Help:Infoboxes

Infoboxes are templates which display a list of properties about an article to the right of the introductory paragraphs. The properties shown are often links to other articles and may responsible for adding a page to a particular category. The infobox may also display an image depicting the article contents above the other information. This article will describe the general layout of infoboxes and include examples and descriptions of the most common properties.

The vast majority of content articles include one of the infobox templates, and the information is always provided in the first few lines of the article, and each of the `|property=value` lines will produce an equivalent row in the infobox. For a list of all infobox templates see category: infoboxes. The properties passed to the infobox should each be on their own line and should be listed in order of their appearance on the final rendered page.

{{infobox-name|title=better title
|image=example.jpg
|region=Final Empire
|earth=Reckoners
|world=Scadrial
|universe=Cosmere
|setting=Cosmere
|books=[[Bibliography]]
}}

Some of the properties will show the exact content passed (eg |books=) and may expect values generated from tag templates; others will turn the passed words into a link and may add the article to the category passed (eg |universe=Cosmere will link to Cosmere and add the page to category: cosmere); some of the most complex cases, particularly in the {{character}} template, will run the item through one of the tag templates to generate a specific link & category from a list. The most complex cases will usually include a `-raw`-suffixed or `raw-`-prefixed variant of the property which acts like the more simple properties and requires the article to provide all the links & categories itself.

Some of the other properties may do more complex things specific to that template.

Guidelines

To provide a better user experience, by ensuring consistency and reducing clutter, all infoboxes should adhere to the following guidelines. Examples given are primarily for characters, but the guidelines apply for all pages.

The primary goal is to make the infobox informative, but not overwhelming, so some judgment calls will always be needed. The intent is for the infobox to give broad, important details rather than focus on filling in every parameter. For further guidance and discussion, feel free to talk to a Keeper.

Duplication

Avoid duplication where possible. For information that could live under multiple parameters, try to pick the most appropriate parameter. For example, don’t list “Shard” for Abilities and Profession, instead list under Abilities only. Another good example is to not list Birthplace and Residence when the two are the same.

A subset of the above also applies when information becomes redundant because another item supersedes it. A primary example of this is Cognitive Shadows. If a character can be defined as a specific type of Cognitive Shadow (i.e. known by another name specific to a particular planet), there is no need to list them as a Cognitive Shadow as well. For example, use “Returned” by itself, and not “Returned, Cognitive Shadow”.

Grammar, Punctuation, and Formatting

To ensure uniformity, all entries should be listed beginning with a capital letter.

Like for regular content, citations should be placed after punctuation marks such as commas and fullstops.

Avoid placing a citation as the only content for a parameter. E.g. list something special for the death parameter; be it a cause, date of death, place it happened, or someone who reported it. Don’t just use a citation for the death.

If there is only one parameter of known family, use “merge-family=y” to create a cleaner look without the infobox indenting the family subsection.

The “Featured In” parameter should only be used for capturing information from a book or series that is highly relevant. We don’t need to list an appearance in a book if it was mentioned once without any new wisdom. Use the series name when possible, unless the book is standalone. E.g. Shai would be listed as both The Emperor's Soul and Mistborn Era 2.

Unlike the “Featured In” parameter, “World” should be treated as the “World of Origin” for the character or thing. E.g. Hoid has “Yolen” for his world, and not every world he has visited.

Lists

For less important information such as residence, there is no need to list every single former residence in the infobox. Just show the most recent/important information. For important former locations, they can still be listed, just avoid listing places of residence that did nothing for the character or plot.

We don’t need every single possible relative listed in the infobox of a character. Stick to the closest family members, or relatives important to the story.

Common Parameters

Misc

|image=

Many infoboxes have has the ability to show an image of the subject by providing the filename, e.g. |image=Vin.png. This parameter should be on the first line after the opening {{infobox-template. The filename will be passed to {{row/image+artist}} and will show the image and provide attribution to the artist.

|books=

Most infoboxes have a mandatory books and should provide links to the book or series which the subject is featured in. The Featured In line appears at the bottom of the infobox, and so the line should be the last before the closing }} line.

Location

Generally speaking, there are three types of parameters when it comes to location.

Local

These are locations within a given world (from smallest to largest, city, state, region, and nation). Which ones are present varies between templates - some infobox templates use all of them, while others use only a subset. Unless otherwise specified, only the most local of these should be used.

For example, the Hall of Art which uses the {{architecture}} infobox (which allows for all of these), provides |city=Narak, which means it doesn't need to supply any of the less granular ones (e.g. |region=Shattered Plains is unnecessary).

Local, world-specific

These are very similar to the ones above, but apply only to specific nations or worlds, and are always required when they apply. Currently, the only parameters in this group are princedom (for Alethi and Veden princedoms on Roshar) and dominance (for Final Empire dominances on Scadrial).

Global

These are world-level and above parameters, and most infobox templates include and require all of them (world / earth and universe).

|world=

The world parameter should provide the name of the non-Earth planet the subject is located on. This will generate a link to the planet passed and may categorise the article in an appropriate planet category. Many infobox templates offer a 'world variant of this, which can be used to bypass the automatic link generation and pass a "raw" value; this can be useful when you want to manually link something.

|earth=

If the setting is an alternative Earth, the earth parameter should be used instead, and should provide the series name (e.g. |earth=Alcatraz will create a link to Earth (Alcatraz), while |earth=Reckoners will link to Earth (Reckoners)). For a list of valid Earths, see Earth.

|universe=

Use universe alongside with either world or earth to specify the connected universe of the subject - or to indicate that it takes place in a standalone universe. Unlike the other two parameters, universe does not generate a link on its own, so you should do it manually (e.g. |universe=[[Cosmere]]); if indicating a nameless standalone universe, simply put |universe=''Standalone''.

Special parameters

|title=

On some articles, particularly ones that clash with other titles and have been disambiguated, the title at the top of the infobox can be changed to show the proper subject title. This also may set the category key and so may change the location of the article in any category listings.

When using {{character}} there is a special |unnamed=y parameter which will change the title to Unknown and add the article to category: unnamed characters otherwise you can pass |name= to change the title rather than |title=.