Template talk:Official URL

Two URLs mashed into one
Just a heads up, a problem with Infobox software (see Template talk:Infobox software) appears to affect this template as well. The two URLs get mashed together, something like "www.example1.com,%20www.example2.com", resulting in one broken link. One solution is to make sure there's only one preferred Wikidata value. I can imagine rare cases where it makes sense to have 2 official URL's, though, so I'm trying to think of a way to handle that nicely. Matt Fitzpatrick (talk) 23:46, 1 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Any new developments on this? Trivialist (talk) 17:20, 6 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Bueller? Bueller? — OwenBlacker (talk; please &#123;&#123;ping&#125;&#125; me in replies) 13:21, 31 January 2018 (UTC)

Admin: Please copy Official URL/sandbox to Official URL.

I have fixed the problem described above with a version that produces the first available value of these:
 * 1) The website with language set to English
 * 2) The website with highest rank
 * 3) The website first listed

It will never show more than one website, and continues to output nothing when no values are available. Try it by placing Official URL/sandbox on Neocatechumenal Way (Q371831)

I hope to further improve this by making it recognize subclasses of English, eg., which it currently does not. Daask (talk) 08:15, 5 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done can this change also be made to Template:Official website? &mdash; Martin (MSGJ · talk) 08:49, 5 July 2018 (UTC)

Use of this template

 * The below thread was copied here from User_talk:Nairspecht


 * --Start copy--

What's up with this revert? -- Green  C  14:32, 3 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Hello ! It's always better to provide a hyper text to the URL. Don't you think? Best, Nairspecht   (talk)   (work)  15:42, 3 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Apparently the creators of thought it would be a good idea to have a central location at Wikidata which all wiki's could use. That way if the URL changes etc.. it only needs to be updated once, across every wiki. Seems reasonable to me. Is there some kind of unstated campaign of adding/removing this template due to conflicting ideas of what is best? --  Green  C  15:47, 3 October 2016 (UTC)
 * I have observed that not all pages have multiple entries on different wikis, which makes this function useless. However, for the article in question, THAT would work. You may revert my edit if you want. Additionally, I have seen countless times that folks come here and add whatever they want in the name of official URL. So, yes, this function works for all those instances. Best, Nairspecht   (talk)   (work)  15:53, 3 October 2016 (UTC)
 * On the flip side, makes it impossible for dead link bots to add archival links which is a significant drawback given how often link-rot happens (probably 20% or more of official URLs are dead links); and no link-rot bots are setup to work on Wikidata; and there are no dead link fields in Wikidata anyway. For that reason I would support the old/simple way of a bare link. --  Green  C  15:59, 3 October 2016 (UTC)
 * That makes sense, yes. Best, Nairspecht   (talk)   (work)  16:01, 3 October 2016 (UTC)


 * --End copy--

Question: Why does bot adds archive links to the website parameters of the infoboxes? They shouldn't. Those links are either changed to another, like onedrive.live.com to onedrive.com (which bots can't fix), die permanently (which should be unlinked and affixed with a "(dead)" tag. Adding an archive link should be done on a case-by-case basis.

Best regards, Codename Lisa (talk) 06:21, 4 October 2016 (UTC)
 * At the moment there is some discussion with the bot maintainer how to deal with official links that are dead, but it adds a lot of complication to an already very complex bot. Curious why do you think it should be unlinked and marked dead, and not for example something like this (note the use of templates in the wikisource):
 * http://example.com.
 * Maybe what's needed is an option for called nolink which would remove the hyperlink for links established dead, so it would look like:
 * example.com.
 * Or, simply replace with wayback template, like this:
 * -- Green  C  16:10, 4 October 2016 (UTC)
 * "Curious why do you think it should be unlinked and marked dead". For one thing, the infobox is all about showing a printer-friendly link and your proposals are all useless in print. Second, what's the point of visiting a dead website anyway. I can see how a source needs revival but a general website? It seems to me that we stretch what WP:EL allows far too much there.
 * Best regards,
 * Codename Lisa (talk) 14:37, 5 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Codename Lisa (talk) 14:37, 5 October 2016 (UTC)

Official website language
The template doesn't seem to be working for me at New Democratic Party (Q130765) as there are two official websites – one in English and the other in French. Template:Official website (which uses Module:Official website), however, seems to know to use the English-language website. Does anyone know how to rectify this? 207.161.217.209 (talk) 02:45, 5 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Hi. Looks like everything is working properly as it should! What's your complaint?
 * Best regards,
 * Codename Lisa (talk) 14:39, 5 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Hi Lisa, did you try to implement it at the article in question? Have a look at this revision I just made. Looking at the code of Module:Official website, it appears there are provisions for Wikidata items with official languages in more than one language, but I don't think such provisions are present in Template:Official URL. 207.161.217.209 (talk) 03:20, 6 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Hi again. I've set the rank of one of the websites on WikiData to Preferred. That took care of the problem. Best regards, Codename Lisa (talk) 06:41, 6 October 2016 (UTC)
 * And if our colleagues on fr.Wikipedia have a template like this one..? Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 08:12, 8 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Either they get screwed or us. That is, if both of us insist on fetching the link from WikiData.
 * Codename Lisa (talk) 09:12, 8 October 2016 (UTC)
 * In fact, the same URL was entered twice, one qualified as being in English, the other French. I've merged them. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 10:08, 8 October 2016 (UTC)
 * You are being careless, I am afraid. Please look again. —Best regards, Codename Lisa (talk) 14:13, 8 October 2016 (UTC)

Dead links
Please see centralised discussion at Template talk:Official website. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 11:40, 15 October 2017 (UTC)

Why can't I use ?
It's not convenient.--Fire and Ice (talk) 06:59, 7 May 2018 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 16 June 2019:add EditAtWikidata
神樂坂秀吉 (talk) 05:46, 16 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. DannyS712 (talk) 06:26, 16 June 2019 (UTC)


 * DannyS712, apparently they made a change in the sandbox . I believe this adds a pencil icon next to the URL so that readers know the URL came from Wikidata and can click through to edit it, on Wikidata. Generally I have been in favor of these icons in other templates, but we would need to setup a testcases page to verify how it looks. I set the answered back to no for now until resolved. --  Green  C  15:17, 16 June 2019 (UTC)

Added the sanbox version to Anglican Communion (has to be a live article). It looks good to me and mirrors how works, which also uses the pencil icon. I think we should approve the change. -- Green  C  15:27, 16 June 2019 (UTC)
 * I think it is a good idea overall, but I don't like the way it presents, possibly because with where line wrapping may go it may look like it is bleeding in to the link. I think this is more of an issue with the EditAtWikidata template itself though - perhaps if it was updated to use the same pencil and coloring that the pencil in the language links box is using? —  xaosflux  Talk 13:42, 18 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Followed up with an edit request at Module_talk:EditAtWikidata. Do you know which icon that is? I did a view page source and can't find the pencil icon image name. -- Green  C  14:34, 18 June 2019 (UTC)
 * pending feedback at Module talk:EditAtWikidata. — xaosflux  Talk 14:57, 18 June 2019 (UTC)
 * ✅ — xaosflux  Talk 13:16, 19 June 2019 (UTC)

Wrong value displayed
d:Q90561312 has two official website values; one marked as preferred. On the template is displaying the non-preferred URL. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 10:44, 20 May 2020 (UTC)

d:Q828404 has two official websites entered. First one with qualifier "language of work or name" (P407) of "Canadian French" and second one with qualifier of "Canadian English". Listing for Yoho National Park showed the first website, despite there being an entry in English. Deleting the "Canadian French" entry and re-adding resolved the problem, but the problem appears to be that preference is not given if the qualifier is not set to "English" Rosspotter (talk) 07:39, 14 September 2022 (UTC)

"no value" and end dates
The template should filter out outdated sites, those with an end date, and take into account that "no value" as preferred rank is also used to indicate that the company has no website anymore.

This is (should be) doable with the Wikidata template that is used here, I guess, at least through the advanced commands ? TomT0m (talk) 19:06, 18 January 2024 (UTC)


 * This is a list of articles this could concern if they have the template : https://w.wiki/8tov for companies only. 130 articles, although I don’t check if they actually have the template. TomT0m (talk) 15:06, 19 January 2024 (UTC)