Template:Date missing/doc

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{{Date missing}} (or {{date?}} for short) is an inline cleanup template flagging a broken source citation that is missing the date of publication of the cited source (or at least the specified fact that date is not available). "Date" here usually means "more information than just the year".

Many references are added with an access-date= but no publication date. This may be due to the use of citation tools that cannot identify a page's date, but of course the access-date= is always today. The lack of a publication date is clearly wrong, an error; but {{Citation}} documentation says clearly "Access dates are not required for links to published research papers, published books, or news articles with publication dates."

Usage

Do not place this template in any Citation Style 1 citation's |date= parameters. All text in |date= parameters is made part of the citation's COinS metadata. The |date= parameters should include date data only.

For all free-form and {{cite xxx}}-type template references ({{cite web}}, {{cite book}}, {{citation}}, etc.), place {{date missing}} at the end of the citation, typically just before the ending </ref> tag

How to fix the problem flagged by this template

Do not remove the template without fixing the problem one of the following ways.

• If you know the date (or date range in some cases), fill in the needed information, and remove the template.

  For a template-formatted citation, there are five basic ways to do this:

  1. International format (for most articles), full format (usually for news items):

     |date=D[D] Monthname YYYY

  2. US format (for articles in American English), full format (usually for news items):

     |date=Monthname D[D], YYYY

  3. Month and year only (usually for magazines and journals)

     |date=Monthname YYYY

  4. Or, if just a year would be more appropriate (e.g. for books and non-news websites), specify it using |year=:

     |year=YYYY

     This solution is mainly for cases where {{date missing}} was used improperly and {{year missing}} really should have been used. Some templates such as {{Cite journal}} and {{Cite news}} really do expect a |date= not |year= parameter for most applications.

  5. Some publications use some other kind of date range, such as a season or whatever:

     |date=Winter 2009/2010

     |date=March/April, 2010

     |date=1st Quarter, 2010

  For a free-form citation:

  1. Just add the date, as appropriate to the format of the citation; or...
  2. Better yet, convert the entire citation to {{cite journal}}, {{cite news}} or some other {{cite xxx}}-series template, as appropriate for the work in question.

• If you know that no date was specified by the original source, as is common on many non-news Web pages, you have several options, listed here in order of preference.
  1. Use the copyright year (or year range) if one is specified, and use [square brackets] to specify that this is what it is:

     |year=2006–2010 [copyright date]

     If the template will break without using the |date= parameter, then go ahead:

     |date=2006–2010 [copyright date]

  2. Failing that, for a non-news source, use the page's last-modified date (use your browser's "get page info" type of command; for example it is "Tools > Page info" in Firefox on Windows); only use this date if it is plausible (many sites always show a very recent last-modified date because of dynamic content updating such as sidebar ads).

     |date=23 March 2003 [last updated]

     Use the format appropriate for the article and source/citation type.

     This solution should never be used with news journalism, as it is closely tied an event's specific date, the accuracy of which is important for placing such a source in proper context.

  3. Another option is an estimation, if you have reason to know approximately when something was published (i.e., you are better than guessing):

     |date=ca. September 15, 2009

  4. Finally, explicitly state that the year was unspecified if none of the above are practical (it will appear inside parentheses in most citation templates, but if it does not it should probably be put in [square brackets]):

     |date=date unspecified

     or

     |date=[date unspecified]

  For free-form citations:

  No date specified.

  Do not use question marks.

  Do not just repeat the year if already given in a |year= parameter.

  Do not leave the information blank and untag it, or someone else will just come along later and flag this with {{date missing}} again!

  Do not use |date=none, |date=unknown or anything else vague; any implication other than that the source itself did not specify a date is simply a signal to other editors to re-tag it with {{date missing}}.

• If you don't know:
  1. Check the source and add the necessary information, as above.

  Do not use question marks.

  If the source is a dead link, check archive.org for a backup copy (see your {{citation}}/{{cite xxx}}-type template's documentation for use of |archiveurl= and |archivedate= parameters). If no archive copy is available, use {{dead link}} after the citation, but leave {{date missing}} as well.

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Date missing in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for Date missing

Use this inline template before a citation's </ref> tag to indicate that the citation is missing a full date where one is warranted. Not for use on events missing their date of occurrence; for this, use the template {{when}}.

Template parameters

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Month and year	date	Month and year of tagging; e.g., 'January 2013', but not 'jan13' Example January 2013 Auto value {{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}	String	suggested

See also

Source citation guidelines

• Wikipedia:Citing sources
• Wikipedia:Reliable sources
• Wikipedia:Verifiability

Citation repair templates

• {{Full citation needed}} – the catch-all
• {{Author missing}}

• {{Author incomplete}} – a variant for partial data

• {{Date missing}}
• {{ISBN missing}}
• {{Place missing}}
• {{Publisher missing}}
• {{Title missing}}

• {{Title incomplete}} – a variant for partial data

• {{Year missing}}

Other

• {{when}} – to ask (in regular article prose) for the date that an event occurred

Template:Date missing invokes Module:Navbox using Lua.

Usage

This template can be used to make a standard navigation box. It is intended for use within another template that standardises the title and contents of the box (see Template:ShipNavbox). This template SHOULD NOT be used directly within articles, as it creates a maintenance burden to do so whenever the contents of the box have to be updated.

The purpose of this template is to standardise the attributes of all navigation boxes, for example, their colours and other CSS attributes. The template is fairly simple, and could be extended to add other features in the future. Using this template allows changes to be implemented much quicker and easier than editing each template separately.

Syntax

{{navbox
|state      = uncollapsed, collapsed, plain, autocollapse (default)
|name       = mandatory - name of the template
|style      = optional - style for the whole table
|title      = mandatory - navbox header
|gtitleN    = optional - title of N-th group of items
|styleN     = optional - style for groupN; i.e. text-align
|groupN     = mandatory - list of groups of items
|fstyle     = optional - style for footer ; i.e. text-align
|footer     = optional - navbox footer
}}

• Groups: Currently there is no technical limit to the maximum number of groups.
  • Groups of items can be added as parameters: group1, group2, group3, ... up to groupN.
• Group title: Each group has its own title parameter: gtitle1, gtitle2, gtitle3, ... up to gtitleN. Note that the default width for the first column is 15%.
• Group style: Style may also be customised to each group in: style1, style2, style3, ... up to styleN.
  • Note that neither the title nor the items have any wiki-links built into the template. As a result, users of the template are free to use wiki-links as they wish.
• Line breaks: Line-breaks (<br />) are unnecessary, as text wrapping is done automatically by the template. This also includes links and text in gtitleN and groupN.
• Bullets: Create unordered lists with lines beginning with *.
• Pipe links: Because of the nature of template syntax, it may be necessary to use Template:! ({{!}}).

States

• Autocollapse: By default, the state of a navbox is "autocollapsed". This means that if the number of navboxes in a page exceeds the maximum allocation of the collapsible navboxes, then the remaining navboxes are collapsed automatically. For more information (or to change the setting), see MediaWiki:Common.js.
  • Currently, the autocollapse allocation is 2 (see MediaWiki:Common.js). This means that if there are 3 navboxes in a page, the third and subsequent navboxes will be collapsed automatically.
• Uncollapsed: Forces the navbox to be displayed.
  • All of the navboxes in this documentation are in the uncollapsed state.
• Collapsed: The reverse of uncollapsed. Forces the navbox to be hidden instead.
  • Navboxes with a height of more than 300 pixels will also be collapsed automatically. For more information (or to change the setting), see MediaWiki:Common.js.
• Plain: Removes the "show/hide" link.

Sub-groups

• For larger navboxes, it may be necessary to include sub-groups within a particular group of items. It is also possible to collapsible navboxes within the parent navbox, see Collapsible sub-groups.
• To create sub-groups within {{navbox}}, certain parameters are to be included:
  • The parent navbox group (i.e. group2 in the example below) requires the type parameter (gtype2 = Subgroup).
  • The nested navbox (sub-group) requires the inclusion of the sub-group parameter (subgroup = yes). This enables the template to differentiate between the sub-group and the parent navbox.

{{navbox
|name    =
|title   =
|gtitle1 =
|group1  =
|gtitle2 =  
|gtype2  = Subgroup (mandatory)
|group2  = 
  {{navbox
  |subgroup = yes (mandatory)
  |gtitle1  = 
  |group1   =
  |gtitle2  = 
  |group2   = 
  }}
}}

Collapsible sub-groups

• For extremely long navboxes, it is recommended to use collapsible navboxes within the parent navbox. Further sub-groups can then be added to these collapsible navboxes.
• To create collapsible sub-groups within {{navbox}}, these parameters need to be included:
  • The parent navbox is almost always uncollapsed (state=uncollapsed).
  • The parent navbox group (i.e. group1 in the example below) requires the type parameter (gtype1 = Subgroup).
  • The nested collapsible navbox requires the inclusion of the collapsible parameter (collapsible = yes). This enables the template to differentiate between the collapsible navbox and the parent navbox.
  • The nested collapsible navbox is forcefully collapsed (state=collapsed).

{{navbox
|state  = uncollapsed
|name   = 
|gtype1 = Subgroup
|group1 = 
  {{navbox
  |collapsible = yes
  |state   = collapsed
  |title   = 
  |gtitle1 = 
  |group1  = 
  |gtitle2 = 
  |group2  = 
  }}
}}

Use of images

• The use of images in navboxes is permitted, but please resize the images to keep them small. Inventory-sized images (25-30 pixels) are recommended.
• Please use {{t|plink}} to create links with images. Use {{t|plink}} for any case where text is not desired after the link. It functions the same as {{t|plink}}, but it does not produce a wikilink in text. Use {{t|chatl}} to link chatheads. These templates create links for both the image and text (except for {{t|plink}}) using far less wikicode than the standard syntax.

Link and file share the same name

{{plink|Item}}

File name differs from the link

{{plink|Item|File}}

Link and file share the same name, but different text is desired to display

{{plink|Item|alt=Text}}

File name differs from the link and different text is desired to display

{{plink|Item|File|alt=Text}}

Categorising

Navboxes are very useful for transcluding categories onto a large number of pages that share both a trait and the navigation box. For example: Template:ShipNavbox transcludes Category:Ships onto every page that uses it.

There are 2 methods of categorising pages with navboxes:

The first way is with {{t|Ctg}}. This is the preferred method, and can be used in most cases. The rules and operations for the Category handler template are very simple; however, they are enough to produce the desired results on most pages.

Categorisation should only be used on a template for large-scale addition. It is unhelpful, for example, to use a rule that only applies to 1 page.

Examples

To see the following navboxes in action, see Template:Navbox.

Single line navbox with centered list

{{navbox
|name    = 
|title   = 
|style1  = text-align:center
|group1  =
}}

Navbox with standard footer

{{navbox
|name    = 
|title   = 
|gtitle1 = 
|group1  = 
|footer  = Centered footer
}}

Navbox with styled footer

{{navbox
|name    = 
|title   = 
|gtitle1 = 
|group1  = 
|fstyle  = text-align:right
|footer  = Right-aligned footer
}}

Multiple line navbox

{{navbox
|name    = 
|title   = 
|gtitle1 = Group title 1
|group1  = 
|gtitle2 = Group title 2
|group2  = 
|gtitle3 = Group title 3
|group3  = 
}}

Collapsed navbox

{{navbox
|state   = collapsed
|name    = 
|title   = 
|style1  = text-align:center
|group1  = 
}}

Plain navbox with Tnavbar

{{navbox
|state   = plain
|name    = 
|title   = 
|style1  = text-align:center
|group1  = 
}}

Plain navbox without Tnavbar

{{navbox
|state   = plain
|title   = 
|style1  = text-align:center
|group1  = 
}}

Complicated navbox

{{navbox
|state   = uncollapsed
|name    = 
|title   = 
|gtitle1 = Level 1 Title 1
|group1  = 
|gtitle2 = Level 1 Title 2
|group2  = 
|gtitle3 = Level 1 Title 3
|group3  = 
|gtitle4 = Level 1 Title 4
|group4  = 
|gtitle5 = Level 1 Title 5
|gtype5  = Subgroup
|group5  = 
  {{navbox
  |subgroup = Yes
  |gtitle1  = Level 2 Title 1
  |group1   =
  |gtitle2  = Level 2 Title 2
  |group2   =
  |gtitle3  = Level 2 Title 3
  |gtype3   = Subgroup
  |group3   = 
    {{navbox
    |subgroup = Yes
    |gtitle1  = Level 3 Title 1
    |group1   =
    |gtitle2  = Level 3 Title 2
    |group2   =
    }}
  |gtitle4  = Level 2 Title 4
  |group4   = 
  }}
|gtitle6 = Level 1 Title 6
|group6  = 
|gtitle7 = Level 1 Title 7
|group7  = 
|fstyle  = 
|footer  = 
}}

Preventing unwanted documentation

The Navbox template's documentation is automatically transcluded under the navbox on any Template namespace page. It is not transcluded when used as a sub-group or collapsible sub-group template (subgroup= yes or collapsible=yes).

Should the documentation appear when it is unwanted, it can be hidden by setting the doc parameter doc=no on the template. In most cases, the doc parameter is NOT used and the parameter is removed completely.