Template talk:Reference desk navigation

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[edit] Usage

{{subst:Reference desk navigation
|previous = 
|date1 = 
|next = 
|date2 = 
|type = 
}}
  • previous: the link to the previous page (square brackets are added automatically)
  • date1: the date of the previous page (e.g. July 21 or June)
  • next: the link to the next page (square brackets are added automatically)
  • date2: the date of the next page (e.g. July 23 or August)
  • type: the name of the reference desk being archived (e.g. Science, Language, Computing, etc.)

Note: When using this template on a transcluded page, remember to wrap it in <noinclude> and </noinclude> tags.

  • Which has been reduced to:
{{Reference desk navigation
|date1 = August 24
|date2 = August 26
|type = Science
}}

By removing a number of totally unnecessarily redundant variables to basic expressions--71.247.243.173 17:29, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Message text

The text is the body of the box read:

The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. Whilst you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions at one of the pages linked to above. This will insure that your question is answered more quickly.

I replaced 'whilst' (which is not used in American English) with 'while'. If that doesn't work for British English, maybe it can be 'though', or 'although', or something else.

Secondly, I think perhaps "This will insure that your question is answered more quickly" might be removed. The shorter the message, the easier to read, and the meaning is implicit in the earlier part. Also, it's a bit strange, as a new question on an old page is rather unlikely to be answered ever. -R. S. Shaw 20:31, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

I have no objections to those changes. As far as I am concerned, the wording doesn't matter as long as the correct message is conveyed. I added the last line for extra emphasis as some users had been asking questions on the transcluded pages by mistake. However, that has stopped since the introduction of the navigation template, so there shouldn't be any harm in removing it. Road Wizard 20:41, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Remove References to Archive From Template?

I think that this template may be inadvertently sending the wrong message to people who are trying to answer transcluded questions. I have created a proposed template, here, that eliminates the phrase "archive" and encourages people to continue to answer questions (rather than putting the emphasis on how to find the way back to the "real" reference desk). I think that this won't leave people with the same concern that seems to arise from being told that they are answering questions in an archive (implying that their answers will not be read or noticed). Thoughts on making these changes to the template? -- C. S. Joiner (talk) 01:04, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

I have no problem with that wording. If you think it will improve the situation, then go right ahead. :) Road Wizard 08:17, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
I hope no one minds the relatively minor formatting changes I made, the version that was just one giant box seemed like it was "shouting" at people, just having the date at the top without a bordered box, just seems more "friendly" to people who aren't expecting to end up on a transclusion--71.249.31.135 13:41, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Template Usage

Just wondering, but how come the template is being subt'd? this prevents any new changes to the template from filtering into already transcluded pages--71.249.31.135 13:32, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

It also stops changes to the variables from breaking many of the pages. If we hadn't substituted the template, your recent changes would have broken the links on many of the pages. Especially the Computing ones where the type field is Computing/IT, but the name structure is Computing.
The links should still work on the older pages and there is no real need to update the old archives for cosmetic reasons, so there is no point worrying about them. One thing to consider if you want to stop using subst: is that there are 5 pages that use the template created each day, every day. That makes 1825 pages created each year. I for one wouldn't relish the thought of updating code on 1825 pages to reflect the latest version of this template a year from now. Whoever would have to update the pages would also receive complaints from the editors who answer questions because of their watchlists flooding with hundreds or thousands of archive edits. :) Road Wizard 18:01, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New usage

<noinclude>
{{subst:Reference desk navigation
|date1 = 
|date2 = 
|type = 
}}
</noinclude>
  • date1: the date of the previous page (e.g. July 21 or June)
  • date2: the date of the next page (e.g. July 23 or August)
  • type: the name of the reference desk being archived (e.g. Science, Language, Computing, etc.)
  • It's been reduced to only 3 variables--71.247.243.173 17:36, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Even newer usage:

<noinclude>{{subst:Reference desk navigation|1|October|Science}}</noinclude>

With the date used, being the date of the archive, the template does the math--VectorPotential71.247.243.173 02:51, 1 September 2006 (UTC)