Template:Wayback/doc

Description

This template can be used in footnotes as an easy link to a page's entry at the Wayback Machine. This is especially important for fixing a dead link (a link whose target no longer exists). The Wayback Machine can "go back in time" and display a page at what it looked like during a particular time period. For example, at this URL we can see what Google looked like on January 17, 1999. Nostalgic, right?

Usage

This template has the following parameters:

{{Wayback|url=|title=|date=}}

url

This is for the URL of the page that is being referenced by the Wayback Machine - not the actual URL of the archive on the Wayback Machine. This template will automatically generate the full archive link using the URL you supply in this parameter.

date (optional but recommended)

The Internet Archive timestamp (YYYYMMDDhhmmss) for the date of the archived page that is to be displayed. If provided, the template will format the date and display it: Month-name, day-number, year. If omitted, the history of the referenced page will be listed instead. You must use the full 4 digits for the year, and 2 digits for month, day, hour minute and second. Use leading zeros if necessary, and use a 24 hour clock for the time.

To find the timestamp, go to the URL of the archived page. For example:

https://web.archive.org/web/20060529225355/http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

The numbers that are highlighted in red is the Wayback Machine archive timestamp. Copy that and paste it into the date parameter.

title (optional but recommended)

The text label for the external link. If this is omitted, a generic 'Archive copy' label will be used.

Examples

Link to page history, using a generic label

{{Wayback |url=http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page}}

Produces: Archive copy at the Wayback Machine

Link to page history, using a title rather than the generic label

{{Wayback |url=http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page |title=The Sims Wiki}}

Produces: The Sims Wiki at the Wayback Machine

Link to page history using a title, and displaying a particular archived date (March 30, 2009 at 04:29:21)

{{Wayback |url=http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page |title=The Sims Wiki, a database for The Sims series that anyone can edit |date=20090330042921 }}

Produces: The Sims Wiki, a database for The Sims series that anyone can edit at the Wayback Machine (archived March 30, 2009)

Credits

This template's code originated from the original version on Wikipedia.