Template:Signpost series/doc

Background

 * The following was written in 2015.

Signpost series are suites of articles published in different editions of the news outlet that cover a single topic, and can be structured together for reference by readers seeking to learn more about that topic. In the past, series were assembled manually via the now-deprecated Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Series template (a few very early series precluded this template, too, and used custom formatting that was generated on an ad-hoc basis: see for instance our series for the 2007 board elections).
 * NB: They're all formatted properly now! Ohh yeah! jp×g 07:58, 28 January 2023 (UTC)

This master template was introduced in March 2015 by  Res  Mar to greatly increase the efficiency with which series may be generated and used within Signpost articles. The core of this template is Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Article list maker, a Lua-and-Python-enabled template that uses Module:Signpost and an off-wiki Pythonic web scraper to classify Signpost articles according to their topicality via "tags". This core functionality is written and maintained by Mr. Stradivarius  ♪ talk ♪, and is described in more detail at Wikipedia Signpost/Index. The list of valid tags is currently available at Module:Signpost/index. Efforts are underway, but not yet completed, to build a comprehensive tag browser at Wikipedia Signpost/Index.

The code on this page itself actually only consists of a switch between one of few different templates. The first is the full sidebar box,, used to provide article linking capacity to previous stories related to the current one. The second is, used as an inline footer to Signpost stories wherever a full sidebar space is not available: see for instance here. Use-case documentation for when either of these templates is or isn't appropriate is provided in the Signpost style guidelines.

A number of more general sub-templates have been created an implemented as well, create a handful of differently visually styled template archival links for general use by the Wikipedia community, and from there, for general use by the Wikimedia community at large.

Note 1: There's a coded capacity for multiple tags to be displayed at once; however we've chosen not to code this feature into our templates, to save on the resulting conflation of tagging patterns. To use two different tag series, use two templates instead.

Note 2: Currently, inline versions of these templates invoke tags in a sandbox page. In the future, once the research index is complete (NB: This was written in 2015), these will be replaced with links to the tag's listing in the research index, which will provide necessary meta-data about what users are looking at before they invoke series functionality.

After 2015, it doesn't seem like a whole lot happened on this front. Well, maybe I can change that... jp×g 08:50, 8 January 2023 (UTC)

Inline and inline plain
Inline templates are meant to be used either by Signpost editors in Signpost articles. They can also be used on other pages, like Wikiproject interests in a specific topic.

If you want to create an inline template, the parameters are:


 * type – This standard parameter for all Signpost series sub-templates allows you to select which sub-template you want: in this case,  (or   for an image-less version).
 * tag – The name of the tag itself as used by the Lua script. Valid tags are documented at Module:Signpost/index and, in the future, will be documented at our research index.
 * tag_name – The name of the tag as you want it to appear visually in the template. If left empty, the parameter entered into "tag" will be used.
 * tag_pretext – A grammatical parameter for use when a  is better prefixed by a "the". For instance, "on the gender gap" versus "on semi-protection", as opposed to "on gender gap" versus "on the semi-protection".
 * image – The image placed before the text. To remove the image entirely see . The default image is File:WikipediaSignpostIcon.svg, the Signpost masthead.

Some example use-cases:

Note the use of  in the first example.

When hosted inside the Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost base pagename, this template will modify its wording to reflect that:

For more Signpost coverage on semi-protection see our semi-protection series.

Link
The simplest option of all&mdash;merely provides a link to the desired series invocation. It can be used for implementation in other templates or for cursory citation within discussions.

See more
Creates a sidebox instance that can be inserted into the end matter of on-wiki policy pages, linking to the relevant tag in question.


 * type – A standard parameter for all Signpost series sub-templates; it allows you to select which sub-template you want: in this case,.
 * tag – The name of the tag itself as used by the Lua script. Valid tags are documented at Module:Signpost/index and, in the future, at our research index.
 * tag_name – The name of the tag as you want it to appear visually in the template. If left empty, the parameter entered into "tag" will be used.
 * tag_pretext – A grammatical parameter for use when a  is better prefixed by a "the". For instance, "on the gender gap" versus "on semi-protection", as opposed to "on gender gap" versus "on the semi-protection".

A use-case example:

Sidebar and sidebar-v2
Sidebar templates are meant to be used exclusively by Signpost staff within our own articles.

The parameters are:


 * fullwidth –  brings a full width style,   has two-column style. By default this is set to.
 * type – This standard parameter for all Signpost series sub-templates allows you to select which sub-template you want: In this case .   is deprecated, so don't use it.
 * tag – The name of the tag used by this series. For further information about tags see the Signpost research index.
 * seriestitle – A succinct title of the series. Equivalent to the  inline sub-template parameter. If left empty, the parameter entered into "tag" will be used.
 * limit – The number of articles to include in the sidebar. By default, this is set to.
 * sortdir –  to present articles from oldest to most recent,   to present articles from most recent to oldest. By default, this is set to.
 * image – Changes the image displayed in the top-right corner. Not recommended when used in the Signpost.
 * toggle_title – If multiple sidebars for the same tag is present on the same page, clicking on 'more articles' will open all sidebars at once. While this shouldn't happen in Signpost articles, it can happen when discussing series or this template. Set the first sidebar to use tag1, the second one use tag2, and so on (toggle_title must be unspaced.)

Some example use-cases: