Template talk:Ref/doc

Attempt to simplify this documentation
I have been editing this documentation in an attempt to simplify it, and have run out of time. I think that what I have so far is an improvement over the prior documentation, so I have saved my changes. I will be traveling beginning tomorrow, and may not be able to read or react to comments. Feel free to modify or revert the changes I have made. Wtmitchell (talk) (earlier Boracay Bill) 08:47, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

This is no longer the recommended method of citing sources (but is still fully operational).
Cute. Why are you bothering telling me that, without telling me what the recommended method of citing sources is? And no, telling me about numbered footnotes misses the point--I don't care about numbered footnotes, I want to cite sources.--Prosfilaes (talk) 00:31, 23 October 2012 (UTC)


 * I added a pointer to Citing sources there. Wtmitchell (talk) (earlier Boracay Bill) 06:40, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Unique ID issue
Currently this page has two separate elements using the same HTML identifier, which is used to illustrate this very issue. My understanding is this is invalid HTML; in any case it does invoke error messages from tools using the page. Examples:
 * W3C validator: http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Ref/doc?oldid=531093910 (Look for the “Duplicate ID” messages)
 * tools:~dispenser/cgi-bin/rdcheck.py/template:ref/doc

I thought restoring the Help:HTML validation link could be helpful. Also, if you want to illustrate the unique ID issue, the example from the original “Labels must be unique” section is probably simpler and easier to understand. Vadmium (talk, contribs) 01:42, 7 January 2013 (UTC).
 * Hi.


 * Well, I didn't know the page was referring to that kind of validity. (Although, is it important?) I thought it was referring to those red messages.


 * Sorry, my mistake.


 * Best regards,
 * Codename Lisa (talk) 08:45, 7 January 2013 (UTC)

If the id is duplicated, then the markup is invalid. The backlink is also ambiguous- some browsers will back link to the first in-text cite, others to the last. See the.

{{markup
 * Text alpha.{{ref|Alpha|α}} Text alpha.{{ref label|Alpha|α}}

This documentation needs improvements
It needs to start of with simple and clear examples. Currently it creates the impression these templates are extremely complicated. CapnZapp (talk) 08:12, 17 September 2020 (UTC)