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 | This page in a nutshell: Article message boxes have a standard design and colours. They use CSS and a meta template to achieve this. |
There is a standard and consistent design for article message boxes — templates which are inserted into articles/sections, and identify problems or issues with the article. The design was standardized and implemented in September 2007.
The scope of this effort is the design of article message boxes ("amboxes"). Article message boxes are template messages, in a rectangular frame (box), which are placed in articles, and are also about articles. They identify issues or important information about the article, but are not part of the article content itself.
The following are presently outside the scope of this effort:
The ambox tags that we use to notify people of problems within an article are on thousands of our pages. Our readers see them and judgements are made not only about the article at hand, but about the project itself. In the past, we had a myriad of templates that often shared some level of consistency, but still looked very mismatched.
This effort aims to address these issues. Design principles include:
Amboxes are divided into various categories. Each category has a corresponding colour code. The colour-coding helps to inform of the severity of the issues at a glance.
| Code | Name | Description | Example Templates | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #b22222 | Speedy | Immediate deletion | {{db-meta}} | |
| #b22222 | Deletion | Full-discussion deletion; proposed deletion | {{afd}}, {{prod}} | |
| #f28500 | Content | Problems with the content of an article, i.e., what the article actually says | {{POV}}, {{globalize}} | |
| #f4c430 | Style | Problems not with the content, but how it is formatted/presented | {{cleanup}}, {{underlinked}} | |
| #1e90ff | Notice | Information readers/editors should be aware of | {{current}}, {{recent death}} | |
| #9932cc | Move | Merge, split and transwiki proposals | {{split}}, {{copy to commons}} | |
| #bba | Protection | Page is locked against edits | {{pp-protected}} |
The choice of colour is partly inspired by the ANSI standard safety "Signal Words" and their corresponding colors: Danger (Red), Warning (Orange), Caution (Yellow), and Notice (Blue).
Most amboxes have a background colour of #fbfbfb (slightly off white), which is intended to contrast slightly with the full white (#ffffff) used for articles, while still being easy to read. The exception is the Speedy category, which uses a pink background (#fee) to highlight the immediate nature of the problem.
Most article message boxes use this design.
The design of these article message boxes is controlled by the Ambox classes, which are styled by MediaWiki:Common.css.
The meta template {{ambox}} makes it easy to create article message boxes in the new design. It has usage documentation and examples. Note that {{ambox}} is just a thin wrapper for the classes.
The classes can also be used directly within a wikitableorHTML table, especially when special functionality is needed. Wikipedia:Ambox CSS classes describes how.
It is possible to customize the appearance of ambox templates on a per-user basis. To do this, you need a named account. Then add to or alter the code in your common.css page (orvector.css, monobook.css, etc. as appropriate). There are several pre-made "skins" available for this at Wikipedia:Ambox CSS classes/Skins.
Please note:
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If this project page does not meet the criteria for speedy deletion, or you intend to fix it, please remove this notice, but do not remove this notice from pages that you have created yourself. If you created this page and you disagree with the given reason for deletion, you can click the button below and leave a message explaining why you believe it should not be deleted. You can also visit the talk page to check if you have received a response to your message. Note that this project page may be deleted at any time if it unquestionably meets the speedy deletion criteria, or if an explanation posted to the talk page is found to be insufficient.
Note to administrators: this page has content on its talk page which should be checked before deletion. Administrators: check links, talk, history (last), and logs before deletion. Consider checking Google.This page was last editedbyHeyElliott (contribs | logs)at22:20, 21 December 2023 (UTC) (6 months ago)[reply] |
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