Wikipedia:Article message boxes

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Template:Nutshell

There is a standard and consistent design for article message boxes — templates which go at the top of articles/sections, and identify problems or issues with the article. The design was standardized and implemented in September 2007.

Scope

The scope of this effort is the design of article message boxes ("amboxes"). Article message boxes are template messages, in a square frame (box), which are placed in articles, and are also about articles. They identify issues or important information about the article, but are not part of the article content itself.

The following are presently outside the scope of this effort:

The wording (text) inside article message boxes (present focus is on appearance/formatting)
Other kinds of article templates, such as navigation boxes and infoboxes
Talk page templates, which were standardised in 2005 by Wikipedia:Talk page templates
Project namespace templates, used in the Wikipedia: namespace

Terminology

Template: A page which is transcluded into other pages, typically to re-use the same content in multiple pages. See Help:Template.
Message box: Any template that looks like a box and contains a specific message about a specific issue with a page, section, or other thing on Wikipedia.
- This is is in contrast to templates which are used for info boxes, to automate processes, or any of the other myriad things templates are used for.
Article message box: Message boxes about articles
- Info boxes, nav boxes, and such are part of an article, not about the article
ambox: Short for "article message box"

Design

What amboxes looked like before they were standardized

The ambox tags that we use to notify people of problems within an article are on thousands of our pages. Our readers see them and judgements are made not only about the article at hand, but about the project itself. In the past, we had a myriad of templates that often shared some level of consistency, but still looked very mismatched.

This effort aims to address these issues. Design principles include:

Colour-coding is good, but avoid excess
- Coloured/shaded backgrounds can make text hard to read for some people, especially those with color-vision deficiencies
Consistent widths make multiple adjacent amboxes easier to read
This is a deliberate design effort, while the old templates evolved organically over time
Easily implemented
The use of CSS allows appearance customization/override on a per-user or per-skin basis

Categories and colours

Amboxes are divided into various categories. Each category has a corresponding colour code. The colour-coding helps to inform of the severity of the issues at a glance.

Code	Name	Description	Example Templates
#b22222	Speedy	Immediate deletion	{{db-meta}}
#b22222	Deletion	Full-discussion deletion; proposed deletion	{{afd}}, {{prod}}
#f28500	Content	Problems with the content of an article, i.e., what the article actually says	{{POV}}, {{globalize}}
#f4c430	Style	Problems not with the content, but how it is formatted/presented	{{cleanup}}, {{wikify}}
#1e90ff	Notice	Information readers/editors should be aware of	{{current}}, {{future}}
#9932cc	Move	Merge, split and transwiki proposals	{{split}}, {{copy to wiktionary}}
#bba	Protection	Page is locked against edits	{{pp-protected}}

The choice of colour is partly inspired by the ANSI standard safety "Signal Words" and their corresponding colors: Danger (Red), Warning (Orange), Caution (Yellow), and Notice (Blue).

Most amboxes have a background colour of #fbfbfb (slightly off white), which is intended to contrast slightly with the full white (#ffffff) used for articles, while still being easy to read. The exception is the Speedy category, which uses a pink background (#b22) to highlight the immediate nature of the problem.

Implementation

As of the end of 2007, most article message boxes have been converted to this design.

The design of these article message boxes is controlled by the Ambox CSS classes, which are part of MediaWiki:Common.css.

The meta template {{ambox}} makes it easy to create article message boxes in the new design. It has usage documentation and examples. Note that {{ambox}} is just a thin wrapper for the CSS classes.

The CSS classes can also be applied directly to a wikitable or HTML table, especially when special functionality is needed. Wikipedia:Ambox CSS classes describes how.

Alternate skins

It is possible to customize the appearance of ambox templates on a per-user basis. To do this, you need a named account. Then add to or altering the code in your monobook.css page. There are several pre-made "skins" available for this at Wikipedia:Ambox CSS classes/Skins.

Examples

Please note:

The wording (text) of these message boxes is outside the scope of this effort. The wording in the examples below is for illustration purposes only.
The following box has a white background to mimic article pages.

Speedy deletion

This page may meet Wikipedia’s criteria for speedy deletion.
The given reason is: It is a very short article providing little or no context (CSD A1), contains no content whatsoever (CSD A3), consists only of links elsewhere (CSD A3) or a rephrasing of the title (CSD A3).
Please consider placing {{subst:empty-warn|Wikipedia:Article message boxes}} ~~~~ on the User Talk page of the author.

Deletion

This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedia's deletion policy .
Please share your thoughts on the matter at this article's entry on the Articles for deletion page. Feel free to edit the article, but the article must not be blanked, and this notice must not be removed, until the discussion is closed. For more information, particularly on merging or moving the article during the discussion, read the guide to deletion.

Steps to list an article for deletion: {{subst:afd}} • Preloaded debate OR {{subst:afd2|pg=Article message boxes|cat=|text=}} • {{subst:afd3|pg=Article message boxes}} log

Content

The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.

This article or section reads like an advertisement.
To meet Wikipedia's quality standards and comply with Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy, it may require cleanup.

Style

To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article may require cleanup.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page, and/or replace this tag with a more specific message. Editing help is available.

This article or section lacks formatting.
Please wikify it as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style.

Notice

This article documents a current event.
Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

Move

It has been suggested that this page or section be merged with Page title. (discuss)

Protection

This page is currently protected from editing to deal with vandalism. Protection is not an endorsement of the current version (protection log). Template:Howtoedit

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