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Forum:New infobox design: Difference between revisions
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:::The new design looks good to me as well. - [[User:SimDestroyer|SimDestroyer]] ([[User talk:SimDestroyer|talk]]) 11:11, January 28, 2018 (UTC)
==Standards for infoboxes==
At the risk of going off on a tangent, I think we also ought to develop/refine standards about how infoboxes should be designed and implemented, in terms of their functional design and use on a page-by-page basis. This, in my opinion, would be a good addition to the [[TSW:MOS|MOS]], or perhaps to another page more suited to it. In my brief adventure into the world of infobox design, I've noticed a lot of issues which cause at the least, minor inconvenience but, at the most, cause [http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Neighborhoods_in_The_Sims_Online?oldid=748986 page-breaking issues]. For a starting point to further discussion, I'd like to lay down some preliminary standards:
# Infoboxes on The Sims Wiki should start with "Template:Infobox..." to differentiate infobox templates from other templates which might have similar names (for example, the name for {{T|Sim}} is very similar to the name for {{t|Sims}} despite the two templates being vastly different from each other). This would also help editors in the page source identify infoboxes at-a-glance.
# Infoboxes should use the same parameter names as much as possible, and standardize how those parameters are used. For instance, all infoboxes should have a {{{game}}} parameter, and that parameter should be automatically set to italicize and link to the name input into it; the infobox's top image should always be set by the {{{image}}} parameter, and file link and file size ''should not'' be automatic (in other words, the user of the template would have to include the brackets and image size), etc etc
# Images in infoboxes should be set to a maximum 250px width, and should be set to exactly 250px wide unless circumstances (like low-quality or low-resolution images) prevent this
# Infoboxes should use the same base .css style (as helpfully written into our .css pages by resident guru [[User:Nikel23|Nikel23]]
# No more than 10 infoboxes should be used on a single page, and no more than 6 infoboxes should be used in a single section on a page, in order to cut down on page length, size, and loading time. In all instances, editors should review whether infoboxes are necessary, or if the information could be condensed down into a table instead (see [[Mysterious Mr. Gnome#Varieties]] for what I'd classify as an example of ''what not to do''... notice how the object's size and type never vary from instance to instance; this could be much better arranged in a table)
# Infobox code should be as clear, straightforward and easy to understand as possible. It should be made simple enough for later editors to make additions to the template as needed without having to consult the original author for an explanation as to how it works.
# Parameter names should not be capitalized.
# Infoboxes that automatically display text, images, or add categories to pages should avoid including complex "getting" code in the infobox itself; instead, this functionality should be provided by [[:Category:Categorizing templates]], [[:Category:Image retrieval templates]], and [[:Category:Namespace checking templates]] (what I'd refer to collectively as "retrieval" templates or "fetch" templates)
These aren't necessarily uncontroversial points, and they aren't meant to be "laws" or hard-and-fast by any means, just basic standards to follow when designing new infoboxes. What do you all think? -- '''[[User:LostInRiverview|<span style="color:navy;">LostInRiverview</span>]]<sup> [[User_talk:LostInRiverview|<font color="green">talk</font>]] · [[User_blog:LostInRiverview|<font color="green">blog</font>]] · [[Special:Contributions/LostInRiverview|<font color="green">contribs</font>]]</sup>''' 07:39, February 2, 2018 (UTC)
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