Template:Category series navigation/doc

About
Category series navigation is intended to be a minimal-input, near-universal template for automatically navigating most numerically adjacent categories.

Searching behavior
Most multi-year seasons/office terms/numerical ranges are acceptable, as long as the season duration/term length/range size is <=, and the gap between seasons is <=. For series exceeding either of these criteria, see/use Irregular category series navigation.

The length of each season is automatically determined from the originating category name, up to and including years. MOS:DATERANGE compliance is preferred, but some deviation is allowed and tracked for regular series with seasons > 1 year long. Category redirects are followed, and tracked for either MOS contravention (to be corrected) or for navigational aid (no error). The gap size between successive seasons is also automatically determined, up to and including years, and defaults to 0 (e.g. 1995–96 → 1996–97).

Automatically condensed years are supported for presidential categories only (but can be easily expanded as needed), for gaps up to and including years, and defaults to 1. To skip gaps of up to years in any year categories, use yes.

Numerical limitations and AD/BC/E

 * Season/office term categories do not work for any years BC, which will be hidden, because no working examples were found.
 * Decade categories recognize BC, but not BCE, because no working examples were found.
 * Ordinal & numeral words do not work above the ninety-ninth & ninety-nine, because no working examples were found.

Condensation

 * Automatically condensed Olympics display is not supported due to peculiarities; use Winter Olympics by year category navigation, etc., instead.
 * Automatically condensed years are supported for presidential categories only, due to their consistency; use yes as desired elsewhere.

Work-arounds

 * Base-name changes: create at least 2 logically numbered R from category navigation (1 backward & 1 forward), to join both related series.
 * Unaccounted-for name+number conventions: where a fixed number is part of the prefix or suffix text, e.g. , a non-breaking space may force the template to work. See this fix, where title year skipped over 11 as part of a word rather than a discrete number. (This case has been accounted for and is no longer required in this example.)
 * General: for large, permanent gaps† between successive categories, use Succeeding category, Preceding category, Category pair, as needed, in addition to Category series navigation on both sides, or in the middle, of the gap. Even if Category series navigation is isolated, it has the benefit of confirming the absence of nearby categories to the reader or maintainer. †Permanent gaps, where there is a confirmed permanent absence of data, and not just a temporary, yet to be filled, gap on Wikipedia.

Related CfDs

 * Categories for discussion/Log/2019 June 8
 * Categories for discussion/Log/2019 May 29
 * Categories for discussion/Log/2019 April 19

Usage

 * Typical usage


 * Specify a minimum and/or maximum year to display


 * To skip gaps in year categories


 * To not automatically follow Category redirects


 * Exceptional cases
 * &mdash; to behave as if placed on cat; consider using Category pair instead of cat

Testing & debugging
To test the output of the template on a particular category name, use the testcase parameter, and testcasegap if necessary:



To see all links produced and/or tested, and what effect each has on their display, use yes:
 * Category:Nations at the 2006 World Athletics Championships ( 2006 ) ( 2006 )
 * Category:Nations at the 2007 World Athletics Championships ( 2007 ) ( 2007 )
 * Category:Nations at the 2008 World Athletics Championships ( 2008 )
 * Category:Nations at the 2008–2009 World Athletics Championships ( 2008–2009 ) (tried; not displayed)2
 * Category:Nations at the 2008–09 World Athletics Championships ( 2008–09 ) (tried; not displayed)4
 * Category:Nations at the 2009 World Athletics Championships → Category:Nations at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics (2009)
 * Category:Nations at the 2011 World Athletics Championships → Category:Nations at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics (2011)
 * Category:Nations at the 2015 World Athletics Championships → Category:Nations at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics (2015)
 * Category:Nations at the 2017 World Athletics Championships → Category:Nations at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics (2017)
 * Category:Nations at the 2019 World Athletics Championships (2019)
 * Category:Nations at the 2020 World Athletics Championships ( 2020 )
 * Category:Nations at the 2020–2021 World Athletics Championships ( 2020–2021 ) (tried; not displayed)2
 * Category:Nations at the 2020–21 World Athletics Championships ( 2020–21 ) (tried; not displayed)4
 * Category:Nations at the 2021 World Athletics Championships ( 2021 )
 * Category:Nations at the 2021–2022 World Athletics Championships ( 2021–2022 ) (tried; not displayed)2
 * Category:Nations at the 2021–22 World Athletics Championships ( 2021–22 ) (tried; not displayed)4
 * All possible element types are shown above (blue, red/grey, hidden, and redirect), and would otherwise display as:
 * All possible element types are shown above (blue, red/grey, hidden, and redirect), and would otherwise display as:

Tracking categories


If the template encounters an issue, it displays an error message and/or places the category into one or more of the following tracking categories: