Template:When/doc

"Template:As of?" redirects here. Not to be confused with Template:As of, which marks statements that will become outdated in the future.

__EXPECTED_UNCONNECTED_PAGE__

{{When}} is used to indicate a time period is too vague or ambiguous to understand for the reader, and needs clarification.

Usage

{{When|date=October 2026}}

{{When|reason=Your explanation here|date=October 2026}}

{{As of?|date=October 2026}}

{{As of?|reason=Your explanation here|date=October 2026}}

Add {{When}} after a time period to indicate that the time period is so vague or ambiguous that you do not understand what is being said. Per WP:PRECISELANG: where possible, avoid terms such as "now" and "soon" (unless their intended meaning is made apparent), "currently" and "recently" (except on rare occasions where they are not redundant), or phrases such as "in modern times" and "the sixties" (unless their frame of reference was previously made clear). One exception to this is in articles that are regularly updated, such as those that cover current events.

Wikipedia does not ban the use of general or relative time descriptions, like "before", "after", "since then", "now", or "in modern times" if the context is sufficiently clear for you to understand what time period is being referred to. (See Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers). For example, the typical reader will easily understand that the word now in the sentence, "In the Roman era, most people died before age 25, but now it is typical for a person living in the developed world to live well past age 70," refers to the time at which the reader is reading the sentence (e.g. this year).

You may append a date to the template in the following format:

{{When|date=October 2026}}

{{As of?|date=October 2026}}

Notes:

• Do not substitute this template.
• The |reason= parameter is optional but often helpful. It is displayed as a tooltip in some browsers.
• If you don't add a date parameter, a bot will date your entry with the month and year at a later time.
• The date parameter consists of the name of the current month and the year only, not full dates. The names of the months are capitalized in English. Any deviation from these two rules will result in an “invalid date parameter” error.

Do not use for disputes: If the date in question is disputed (controversial, unlikely, impossible, or otherwise more problematic than simply needing clarification), use {{Citation needed}}, {{Dubious}}, {{Disputed-inline}} or some other dispute template.

After placing the template in the article, it is a good idea to create a new When heading on that page’s talk page, so as to provide a forum to discuss the unclear time phrase.

Examples of fixing unclear time phrases

The following are some examples of unclear time phrases along with examples of how to fix them.

Time phrases tied to the present

Wikipedia pages may exist for decades, and any time phrase tied to the present "now" will not only be incorrect or misleading in a year or two, but is also immediately unclear as to when exactly is meant, because Wikipedia readers cannot easily determine when a particular statement was written.

Words that will show you that the sentence is tied to the present include:

• Words such as "presently", "currently", "now" or "today"
• References to "this year", "this decade" or "this century"
• Phrases such as "is in talks", "is planning", or "to this day"
• Statements that use the word "still" in a context such as: "The statue is still standing in its original location."

Forward- and backward-looking statements may also be unintentionally anchored in the present:

• Sentences about future intentions ("will acquire Saab")
• The present perfect progressive ("has been recording a new single")
• The immediate past ("for the past 10 years")
• Relative time phrases ("last year", "10 years ago", "in 10 years", "within a decade", etc.)

One way to correct such usage is with an introductory phrase such as "In April 2007" or "As of 2007" (best used with the {{As of}} template). Another way is to omit the present reference altogether (e.g. replace "He has worked there for the past 10 years and still works there today" with "He first began work there in 2016".)

Imprecise time specifiers

Some phrases are vague or ambiguous. "Recent", "lately", "soon", are relative temporal relationships and, therefore, not appropriate for Wikipedia. Does "recent" mean last week, last month, last year, last century? Ambiguity and vagueness diminish the utility of Wikipedia articles and should not just be eschewed, but eliminated.

There are many words and phrases that imply the passage of time, but these implications are ambiguous and should be replaced with explicit, unambiguous, and referenced, statements of fact. Examples include:

• "recent"
• "lately"
• "soon"
• "at a certain point"
• "at one point"
• "for some time"
• "for a while"
• "formerly"
• "frequently"
• "often"
• "previously"
• "during one period" (or "stage" or "phase")

Another example is the phrase "used to" when applied in a context, such as "He used to go there every day."

Date ambiguity

A date written in the format mn/xy/2009 may mean different things in different places—and even in the same place. To some, 1/4/2009 means "1 April 2009"; to others, "January 4, 2009".

Why seasons should not describe time

Seasons fall in different ranges of time depending on the area, and so using them to describe a particular range of time is vague and misleading to the reader. You'll often see this type of description in phrasing like the following:

• [Some event happened] in [season] of [year].
• [Something was completed] by [season] of [year].
• [Something happened] at [a particular date]. The next [season]...

When describing time of year rather than local conditions or a more formal use of a seasonal name (e.g., summer school), be as precise as your source of information will allow, from a date range to a calendar-related description of part of a year:

• 15 September – 5 November 1995 (or September 15 – November 5, 1995 if that's the format standard throughout the article)
• September–November 1995
• Before the end of the fourth quarter of 1995
• Latter part of 1995

You can also find other systems to which you can anchor the time frame, as long as they relate to the subject of the article:

• The first few months of the 1995 school year (which begins at that district in September)
• Sometime in the 1995 hunting season, which in that state runs from September 15 to November 5.

Exceptions

Do not change ambiguous material in a direct quotation. Instead give an appropriate clarification in brackets:

The statue is inscribed: "For the valiant heroes of 1/4/2009" (1 April 2009).

See also

• {{As of}} – Possible response to {{When}}
• {{Clarify timeframe}}
• {{Full citation needed}} – For a source citation that is missing the date (or other key information)
• {{Time-context}}
• {{Year missing}} – Also for citations, when only a year is needed (e.g. for a book versus a newspaper)
• {{Year needed}} – Asks for a specific year
• Category:Articles containing potentially dated statements
• Category:Vague or ambiguous time

TemplateData

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

TemplateData for When

Use after a statement of a time period in an article that is so vague or ambiguous you do not understand which period is being referred to.

Template parameters

This template prefers inline formatting of parameters.

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Month and year	date	The month and year you added this template to the article, use the full month name and four digit year, e.g. August 2013 Auto value {{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}	String	required
Reason	reason	The explanation for why this was added.	String	suggested

Template:When 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.