Template talk:Diagram needed

= Usage =

This template uses two optional parameters. There are four forms of usage for this template:

The first form includes the base warning. The second form includes an optional message to include explaining the purpose of the needed diagram. The third form includes an optional width (in pixels) for the diagram. The fourth form includes both the optional message and the optional width. The optional width is provided to assist in formatting an article using this template as a stand-in for an eventual diagram.

The parameter  can be used to prevent the template from adding a page to a category. The parameter  can be used to alter the category sort order.

= Discussion =

I like the idea, but I do think it is much too big. IMHO there's no reason why the request for a diagram should be of the double size compared to every other tag. -- 790 14:35, 22 March 2006 (UTC)


 * FWIW, the reason it is larger is that it is designed to take the place of a diagram instead of being a notice at the top of the page. —Doug Bell talk•contrib 19:23, 22 March 2006 (UTC)


 * In that case, it should support more of image's parameters, such as location and caption. Then, when someone gets around to making or adding the diagram, they can easily drop it into place with a minimum of changes. Pimlottc 10:11, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

New code
Since most Wikipedia diagrams appear as thumbnails at the right side of the page, it would be nice if this template, by default, put the "diagram needed" image at the right side of the page, with the explanation as a caption below it. In this way, the form of the template notice would resemble the usual manner in which a diagram is displayed. The message would then be literal: a diagram is needed here.--Srleffler 03:58, 10 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I tried to make a version that implements what I describe above. My code is at Template:Diagram needed 2. This is my first experiment with an "esoteric" template, so someone should check my code. As far as I can tell, it implements the caption and width parameters correctly, and I think the other functionality should be preserved. If it looks OK, perhaps we could replace the current code with this code? --Srleffler 04:49, 10 April 2006 (UTC)
 * One problem with the current code, is that the width parameter cannot be used to make the image larger than its default size, since I use the built-in thumbnailing for image scaling. This could be easily fixed by uploading a higher resolution version of the image.
 * I did notice that the category code in this template was broken. I have fixed it (I hope).--Srleffler 04:40, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Since very few pages were using this template (which is almost redundant with reqdiagram), and since the category feature was broken for months and nobody noticed, I have been bold and made the change. --Srleffler 04:58, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Error
There appears to be an error in the template, as the default message for a no-parameter transclusion has double curly braces in it. -- Beland 20:21, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

Imagemap
Can we get rid of the image map? The image license information is already linked from the template itself. — Omegatron 23:15, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

Combine and expand
We really need to combine this idea, and the strangely-named "fromowner system", with the reqphoto templates; putting all of these templates in the articles themselves instead of the talk pages, to attract contributions from outsiders. — Omegatron 16:23, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

Example

 * 24 hours —Preceding unsigned comment added by Omegatron (talk • contribs) 02:20, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Diagram improvements
I would like a template for diagram images that are in need of improvement. How would I set this up? I would like it to work like this one, and I would like there to be coordination between the two. SharkD (talk) 06:21, 6 January 2008 (UTC)