Template:Shortcut/doc

This is the documentation for {{shortcut}} and its sister templates. The shortcut family of templates is put into context here, but they each have their own documentation pages, see below.

A shortcut template is similar to the {{anchor}} template, but it adds a visual box graphic to the rendered page, as well as providing an alternative name. Creating a redirect page is a requirement to fulfill the shortcut mechanism.

Usage

The characteristics of the box graphic are determined by which of the family of shortcut templates are chosen. For example, the policy shortcut box has the word policy on it for use on policy pages. The graphic alignment of the box depends on the whether it's a shortcut or a shortcut-l:

• {{shortcut}} – right-aligned box
• {{Ombox/shortcut}} – shortcut that embeds into message boxes

This template should not be used for articles in the main namespace, because the graphic produces an unavoidable self-reference.

1. Insert the shortcut template.
2. Create a redirect page with the {{R from shortcut}} template suffixed to the redirect. Name the page after your shortcut name. Include the namespace name in both the shortcut name and the redirect page name. For example, substitute your own shortcut name as the title of the page, and substitute the proper namespace, then add the REDIRECT as the top-line on your redirect page, and the category to the third line of the redirect:

   #REDIRECT [[Namespace:Title of page with#Optional very long section name]]

{{R from shortcut}}

3. Verify operation. Note that shortcut templates should display in all capitals, but operate without all capitals.

Notes Shortcuts are used mainly on user pages and talk pages in reference to the Festipedia and Help namespaces. These templates inform about the shortcuts available to the page they are on. It is a self-reference that is normally avoided in the main article namespace.

The point of these templates is not to list every single redirect for a page (indeed, that's what Special:WhatLinksHere is for). Instead, they should list the most common and easily remembered redirects.

Parameters

{{shortcut}} takes the following parameters:

• 1, 2, 3... - the shortcut links.
• msg - an unlinked message that goes after the shortcut links.
• category - set to "no", "n", "false" or "0" to suppress error categories.

Examples

Code	Result
{{Shortcut|Template:Crossref}}
{{Shortcut|Template:Crossref|msg=A message}}

Anchors

These templates automatically add an anchor for each shortcut name parameter.

This makes it easier to create a shortcut for a section of a page, because you can refer to the anchor when creating the shortcut redirect itself. Like this:

#REDIRECT [[Pagename#Template:Crossref]] {{R from shortcut}}

Positioning

This template is usually placed below the section header or at the top of a page.

Before July 26, 2010, when the anchor was inside the box, this caused the section header to scroll above the page window. Fixes for this issue included:

• Placing the shortcut above the section header; a bit confusing when editing
• Creating the redirect to the section header, not the shortcut; this would break if the section header was renamed
• Placing an {{anchor}} in the section header that duplicated the shortcut

These fixes are no longer needed, but do not break the current implementation.

See also

• {{Anchor}} – a way to overcome the otherwise permanent fact that section titles are the only way to link to a section
• {{Ombox/shortcut}} – for embedding into message boxes
• {{R from shortcut}} – for placement on the redirect page