Template:Navbox/doc

This is a documentation subpage for Template:Navbox (see that page for the template itself).
It contains usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page.

This template allows a navigational template to be set up relatively quickly by supplying it one or more lists of links. It comes equipped with default styles that should work for most navigational templates. Changing the default styles is not recommended, but is possible. Using this template is highly recommended for standardization of navigational templates, and for ease of use.

Usage

Please remove the parameters that are left blank.

{{Navbox
|name    = {{subst:PAGENAME}}
|title   = 
|image   = 
|above   = 

|group1  = 
|list1   = 

|group2  = 
|list2   = 
 ...
|group20 = 
|list20  = 

|below   = 
}}

Parameter list

The navbox uses lowercase parameter names, as shown in the box (at right). The mandatory name and title will create a one-line box if other parameters are omitted.

Notice "group1" (etc.) is optional, as are sections named "above/below".
The basic and most common parameters are as follows (see below for the full list):

name - the name of the template.

title - text in the title bar, such as: [[Widget stuff]].

state - autocollapse, uncollapsed, collapsed: the status of box expansion, where "autocollapse" hides stacked navboxes automatically.

titlestyle - a CSS style for the title-bar, such as: background:gray;

groupstyle - a CSS style for the group-cells, such as: background:#eee;

image - an optional right-side image (coded as the whole image tag: [[Image:XX.jpg|90px]] ).

imageleft - an optional left-side image (code the same was as the "image" parameter).

above - text to appear above the group/list section (could be a list of overall wikilinks).

groupn - the left-side text before list-n (if group-n omitted, list-n starts at left of box).

listn - text listing wikilinks, often separated by middot templates, such as: [[A]]{{·}} [[B]]

below - optional text to appear below the group/list section.

Further details, and complex restrictions, are explained below under section Parameter descriptions. See some alternate navbox formats under: Layout of table.

Parameter descriptions

The following is a complete list of parameters for using {{Navbox}}. In most cases, the only required parameters are name, title, and list1, though child navboxes do not even require those to be set.

Setup parameters

name

The name of the template, which is needed for the "v • d • e" ("view • discuss • edit") links to work properly on all pages where the template is used. You can enter {{subst:PAGENAME}} for this value as a shortcut. The name parameter is only mandatory if a title is specified, and the border parameter is not set.

state [autocollapse, uncollapsed, collapsed, plain, off]

• Defaults to autocollapse. A navbox with autocollapse will start out collapsed if there are two or more tables on the same page that use other collapsible tables. Otherwise, the navbox will be expanded. For the technically minded, see MediaWiki:Common.js.
• If set to collapsed, the navbox will always start out in a collapsed state.
• If set to plain, the navbox will always be expanded with no [hide] link on the right, and the title will remain centered (by using padding to offset the v • d • e links).
• If set to off, the navbox will always be expanded with no [hide] link on the right, but no padding will be used to keep the title centered. This is for advanced use only; the "plain" option should suffice for most applications where the [show]/[hide] button needs to be hidden.
• If set to anything other than autocollapse, collapsed, plain, or off (such as "uncollapsed"), the navbox will always start out in an expanded state, but have the "hide" button.

To show the box when standalone (non-included) but then auto-hide contents when in an article, put "uncollapsed" inside <noinclude> tags:

• state = <noinclude>uncollapsed</noinclude>
• That setting will force the box visible when standalone (even when followed by other boxes), displaying "[hide]" but then auto-collapse the box when stacked inside an article.

Often times, editors will want a default initial state for a navbox, which may be overridden in an article. Here is the trick to do this:

• In your intermediate template, create a parameter also named "state" as a pass-through like this:
• | state = {{{state<includeonly>|your_desired_initial_state</includeonly>}}}
• The <includeonly>| will make the template expanded when viewing the template page by itself.

• Example: {{peso}} with autocollapse as the default initial state. Bolivian peso transcludes it and has only one navbox. So the peso navbox shows. Chilean peso has two navboxes. So the peso navbox collapses.

• Example: {{Historical currencies of Hungary}} with expanded as the default initial state. All transcluding articles shows the content by default, unless there were an hypothetical article that specifies state = collapsed when transcluding.

navbar

Defaults to Tnavbar. If set to plain, the v • d • e links on the left side of the titlebar will not be displayed, and padding will be automatically used to keep the title centered. Use off to remove the v • d • e links, but not apply padding (this is for advanced use only; the "plain" option should suffice for most applications where a navbar is not desired). Note that it is highly recommended that one does not hide the navbar, in order to make it easier for users to edit the template, and to keep a standard style across pages.

border

See section below on using navboxes within one another for examples and a more complete description. If set to child or subgroup, then the navbox can be used as a borderless child that fits snuggly in another navbox. The border is hidden and there is no padding on the sides of the table, so it fits into the list area of its parent navbox. If set to none, then the border is hidden and padding is removed, and the navbox may be used as a child of another container (do not use the none option inside of another navbox; similarly, only use the child/subgroup option inside of another navbox). If set to anything else (default), then a regular navbox is displayed with a 1px border. An alternate way to specify the border to be a subgroup style is like this (i.e. use the first unnamed parameter instead of the named border parameter):

{{Navbox|child

...

}}

Cells

title

Text that appears centered in the top row of the table. It is usually the template's topic, i.e. a succinct description of the body contents. This should be a single line, but if a second line is needed, use {{-}} to ensure proper centering. This parameter is technically not mandatory, but using {{Navbox}} is rather pointless without a title.

group_n

(i.e. group1, group2, etc.) If specified, text appears in a header cell displayed to the left of list_n. If omitted, list_n uses the full width of the table.

list_n

(i.e. list1, list2, etc.) The body of the template, usually a list of links. Format is inline, although the text can be entered on separate lines if the entire list is enclosed within <div> </div>. At least one list parameter is required; each additional list is displayed in a separate row of the table. Each list_n may be preceded by a corresponding group_n parameter, if provided (see below).

image

An image to be displayed in a cell below the title and to the right of the body (the groups/lists). For the image to display properly, the list1 parameter must be specified. The image parameter accepts standard wikicode for displaying an image, i.e.

image = [[Image:Example.jpg|100px]]

imageleft

An image to be displayed in a cell below the title and to the left of the body (lists). For the image to display properly, the list1 parameter must be specified and no groups can be specified. The imageleft parameter accepts standard wikicode for displaying an image, i.e.

imageleft = [[Image:Example.jpg|100px]]

above

A full-width cell displayed between the titlebar and first group/list, i.e. above the template's body (groups, lists and image). In a template without an image, above behaves in the same way as the list1 parameter without the group1 parameter.

below

A full-width cell displayed below the template's body (groups, lists and image). In a template without an image, below behaves in the same way as the template's final list_n parameter without a group_n parameter. For an example of the below parameter in use, see {{Lists of the provinces and territories of Canada}}.

Style parameters

Styles are generally not recommended as to maintain consistency among templates and pages in Wikipedia. However, the option to modify styles is given.

style

Specifies CSS styles to apply to the template body. The parameter bodystyle also does the example same thing and can be used in place of this style parameter. This option should be used sparingly as it can lead to visual inconsistencies. Examples:

style = background:#nnnnnn;

style = width:N [em/%/px or width:auto];

style = float:[left/right/none];

style = clear:[right/left/both/none];

basestyle

CSS styles to apply to the title, above, below, and group cells all at once. The style are not applied to list cells. This is convenient for easily changing the basic color of the navbox without having to repeat the style specifications for the different parts of the navbox. Examples:

basestyle = background:lightskyblue;

titlestyle

CSS styles to apply to title, most often the titlebar's background color:

titlestyle = background:#nnnnnn;

titlestyle = background:name;

groupstyle

CSS styles to apply to the groupN cells. This option overrides any styles that are applied to the entire table. Examples:

groupstyle = background:#nnnnnn;

groupstyle = text-align:[left/center/right];

groupstyle = vertical-align:[top/middle/bottom];

group_nstyle

CSS styles to apply to a specific group, in addition to any styles specified by the groupstyle parameter. This parameter should only be used when absolutely necessary in order to maintain standardization and simplicity. Examples:

group3style = background:red;color:white;

liststyle

CSS styles to apply to all lists. Overruled by the oddstyle and evenstyle parameters (if specified) below.

list_nstyle

CSS styles to apply to a specific group, in addition to any styles specified by the groupstyle parameter. This parameter should only be used when absolutely necessary in order to maintain standardization and simplicity. Examples:

list5style = background:#ddddff;

listpadding

A number and unit specifying the padding in each list cell. The list cells come equipped with a default padding of 0.25em on the left and right, and 0em on the top and bottom. Due to complex technical reasons, simply setting "liststyle=padding:0.5em;" (or any other padding setting) will not work. Examples:

listpadding = 0.5em 0em; (sets 0.5em padding for the left/right, and 0em padding for the top/bottom.)

listpadding = 0em; (removes all list padding.)

oddstyle

evenstyle

Applies to odd/even list numbers. Overrules styles defined by liststyle. The default behavior is to add striped colors (white and gray) to odd/even rows, respectively, in order to improve readability. These should not be changed except in extraordinary circumstances.

evenodd [swap, even, odd, off]

If set to swap, then the automatic striping of even and odd rows is reversed. Normally, even rows get a light gray background for striping; when this parameter is used, the odd rows receive the gray striping instead of the even rows. Setting to even or odd sets all rows to have that striping color. Setting to off disables automatic row striping. This advanced parameter should only be used to fix problems when the navbox is being used as a child of another navbox and the stripes do not match up. Examples and a further description can be found in the section on child navboxes below.

abovestyle

belowstyle

CSS styles to apply to the top cell (specified via the above parameter) and bottom cell (specified via the below parameter). Typically used to set background color or text alignment:

abovestyle = background:#nnnnnn;

abovestyle = text-align:[left/center/right];

imagestyle

imageleftstyle

CSS styles to apply to the cells where the image/imageleft sits. These styles should only be used in exceptional circumstances, usually to fix width problems if the width of groups is set and the width of the image cell grows too large. Examples:

imagestyle = width:5em;

Default styles

The style settings listed here are those that editors using the navbox change most often. The other more complex style settings were left out of this list to keep it simple. Most styles are set in MediaWiki:Common.css.

bodystyle = background:#fdfdfd; width:100%; vertical-align:middle;

titlestyle = background:#ccccff; padding-left:1em; padding-right:1em; text-align:center;

abovestyle = background:#ddddff; padding-left:1em; padding-right:1em; text-align:center;

belowstyle = background:#ddddff; padding-left:1em; padding-right:1em; text-align:center;

groupstyle = background:#ddddff; padding-left:1em; padding-right:1em; text-align:right;

liststyle = background:transparent; text-align:left/center;

oddstyle = background:transparent;

evenstyle = background:#f7f7f7;

Since liststyle and oddstyle are transparent odd lists have the color of the bodystyle, which defaults to #fdfdfd (white with a hint of gray). A list has text-align:left; if it has a group, if not it has text-align:center;. Since only bodystyle has a vertical-align all the others inherit its vertical-align:middle;.

Advanced parameters

titlegroup

This puts a group in the title area, with the same default styles as group_n. It should be used only in exceptional circumstances (usually advanced meta-templates) and its use requires some knowledge of the internal code of {{Navbox}}; you should be ready to manually set up CSS styles to get everything to work properly if you wish to use it. If you think you have an application for this parameter, it might be best to change your mind, or consult the talk page first.

titlegroupstyle

The styles for the titlegroup cell.

innerstyle

A very advanced parameter to be used only for advanced meta-templates employing the navbox. Internally, the navbox uses an outer table to draw the border, and then an inner table for everything else (title/above/groups/lists/below/images, etc.). The style/bodystyle parameter sets the style for the outer table, which the inner table inherits, but in advanced cases (meta-templates) it may be necessary to directly set the style for the inner table. This parameter provides access to that inner table so styles can be applied. Use at your own risk.

Layout of table

Table generated by {{Navbox}} without image, above and below parameters (gray list background color added for illustration only):

Table generated by {{Navbox}} with image, above and below parameters (gray list background color added for illustration only):

Table generated by {{Navbox}} with image, imageleft, lists, and without groups, above, below (gray list background color added for illustration only):

Examples

No image

{{Navbox
|name  = Navbox/doc
|title = [[Multimedia Super Corridor|MSC (Multimedia Super Corridor) Malaysia]]{{-}}''without image''

|group1 = Centre
|list1  = [[Cyberjaya]]

|group2 = Area
|list2  = [[Klang Valley]]

|group3 = Major landmarks
|list3  = [[Petronas Twin Towers]]{{·}} [[Kuala Lumpur Tower]]{{·}} [[Kuala Lumpur Sentral]]{{·}} [[Technology Park Malaysia]]{{·}} [[Putrajaya]]{{·}} [[Cyberjaya]]{{·}} 
[[Kuala Lumpur International Airport]]

|group4 = Infrastructure
|list4  = [[Express Rail Link]]{{·}} [[KL-KLIA Dedicated Expressway]]

|group5 = Prime applications
|list5  = [[EGovernment]]{{·}} [[MyKad]]  
}}

With image, without groups

{{Navbox
|name  = Navbox/doc
|title = [[Multimedia Super Corridor|MSC (Multimedia Super Corridor) Malaysia]]
|image = [[Image:Icon clue generic.png|80px]]
|list1 = [[Petronas Twin Towers]]{{·}} [[Kuala Lumpur Tower]]{{·}} [[Kuala Lumpur Sentral]]{{·}} [[Technology Park Malaysia]]{{·}} [[Putrajaya]]{{·}} [[Cyberjaya]]{{·}} [[Kuala Lumpur International Airport]]
}}

With two images, without groups, multiple lists

{{Navbox
|name  = Navbox/doc
|title = [[Multimedia Super Corridor|MSC (Multimedia Super Corridor) Malaysia]]
|image = [[Image:Icon clue generic.png|80px]]
|imageleft = [[Image:Icon clue generic.png|80px]]
|list1 = [[Petronas Twin Towers]]{{·}} [[Kuala Lumpur Tower]]{{·}} [[Kuala Lumpur Sentral]]
|list2 = [[Express Rail Link]]{{·}} [[KL-KLIA Dedicated Expressway]]
|list3 = [[EGovernment]]{{·}} [[MyKad]]
|list4 = [[Klang Valley]]
}}

With image, groups, above, below

{{Navbox
|name  = Navbox/doc
|title = [[Multimedia Super Corridor|MSC (Multimedia Super Corridor) Malaysia]]
|image = [[Image:Icon clue generic.png|80px]]

|above = Above text goes here

|group1 = Centre
|list1  = [[Cyberjaya]]

|group2 = Area
|list2  = [[Klang Valley]]

|group3 = Major landmarks
|list3  = [[Petronas Twin Towers]]{{·}} [[Kuala Lumpur Tower]]{{·}} [[Kuala Lumpur Sentral]]{{·}} [[Technology Park Malaysia]]{{·}} [[Putrajaya]]{{·}} [[Cyberjaya]]{{·}} [[Kuala Lumpur International Airport]]

|group4 = Infrastructure
|list4  = [[Express Rail Link]]{{·}} [[KL-KLIA Dedicated Expressway]]

|group5 = Prime applications
|list5  = [[EGovernment]]{{·}} [[MyKad]]

|below  = Website: [http://www.msc.com.my/ www.msc.com.my]
}}

Child navboxes

It is possible to place multiple navboxes within a single border with the use of the border parameter, or by specifying the first parameter to be "child". The basic code for doing this is as follows (which adds a subgroup for the first group/list area):

{{Navbox
|name = {{subst:PAGENAME}}
|title = Title

|group1 = [optional]
|list1 = {{Navbox|child
   ...child navbox parameters...
 }}

...
}}

Subgroups example

This example shows how subgroups can be used by using {{Navbox}} with border = child or the first unnamed parameter set to child. Note that the evenodd parameter is used to reverse striping in some of the subgroups in order to get all of the stripes to line up properly. If you wish to remove the striping altogether, you can set liststyle = background:transparent; in each of the navboxes.

Multiple show/hides in a single container

The example below is generated using a regular navbox for the main container, then its list1, list2, and list3 parameters each contain another navbox, with border = child set. Note that each of the child navboxes has its own VDE navbar; these could be hidden using navbar = plain for each of them, or by just leaving out the name parameter (child navboxes do not require the name parameter to be set, unlike regular navboxes).

Technical details

• This template uses CSS classes for most of its looks, thus it is fully skinnable.

• Internally this meta template uses HTML markup instead of wiki markup for the table code. That is the usual way we make meta templates since wiki markup has several drawbacks. For instance it makes it harder to use parser functions and special characters in parameters.

• For more technical details see the talk page, the CSS classes in MediaWiki:common.css and the collapsible table used to hide the box in MediaWiki:common.js.

Intricacies

• The 2px wide border between groups and lists is drawn using the border-left property of the list cell. Thus, if you wish to change the background color of the template (for example bodystyle = background:purple;), then you'll need to make the border-left-color match the background color (i.e. liststyle = border-left-color:purple;). If you wish to have a border around each list cell, then the 2px border between the list cells and group cells will disappear; you'll have to come up with your own solution.

• The list cell width is initially set to 100%. Thus, if you wish to manually set the width of group cells, you'll need to also specify the liststyle to have width:auto. If you wish to set the group width and use images, it's up to you to figure out the CSS in the groupstyle, liststyle, imagestyle, and imageleftstyle parameters to get everything to work correctly. Example of setting group width:

groupstyle = width:10em;

liststyle = width:auto;

• Adjacent navboxes have only a 1 pixel border between them (except in IE6, which doesn't support the necessary CSS). If you set the top or bottom margin of style/bodystyle, then this will not work.

• The default margin-left and margin-right of the outer navbox table are set to "auto;". If you wish to use navbox as a float, you need to manually set the margin-left and margin-right values, because the auto margins interfere with the float option. For example, add the following code to use the navbox as a float:

style = width:22em;float:right;margin-left:1em;margin-right:0em;

See also

• Wikipedia:Line break handling – The how-to guide about how to handle word wraps (line breaks) on Wikipedia, such as the wrapping of the link lists used in navboxes.