Streamlined Infoboxes
Why Streamline Infoboxes[edit]
w:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2013-07-10/Dispatches
Goals[edit]
- Keep the box simple, and limit it to essentials.
- Must be glanceable.[1]
- Information must be consistently organized, so a user knows where to find information.
Core Template Types and Data[edit]
Top 7 Template Types:
- w:Template:Infobox settlement
- w:Template:Infobox person
- w:Template:Infobox album
- w:Template:Infobox football biography
- w:Template:Infobox film
- w:Template:Infobox musical artist
- w:Template:Infobox officeholder
Places, people, and media, seem to be the most-used types of infobox in the largest Wikipedias. Species taxoboxes (w:Template:Taxobox) are also in the top 3.
Open Questions[edit]
- Do infoboxes need a main title? In most cases repeating the title name is redundant, can we use this to present alternate names or meta information?
Principles[edit]
- All templates carry a minimum of 1 section with label-value pairs
- 2 column layout for label-value pairs
- The infobox does not reserve the entire right rail
Mockups[edit]
-
Settlement infobox -
Person Infobox -
design patterns applied -
Notes[edit]
- â w:Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Infoboxes#Design principles: "The less information it contains, the more effectively it serves that purpose, allowing readers to identify key facts at a glance."