This is the ambox or article message box meta template.
It is used to create article message box templates such as {{wikify}} etc. It offers several different colours, uses default images if no image parameter is given and it has some other features.
This meta template is just a thin wrapper for the ambox CSS classes in MediaWiki:Common.css. The classes can also be used directly in a wikitable, especially if special functionality is needed. See the how-to guide for that.
Usage
Simple usage example:
{{ambox | text = Some text.}}
Complex example:
{{ambox
| type = style
| image = [[Image:Icon apps query.svg|38px]]
| text = The message body text.
}}
Default images
The following examples use different type parameters but use no image parameters thus they use the default images for each type.
| type= content – Content issues, such as {{ POV}} and {{ globalize}}. |
Other images
The default images shown above are mostly for convenience. In many cases it is more appropriate to use more specific images. These examples use the image parameter to specify an image other than the default images.
| type = content image = [[Image:Unbalanced scales.svg|40px]] This image is often used for {{ POV}} and similar issues. |
Special
Some other parameter combinations.
Parameters
List of all parameters:
{{ambox
| type = serious / content / style / merge / growth / notice
| image = none / blank / [[Image:Some image.svg|40px]]
| imageright = [[Image:Some image.svg|40px]]
| text = The message body text.
}}
type
- If no type parameter is given the template defaults to type notice which is used for "article notices". That means it gets a blue side bar like in the simple usage example above.
image
- No parameter = If no image parameter is given the template uses a default image. Which default image it uses depends on the type parameter.
- An image = Should be an image with usual wiki notation. 40px - 50px width are usually about right depending on the image height to width ratio. For example:
[[Image:Unbalanced scales.svg|40px]]
- none = Means that no image is used.
- blank = Means that no image is used but an empty area the same size as a default image is used, which means that text in the message box gets aligned well with other article message boxes. (See the "special" examples above.)
imageright
- No parameter = If no imageright parameter is given then no image is shown on the right side.
- An image = Should be an image with usual wiki notation. 40px - 50px width are usually about right depending on the image height to width ratio. For example:
[[Image:Nuvola apps bookcase.png|40px]]
- Anything = Any other object that you want to show on the right side.
text
- The message body text.
Technical details
If you need to use special characters in the text parameter then you need to escape them like this:
{{ambox
| text = <div>
Equal sign = and a start and end brace { } work fine as they are.
But here is a pipe {{!}} and two end braces <nowiki>}}</nowiki>.
And now a pipe and end braces <nowiki>|}}</nowiki>.
</div>
}}
This template uses CSS classes for most of its looks, thus it is fully skinnable.
Internally this meta template uses HTML markup instead of wiki markup for the table code. That is the usual way we make meta templates since wiki markup has several drawbacks. For instance it makes it harder to use parser functions and special characters in parameters.
For more technical details see the talk page and the "See also" links below.
See also
