Template talk:Baroque music

Unhelpful

This template with more than 300 entries is exceptionally unhelpful as a navigation template. I'm going to remove it from every composer's page. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 01:12, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

Can you please explain, why is the template unhelpful and how to make it beter? Thanks,--Ioannes Pragensis (talk) 06:52, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

It's just too big; see WP:NAV, WP:NAVBOX, and of course WP:NENAN. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 07:37, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

Thank you for the links. But where is there the limit of size, please? Or why is the template unhelpful?--Ioannes Pragensis (talk) 19:18, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

The guidelines mention of course no hard limit, but they repeatedly state that a navigation template should not overwhelm the reader, e.g. "The goal is not to cram as many related articles as possible into one space. Ask yourself, does this help the reader in reading up on related topics? Take any two articles in the template. Would a reader really want to go from A to B?" It is my opinion that more than 300 entries in a navigation box are too many. Further, there are many items in this box which are are not related at all and thus fail the test from the quoted sentence. For a wider discussion, I encourage you to mention this box at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Classical music. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 10:14, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

OK, I reduced it considerably. Has it reasonable size now?--Ioannes Pragensis (talk) 15:56, 22 June 2013 (UTC)

I don't see the need for such a navigation box at all. As far as I can see, no other music period has it. In detail: The list of composers is better presented at List of Baroque composers. The instruments and genres are used in other periods, too, so why list them here? "Other topics" is, as the name suggests, a laundry list with some odd entries. Even worse is "Background"; History of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown (1648–1867)? Early modern period? History of colonialism? ... -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 13:11, 25 June 2013 (UTC)