Template:Blockquote

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Template documentation follows
Note: the template above may sometimes be partially or fully invisible.
Visit "Template:Blockquote/doc" to edit its documentation if it is available. (How does this work?)

"Template:Long quotation" redirects here. For maintenance templates about excessively long quotations, see Template:Long quote and Template:Over-quotation.

For linking a subject to a collection of quotes on Wikiquote, see Template:Wikiquote.

Block indentation templates

Use case	Template
Long quotations	{{Blockquote}}
With line breaks ⏎	{{Poem quote}}
Non-quotations	{{Block indent}} {{Indent 5}} (inline)
Math formulae	See <math> blocks

For quotes from books, web pages or journal articles as recommended by the Manual of Style guidelines for block quotations.

Not for non-quotations. For example, indenting example text in guidelines or how-tos or unbulleted lists.

The Manual of Style guidelines for block quotations recommend formatting block quotations using the {{Blockquote}} template or the HTML <blockquote> element, for which that template provides a wrapper.

• Quotes work best when used with short sentences, and at the start or end of a section, as a hint of or to help emphasize the section's content.
• For typical quotes, especially those longer than the rest of the paragraph in which they are quoted, {{Centered quote}} (for use outside of article space only) provides a borderless quote with decorative quotation marks, and {{Quote frame}} provides a bordered quote. Both span the page width.
• For very short quotes, {{Reduced quote}} (with decorative quotation marks, for use outside of article space only) or {{Quote box}} (framed) can be used to set the quote off to either the right or left as in a magazine sidebar. This can be effective on essay pages and WikiProject homepages.
• To quote article content in guidelines, how-tos and essays, use {{Quote article content}}.

Usage

{{Blockquote}} adds a block quotation to an article page.

This is easier to type and is more wiki-like than the equivalent HTML <blockquote>...</blockquote> tags, and has additional pre-formatted attribution parameters for author and source (though these are not usually used in articles; see § Reference citations, below).

Note: Block quotes do not normally contain quotation marks (see MOS:BLOCKQUOTE).

Examples

Basic use:

Markup	Renders as
{{Blockquote |text=Quoted material. }}	Quoted material.

With attribution displayed:

Markup	Renders as
{{Blockquote |text=Quoted material. |author=First M. Last }}	Quoted material. — First M. Last

With more attribution:

Markup	Renders as
{{Blockquote |text=Quoted material. |author=First M. Last |title="Article Title" |source=''Book Title'' (date) }}	Quoted material. — First M. Last, "Article Title", Book Title (date)

Examples with "multiline":

Especially useful for translated quotes; see notes about this parameter.

• with "multiline" Y

Markup	Renders as
{{blockquote|text= {{lang|fr|Ceci n'est pas une pipe.}} This is Not a Pipe. |multiline=yes |author=[[René Magritte]] |title=''[[The Treachery of Images]]'' }}	Ceci n'est pas une pipe. This is Not a Pipe. — René Magritte, The Treachery of Images

• for comparison without "multiline" N

Markup	Renders as
{{blockquote|text= {{lang|fr|Ceci n'est pas une pipe.}} This is Not a Pipe. |author=[[René Magritte]] |title=''[[The Treachery of Images]]'' }}	Ceci n'est pas une pipe. This is Not a Pipe. — René Magritte, The Treachery of Images

An ample example:

Markup	Renders as
{{Blockquote|text=Cry "Havoc" and let slip the dogs of war.|character=Mark Antony|author=[[William Shakespeare]]|title=''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]''|source=act III, scene I}}	Cry "Havoc" and let slip the dogs of war. — Mark Antony, in William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, act III, scene I

Parameters

Parameter list

{{Blockquote
| text      =
| author    =
| title     =
| source    =
| character =
| multiline =
| class     =
| style     =
}}

See also section § TemplateData.

Quoted text

|text= a.k.a. |1=—The material being quoted, without quotation marks around it. It is always safest to name this parameter (rather than use an unnamed positional parameter), because, otherwise, any inclusion of a non-escaped "=" character (e.g., in a URL in a source citation) will break the template.

Displayed attribution

These parameters are for displaying attribution information below the quote; this should not be confused with citing a source (see § Reference citations, below). These parameters are entirely optional, and are usually used with famous quotations, not routine block quotations, which are usually sourced at the end of the introductory line immediately before the quotation, with a normal <ref>...</ref> tag.

|author= a.k.a. |2= – optional author/speaker attribution information that will appear below the quotation, and preceded with an attribution dash.

|title= a.k.a. |3= – optional title of the work the quote appears in, to display below the quotation. This parameter immediately follows the output of |author= (and an auto-generated comma), if one is provided. It does not auto-italicize. Major works (books, plays, albums, feature films, etc.) should be italicized; minor works (articles, chapters, poems, songs, TV episodes, etc.) go in quotation marks (see MOS:TITLES). Additional citation information can be provided in a fourth parameter, |source=, below, which will appear after the title.

|source= a.k.a. |4= – optionally used for additional source information to display, after |title=, like so: |title="The Aerodynamics of Shaved Weasels" |source=''Perspectives on Mammal Barbering'', 2016; a comma will be auto-generated between the two parameters. If |source= is used without |title=, it simply acts as |title=. Do not put a <ref>...</ref> by itself in this parameter; if you use a <ref>...</ref>, add it to the end of another parameter instead. (This parameter was added primarily to ease conversion from misuse of the pull quote template {{Quote frame}} for block quotation, but it may aid in cleaner meta-data implementation later.)

|character= a.k.a. |char= or |5= – to attribute fictional speech to a fictional character, with other citation information. Can also be used to attribute real speech to a specific speaker among many, e.g. in a roundtable/panel transcript, a band interview, etc. This parameter outputs "[Character's name], in" after the attribution dash and before the output of the parameters above, thus one or more of those parameters must also be supplied. If you need to cite a fictional speaker in an article about a single work of fiction, where repeating the author and title information would be redundant, you can just use the |author= parameter instead of |character=.

Technically, all citation information can be given in a single parameter, as in: |source=Anonymous interview subject, in Jane G. Arthur, "The Aerodynamics of Shaved Weasels", ''Perspectives on Mammal Barbering'' (2016), Bram Xander Yojimbo (ed.) But this is a bit messy, and will impede later efforts to generate metadata from quotation attribution the way we are already doing with source citations. This is much more usable:

|character=Anonymous interview subject
|author=Jane G. Arthur
|title="The Aerodynamics of Shaved Weasels"
|source=''Perspectives on Mammal Barbering'' (2016), Bram Xander Yojimbo (ed.)

Later development can assign a CSS class and so forth to these separate parameters, upon which scripts would be able to operate (e.g. to look up things in WikiQuote).

Rarely used technical parameters

• |multiline= – keep forced linebreaks in output.
  Notes:
  • Will only be applied if at least one of these other parameters or its aliases is not empty (including implicit, unnamed parameters):
    |author=, |title=, |source=, or |character=.
  • The value does not matter, as long it is not empty. Using a so called speaking parameter (such as true or yes) is highly recommended. Avoid values that can surprise users (e.g. false or no).
• |style= – allows specifying additional CSS styles (not classes) to apply to the <blockquote>...</blockquote> element. (See #Nested quotations, below, for the most common use case.)
• |class= – allows specifying additional HTML classes to apply to the same element.

Reference citations

A reference citation can be placed before the quote, after the quote, or in the |source= parameter:

• Y Typical use: In the regular-prose introduction to the quotation, when a quotation is given without the displayed |author=, |title=, or |source= parameters: According to Pat Doe, in "Underwater Basketweaving Tips" (2015):<ref>...</ref> {{blockquote |text=Quoted material.}}
• At the end of the quotation, when a quotation is given without the displayed |author=, |title=, or |source= parameters, and placement before the quote isn't appropriate (e.g. because the material immediately before the quote isn't cited to the same source or introduces multiple quotes from different sources: Pat Doe and Chris Foo took opposing positions: {{blockquote |text=Doe's Quoted material.<ref>...</ref>}} {{blockquote |text=Foo's Quoted material.<ref>...</ref>}}
• After the |source= value (if a value is given for the |source= parameter other than the <ref>...</ref> itself):One expert noted in 2015: {{blockquote |text=Quoted material. |author=Pat Doe |source="Underwater Basketweaving Tips" (2015)<ref>...</ref>}}
• N Deprecated: After the quoted person's name in |author=, or after the work's title in |title=, when a |source= parameter is not being added: As noted in "Underwater Basketweaving Tips" (2015): {{blockquote |text=Quoted material. |author=Pat Doe<ref>...</ref>}}
  Note: Please avoid this format, as it will pollute the author or title metadata with non-author or non-title information.

Please do not place the citation in a |author= or |source= parameter by itself, as it will produce a nonsensical attribution line that looks like this:

     — 

Please also do not put it just outside the {{blockquote}} template, as this will cause a:

     

on a line by itself.

Limitations

If you do not provide text, the template generates a parser error message, which will appear in red text in the rendered page.

If any parameter's actual value contains an equals sign (=), you must use a named parameter (e.g. |text="E=MC2" is a formula everyone knows but few understand, not a blank-name positional parameter. The text before the equals sign gets misinterpreted as a named parameter otherwise. Be wary of URLs, which frequently contain this character. Named parameters are always safer, in this and other templates.

If any parameter's actual value contains characters used for wiki markup syntax (such as pipe, brackets, single quotation marks, etc.), you may need to escape it. See {{!}} and friends.

Do not combine named and unnamed parameters. For example, if |text= is used for the quotation, followed by an unnamed parameter for the source, the first unnamed parameter will be interpreted as |1= instead of |2=, and it will be ignored. This is a problem inherent in any template that uses multiple unnamed parameters with aliases.

Next to right-floated boxes

As of September 2015, the text of a block quotation may rarely overflow (in Firefox or other Gecko browsers) a right-floated item (e.g. a {{Listen}} box, when that item is below another right-floated item of a fixed size that is narrower. In Safari and other Webkit browsers (and even more rarely in Chrome/Chromium) the same condition can cause the block quotation to be pushed downward. Both of these problems can be fixed by either:

1. removing the sizing on the upper item and letting it use its default size (e.g. removing ###x###px sizing or |upright= from a right-floated image above a wider right-floated object that is being overflowed by quotation text; or
2. using |style=overflow:inherit; in the quotation template.

There may be other solutions, and future browser upgrades may eliminate the issue. It arises at all because of the blockquote {overflow: hidden;} CSS declaration in Mediawiki:Common.css, which itself works around other, more common display problems. A solution that fixes all of the issues is unknown at this time.

Vanishing quotes

In rare layout cases, e.g. when quotes are sandwiched between userboxes, a quotation may appear blanked out, in some browsers. The workaround for this problem is to add |style=overflow:inherit; to such an instance of the template.

Line breaks

This template sets a text style which might ignore one blank line, and so the template must be ended with a break (newline) or the next blank line might be ignored. Otherwise, beware inline, as:
     text here {{blockquote|this is quoted}} More text here
spans a blank line, unless a {{blockquote|...}} is ended with a line break, then the next blank line might be ignored and two paragraphs joined.

The <blockquote> element and any templates that use it do not honor newlines:

Markup	Renders as
<blockquote> Line 1 Line 2 Line 3 Line 4 </blockquote>	Line 1 Line 2 Line 3 Line 4

An easy solution is to use the {{poem quote}} template instead of <blockquote>...</blockquote>. This is effectively the same as using the <poem> tag inside <blockquote>, which converts line breaks to <br /> tags:

Markup	Renders as
<blockquote><poem> Line 1 Line 2 Line 3 Line 4 </poem></blockquote>	Line 1 Line 2 Line 3 Line 4

To markup actual paragraphs within block quotations, entire blank lines can be used between them, which will convert to <p>...</p> tags:

Markup	Renders as
<blockquote> Paragraph 1 Paragraph 2 Paragraph 3 </blockquote>	Paragraph 1 Paragraph 2 Paragraph 3

Note that it may be necessary to put a line break in the wikitext before <blockquote> and after </blockquote> in order for the paragraphs to render with the intended separation. (This also makes the wikitext easier to read.)

This paragraph style also works with {{blockquote}}, which is a replacement for <blockquote> that also has parameters to make formatting of the attribution more convenient and consistent.

Blockquote and templates that call it, and are indented with colon (:), bulleted with asterisk (*), or numbered with number (#), may generate errors and incorrectly display anything after a newline character. To ensure that the blockquote displays properly, put all of the wikitext on a single line, with no manual line breaks, like this, ending with the </blockquote> tag or the closing braces of the template still on the same line:

Markup	Renders as
:<blockquote>Paragraph 1<br>Paragraph 2</blockquote>	Paragraph 1 Paragraph 2

Markup	Renders as
*{{blockquote|Paragraph 1<br>Paragraph 2}}	Paragraph 1 Paragraph 2

Markup	Renders as
#<blockquote>Paragraph 1<br>Paragraph 2</blockquote>	Paragraph 1 Paragraph 2

---

Nested quotations

The <blockquote>...</blockquote> element has styles that change the font size: on desktop, text is smaller; on mobile, it is larger. This change is relative to the enclosing context, meaning that if you quote from a source that itself uses a block quotation, you'll find that the inner quotation is either really tiny and hard to read, or really large and barely fits on the screen. To fix this issue, add the parameter |style=font-size:inherit; on any inner {{blockquote}} templates.

Technical issues with block templates

If the block-formatted content uses a named parameter (including |1=) and begins with a list (or any other wikimarkup that is dependent upon a specific markup character being at the beginning of a line), because MediaWiki behavior is to strip whitespace from named parameters, a <nowiki /> and a new line must exist before the list (or whatever) starts. This no longer affects unnamed parameters. Compare:

	code	result
Works as intended	{{Blockquote| *Firstly, ... *Secondly, ... *Thirdly, ... }}	Firstly, ... Secondly, ... Thirdly, ...
FAIL	{{Blockquote|1= *Firstly, ... *Secondly, ... *Thirdly, ... }}	*Firstly, ... Secondly, ... Thirdly, ...
Works as intended	{{Blockquote|1=<nowiki /> *Firstly, ... *Secondly, ... *Thirdly, ... }}	Firstly, ... Secondly, ... Thirdly, ...

To embed a table in block markup like this, the block template's content parameter must be named or numbered and include the self-closing nowiki – as in |1=<nowiki /> – then every | character in the table markup must be escaped with {{!}}. An alternative is to use explicit HTML <table>, <tr>, <th>, and <td> markup.

TemplateData

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

TemplateData for Blockquote

Adds a block quotation.

Template parameters[Edit template data]

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
text	text 1 quote	The text to quote Example Cry "Havoc" and let slip the dogs of war.	Content	required
author	author 2 cite sign	The writer of the source Example William Shakespeare	Content	suggested
title	title 3	The work being quoted from Example Julius Caesar	Content	suggested
source	source 4	A source for the quote Example act III, scene I	Content	suggested
character	character 5 char	The speaker within the work who is being quoted Example Mark Antony	Content	optional
multiline	multiline	Keeps forced linebreaks in output Example true	String	optional
style	style	Additional CSS styles (not classes) to apply Example font-size:inherit;	String	optional
class	class	Additional HTML classes to apply Example pullquote	String	optional

Tracking categories

• Category:Pages incorrectly using the quote template (0)
• Category:Pages using Blockquote template with unknown parameters (0)

See also

Template:Blockquote 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.

Template:Blockquote 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.