Wikipedia:Userboxes/Design and construct

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Contents 1 Designing a userbox 1.1 Content 1.2 Content restrictions 1.3 Caution about image use 1.4 Category inclusion 2 Constructing a userbox 2.1 How to construct the box 2.1.1 Userbox types 2.1.2 Userbox sampling templates

[edit] Designing a userbox

The following userbox design and creation guidelines apply equally to all user templates (including any userbox or userbox-like markup), regardless of whether they have been transcluded, substituted, or written from scratch. Userboxes that fail to meet these guidelines may be subject to deletion.

[edit] Content

Typical userbox content examples:

• This user <verb phrase> <noun phrase>
  • This user is <noun phrase>
  • This user is a member of <noun phrase>
  • This user is a fan of <noun phrase>
  • This user supports <noun phrase>
  • This user contributes to <noun phrase>
  • This user is interested in <noun phrase>
  • This user is fascinated by <noun phrase>

Other combinations are obviously possible.

Other typical verbs (again, others are possible): drives, eats, edits, enjoys, favors, likes, loves, plays, prefers, reads, speaks, understands, uses, and watches.

Avoid the following verbs: considers, finds, knows, and thinks.

Also avoid compound sentences which are positive and negative, such as:

• This user likes <noun phrase>, but does not like <another noun phrase>.

[edit] Content restrictions

• All items in template and user space are governed by the civility policy.
  • Userboxes must not include blatant incivility or personal attacks.
  • Userboxes must not be intentionally inflammatory or divisive.
  • Wikipedia is not an appropriate place for political campaigning.

Simply: If content is not appropriate on a user page, it is not appropriate within userboxes.

[edit] Caution about image use

• The Wikimedia Commons has a large range of icons for use within boxes. However, if you wish to select a different image to put in a userbox, make certain the image license is free. Wikipedia policy does not allow templates (which includes userboxes) or user pages to contain any copyrighted content not under free license; so, for example, "fair use" images are explicitly forbidden. This clause is to be interpreted strictly and without exception, for legal reasons. See Wikipedia's fair use policy guidelines for more details.

[edit] Category inclusion

• Userboxes that include Category markup which adds the bearing userpage to a category must only categorize within subcategories of Category:Wikipedians.
• Names and descriptions of subcategories are subject to the same rules and restrictions as userbox content.
• Userboxes should not automatically include categories by default. Consider how useful the category would be to other editors before adding it to your userbox.
• Do not create categories which could potentially include all Wikipedians. For example, userboxes such as: "This user is a Wikipedian."; "This user is human."; "This user uses the internet"; etc., should not include category markup based on such criteria.
• Avoid categorizing "not"-based userboxes. For example: "This user does not like <noun phrase>."

[edit] Constructing a userbox

[edit] How to construct the box

There are a number of box types to select from when deciding to make a userbox. The most commonly used design is the "Standard box". It has one square shaped area on the left ("id") and a rectangular area on the right ("info").

For ease of use, userboxes are made using maker-templates that have a number of parameters. Once the maker-template is saved, it is automatically transformed to HTML.

Template Parameters	Meaning	Value type
border-c	The border colour of the userbox.	CSS colour value (#hex or colour name)
border-s	The border size of the userbox.	Width in pixels
id-c	The background colour of the id box.	CSS colour value
id-s	The font size of the id box.	Size in PostScript points
id-fc	The font colour of the id box text.	CSS colour value
id-p	The distance between border and content of id box.	CSS padding width value. px, pt
id-lh	The distance between text lines of id box.	CSS relative line height/length value. em
info-c	The background colour of info box.	CSS colour value
info-s	The font size of info box.	Size in PostScript points
info-fc	The font colour of info box.	CSS colour value
info-p	The distance between border and content of info box.	CSS padding width value. px, pt
info-lh	The distance between text lines of info box.	CSS relative line height/length value. em
id	This is the content of the id box.	Text
info	This is the content of info box.	Text

[edit] Userbox types

Code	Appearance
Standard box
{{Userbox |border-c=#000 |border-s=1 |id-c=#fff |id-s=12 |id-fc=#000 |info-c=#039 |info-s=8 |info-fc=#fff |id=ID |info=Content}} or {{Userbox |side-box colour |main box colour |side-box content |main box content}}	ID Content
Reverse box
{{Userbox-r |border-c=#000 |border-s=1 |id-c=#fff |id-s=12 |id-fc=#000 |info-c=#039 |info-s=8 |info-fc=#fff |id=ID |info=Content}} or {{Userbox-r |side-box colour |main box colour |side-box content |main box content}}	Content ID
Double box
{{Userbox-2 |border-c=#000 |border-s=1 |id1-c=#fff |id1-s=12 |id1-fc=#000 |id2-c=#000 |id2-s=12 |id2-fc=#fff |info-c=#039 |info-s=8 |info-fc=#fff |id1=ID 1 |id2=ID 2 |info=Content}} or {{Userbox-2 |side-box 1 colour |main box colour |side-box 1 content |message |side-box 2 content |border colour |side-box 2 colour |main box font-colour |box border thickness}} Note: If omitted, border colour and side-box 2 colour default to the same colour as side-box 1, and font colour is black. Default border thickness is 1.	ID 1 Content ID 2
Mini box
{{Userbox-m |border-c=#000 |border-s=1 |id-c=#fff |id-s=12 |id-fc=#000 |id=ID}} or {{Userbox-m |box colour |box content}}	ID

[edit] Userbox sampling templates

To make it easier to quote the generation code for a userbox in a uniform format, a template {{Userbox sample compact}} has been made available, which produces a picture of the userbox along with the code necessary to create it. To use it, just give it exactly the same parameters you would give the {{Userbox}} template. You must use subst:, or the template will not work properly. An example is shown below:

{{subst:Userbox sample compact|id=UBX|id-c=red|info=This is a '''[[WP:UBX|Userbox]]'''.}}

Produces:

{{Userbox | border-c = #999 | border-s = 1 | id-c = red | id-s = 14 | id-fc = black | info-c = #EEE | info-s = 8 | info-fc = black | id = UBX | info = This is a '''[[WP:UBX|Userbox]]'''. | float = left }}

UBX This is a Userbox.

There are not yet any similar templates available for userboxes created by the templates Userbox-r, Userbox-2 and Userbox-m.