Help:Cite link labels

When automated footnotes are used on Wikipedia pages, the default form of the footnote labels is, , , etc. When grouped footnotes are used, the labels are , , etc., where name is the name given to the group. However, by using certain reserved group names, it is possible to make the labels appear in a different form, such as, , etc. or , , etc.

Currently existing reserved group names are:

For example, a footnote which is to appear in the i, ii, iii... group can be written as: To generate the list of the footnotes in that group, use for example
 * 

Further examples, technical information and instructions for creating new reserved groups can be found below.

Technical
Version r66749 of the extension implements the ability to create styles for the cite link labels. Although the ability to create in-text cite label styles is unlimited, the matching reference list label styles are currently limited to those supported by the CSS list-style-type property and to browser support.

Numeric labels
The default in-text cite links and reference list backlinks use numeric labels automatically generated by the software. The labels are linked to provide a connection between the in-text cite and the reference list cite.

In this example, the super-scripted, in-text cites use a numeric label that matches the citation in the reference list:

Cite link sequence styles
Special group names have been defined which give alternative sequences, such as alphabetical and roman numerals, instead of Arabic numerals.

List of custom link label sequences
The list below is created automatically by Special:PrefixIndex:

Markup restriction
These sequences will only work properly when using the Reflist template. Although the tag supports the group= attribute, the footnotes will be displayed with the default Arabic numerals.

Creating cite label sequence styles
Only admins can perform these actions. Non-admins may request additions on the talk page.

Currently, only styles supported by the CSS list-style-type element may be added. Not all styles are supported by all browsers— see the list below.


 * 1) Decide on a name for the cite label style group name. It should match the associated CSS list-style-type value. Quotes may not be used in values in Reflist therefore the name must comply with the rules for HTML ids.
 * 2) Discuss the new style on the talk page and gain consensus.
 * 3) Create the style list at MediaWiki:cite_link_label_group-groupname. Ensure each label is separated with a space. For example, create MediaWiki:cite link label group-lower-greek and populate it with the Greek alphabet. Then use "lower-greek" as the groupname.
 * 4) Redirect the talk page to the central discussion page by creating the talk page with #REDIRECT Help talk:Cite errors.
 * 5) Edit Reflist and add the list-style-type that styles the reference list.
 * 6) Add the style to the list above.
 * 7) If there are browser limitations, document them in the notice at the top of the page.

Browser support
The in-text link labels will be retrieved from the MediaWiki label page, thus they should show regardless of browser. The reference list labels are styled by the CSS list-style-type property. Not all browsers support all list-style-type values. A browser that does not support the value will revert to the default decimal label in the reference list. See the table above for values and browser support.

Error messages
An error message indicates when there are more cites than there are link labels:

This message is invoked through MediaWiki:cite error no link label group; the help page is at Help:Cite errors/Cite error no link label group.

Bugs

 * The error message at MediaWiki:Cite error no link label group gets classed as a reference, so you can't use a wikilink in the message to link to a help page
 * The reference list is an ordered list and uses numbers that don't match the in-text cite labels
 * The reference list is an ordered list and uses numbers that don't match the in-text cite labels

Classes and templates
The Reflist uses the group parameter to select the list-style-type style, and apply it to the .reflist class:


 * Note that the decimal style is handled by the default list-style-type.

CSS rules in MediaWiki:Common.css then allow the .references class to inherit the list-style-type: