Template talk:Navsidebar

Could

Could we change the part inside the includeonly tags to <includeonly>{{#if: {{{category}}} | [[Category:{{{category}}}]] }}</includeonly> (assuming I did that right)? That way, if the category field is left blank, the template simply won't try to include a category. Thunderkatz^Ho! 22:04, 30 January 2011 (UTC)

I suppose so. ^postate 02:07, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

Change request

Would it be all right to add a new parameter to customize the background color around the icon? ListenerX^TalkerX 04:36, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Separately to the rest of the background? If you just add the additional section template rather than having content in the first, you can change the colour of it manually. like so ADK^{...I'll pull your jellybean!} 00:32, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

DPL

I'm working on a dpl replacement extension that won't be backwards compatible. It would be nice if instead of explicitly using the dpl tag in navsidebar templates, there would be a template that abstracts it away so I only have to change stuff once. -- Nx / talk 18:31, 21 September 2011 (UTC)

Okay. Though I'm not sure what we can really do with it until you have a replacement working. You mean like setting up something that reads {{dpl|category=""|randcount=""}} or something different? ADK^{...I'll oscillate your alpaca sandwich!} 18:46, 21 September 2011 (UTC)

More like {{randomarticles|category|count|...}}. Because I'm not going to reimplement the full functionality in dpl (the point is to create a lightweight replacement with only the stuff we need), I need to go through each and every invocation of dpl on the wiki and replace it either with the new extension or with a different way of achieving the same thing (or just throw it out if it's not worth it). As a start I'm implementing the functionality required for navsidebars - once that's ready we can install the extension and replace the dpl in those and cut down the list. Then after that comes {{Archivelinks dpl}}. That should be most of the stuff that uses dpl. Oh and the forum, though I might rewrite that as a specialized extension instead. -- Nx / talk 19:01, 21 September 2011 (UTC)

Okay, I see. Is there enough bloat on dpl to justify the time, though? But more importantly, there could be potential cases in the future where we might need such things. So the lightweight version may not be suitable for some future needs. ADK^{...I'll incarcerate your drain cleaner!} 22:05, 21 September 2011 (UTC)

Then we'll have to live without them. For example DPL has its own transclusion system. We used that for the cover story system before we replaced it with the cover abstracts. That's unnecessary bloat and if we really really need it, it can be reimplemented in a separate extension. There's also the fact that DPL screws with the parser - it creates a clone of the parser, but that's something you shouldn't do on MediaWiki because the parser state gets cleared, and that's why DPL doesn't work with the cite extension, all the refs above dpl will not appear in the references. -- Nx / talk 04:25, 22 September 2011 (UTC)

Of course, I forgot about that little problem... ADK^{...I'll negate your banana!} 07:01, 22 September 2011 (UTC)

Someone please do this soon-ish. -- Nx / talk 12:57, 1 October 2011 (UTC)

Okay, will add {{randomarticles}}. You will still end up correcting this, you know! ADK^{...I'll mollify your ostrich egg!} 13:21, 1 October 2011 (UTC)

Template parameters don't seem to feed into dpl properly. Actually, I'm sure I tried this some time ago and realised this. Not sure what is going wrong. ADK^{...I'll untie your octohedron!} 13:32, 1 October 2011 (UTC)

I'd like to butt in and say that I and many others appreciate your services and expertise here at RationalWiki, and yes, you do have to do everything. We sure can't--User:Brxbrx/sig 13:35, 1 October 2011 (UTC)

Okay, I've passed the Idiot Ball on to someone else and am using #dpl rather than the other one. If this is what you mean I'll finish converting them. ADK^{...I'll incarcerate your dishwasher!} 14:00, 1 October 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, you have to use the parserfunction if you want the template parameters (and templates and parserfunctions and everything else) evaluated before the dpl gets called. Thanks Armondikov. -- Nx / talk 14:24, 1 October 2011 (UTC)

Cool. I will press on and try to get some more switched over. ADK^{...I'll ruminate your autobiography!} 14:33, 1 October 2011 (UTC)

Looks like Pi is offering to have a bot do it, will save the hassle. ADK^{...I'll explode your pillow!} 14:48, 1 October 2011 (UTC)

Articles listed twice

Brxbrx pointed this out on {{Pseudosciencenav}}, but it probably affects most if not every navsidebar template. Usually there's a fixed list of the most important articles and then there's a random list. But the articles in the fixed list sometimes show up in the random list as well. Any ideas how to take them out? We could do a nottitlematch with all the fixed articles, but that's a bit cumbersome. Or the fixed articles could be in a special hidden cat, and then we could use a notcategory in the random part, but that requires more maintenance. -- Nx / talk 20:06, 1 October 2011 (UTC)

Well, the other alternative is to redo the category structure from scratch so that there's a difference between the fixed list which would be "key concepts" and the random list that would be "other concepts" - each category effectively being hidden and used only by the template rather than portal navigation. This could be done if the "other concepts" category was transcluded with the navbar, and then we either add an override parameter i.e., {{sciencenav|key}} that switches the category for the 4-5 articles that require it. ADK^{...I'll deconstruct your gyroscope!} 20:12, 1 October 2011 (UTC)

I know Blue and Godot are doing something with the broader categories, though. ADK^{...I'll prove your nob!} 20:12, 1 October 2011 (UTC)

Screams in horror

at the utter inaccessibility of the template. It is super annoying with a screenreader. I'm just going to add a skip this link to the template. ClickerClock (talk) 10:41, 7 July 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for trying to fix it. FᴜᴢᴢʏCᴀᴛPᴏᴛᴀᴛᴏ, Esϙᴜɪʀᴇ (talk/stalk) 11:23, 7 July 2017 (UTC)

I got a better idea. Lists and headings. ClickerClock (talk) 12:09, 8 July 2017 (UTC)