Usage

edit

Project banner

edit

The {{WikiProject United States History|class=|importance=}} project banner template should be added (not subst:ed) to the talk page of every article within the scope of the project. While the template does not require any additional parameters, it has a number of optional ones that add various extra features to the banner. The full syntax is as follows:

{{WikiProject United States History
|class=  
|importance=
|attention=
|needs-infobox= 
|listas=
|category=
}}

General parameters:

  • class – valid values are fa, a, ga, b, c, start, stub, fl, list, na (case-insensitive). See the project's quality scale for details. Setting an explicit value of NA is rarely necessary; for this, either leave |class= blank or omit the parameter.
  • importance – valid values are: top, high, mid, low, na (case-insensitive). See the project's importance scale for details. Setting an explicit value of NA is rarely necessary; for this, either leave |importance= blank or omit the parameter.
  • attention – set |attention=yes if the article needs immediate attention from experienced editors. Use only if another parameter does not cover the need for attention; this should be used sparingly. It is strongly encouraged to also add a section to the talk page explaining what needs attention.
  • needs-infobox – set |needs-infobox=yes if the article needs an infobox. Remember that infoboxes are not suitable for all articles, and can overwhelm short articles.
  • listas – This parameter, which is the equivalent of the DEFAULTSORT sortkey that should be placed on all biographical articles, is a sortkey for the article talk page (e.g. for Thurgood Marshall, use |listas=Marshall, Thurgood so that the talk page will show up in the M's and not the T's of the various assessment and administrative categories; similarly, for topics with titles beginning with an article such as "the" or "a" - e.g. for A Century of Dishonor, use |listas=Century of Dishonor, A so that the talk page will show up in the C's). This is important because it is one source used by those who set DEFAULTSORT on the article; consider also setting the DEFAULTSORT for the article when setting this parameter. For more information about this, please see Wikipedia:Categorization of people § Ordering names in a category.
    If the article is using {{WikiProject banner shell}} then it is preferable to add |listas= to that template instead of a project banner template. Putting the parameter on more than one template is not required.
  • category – set |category=no if, and only if, a banner is being used for demonstration or testing purposes, to prevent unnecessary or undesirable categorization. Otherwise, omit this parameter.

To avoid needlessly cluttering up talk pages, it is usually appropriate to remove any unused parameters from the template.