 | This page documents an English Wikipedia editing guideline. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though occasional exceptions may apply. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page. |
 | This page in a nutshell: When creating a template to be used on talk pages, try to follow the established standards. |
To try to ensure some level of design consistency throughout Wikipedia, the talk page templates page explains how general talk page templates should appear. This standardisation is sometimes referred to as the "coffeeroll style", the proposal leading to this look. (See Wikipedia:Template standardisation/vote#"ClockworkSoul's Coffee Roll".) This style can be implemented using the ((tmbox)) template.
A list of such templates can be found at Wikipedia:Template messages/Talk namespace and Category:Talk header templates
Talk page templates contain information intended for editors, not readers. Which templates on Wikipedia are actually Talk page templates is a matter for some debate. For example, the cleanup template was originally created to be a talk page template, but is currently being used primarily as an article page template. Apparently, the notion in this case is that readers deserve to know that the article they are reading is still somewhat of a mess.
Chosen scheme
This scheme is to be used for all talk page templates. This scheme was accepted based on a vote. While this is not a firm policy, it is advised that any new talk page templates should be based on the standard design.
The following standards of design have been chosen:
- Background colour of #F8EABA and border colour (1px solid) is #C0C090 . If the message is more important or is related to deletion, a yellow, orange, or red border activated by the "style", "content", "delete", or "speedy" classes can be used.
- Use of a table, not divs, and using generally two columns: one for an image, one for the text
- The side margins are (minimally) 10%—the width is what is left (usually 80%).
- There is no cell spacing.
- The margin separating the templates is 4px.
- The text is usually left-aligned. (Short texts can be center-aligned.)
- A picture, if one is used, is left aligned and about 40–50 pixels in width.
The style should be implemented using ((tmbox)):
((tmbox | image = [[Image:icon.png|none|40px]] | text = '''Header text''' <br> <small>Supporting text</small> ))
Small option[edit]
A small option can be provided for talk page templates using ((tmbox)), generating a smaller, right-aligned message box.
The small option is intended for controversial or highly public articles with numerous peer review, WikiProject, featured article, good article, to-do, and other message boxes. With this many boxes, individual notices no longer stand out, and all that remains is a massive block of templates (as in this revision of Talk:Pope Benedict XVI) that a reader has to scroll through in order to reach the body of the page. Because the small message boxes float on the right, the contents of the talk page start at the top. This feature is not intended to replace standard message boxes.
Example
Standard message boxes
 | Talk page templates was a good article candidate, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. Once the objections listed below are addressed, the article can be renominated. You may also seek a review of the decision. Date of review: No date specified. Please edit template call function as follows: ((FailedGA|insert date in any format here)) |
 | A request has been made for this article to be peer reviewed to receive a broader perspective on how it may be improved. Please make any edits you see fit to improve the quality of this article. |
 | This article is a current featured article candidate. A featured article should exemplify Wikipedia's very best work, and is therefore expected to meet several criteria. Please feel free to |
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Small message boxes
| Talk page templates was a good article candidate, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. Once the objections listed below are addressed, the article can be renominated. You may also seek a review of the decision. Date of review: No date specified. Please edit template call function as follows: ((FailedGA|insert date in any format here)) |
| A request has been made for this article to be peer reviewed to receive a broader perspective on how it may be improved. Please make any edits you see fit to improve the quality of this article. |
| This article is a current featured article candidate. A featured article should exemplify Wikipedia's very best work, and is therefore expected to meet several criteria. Please feel free to |
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Proin nonummy, lacus eget pulvinar lacinia, pede felis dignissim leo, vitae tristique magna lacus sit amet eros. Nullam ornare. Praesent odio ligula, dapibus sed, tincidunt eget, dictum ac, nibh. Nam quis lacus. Nunc eleifend molestie velit. Morbi lobortis quam eu velit. Donec euismod vestibulum massa. Donec non lectus. Aliquam commodo lacus sit amet nulla. Cras dignissim elit et augue. Nullam non diam. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Aenean vestibulum. Sed lobortis elit quis lectus. Nunc sed lacus at augue bibendum dapibus.
Aliquam vehicula sem ut pede. Cras purus lectus, egestas eu, vehicula at, imperdiet sed, nibh. Morbi consectetuer luctus felis. Donec vitae nisi. Aliquam tincidunt feugiat elit. Duis sed elit ut turpis ullamcorper feugiat. Praesent pretium, mauris sed fermentum hendrerit, nulla lorem iaculis magna, pulvinar scelerisque urna tellus a justo. Suspendisse pulvinar massa in metus. Duis quis quam. Proin justo. Curabitur ac sapien. Nam erat. Praesent ut quam.
Vivamus commodo, augue et laoreet euismod, sem sapien tempor dolor, ac egestas sem ligula quis lacus. Donec vestibulum tortor ac lacus. Sed posuere vestibulum nisl. Curabitur eleifend fermentum justo. Nullam imperdiet. Integer sit amet mauris imperdiet risus sollicitudin rutrum. Ut vitae turpis. Nulla facilisi. Quisque tortor velit, scelerisque et, facilisis vel, tempor sed, urna. Vivamus nulla elit, vestibulum eget, semper et, scelerisque eget, lacus. Pellentesque viverra purus. Quisque elit. Donec ut dolor.
Further use
Long text may also be shortened to reduce the height of the narrower message boxes. For example, consider reducing
- This article has been rated as A-Class on the quality scale.
to
- Quality: A-Class
when small=yes is enabled.
Examples in action
See also[edit]
- Wikipedia:List of discussion templates
- Wikipedia:Template index and its sub-pages for further examples.
- Wikipedia:Template standardisation for standardisation efforts across the template namespace.
- Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines
- Wikipedia:Talk page layout
- Help:Talk pages
- Category:Talk header templates
- ClockworkSoul's Coffee Roll, the original source of this formatting style chosen by vote in 2005.