Project:Support desk/Archives/Formatting/002

(RESOLVED) Problems with Infoboxes/Templates

 * MediaWiki: 1.12.0
 * PHP: 5.2.6
 * MySQL: 5.0.45-community-log
 * URL: http://ilpwiki.com

I am trying to enable infoboxes with my version of MediaWiki. The template I am trying to incorporate is.

The first thing I found I need to do from reading through the help section and searching help sites was to enable parser functions. I copied the 5 files into a created "Parser Functions" folder in my extensions directory as indicated in the help section.

I then copied the source code from the wikipedia template entry indicated above and created a page on my site using the same title and copied code. The page is located here:.

However, whenever I try and use the organization template code on another page all you see on the page is the code.

How can I get this infobox template to work?


 * Did you edit LocalSettings.php to include the parser function extension? Smaug [[Image:Tournesol.png|20px]] 03:10, 8 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, i did. Sorry, I forgot to include that step.  Is there anything I need to edit in the main.css or common.css files maybe?


 * You need to copy the "Infobox template style" from en:MediaWiki:Common.css too, yes. -- :bdk: 04:39, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) Using a URL in a Template appears to be broken!

 * MediaWiki: 1.12.0
 * PHP: 5.1.6
 * MySQL: 5.0.22
 * URL: Internal Wiki

Below is the definition of a Template: Note: I then add a URL link on my page as follows:

But all I get from this is: Note: If however, I only have plain text or a Interwiki link as follows:

it works and I get: Note: Go to Google for more info! (of course Google will be a link) So the main question is, am I doing the wrong thing when using the Template? Have I mis-interpreted the usage of a Template?

—Tonyk 23:58, 8 June 2008 (UTC)


 * I finally figured what I was doing wrong. The link I was trying to add had these character: '?' and '='.  I remembered having to use   to display a '#' symbol so I went to my ASCII chart and got the character codes for the '?' (63) and the '=' (61) and now all is good.
 * —Tonyk 12:26, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

(OUTDATED) Template:Listen
Hi ! Is it possible to embed something like the Template:Listen of Wikipedia in MediaWiki ? I din't find it anywhere. Thanks in advance ! Freeno

—85.1.36.105 01:25, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) Footer toolbar for automatic inserting CODE
How can I create footer table (like toolbar) for automatic inserting code into the Text area inside of creating a new page, when I make clik on button. It is something like red area on the picture at this URL: http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/3074/toolbarwk1.jpg

—Krznaric 17:31, 9 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Use Extension:CharInsert and then edit Mediawiki:Edittools. Smaug [[Image:Tournesol.png|20px]] 18:21, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

(OUTDATED) Problem with infoboxes - Update

 * MediaWiki: 1.12.0
 * PHP: 5.2.6 (apache2handler)
 * MySQL: 5.0.51a-log
 * URL: http://livre.nl/wiki/index.php/Sjabloon:Infobox_Software

I'm setting up info boxes using templates. I've copied the template 'Infobox Software' as well as the related templates directly from Wikipedia.nl to see if it would work. However, the infoboxes show up with a HTML-soup in it. It looks like the parser stops inside the table where the #if: statements begin.

Your help is very appreciated.

—Bfaas 18:09, 11 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Try installing the ParserFunctions extension... --TheDevilOnLine 10:27, 12 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your answer. The template shows ok right now, but if I apply it to a page, it still gives the HTML-soup. See http://livre.nl/wiki/index.php/Introductie --Bfaas

(OUTDATED) After install help!!!

 * MediaWiki: huh... how?
 * PHP: 5.2.1
 * MySQL: 4+
 * URL: http://wiki.hackergrounds.com
 * Contact: deep@hackergrounds.com

Hi! My server requires files to be labelled *.php5 to make PHP v.5 work so i renamed config/index.php to index.php5 and replaced everylink inside the php file from *.php to *.php5... that worked... the problem is i get this on the mainpage

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting T_OLD_FUNCTION or T_FUNCTION or T_VAR or '}' in /homepages/42/d236396506/htdocs/wiki/includes/Exception.php on line 140

You can see it on the URL provided... wuts wrong?

—62.231.248.122 21:42, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

(OUTDATED) Can a template calculate the numbers of days in February?

 * MediaWiki: 1.12.0
 * PHP: 5.2.5 (apache2handler)
 * MySQL: 5.0.51.a
 * URL: not public

Hello everyone,

I try to make templates that return the number of days in a month. As I am only concerned with dates 1970 or later, this is no problem for January and March through December. However, I don't know how do to it for February. Can this be done with a template or do I need to program a magic word?

—80.144.75.167 16:13, 15 June 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) Variables in templates, then displayed on a page.

 * MediaWiki: 1.10.1
 * PHP: 5.2.6
 * MySQL: 5.0.24a
 * URL: RTAW Reefpedia

This is more of a "can this be done" type of question. What we have is nested templates, which can go about 12 deep. What I would like to do, without having to create more templates, which makes things more confusing and difficult to manage, is specify within the template itself a string variable or something like that. When the template is included in a page, it does its normal thing, inserting text into the page at a particular location. Then, be able to insert the string at a different location on the page. Can it be done? — Dr DBW |  talk  07:28, 24 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Just after I posted this on the way home, worked out that should be able to do this using if statements. Will have a play at some point and see how it goes. -- Dr DBW  |  talk  07:05, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) Move search box on Sidebar
How can I move the search box on side bar on top of any other navigation box on sidebar? —84.47.244.191 22:50, 24 June 2008 (UTC)
 * According to the Manual you just have to edit your MediaWiki:Sidebar and insert a *SEARCH on top of the list. But it doesn't work on my wiki... --217.91.74.27 14:51, 20 August 2008 (UTC)
 * See Manual:Sidebar (you need MediaWiki 1.13+). -- :bdk: 15:09, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

(OUTDATED) WikiLatino and MediaWiki Templates?
My name is Iris Rodriguez and I am an associate at Mi Apogeo Inc. Mi Apogeo (www.miapogeo.com) is a Latino based media company targeting second and third generation Latino consumers in the U.S. A crucial component of our hybrid site is the first online self-created Latino history and culture resource, WikiLatino!

As I post entries on the WikiLatino I'm wondering if there's any way/software that can be used to create templates/make posting more user-friendly?? We use MediaWiki however we do not have all the buttons/features that exist on Wikpedia.org....and though it seems thats how it works on Wikipedia.org, I can't see people taking the time to figure out the codes to make things look the way you want them to on a page.

Hopefully someone can help, thank you!

Iris —64.52.255.3 16:07, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

(OUTDATED) Wiki Templates
Hello this is concerning my wiki and i am having numerous problems... first of all none of templates are working like the infobox and tables... how do i get these to work... or is there something i can download?

my Current Wiki... 

Thank you Andrew A. Lehti —209.240.240.138 21:40, 12 July 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) How can I remove "Main page" from main page?

 * MediaWiki: 1.12.0
 * PHP: 5.2.6-3 (cgi-fcgi)
 * MySQL: 5.0.32-Debian_7etch5-log
 * URL: http://www.wikidante.helloweb.eu

How can I remove "Main page" from main page? For example, on the main page of mediawiki.org there isn't the writing "Main Page" on the top.

tanks —151.16.38.214 14:23, 19 July 2008 (UTC)


 * See Manual:FAQ -- :bdk: 15:09, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) Printing comment
I would like to print this String in Wiki < !--pdf--> (without whitespace between < and !).

how can I do it?

can I mask the comment tag?


 * You tried the HTML character set of 4 characters for a left angle bracket?


 * ie &lt;!--pdf-->


 * See edit window for the characters.


 * --Quatermass 18:13, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Alternative: Use nowiki tags to surround the comment, e.g.  -- :bdk:  07:23, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) How to remove the title of "Main Page"
Hi, I would like to remove the title from the Main Page the same way as in Wikipedia. I searched google and found a solution, which included editing monobook.js, but couldn't get it working.


 * See Manual:FAQ -- :bdk: 20:11, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) testing a user name to modify a template output

 * MediaWiki: 1.11.0
 * PHP: 5.2.4
 * MySQL: 5.0.51a
 * URL: www.sm-201.org

I have a wiki with a fairly large number osf "lists"

to avoid an massive list of "wanted page" entries, I have written the following template:


 * if the article does not exist, it displays the name in green (instead of red)
 * If the article exists, it has a link to that article is given, and a "NEW" icon is added.

On a regular basis, I go back through and exchange with the usual   protocol - it's a pain but it works 

I would like to know if there is a way to modify my template to test

—Robinr57 20:48, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) Navbox Template - Final Product Not Collapsing

 * MediaWiki: 1.12.0
 * PHP: 5.2.5 (cgi)
 * MySQL: 4.1.22-standard
 * URL: ArtsieWiki.net

I have done everything I can think of to try and get the collapsable feature of the Navbox to work, but I can't figure it out. It would be really helpful to have! Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

—99.144.158.114 23:35, 6 August 2008 (UTC)


 * I think you must edit MediaWiki:Common.js page. You can copy it from wikipedia site to your site. kgbkgbkgb 12:21, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) Using template parameters inside &lt;pre&gt;

 * MediaWiki: (Reported by your Wiki's Special:Version page)
 * PHP: 5.2.0
 * MySQL: 5.0.32

How can I use parameters inside preformatted text?

I need to have a very simple template like this:

and should be pass as raw text and not parsed by wiki parser.

It is any way to obtain this behavior. —78.150.48.199 16:27, 7 August 2008 (UTC)


 * You can do this using
 * — 78.147.186.239 21:51, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

(OUTDATED) Concerning fields not filled in
On my wiki at, I have a template on which you can write five different fields (genre, genre2, genre3, genre4 and genre5). However, in most cases only two or three are filled in. On the final page (example, the code is: As a result: If for example genre5 isn't filled in, it will say and [[Category:]], which is kind of annoying. How can I fix it so this doesn't show up if the field isn't filled in? Quispiam 13:13, 31 August 2008 (UTC)
 * ,, , ,  , , ,

(RESOLVED) Nested Templates -- is it possible?
MediaWiki: 1.11.0; PHP: 5.2.6 (cgi-fcgi); MySQL: 5.0.45-community-log; URL: http://paleravens.com/

OK, I really need this, or I'mma be in hot development water. Please help!

Let's say I have two templates ...

Let's say I have Template ' defined as to make a nice table like this: ' should yield:

Let's say I have another Template  defined as Dy-no-mite! which should yield: Dy-no-mite!

Now, the problem: I want to be able to use one inside another!

Lookit, I combine them ... I SHOULD get ...

But what I actually get from is ...

... OK, I can't make Templates on this site. Click here to see it in action. I can simulate it here, though. It looks like this:

It's obvious that the closing }} of the DynamiteYellowText template is causing the NiceTable template to close prematurely and ignore the DynamiteYellowText.

What's not obvious is, HOW DO I FIX IT?

Please note, it's not a matter of how to get yellow text in a blue box. I have multiple templates that I want to combine in this way. I *really* hope there is a solution for this.

Please Help Please Help Please Help Please Help Please tengkyu

-- Töff 22:25, 3 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I Made It Work! Hah! Research! Study! Work and toil, midnight oil!


 * You have to declare the outside template's variable name, e.g., add a 1= before the template that is the variable value.


 * Like this :


 * See it here -- Woohoo! -- Töff 00:04, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) Scripting in templates doesn't seem to execute

 * MediaWiki version: 1.13.1
 * PHP version: 	5.2.6 (apache2handler)
 * MySQL version: 5.0.67-community-nt
 * URL: Internal Intranet, Sorry
 * Extensions:
 * http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:SyntaxHighlight_GeSHi

Hi, I wonder if someone can please point me in the right direction. I'm a software developer so you'd think I'd get the hand of this fairly rapidly but I'm obviously missing something crucial....

I'm trying to set up Templates on our internal Wiki in a similar manner to Wikipedia (the nice uniformly styled boxes)

I've set up a Template called Template:Documentation which contains:

I've set up a Template:Ambox which contains

and finally, I've included the Documentation template into my page with

(I've also created the appropriate styles in Mediawiki:Common.css)

The issue is that the scripting in the Template:Ambox doesn't seem to be executed. The actual output is

half inside, half outside the table.

I'm clearly missing something critical. Would someone please be kind enough to kick me and point me in the right direction

Many thanks in advance

—Basiclife 15:57, 10 September 2008 (UTC)


 * You need the ParserFunctions extension. —Emufarmers(T 02:52, 11 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Thank you SO much. It's still not quite right but at least I can now play around and get it going - I'm sure the remaining problems are due to mistakes in my Templates which I should be able to resolve on my own. Really appreciate it. Thank you. --Basiclife 12:21, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

(OUTDATED) Problems with Infobox Template

 * MediaWiki: 1.11.1
 * PHP: 5.2.5 (isapi)
 * MySQL: 5.0.45-community-nt
 * URL: http://wiki.white-wolf.com/Exalted

I am having some formatting issues with my infobox template. My footer box is sometimes overflowing to the right screenshot, and I cannot seem to find the fix to this issue. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Bodhisattva 15:06, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

(OUTDATED) Table sorting broken?
The numbers with spaces for thousand separator was being sorted numerically and now is sorted alphabetically. Did something change in the javascript? Allowing for "spaces" instead of "commas" for the thousand separator should be supported, right? --MarsRover 02:27, 22 September 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) Tables doesn't work + missing edit toolbar options

 * MediaWiki version: 1.13.1
 * PHP version: 5.2.4-2ubuntu5.3
 * MySQL version: 5.0.51a
 * URL: http://out.swiatecki.com/mediawiki-1.13.1/index.php/Skabelon:Infoboks

Hello MediaWiki support desk. I have a problem when I write my articles: I should have a nice table, with borders and all, but I don't realy see it... I only see the code wrote, but at da.wikipedia.org this would work perfect.

What is wrong?

Also I'm missing some funktions in the edit toolbar. How do I get those (like upper and lower case, tables and so on)

Rasmus Becks 24-09-2008 11:37 p.m +1 GMT


 * Hej Rasmus, it seems you have to add a definition for the class "wikitable" to your MediaWiki:Common.css first.
 * For the edit toolbar, see the FAQ. -- :bdk: 22:34, 24 September 2008 (UTC)


 * And where shall I place it? Does it have a destination in the mediawiki folder, or is it a template to be added? Rasmus Becks 01-10-2008 10:27 p.m (+1 GMT)
 * MediaWiki:Common.css is one of the system messages you can simply edit when being logged in to the wiki (user interface) as an admin. -- :bdk: 04:39, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

(OUTDATED) Infobox won't split

 * MediaWiki version: 1.13.1
 * PHP version: 5.2.4-2ubuntu5.3
 * MySQL version: 5.0.51a
 * URL: http://out.swiatecki.com/mediawiki-1.13.1/index.php/Skabelon:L%C3%A6rer

Hello Wiki support

I have a problem with my template. It doesn't split the infobox's info in two, like normal infobox's does. Do I have to chance the localsettings.php/css (can't remember what name it has) to allow html and copy a template which allready exist?

—93.160.125.134 20:27, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) Parameter expansion within XML-style tags

 * MediaWiki version: 1.14alpha (r41883)
 * PHP version: 5.2.6 (apache2handler)
 * MySQL version: 5.0.67-community-nt
 * URL: company intranet

I just tried to embed a parameter within xml-style tags: \\server\path\|

After wandering around trying to figure out why this wasn't working, I came across the info that parameter expansion within xml-style tags doesn't work. Is there a known workaround for this, or do I just have to figure out another way to display the info? Thanks.—SarekOfVulcan 20:45, 9 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Never mind, I just found the fix.

{{#tag:file }}
 * \\server\path\{{filepath}}}|


 * Thanks anyway!--SarekOfVulcan 21:13, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

(OUTDATED) pulling selective info from a template

 * MediaWiki version: any
 * PHP version: any
 * MySQL version: any

What I'm looking for is a way (if possible) to loop through all members of a category, and pull out some data that's defined in a template in the pages of that category... for instance, For all pages with the category "National Football League teams", display the "name" and "colors" parameters from the template Template:NFL team.

With the end result of a list of NFL team names and team colors, but with the data still only stored in one place. Is anything like this remotely possible with any version of mediawiki?

—24.196.67.58 18:46, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) Including Wiki article inside the Sidebar

 * MediaWiki version: 1.13.2
 * PHP version: 5.2.5 (apache2handler)
 * MySQL version: 4.1.20
 * URL: http://www.reunionblues.com/tourguide/index.php/

We want to be able to include a wiki article in the sidebar but I can't seem to find the answer to how we can do it. I created a custom namespace and want to include as { { :Item:Products } } but it will not translate to the wiki article. I tried installing DynamiSkin thinking we can use a normal wiki article as the sidebar, but it appears to have a similar problem with including a seperate wiki article. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

—Cognizance 23:16, 3 November 2008 (UTC)


 * See Manual:Interface/Sidebar for how to add new links to the sidebar. -- :bdk: 04:40, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) Importing templates
I am looking to import templates from wikipedia because I like certian articles on there. In order to use them, I obviously need some of these templates, or there are massive formatting issues. I don't understand how to copy templates, or to use templates from wikipedia and put them in my wiki.
 * MediaWiki version: 1.5.8
 * PHP version: 5.2.6 (apache2handler)
 * MySQL version: 5.0.51b-community-nt
 * URL:

I don't have an address to give because it is for an intranet. Any help on how to do this would work.

For example, I am trying to get the wiki page on Fallout 3 from wikipedia into my mediawiki wiki. If I were to just copy and paste, I got major formatting issues.

Any help would be awesome. Thanks

—Tallysaturdaynightspecial 02:28, 11 November 2008 (UTC) Guessswho


 * The article Fallout 3 uses several templates. If you want the copied text being displayed exactly the same as on Wikipedia, you have to copy all the templates, you have to copy relevant parts from en:MediaWiki:Common.css, and you have to install Extension:ParserFunctions to make some of the templates work at all (if you haven't done that yet). There might be other issues too, but those are the basics. -- :bdk: 04:40, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) Backlink not highlighted using note template

 * MediaWiki version: 1.6.8
 * PHP version: 5.2.6 (apache2handler)
 * MySQL version: 5.0.67-log
 * URL: Intranet

I'm trying to use ref - note templates on our Wiki. It works fine however I've noticed that in english Wikipedia the backlink is highlighted. It doesn't work for me. Additionally I've made a test in polish Wikipedia and it doesn't work there either. What is missing there?

Below I'm providing a short test and it looks that it doesn't work also here - the backlink is not highlighted.

test1

Footnotes:

^ test

—Tomdzio 21:15, 12 November 2008 (UTC)


 * You have to copy the needed styles from en:MediaWiki:Common.css first (search for Highlight clicked reference in blue to help navigation there). -- :bdk: 04:40, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

(OUTDATED) How can i change the width of the texarea input fields used for editing pages?

 * MediaWiki 1.13.2
 * PHP 5.2.0-8+etch13.1 (cgi-fcgi)
 * MySQL 5.0.32-Debian_7etch8-log
 * URL:

Its currently breaking my style. The default width is col=80, can i change that somehow, or should i use the stylesheet to change it?

—84.114.140.251 11:04, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) Infoboxes

 * MediaWiki version: 1.13.2
 * PHP version: 5.2.5 (cgi)
 * MySQL version: 5.0.67-community
 * URL: www.wiki.unholy-drilidan.com

When i add the following code;

It just says Template:Infobox how exactly do i make it show a infobox?

—92.19.132.212 20:35, 19 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Did you copy the Template:Infobox itself and the needed infobox CSS from en:MediaWiki:Common.css? (I guess you simply copied an article text from Wikipedia to your wiki.) -- :bdk: 04:40, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) Tables not aligned and not using formatting from common.css

 * MediaWiki version: 1.12.0
 * PHP version: 5.2.6
 * MySQL version: 5.0.51
 * URL: http://www.lingwiki.com

I was working on my site as normal last night, and everything was displaying just fine. I came back this morning and suddenly the infoboxes are not aligning on the right like they're supposed to, and only explicitly stated table code is doing anything, as can be seen here. The last time my wiki went from working perfectly one moment to absolutely screwing up the next was when I last updated the Wiki software back in May; worked fine for two days, then I tried to continue where I left off before going to work when I got back and suddenly it refused to connect to the database, costing me 2 years and 20,000 pages worth of stuff to date at the time. Things are finally starting to gel again, but now...more randomness? I've checked the log to see if anyone has edited Common.css or any of the box templates recently, which they haven't. I've resaved Common.css to reassert it, nothing. I've cleared the cache, nothing. I'm out of options and feeling just a slight bit paranoid at the moment...

—71.198.127.97 15:03, 26 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Seems solved, can't see any obvious misalignments or such on your site atm. -- :bdk: 03:53, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

(OUTDATED) Template help

 * MediaWiki version: 1.11.2
 * PHP version: 5.1.6
 * MySQL version: 5.0.45
 * URL: http://dubyapedia.wiki-site.com/index.php/Main_Page

I just made a Wiki on wiki-site.org. I'm trying to use source from Wikipedia itself and I am having a problem with the template. How can I can go about installing the template on my site?

—Daniel Musto 01:31, 1 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Please be more accurate. What kind of "problem" do you have? Which Wikipedia template are you talking about? -- :bdk: 04:40, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

(RESOLVED) Changing the red format color for 'new' links to a different color

 * MediaWiki version: 1.13.2
 * PHP version: 5.2.6 (cgi-fcgi)
 * MySQL version: 5.0.67-log
 * URL: http://www.queencitywiki.com/

How do you change the default color of red for links to pages that are new or have not been created yet? Ive managed to edit CSS files to change the color and formatting to other links to how I want them, but I have been through about 4-5 CSS files and cannot seem to find the correct spot (or spots) to change the formatting of red to another color. Is this possible?

—74.132.72.29 21:38, 20 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes. Generally spoken, you have to search for a.new and adapt that bit then.
 * Put something like

a.new { color:#eeee00 }
 * in your main.css, or in MediaWiki:Common.css or in another skin's css (depends on what exactly you use and what you want to change).


 * Or, if you only want to adapt your individual css, put

a.new { color:#eeee00 !important }
 * in your personal User:Foo/monobook.css (or adequate) to individually overwrite the site's css.
 * The colour code is just an example. -- :bdk: 03:53, 26 December 2008 (UTC)