Template:Reflist/doc
This is a documentation subpage for Template:Reflist It contains usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page. |
This template encapsulates the <references />
tag to show the list of references defined by <ref>...</ref>
tags, with some formatting. It reduces the font size and has options for columns and groups. References can be defined within the body of the article or within the reference list.
The <ref>...</ref>
and <references />
tags are part of the Cite.php MediaWiki extension.
{{Reflist}} may be used with {{refbegin}} and {{refend}} to format different styles of references.
Usage
- Using only footnote-style references
== Content == Lorem ipsum.<ref>Source name, access date, etc.</ref> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.<ref>Source name, access date, etc.</ref> == References == {{reflist}}
- Using only bibliographical style references
== Content == Lorem ipsum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. == References == {{refbegin}} * reference 1 * reference 2 {{refend}}
- Using both footnote-style and bibliography-style references
== Content == Lorem ipsum.<ref>Source name, access date, etc.</ref> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.<ref>Source name, access date, etc.</ref> Lorem ipsum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. == References == {{reflist}} {{refbegin}} * reference 1 * reference 2 {{refend}}
Font size
The font size should reduce to 90% for most browsers, but may appear to show at 100% for Internet Explorer and possibly other browsers.[1] Note that there is no consensus that a small font size should always be used for references; when normal-sized font is more appropriate on an article, use <references />
instead.
Columns
Columns are currently supported only by Gecko-based browsers (such as Mozilla Firefox). See below for more information.
Using {{reflist|2}}
will create a two-column reference list, and {{reflist|3}}
will create a three-column list. Three-column lists are inaccessible to users with smaller/laptop monitors and should be avoided.
Using {{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
will allow the browser to automatically choose the number of columns based on the width of the web browser. Choose a column width that is appropriate for the average width of the references on the page.
Multiple uses
If {{reflist}} is used multiple times without a parameter, each instance will include all of the previously defined references. To force the parser to close previous references, each use of {{reflist}} must be forced as a new instance by the use of any parameter. Even a undefined parameter such as {{reflist|close=1}}
will force the references to close.
Grouped references
As of June 2008, the footnotes system supports the separation of references into groups. This allows groups for explanatory notes, table references and the like. See Wikipedia:Footnotes#Separating reference lists and explanatory notes.
The general format for the reference tag would be:
<ref group="groupname">
And for the reflist:
{{reflist|group="groupname"}}
- Where groupname would be a group identifier such as "note", "nb" or "label".
List-defined references
- See more at WP:LDR
As of September 2009, references may be defined within {{reflist}} using |refs=
and invoked within the content. There are new error messages associated with this update, documented at Help:Cite errors. As usual, groups can be used.
Defined references must be used within the body; unused references will show an error message. In text with hundreds of references it's an good idea to name and sort the references in a orderly way. One way is to follow the Havard style, like name = "Author_Date_Publisher" on the form "AuthorLastName_YYYY-MM-DD_Publisher" and sort the references on this key.
Example
This is reference 1.<ref name="refname1" group="groupname"/> This is reference 2.<ref name="refname2" group="groupname"/> This is reference 3.<ref name="refname3" group="groupname"/> {{reflist|group="groupname"|refs= <ref name="refname1" group="groupname">content1</ref> <ref name="refname2" group="groupname">content2</ref> <ref name="refname3" group="groupname">content3</ref> }}
Result
This is reference 1.[groupname 1] This is reference 2.[groupname 2] This is reference 3.[groupname 3]
Technical details
Browser support for columns
Multiple columns are generated by using CSS3, which is still in development; thus only browsers that properly support the multi-column property will show multiple columns.[2][3]
- Mozilla Firefox and other Gecko-based browsers support multiple columns with two caveats:
- may create widows
- may mangle long URLs in the printable version; see Image:Wikipediareflistoverlap.gif for an example
- Internet Explorer through version 8 does not support the column property[4]
- Safari through 4.03, Google Chrome and probably other WebKit based browsers have a bug that breaks links in multiple columns; the column feature has been removed for these browsers until the bug is resolved; see Template:reflist/Safari testcase for details.
- Opera does not support multiple columns.
Supporting CSS
{{Reflist}} uses a CSS rule in MediaWiki:Common.css to set the font size:
.references-small { font-size: 90%;}
These classes are used directly in the template for the columns:
.references-column-count
.references-column-width
These properties are used in the template:
column-count
CSS3 standardcolumn-width:auto
CSS3 standard-moz-column-count
Mozilla CSS extension-moz-column-width
Mozilla CSS extension-webkit-column-count
Webkit CSS extension (disabled)-webkit-column-width
Webkit CSS extension (disabled)
Customizing the view
By editing your CSS, the personal appearance of the reference list can be customized. From Preferences, select the Appearance tab, then on the selected skin select Custom CSS. After editing and saving, follow the instructions at the top of the page to purge. See Wikipedia:Skin#Customisation (advanced users) for more help.
- Font size
The font size defaults to 90% of the standard size. To change it, add:
.references-small { font-size: 90%;}
Change 90% to the desired size.
- Columns
To disable columns, add:
.references-column-count, .references-column-width {
column-count:1 !important;
column-width:auto !important;
-moz-column-count:1 !important;
-moz-column-width:auto !important;
-webkit-column-count:1 !important;
-webkit-column-width:auto !important;
}
Similarly, to force all reference lists to a number of columns, change the number.
Collapsing and scrolling
There have been a number of requests to add functionality for a collapsible or scrolling reference list. These requests have not been fulfilled to due to issues with readability, accessibility, and printing. The applicable guidelines are at MOS:SCROLL.
The links between the inline cite and the reference list do not work when the reference list is enclosed in a collapsed box.
See also
- Wikipedia:Citing sources— style guide for the citation of sources
- Wikipedia:Footnotes— style guide for footnotes and inline citations
- Wikipedia:Citation templates— templates for use with references
- {{Template reference list}}— version of reflist for use in templates
- {{refbegin}} and {{refend}}— format reference lists
- {{reflist-talk}}— for use on talk pages
References
- ↑ See User:Edokter/fonttest for a comparison of font sizes for various browsers; see previous discussions on changing the font size to resolve the IE issue.
- ↑ "CSS3 Multi-Column Thriller". December 30, 2005. Retrieved November 24, 2006.
- ↑ "CSS3 module: Multi-column layout". W3C. December 15, 2005. Retrieved November 24, 2006.
- ↑ "CSS Compatibility and Internet Explorer: Multi-column Layout". Microsoft Developer Network. Microsoft. Retrieved September 15, 2008.