Template:Reflist/doc
This is a documentation subpage for Template:Reflist (see that page for the template itself). It contains usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page. |
This citation template provides formatting and organizational features for footnotes. It encapsulates the <references />
tag used by the cite.php MediaWiki extension to show the list of references as defined by <ref>
tags. It adds support for sizing the column width, groups and List-defined references.
Parameters[edit]
There are no required parameters; if none are supplied, a single-column list will be generated if there are fewer than 10 references in the list. If you have more than 10 references, it will use columns of 30em wide if your device allows this.
Optional parameters are:
- Unnamed parameter (must be the first one if used): the minimum width for each column of references, typically in ems. Syntax (for example)
|30em
with no space (i.e. not|30 em
). Note that this replaces colwidth—see § Obsolete parameters. - refs: used with List-defined references.
- group: identifies by name the subset of references to be rendered; the value should correspond to that used inline, e.g., {{Reflist|group=groupname}} renders all references with groupname as the group name (
<ref group=groupname>
). There are five pre-defined group names that style the list differently. See § Grouped references below. - liststyle: specifies the style used when the reference list is rendered. The default is a numbered list. When set, it will override the style set by the
|group=
parameter, without affecting group functionality. See § List styles below.
Usage[edit]
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Lorem ipsum.<ref>Source name, access date, etc.</ref> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.<ref>Source name, access date, etc.</ref> ==References== {{Reflist}} |
Lorem ipsum.[1]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.[2] |
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Lorem ipsum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. ==References== {{Refbegin}} * reference 1 * reference 2 {{Refend}} |
Lorem ipsum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
|
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Lorem ipsum.<ref>Source name, access date, etc.</ref> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.<ref>Source name, access date, etc.</ref> ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Refbegin}} * reference 1 * reference 2 {{Refend}} |
Lorem ipsum.[1]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.[2]
|
Columns[edit]
{{Reflist|30em}} (for example) instructs the browser to create as many columns as possible (of width at least 30 em, in this example) given the width of the display window. (Units supported are em, ex, in, cm, mm, pt, pc, px, but em is almost always used.) There must not be a space between the number and the unit. Percent is not supported.
Choose a width appropriate to the typical width of the references:
- Automatic columns (default when no width is specified): Where there are only a few footnotes
- 30em: Where there are many footnotes plus a page-width Bibliography subsection
- 20em: Where shortened footnotes are used
Example[edit]
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Lorem ipsum.<ref>Source name, access date, etc.</ref> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.<ref>Source name, access date, etc.</ref> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.<ref>Source name, access date, etc.</ref> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.<ref>Source name, access date, etc.</ref> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.<ref>Source name, access date, etc.</ref> ==References== {{Reflist|15em}} |
Lorem ipsum.[1]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.[2] Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.[3] Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.[4] Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.[5] |
- Note 1: The syntax {{Reflist|2}} (for example), which specifies two columns of equal width regardless of the available display width, is deprecated (and is disabled for mobile view). When you use 1 the template gives you a single column while 2 will pretend you specified 30em. When using higher column counts, it will pretend you specified 25em.
- Note 2: Browser support: Internet Explorer 10+, Microsoft Edge, Firefox 2+, Chrome 4+, Safari 3.1+, Opera 11.1+
List-defined references[edit]
A list of references may be defined within {{Reflist}} using the |refs=
parameter, just like including named <ref name="...">...</ref>
elements inside the <references>...</references>
container.
Example[edit]
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
This is reference 1.<ref name="refname1" /> This is reference 2.<ref name="refname2" /> ==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name="refname1">content1</ref> <ref name="refname2">content2</ref> }} |
This is reference 1.[decimal 1]
This is reference 2.[decimal 2] |
Grouped references[edit]
References can be grouped into separate sections (for explanatory notes, table references, and the like) via group=
:
<ref group=groupname>
where groupname is (for example) notes
or sources
. The group name need not be enclosed in quotes; this differs from the footnote marker where quotes are required if the group name includes a space.
Each group used in the article must have a matching reference list:
- {{Reflist|group=groupname}}
Predefined groups[edit]
There are predefined group names that automatically set the labels in the footnote markers and the reference list to other styles. Thus, setting {{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
will set the group to lower-alpha
and will style the reference list with lower alpha characters. The matching footnote marker can be formed by <ref group=lower-alpha>...</ref>
. This is made easier by a series of templates to set the group/label styles for the footnote marker and the reference list:
List styles[edit]
As noted in § Predefined groups, there are predefined groups that automatically add list styling. Using the listed templates is more convenient than using |liststyle=
.
Reference lists are by default numbered lists. By using the |liststyle=
parameter, you can control how the list is rendered. For example, using |liststyle=upper-roman
will result in references being labeled with Roman numerals instead of decimal numbers. The parameter accepts any valid CSS value defined for list-style-type
.
It is possible to use |liststyle=
so that the labels for the footnote marker and the reference list marker differ. This should be used with care as it can be confusing to readers. For example:
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
<ref group=note>Reference</ref> {{Reflist|group=note|liststyle=lower-alpha}} |
[note 1]
|
Interaction with images[edit]
In the unusual case of an image being placed to the left of a reference list, layout problems may occur on some browsers. This can be prevented by using the columns feature.
Technical details[edit]
Font size[edit]
The font size should reduce to 90% for most browsers, but may appear to show at 100% for Internet Explorer and possibly other browsers.[general 1] As of December 21, 2010, the standard <references />
tag has the same font styling. The smaller font may be disabled through Preferences → Gadgets → Disable smaller font sizes of elements such as Infoboxes, Navboxes and References lists.
Browser support for columns[edit]
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 with {{Reflist}}.[general 2][general 3]
These browsers support CSS3 columns:
- Gecko-based browsers such as Mozilla Firefox
- WebKit-based browsers such as Safari and Google Chrome
- Opera from version 11.10 onward
- Internet Explorer from version 10 onward
These browsers do not support CSS3 columns:
- Microsoft Trident-based browsers including Internet Explorer up to version 9[general 4]
- Opera through to version 11
Widows and orphans[edit]
The use of columns can result in widows and orphans, where a citation at the bottom of a column may be split to the top of the next column. MediaWiki:Common.css includes CSS rules to prevent list items from breaking between columns. Widows may still show in extreme circumstances, such as a reference list formatted in columns where only a single reference is defined.
Markup | Renders as |
---|---|
Lorem ipsum.<ref>Source name, access date, etc.</ref> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. ==References== {{Reflist|10em}} |
Lorem ipsum.[1]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
|
Supporting CSS[edit]
{{Reflist}} uses a CSS rule in MediaWiki:Common.css to set the font size:
div.reflist { font-size: 90%; }
The following class is assigned by the template when column width is set:
.references-column-width
The following CSS properties are utilized using the {{column-width}} templates:
column-width
CSS3 standard-moz-column-width
Mozilla CSS extension-webkit-column-width
Webkit CSS extension
Customizing the view[edit]
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.
Font size
The font size for all reference lists defaults to 90% of the standard size. To change it, add:
ol.references,
div.reflist,
div.refbegin {
font-size: 90%;
}
Change 90% to the desired size.
Columns
To disable columns, add:
.references-column-width {
-moz-column-width: auto !important;
-webkit-column-width: auto !important;
column-width: auto !important;
}
Column dividers
To add dividers (rules) between columns, add:
.references-column-width {
-moz-column-rule: 1px solid #aaa;
-webkit-column-rule: 1px solid #aaa;
column-rule: 1px solid #aaa;
}
You can alter the appearance of the dividers by changing the values.
Obsolete parameters[edit]
These parameters are no longer in use:
- colwidth: Same as specifying a column-width for the first unnamed parameter. Replaced by width as unnamed first parameter.
- close: Until 2014, the parameter
|close=1
was used to work around a bug involving multiple uses of {{Reflist}} on the same page. When the bug was fixed, this was removed.
Articles using unsupported parameters are tracked in Category:Pages using reflist with unknown parameters (0).
Template data[edit]
Reflist
This template displays the list of footnotes at the end of an article and provides additional formatting and organizing options. After hitting "Apply changes" and turning back to VE read mode, you will not see the references list. After hitting "Publish page" and turning back to normal read mode the reference list will reappear with the changes applied, see T53146.
Parameter | Description | Type | Status | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Columns / Column width | 1 colwidth | Two modes supported. First mode (deprecated): integer number of fixed columns into which the reference list is to be rendered. Second mode: typographic unit of measurement such as 'em', specifying the width for the reference list columns, e.g. '33em'; spaced '33 em' will not be recognized
| String | optional |
Liststyle | liststyle | Specifies the style used when the reference list is enumerated; accepts any valid CSS value defined for list-style-type
| String | optional |
Group | group | Group is an identifier which restricts the references that are shown. Without this parameter, this template only shows references with no group identifier. With a group identifier specified, only references with a matching group identifier are handled. The rest are left alone. | String | optional |
List of references | refs | Provides a space to define named references for use in the article. References defined in this space are not shown unless used somewhere in the article. | String | optional |
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ See Wikipedia:User:Edokter/fonttest for a comparison of font sizes for various browsers.
- ^ "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 March 16, 2011.