? If it's not in the template, that's not something you have a right to expect. You have no cause to bitch if you don't get consistency.
Futhermore, there is no really good way to do this, without editing the template.
The thing is, the people who entered this information in the first place almost certainly already had this information, and better information than someone can get by converting back from the numbers given, and could have built the template to accomodate it.
The other thing is, if you leave it to piecemeal additions by whoever cares to make them, you have no cause to complain if the unconversion of the converted numbers ends up being slightly different from the original. That can happen even using the best conversion factors, and there is no guarantee that the people making these piecemeal additions would use the best conversion factors.
It is, of course, also unreasonable to expect that someone making a suggestion like this is going to know enough about how templates work to make changes in the template, or to expect that undiscussed changes in the template will be left standing. Gene Nygaard 17:36, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)
I'm going to go ahead and add US units to the template. While I agree that the metric system is probably a better system in the long term, the fact is that most Americans probably don't have a good sense of what the units are, in an everyday sort of way. I'll go ahead and convert the units, probably using google. --Mcpusc 21:38, 14 March 2006 (UTC)
I've been converting states in alphabetical order, but I need to stop for now. I've commented out the relavant parts of the template until I can finish later tonight. I've been using Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_U.S._states#units_in_the_infoboxes when data exists; otherwise I've been converting using Google Calculator. --Mcpusc 22:39, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Template busted in IE

For some reason this template is busted in the IE shipping with Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP SP2 (possibly others). No text displays to the left of it, causing articles to start far down the page. It shows up fine in Firefox, so I'm not sure what's going on. Deco 19:03, 6 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Template:Infobox U.S. state test

Template:Infobox U.S. state test has not been edited in awhile. Is it still needed, or can it be deleted. BlankVerse ∅ 11:02, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Representatives

Is there a reason that senators but not representatives are included in the state's info box? Although some large states (i.e. CA) will have many representatives, it seems fitting that representatives be shown right after senators. How do you all feel about this?--R6MaY89 03:06, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

Senators are included but not representatives since there are exactly two senators and a variable number of reps (California has 53!). Perhaps the template:xx-FedRep template (e.g. template:CA-FedRep) should be included in each state article (rather than in the infobox)? --Rick Block previously unsigned
Yes, that would be a good idea, but it makes the senatorial part redundant. Is there a FedHouseRepOnly or something that we could use?--R6MaY89 00:12, 30 December 2005 (UTC)
Not as far as I know. Perhaps we should simply delete the senators from the state infobox? -- Rick Block (talk) 02:25, 30 December 2005 (UTC)
I'd support moving this out of the state box and putting the FedRep template at the bottom of each state article. Less duplication that way; if needed a link can be placed in this template to jump down to the fedrep template. -- nae'blis (talk) 22:04, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Official languages

Sorry, can someone summarize how many states actually have "Official languages"? Missouri certainly doesn't, and some well-meaning editor added English but it caused confusion. Is there a better way to phrase it, being mindful of the "Language spoken" foible above? -- nae'blis (talk) 22:04, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Louisiana has both English and French as official languages. However, I could not find (it was a quick search) any law saying that French is an official language. There are laws that protect it from discrimination and encourage its use; but nothing that seemed to say official language. It would be nice to see some citation for its status as an official language.—MJCdetroit 01:21, 28 March 2006 (UTC)
Could we please make this an optional field. Many states do not have an official language, and those with none but special status (such as New Mexico) need more explaining.  ProhibitOnions  (T) 17:07, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Missing information?

Shouldn't the template include the state bird, state flower, state tree, and state song? SCHZMO ✍ 12:57, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

A long time ago, there was talk about adding state symbols. At the time, the problem was there was no way anybody could think of to make the list of symbols variable depending on the state (some states have a dinosaur, some states have an insect, etc.). The general technique for building tables that have entries only if some parameter is supplied is now fairly well know, so I think it makes sense to revisit this. We might want to wait a bit until the qif vs. #if controversy settles down (see Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Template:Qif). -- Rick Block (talk) 02:57, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Unit order

Recent edits indicate some disagreement about what order the measurements should be listed. The relevant guideline about this is from Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers)#Units of measurement which says If editors cannot agree about the sequence of units, put the source value first and the converted value second. It's not obvious to me which is the source value and which is the converted value, but if we can determine this then I think listing the source value first is appropriate. -- Rick Block (talk) 19:04, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

The sourced values can be different from state to state. There by making the sourced value hard to put first in a template setting. That's why because the article is U.S. Centric in nature, it should be U.S. Customary first and metric second.—MJCdetroit 22:58, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Time zones' new style

I really like this change. It cleaned up the Michigan infobox quite nicely. Good job Rick. —MJCdetroit 03:18, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. I haven't been happy with the timezone presentation for the states with multiple timezones for a long time. -- Rick Block (talk) 04:37, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] State motto

It would be cool to get a line near the nickname for the state motto. I was just about to add Montani semper liberi to the West Virginia infobox but there was no place for it. I thought about being bold and adding a line to the template myself, but I have absolutely no idea what I am doing in that department. I know other states have mottos, too, so it would be a useful addition for all 50. youngamerican (ahoy-hoy) 12:28, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Kind of like in Template:Infobox City. youngamerican (ahoy-hoy) 14:39, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
I added an optional field for this; Motto = . I added Montani semper liberi to the West Virginia infobox. However, other than church stuff my latin is not very good. So I only added the Latin. My best guess is that it means the Mountains are always free. You will have to include the English translation next to the Latin. —MJCdetroit 16:42, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
Montani semper liberi has its own article so I just linked it in the WV infobox. MJCdetroit 16:49, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

I've added the mottos to the infobox of all of the states. It seems to have gone over ok, although a user from North Dakota has objected on the grounds of it being in the article. I've opened a dialouge with him and we'll see how it goes. Either way, there should be consitency in all of the infoboxes. youngamerican (ahoy-hoy) 18:56, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

I agree with adding the state motto to the infobox...it is optional (for now). However, just for the record, before anyone starts asking about state trees or flowers or dirt or any other state symbol...no, no, no. Stuff like that can stay within the text of the article (in my opinion). —MJCdetroit 11:59, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
Yup. Adding those sorts of things to this infobox would be borderline statecruft to start adding to the infoboxes. You'd then have to start including state soil, state pancake topping, state reality shows, state chewing gum, etc. before too long. I think motto and nickname are good places to draw the line. youngamerican (ahoy-hoy) 12:36, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Median household income

I think readers might be interested to know the median household incomes of the states. I have added a line for median household income and am going to come around and the median household income to every state template next week, unless somebody beats me to it ;-). Thank you. Best Regards, Signaturebrendel 06:07, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

I changed the formatting a bit, and added the income rank as well. See Colorado for an example. -- Rick Block (talk) 14:36, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Different look

I've changed the formatting a bit, using "infobox geography" (recently added to MediaWiki:Common.css). If anyone notices anything that looks odd in whatever skin and/or browser you use, please let me know. I realize there is not yet consensus about this, but this is in line with the guidelines I've proposed at Wikipedia:Geographical infoboxes (I'd like to use this template as an example). -- Rick Block (talk) 00:15, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] State Quarters

ProjectUSA
ProjectUSA

A project has suggested that each of the 50 State Quarters are incorporated into {{Infobox U.S. state}}. Is this doable? Biggest problem I see is that a few states still don't have one and the image filenames aren't homogenous. See Colorado for an example. CQ 05:10, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

It could be done, but let's not. In my opinion, I don't think that it belongs in Infobox U.S. state. If the editors of a page want it in that article then add it to the US state insignia infobox like is done in the Colorado example. MJCdetroit 13:36, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] US Representatives for All-(State name)

Some states have small enough populations to only have one US Representative to Congress. Could the Infobox be modified so that those states could add their representative under the title "US Representative for All-(state name)"? I don't know how to yet. Dkreisst 13:39, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

We could do this, but there are so few states for which this is appropriate I'm not sure it's worth the effort. I believe there's an article for each state listing its congregational delegations, e.g. United States Congressional Delegations from Colorado. How about adding a link to this article? -- Rick Block (talk) 03:50, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Capitol buildings

Given that the infoboxes have entries on various other symbols, like state flower and state song, it seems appropriate that there might be a link to the article about the state's capitol building, nearly all of which have good pictures. Thoughts? -Dmz5*Edits**Talk* 20:47, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

The capitol city article usually has a link to the capitol building. The flower and song can be considered symbols of the state; is the capitol building also such a symbol? Is the capitol building as significant as the governor's office or home? Do most states have capitol buildings or are some less centered (such as separate State House and State Senate buildings)? (SEWilco 20:59, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
The capitol city articles actually frequently do not have such links. Also, the links that are already in the infobox can often be found elsewhere anyway, the point of the box is that it's all centrally located - - the article on the state has a link to the article on the capital city, but it's still in the box. The capitol buildings are certainly symbols of the state, although to what extent is certainly debatable; and every state does, in fact, have a capitol building that is the central location of its government and the meeting place of its senate/assembly/governor, if only ceremonially. The only possible exception I can think of is Nevada, in which the assembly and senate meet in a building next door to the official capitol because it is so small. Not every state has a governor's mansion, nor do many such articles even exist. The whole point of capitol buildings is that they are grandiose (usually) symbols of the state. Dmz5*Edits**Talk* 21:09, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
You know, I actually meant to post this on a different talk page - I am looking for the box that goes at the bottom of state articles. Like, if you go to Longmont, Colorado and look at the bottom, there is a big template. Where do those things live?-Dmz5*Edits**Talk* 21:15, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
Edit that page and look near the bottom for a template call. Or click the Preview button and a list of templates will appear at the bottom of the page. (SEWilco 01:51, 15 January 2007 (UTC))

[edit] map caption hawaii alaska

Is there a way to change the caption for Hawaii and Alaska? because these arent maps of the US with the state highlighted. --Astrokey44 11:50, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

Yes. I added a #switch so the map tooltip for Alaska and Hawaii is different from the others. -- Rick Block (talk) 14:16, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sales Tax

Could someone add sales tax to the template? I don't think I'm experienced enough yet. Sean 02:14, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

Not that am crazy about a sales tax parameter, but how some "blank fields" instead? —MJCdetroit 12:57, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
I'm not too crazy about listing the sales tax either (note the comment at Sales taxes in the United States which says these things change frequently). I'm not a big fan of blank fields either - it's really sort of hit or miss for whether the new thing (whatever it is) ends up in an even remotely reasonable place. In general, I don't think there's a big problem with adding fields so I don't really see the point of blank fields. -- Rick Block (talk) 01:44, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Largest city vs. largest metro suggestion

It came to my attention recently that there has been a fair amount of debate/edit-wars over the concept of "largest city" in the state infobox. There are two definitions of city that are being used in these debates, they are:

  • A city defined by the legal jurisdiction of an incorporated municipality (city limits)
  • A city as designated by the census MSA (metropolitan statistical area). (anchor city and suburbs)

This can be pretty confusing and misleading for somebody not well aquatinted with a particular state. Some confusion has happened on the state pages for the states of Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, South Carolina, Missouri, Nebraska, Tennessee, Texas, and Louisiana. All but three of the states listed above already list the largest metro area in the info-box. What it comes down to is that all of these states have incorporated cities that have larger populations than the incorporated anchor city of the largest metropolitan area in the state. The confusion sets in when one realizes that according to the Wikipedia article on city people usually refer to the entire metro area (anchor city and suburbs) as one city. There is already a value in the info-box for largest metro and it appears to be de-facto optional. I suggest we keep it that way. I just wanted to make sure that there was a consensus and wasn't added with out anyone noticing. Comments welcome. Grey Wanderer | Talk 02:45, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

New question...should the largest metro area link to the city page or the MSA page? Grey Wanderer | Talk 02:55, 4 April 2007 (UTC)
If the item is metropolitan area, why would you link to anything other than the MSA page? ENDelt260 22:48, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

Makes sense lets do it. Grey Wanderer | Talk 02:09, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Largest vs Most populous city

Has there previously been discussion of the ambiguity of the phrase "Largest city" with respect to the word "largest?" It would be more accurate and less confusing to use the phrase "Most populous city" as "large" is rather vague and seems to imply geographical size rather than population. --ElKevbo 17:24, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Anyone? Would I have to make the change first before anyone had a comment or an opinion? --ElKevbo 03:19, 14 July 2007 (UTC)
I'm cool with the change. -Ravedave 14:35, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] List of U.S. states by elevation

The table on the List of U.S. states by elevation is now sortable and is more useful now. The other tables which have identical data but sorted in different ways should now be nuked. But that would impact this template. Any help in adjusting the template to accommodate would be much appreciated. It doesn't make any sense for the one article to have multiple tables sorted in different ways. Americasroof 18:13, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

I agree. I think the best option is to simply unlink the "Highest point", "Mean", and "Lowest point" fields, leaving the "Elevation" field linked to List of U.S. states by elevation. I can't think of any negative impact on the state pages. Hoof Hearted 19:33, 12 July 2007 (UTC)
I changed the list, I will change the template. -Ravedave 03:34, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Population (2000)

Is there any particular reason that this template doesn't even support the use of more updated population figures? I understand the national census is held every ten years, but the census bureau does provide updated estimates. It's 2007, this information is getting really badly dated. We have more current information and I think we should adapt this template so it's possible to use it. --JayHenry 22:35, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Montana

Montana has a problem. Someone put "representative". I believe this removed the postal code link. I think I may have corrected the problem by adding | after it. Could someone please double check this. It's important to have MS well referenced. —Preceding unsigned comment added by CyclePat (talk • contribs) 03:22, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Blank fields?

Would anyone be opposed to having blank field(s) toward the end of the infobox. There is some concern for standardization, but I think it is a reasonable idea that has been suggested here before. I worry it might be hijacked by the kooky Quarters people. One thing I want to use this for is for a "slogan" field. If there aren't opposition to this, I may do a test of this next week.--Patrick Ѻ 23:54, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

What do you mean "blank fields". If you mean generic fields where the user can set the title and the value? If so then I am opposed unless you have specific examples of where it is needed.-Ravedave 17:59, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Demonyms?

I think it would be great to have an optional field for the demonym used by the people of the state: i.e. does someone from Maine call themselves a "Mainer", "Maineite", "Maineian", "Maineonian", "Mainiac", or what? I'd put this in the population part of the infobox, after the totals. See the Los Angeles, California article for an example.--Kharker (talk) 03:58, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

Sounds good to me. -Ravedave 17:59, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
I just thought of this, and was going to suggest it right now. Absolutely.--Patrick Ѻ 17:52, 29 November 2007 (UTC)
Ok, I added Demonym as an optional field below the Capital and Largest city section. It could alternatively go within the Population section, at the bottom, below median income.--Patrick Ѻ 18:03, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] No website failure

Resolved.

When there is no website defined, some junk gets displayed. See infobox in State of Jefferson. -- SEWilco (talk) 19:30, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

I think I have fixed it. Based on testing, it appears to be working fine now. - ✰ALLSTAR✰ echo 23:56, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Only postal abbreviations and ISO codes displayed in "Abbreviations"

On the Abbreviations line, the template should have and display a value for traditional state abbreviations (in addition to the PostalAbbreviation and ISOCode). It's misleading to list postal abbreviations and ISO codes as the only abbreviations for US states. I cross-posted this concern at WikiProject US states. Thanks, Twalls (talk) 00:10, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

This is already supported, see example usage at Colorado. -- Rick Block (talk) 03:57, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Senate classes and timezone format

user:Buaidh recently changed the Colorado infobox content to add the senate class for each senator and to reformat the listed timezones, see this diff (the senate class numbers have since been turned into links). Anyone think we should add the senate class to all state articles, in which case I think it should be a parameter? And does anyone care about the timezone format? I don't particularly like either of these changes but thought I'd bring it to a wider forum for discussion. -- Rick Block (talk) 00:23, 16 April 2008 (UTC)