Help:Link Templates
Categories: External Link Templates | Link Templates | Templates | WikiTree Help
Link templates create a hyperlink to a web page on WikiTree or on an external website.
For example:
- {{G2G}} creates G2G.
- {{FindAGrave|1234}} creates Find A Grave: Memorial #1234.
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How to Use External Link Templates
Simply enter the code for a link template, e.g. {{G2G}}, on a WikiTree profile or page. When pre-viewed or viewed on a profile it will appear as a link, e.g. G2G.
See Help:Adding Links#Link Templates.
For more advanced information on templates and how they work, see Help:Templates.
Style Rules
The following policies were discussed and approved in 2018. To discuss or ask questions, use templates.
Link templates are intended as a way to automatically format links and centrally-manage them.
They are not intended to format sources or transclude content.
Purpose
The primary reason to use a template to create a link rather than using a conventional link is so that it can be easily kept up-to-date. For example, when Find A Grave recently changed their URL structure, tens of thousands of links that were using the {{FindAGrave}} template on WikiTree were updated with one edit to the template rather than thousands of separate edits to the profiles.
Other benefits may include:
- Making it easier for advanced members to create error-free links.
- Standardizing or improving the appearance of links.
- Making link data machine-readable. For example, links using the {{Wikidata}} template enable WikiTree+ to compare WikiTree and Wikidata profiles.
Recommended usage
Link templates may be used for:
- Contextual links inside a biography or Research Notes section.
- Bulleted list items in a "See also" section.
- Supplementary links inside an otherwise complete reference/footnote.
- Supplementary links inside an otherwise complete bulleted source item.
Here are examples:
- == Biography ==
- John was born in 1800 and died in 1900.<ref>
- Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/123/edward-braddock: accessed 06 September 2022), memorial page for Edward Braddock (Jan 1695–13 Jul 1755), {{FindAGrave|123}}, citing General Edward Braddock Gravesite, Farmington, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, USA; Maintained by Find a Grave .
- </ref>
- == Sources ==
- <references />
- See also:
- * {{FindAGrave|123}}
- * {{Wikidata|Q123}}
Not recommended as sources
Link templates are not intended to replace full source citations.
The short, simple link created by a link template never creates a complete source citation that meets the ideal requirements of the Chicago Manual of Style or "Evidence Explained". See Help:Sources.
Creation and Editing
Link templates should conform to the following rules.
The link templates that appear in Category:Link Templates may or may not conform. Those listed on Help:Adding Links have been reviewed and are officially recommended.
Link templates are managed by the WikiTree Team. If you would like to see a new one created and added to the list, post a request in G2G.
Anchor text and parameters
The basic form of a link template, with no parameters, should produce a link with anchor text that corresponds to the template name and the name of the website or page. For example, {{G2G}} creates G2G.
The first parameter, if any, should specify a sub-page and extend or transform the link anchor text, e.g. {{FindAGrave|123}} creates Find A Grave: Memorial #123.
Another parameter may be used to change the anchor text.
If the template has additional parameters, they should not produce visible text. Link templates are for formatting links, not for producing source citations or otherwise transcluding content. For example:
- The parameter "sameas" is acceptable for the Find A Grave template since it is used to communicate link-related machine-readable information but does not print anything on the page.
- A parameter for including when a Find A Grave memorial page was accessed by a member is not acceptable because it's intended to create a more complete source citation rather than just a link.
A single link template should never produce more than two links or any significant amount of unlinked text.
Images and special formatting
Link templates can include one tiny icon. It should display at a height that will not break the borders of a standard text line.
No other special formatting should be done unless it uses a standard class on WikiTree, e.g. {{Tag Link|style}} produces style.
Template names
If it's for an external website, the template name should correspond to the domain name of the website without the top-level domain (.com/.org etc.) without abbreviation, and with capitalization that is preferred by the site. For example, {{AncestryDNA}} or {{FindAGrave}}.
The template name may include "Link" if the basic name could be unclear, or if a template by the same name could have a different purpose. For example, we use {{Tag}} to format tags and {{Tag Link}} to format tags that include a link to the tag page on G2G.
As a general rule, templates and template parameters should have names that clearly communicate their purpose. Even people who are unfamiliar with templates should be able to infer information from template names. Remember, we want our content to be useful long after WikiTree itself is gone.
This page was last modified 15:26, 6 September 2022. This page has been accessed 8,469 times.