Template:Designation/doc

Usage

This template is mainly used in conjunction with {{Infobox Historic Site}}, which is under the supervision of WikiProject Historic Sites. This template tells the infobox how to display designations by passing along either a color or some text, which are dependent on the designation. The template is set up, however, so that anyone can use it as a stand-alone template to create tables, lists, and other articles throughout Wikipedia. The following is an explanation of how to use this template as a stand-alone template:

Template syntax

{{Designation|<designation>|<identifier>}}

• <designation> – tells the template which designation to use. (i.e. "NRHP", "World Heritage Site", "NYCL", etc.) This parameter is case-insensitive, so "world heritage site" will yield the same thing as "WoRlD HeRiTaGe SiTe". All supported designations are listed below.
• <identifier> – can be either of the two following values:
  • color (or colour) – will return a hex code for the official color of <designation>
  • text – will return a link to the article talking about <designation>

Examples

• {{Designation|World Heritage Site|colour}} yields "| colspan=2 align=center style="border:4px solid #FFE978;"|UNESCO World Heritage Site"
• {{Designation|Grade I|text}} yields "| colspan=2 align=center style="border:4px solid #FFC0CB;"|Listed Building – Grade I"

Adding new designations

If you've created or contributed to a list-article of a designation not listed above, you can suggest its addition to the template. To suggest a new designation for inclusion in this template, raise a question at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Historic sites. Through discussion, determine a color scheme for the designation and which text will appear in the infobox bar. Also, determine how you would like an editor to call that designation from the template (what text to assign to the |designationn parameter). Once the text, the color, and the callname(s) have been discussed, the designation can be incorporated into this template. Below are a few guidelines on how to choose these identifiers.

Color selection

While most colors on Wikipedia are completely arbitrary, the colors in this template are (usually) connected at least loosely with their designations. For example, the blue background of Monument historique is the same shade of blue present in the Flag of France. Also, the red background of New York City Landmarks is meant to symbolize "The Big Apple," one of the city's nicknames. It is desirable for any new designation to have a well-thought color.

While it's desirable for the colors to be related to the designation, accessibility is our first concern. Some users of Wikipedia may be fully or partially color blind, and certain color combinations can be hard for them to see. It may be necessary to modify the colors a little to accommodate these users; for more information see Wikipedia:Color.

Callname selection

In choosing callnames (valid <designation> values), choose names that are generally associated with the designation – not personal preferences (i.e. don't choose "My Hometown," "Family Vacation Spot," etc.). Be sure to include many different variations on word order (If you include "Canadian National Historic Site" then include "National Historic Site of Canada" as well). Callnames are case-insensitive, so there is no need for various capitalization changes.

You may use abbreviations, but use abbreviations that make sense. For Atlanta Landmarks, "AL" wouldn't be good because it may be confused with landmarks in Alabama; something like "ATL" would be better because more potential readers would associate that with Atlanta. For smaller cities it is wise to include country or state names too (such as "Oyster Bay, New York") because people are more likely to use state names than for larger, more well-known cities.

Text selection

Just because you know where it is doesn't mean everyone does.

When selecting the text that will be shown in the infobox bar, remember that some designations aren't that well-known. Be sure to provide adequate regional information; everyone on Wikipedia isn't from the United States and may not know where Oyster Bay is. The regional information doesn't necessarily have to be included in the bar text itself, but the link to which the text directs should include a regional reference. For instance, the Oyster Bay Landmark article explicitly states that the city is in the U.S. state of New York. The "Scope" column of the designation tables above should also contain detailed geographical information (Country – State/province – City – Neighborhood, etc.).

Make sure not to be overly descriptive as the text will only reside in a small bar inside a template. If the text takes up more than two lines, you should probably think about shortening it.

Designation incorporation

After colors, text, and callnames have been chosen, the designation is ready to be added to the template. You should probably ask someone at WT:HSITES to do this for you, but if you feel up to it, you can dive into template code independently. The template is split up into two major code blocks – one for colors and one for text. Before editing anything, you may want to check out Help:Templates.

To incorporate the designation's color into the template, find the appropriate scope-level (International, national, state, etc.) section of the "color" block of code. To the end of that section (before the default), add a new line and list the callname(s) selected for the designation, separated by vertical pipes ("|"). Be sure to add the callname(s) in all caps to remove case sensitivity; if a callname is not entered in all caps, it will not work. At the end of the line, add an equal sign and then the HEX value of the color chosen. In order for the wikisoftware to parse the color correctly, "& #35;" (without the space it renders a "#" sign) must be added to the front of the HEX color.

After the color is added, you can simply copy/paste that entire line of code including all callnames down into the "text" block of code. After pasting, delete the HEX color and replace it with the text for the infobox bar. Double check to see that nothing else was changed (you can use the "Show changes" option if necessary) and save the page with the edit summary "Added _______ designation," inserting the name of the designation you just added.

After the color/text are added to the main template, you can either ask someone at WT:HSITES to update this documentation page or update it yourself. To add your designation to this page, simply click the section edit button on the correct scope-level and add a new table row in the correct alphabetical order (So if you were adding New York State Landmarks, and Alabama/Ohio were already there, you would add New York between the two). The simplest method of creating a new row is to copy/paste a pre-existing row and edit that. For more information on Wikipedia Tables, see Help:Tables.

Don't change anything in the first column except the designation call. Change the former designation callname to your designation's callname in both the "color" and "text" locations. The next cell is the scope of the designation. Scopes are generally in Country – State/provice – City/municipality, etc. form, so for the New York State example, you would not just type "New York"; you would type "United States – New York." The next column is the approximate count of sites having that designation. Usually this should be backed up by some source, but if that source is in that designation's article, it doesn't need to be included here. The final cell is a list of all callnames that can be used to call that designation. You can copy and paste the callnames from the main template, but be sure to separate them by semicolons instead of leaving the vertical pipes. After you have added the new row, save the page with the same edit summary used when you updated the main template.