Template talk:US state insignia

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[edit] Improving this template

Currently this template is broken and, apparently, derelict. Nevertheless, this should be the template name for Template:US state symbols, given that this tmeplate's name corresponds to the article List of U.S. state insignia and is the more correct name anyway. Thus, I suggest transfering the information from the aforesaid template, as well as adding any unmentioned insignia from the list article, and creating a template to be used for all 50 US states. 66.229.182.113 10:07, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

It is not broken (in use at Colorado and Nebraska), but perhaps could be considerably improved. It's current intended use is to start (but not finish, so it's expandable) a "State symbols" table. Kind of like (from Colorado):

{|{{US state insignia |
  Name        = Colorado |
  StateMotto  = ''Nil sine numine'' ([[Latin]], "Nothing without Providence") |
  StateSlogan = ''none'' |
  StateBird   = [[Lark Bunting]] |
  StateAnimal = [[Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep]] |
  StateFish   = [[Greenback cutthroat trout]] |
  StateInsect = [[Colorado Hairstreak Butterfly]] |
  StateFlower = [[Rocky Mountain Columbine]] |
  StateTree   = [[Blue Spruce|Colorado Spruce or Blue Spruce]] |
  Fossil=show    | StateFossil = [[Stegosaurus]] |
  StateSong   = "[[Where the Columbines Grow]]" | }}
  <!-- other symbols follow in wikitable format -->
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|'''[[List of U.S. state dances|Folk dance]]''' || [[Square dance]]
|-
|'''[[List of U.S. state minerals, rocks, stones and gemstones|Gemstone]]''' || [[Aquamarine]]
|-
|'''[[List of U.S. state minerals, rocks, stones and gemstones|Mineral]]''' || [[Rhodochrosite]]
|-
|'''[[List of U.S. state minerals, rocks, stones and gemstones|Rock]]''' || [[Yule Marble]]
|-
|'''[[List of U.S. state grass|Grass]]''' || [[Blue grama]]
|-
|'''[[Tartan]]''' || <!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: [[Image:ColoradoTartan.gif|100px]] -->
|-
{{US state quarter |
  Name  = Colorado |
  Image = Colorado quarter, reverse side, 2006.jpg |
  ReleaseDate = To be released in [[2006]]
}}
|}

At the time it was created m:ParserFunctions did not exist so there was no clean way to make a single template that creates a table with a variable number of rows, based on (for example) the presence or absence of various parameters. This is entirely feastible now. At one point I had in mind adding a "symbols" section to template:Infobox U.S. state, but most states have so many of them that I'm not sure this is such a good idea. To make the merge more practical, I'll make this template generate a complete table (and fix the existing references). -- Rick Block (talk) 14:46, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Now updated to generate a complete table, with parameters for all the symbols generated by Template:US state symbols (minus a couple that are repeats from the infobox). -- Rick Block (talk) 20:52, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Width

25em looks pretty reasonable in the default monobook skin, but in classic (in Safarai, on a Mac) it make the template about 420px, which is absurdly wide. I've changed it back to 300px, which is about the same width as the US State template (which doesn't specify a width, but will always be at least 260px). -- Rick Block (talk) 13:39, 29 September 2006 (UTC)