User blog:Thisismyrofl/Infoboxes old and new

Hey! This is Thisismyrofl, an admin here on Community Central. I wanted to see if I could explain the difference between the two default styles of Template:Infobox, that is, the old style and the new style (new as in September 2012).

I'm referring here to the default styles, that is, those that were on the Starter Pages Wiki's Template:Infobox page. Since every newly created wiki, at the time of its creation, is given a copy of every page and template on Starter Pages Wiki, that means that there are thousands of wikis that came with the old style, and thousands founded after September 2012 that came with the new style. The differences between the two styles are a common source of confusion.

Of course, any wiki is free to customize their infoboxes to a large extent. Community Central is an example: our Template:Infobox is far removed from either the old or new format. I can only discuss the default infoboxes, not these customized versions.

Copies of these old and new versions can be found at:
 * Template:Infobox (old)
 * Template:Infobox (new)

So what's the difference?
Above, you can see the two infobox styles. Obviously they've got different appearances, but the primary difference between the systems is that the old infobox allows you to define both the row title (above: "Foo", "Baz", "Hoo") and row information ("Bar", "Lol", "Hum") for each row on a page-by-page basis. The new infobox only allows you to define the row information on a page-by-page basis, and uses a default set of row names: "First", "Second", "Third".

This becomes clear when we look at the default syntax (visible on the templates' Documentation pages). This is what you copy to a page and fill out in order to use the infobox on that page.

Check out Template:Infobox on your wiki and compare its syntax format to the above to see if you use the old infobox or the new infobox!

But why do I want the new format?
A lot of people are initially turned off by the first style. "'First', 'Second', 'Third'? Those aren't useful! I want to have useful row names," they'll say.

Your concerns are valid. But please realize something about Template:Infobox: it is unwise to directly use it. You see, Template:Infobox is meant to be a meta template : a template which is used to make other templates, and not really for direct use in articles.

The intention with the new system is that instead of having every-single-blasted-page on a wiki repeatedly define row names which will tend to often be the same, the user can use more specific templates such as "Template:Infobox character", "Template:Infobox location", and so on, with predefined, sensible row titles for each. Then all one has to do is select the appropriate infobox template for a page (character, location, etc) and the row names will be already filled out for you.

In fact, if you look at Starter Pages Wiki's Category:Infobox templates, there's actually several infoboxes pre-made for you. If you check out the following templates, as well as Category:Infobox templates on your wiki, they're likely to be there, too!
 * Infobox
 * Infobox album
 * Infobox book
 * Infobox character
 * Infobox episode
 * Infobox event
 * Infobox item
 * Infobox location
 * Infobox quest

Of these, only the first is a meta template. That means that the others are perfectly suited for use directly on wikis' pages. They have intuitive and useful row titles defined. If you have pages about characters on your wiki, feel free to use "Template:Infobox character" (which can be seen on the right). And use the equivalent for episodes, events, et cetera.

Of course, not all wikis have the same needs. The above set of eight non-meta infoboxes may not be enough for your wiki, and the default parameters for each may not be enough (or may not apply). In these cases, feel free to edit the infoboxes to your needs.

Switching infobox styles
If your wiki uses the old style Template:Infobox or an unfamiliar infobox, it's easy to switch to the new. Or, if you are uncomfortable with the new style, it's easy to switch to the old.

Please note that if your wiki already makes excessive use of any Template:Infobox, any changes to that template are liable to break pages. Use Special:Whatlinkshere on your wiki to find out if it's used anywhere!

You have the freedom to edit the templates of your wiki however you want. But before you revert to the old style of infobox, please give the new style a chance! See "But why do I want the new format?" for reasons why. ... = Do you want to switch to the NEW style or to the OLD style? Click above. Switch to NEW= Here's how to switch to the new infobox style from the old style, or from an unfamiliar style.

Switching to the new infobox style

 * 1) Go to the page Template:Infobox on your wiki and hit "Edit".
 * 2) Optional - As an edit summary, paste the following:

This custom edit summary is optional but a good idea.
 * 1) In another tab, go to the code for Template:Infobox on Starter Pages Wiki and copy the source code to the field for "Template:Infobox" on your wiki.
 * 2) Save the page - I advise you don't edit the code any before you save it, so you have something clean to revert to if necessary.

Switching documentation
The above steps should update the template, however the template documentation will still pertain to the old template. Your template will still function, but anyone trying to learn how to use it will be very confused! Let's update the documentation too.
 * 1) Go to the page Template:Infobox/doc on your wiki and hit "Edit".
 * 2) Optional - As an edit summary, paste the following:

This custom edit summary is optional but a good idea. Switch to OLD= Here's how to switch to the old infobox style from the new style, or from an unfamiliar style.
 * 1) In another tab, go to the documentation for Template:Infobox on Starter Pages Wiki and copy the source code to the field for "Template:Infobox/doc" on your wiki.
 * 2) Save the page - I advise you don't edit the code any before you save it, so you have something clean to revert to if necessary.

Switching to the old infobox style

 * 1) Go to the page Template:Infobox on your wiki and hit "Edit".
 * 2) Optional - As an edit summary, paste the following:

This custom edit summary is optional but a good idea.
 * 1) In another tab, go to the old code for Starter Pages' infobox and copy the source code to the field for "Template:Infobox" on your wiki.
 * 2) Save the page - I advise you don't edit the code any before you save it, so you have something clean to revert to if necessary.

Switching documentation
The above steps should update the template, however the template documentation will still pertain to the old template. Your template will still function, but anyone trying to learn how to use it will be very confused! Let's update the documentation too.
 * 1) Go to the page Template:Infobox/doc on your wiki and hit "Edit".
 * 2) Optional - As an edit summary, paste the following:

This custom edit summary is optional but a good idea.
 * 1) In another tab, go to the old documentation for Template:Infobox on Starter Pages Wiki and copy the source code to the field for "Template:Infobox/doc" on your wiki.
 * 2) Save the page - I advise you don't edit the code any before you save it, so you have something clean to revert to if necessary.

Creating a new infobox
Ooh, creating a new infobox can be a bit tricky - but I've done my best to explain how to create a new-style infobox. You can see my instructions at my other blogs:
 * User blog:Thisismyrofl/Creating a new-style infobox
 * User blog:Thisismyrofl/Customizing a new-style infobox

Or see Rappy's User blog:Rappy 4187/Guide to Infoboxes.