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The first Userboxes were designed to support the [[Wikipedia:Babel|Babel]] inter-language effort, which were designed to show skills in other languages.
The first Userboxes were designed to support the [[Wikipedia:Babel|Babel]] inter-language effort, which were designed to show skills in other languages.


'''Optional alternative:'''
An alternative to userboxes, for those who prefer to keep their user pages with a more simple layout, is found at [[wikipedia:WikiProject Keep It Simple|Keep It Simple]].
To use Userboxes is a personal option but not the only one. An alternative to Userboxes, for those who prefer to keep their user pages with a more simple layout, is found at [[wikipedia:WikiProject Keep It Simple|Keep It Simple]].


==Using existing userboxes==
==Using existing userboxes==

Revision as of 18:50, 11 January 2008

[[Category:Wikipedia wp:box wp:ubx wp:ubox wp:userbs|Userboxes]]

This page gives information about the design, construction, and usage of userboxes, which are intended to be used only on userpages. Wikipedia is first and foremost an online encyclopedia, and its online community is a means to that end. Userboxes are tools which are intended for communication purposes, such as helping Wikipedians collaborate more effectively on articles.
This page is about the Wikipedia policy on userboxes. For the WikiProject collaboration, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Userboxes.
WP:BOX redirects here. You may be looking for Wikipedia:Sandbox. For Navigation or "Click boxes", see Wikipedia:Navigational templates.
A userbox is a small box that looks like this. Below are more examples.
Userboxes can come in many different styles and colors.
Userboxes can have one or two sideboxes.File:Crystal ark.png

Userboxes (commonly abbreviated as UBX) are small colored boxes designed to appear on Wikipedians' user pages. They generally include one or two small graphics and a few short lines of text. Often they also include wiki markup that places the user in a category. Userboxes are generally created as templates and transcluded onto userpages, although their markup may be substituted directly onto userpages instead. Userboxes should not be used in articles.

The first Userboxes were designed to support the Babel inter-language effort, which were designed to show skills in other languages.

Optional alternative: To use Userboxes is a personal option but not the only one. An alternative to Userboxes, for those who prefer to keep their user pages with a more simple layout, is found at Keep It Simple.

Using existing userboxes

Userboxes are for the use of users on their own user pages. It may be considered uncivil to place any userboxes on any other user's page(s) without their permission. However, userboxes may be placed on talk/discussion pages by anyone. (See Wikipedia:Talk page.)

Syntax

The standard syntax for adding a userbox to your user page (also known as transclusion) is: {{user name_of_box}}.

Optional substitution

You may decide to substitute the template code onto your user page using the syntax {{subst:user name_of_box}}. The use of "subst:" will ensure that the template is always displayed in its form when you add it to your user page, i.e. it will not reflect subsequent edits to the template. This method will lead to large amounts of code on your user page. After substituting, it is important to remove any <noinclude> tags as well as what's inside of them, and to remove <includeonly> tags keeping what is inside of them.

Creating a new userbox

For help with these instructions, ask a question at Wikipedia:Requested templates.

If you wish to offer an idea for a userbox, do so on the ideas page.

If you have designed a userbox that you would like to make available to others, you may wish to first display it on the New Userboxes talk page for community comment.

Which namespace?

Should your userbox be prefixed with Template:, User:, or Wikipedia:?

Userboxes may only be created or displayed in the Template, User, or Project Namespaces. Userboxes in the Template and Project namespaces are expected to adhere more tightly with policies and guidelines, such as neutral point of view and what Wikipedia is. Traditionally, content in User: space is given more leeway than in other namespaces, so userboxes in User: space might not be as encyclopedic in nature as those in Template: or Wikipedia: namespaces.

Template:
In the template namespace, userbox names must begin with "User " (e.g. Template:User Brazil)
User:
In the user namespace, you may create a subpage of your own user page or User:UBX.
Wikipedia:
Userboxes in the project namespace are generally for WikiProject or task force membership. Create it as a subpage to the WikiProject.

Note: due to a recent change in software, Template:WP:UBS is not working correctly. This issue will be resolved soon.

Note: due to a recent change in software, Template:WP:UBS is not working correctly. This issue will be resolved soon.

The following is a topical guide to galleries of userbox templates. You can use the search box at the right to search for available userboxes on a specific topic.

For an alphabetical list of all userbox galleries, please see Wikipedia:Userboxes/Galleries/alphabetical.

For information about using and creating userboxes, please see Wikipedia:Userboxes.


See also