Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2025 February 26

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February 26

Choosing a citation template

If I wanted to get an article up to GA or FA, and I was trying to clean up the refences section when should I be using template:cite news as opposed to template:cite web? If all the sources are available online what counts as "news" and what doesn't count? TipsyElephant (talk) 00:56, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

Use "cite news" , with the parameter "newspaper=" when the publisher is a newspaper and the article is part of its reporting or opinion pieces with editorial control. Its the oversight by a news organization that matters. Newspapers now publish both online and in print. If the source is a blog or other such thing on their website, use cite web. StarryGrandma (talk) 02:43, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

@StarryGrandma: I am specifically working on Forest 404 and it sounds like I should convert the majority of the citation templates from cite web to cite news. For instance, the very first reference from the Irish Independent should use the cite news template? An example of something that might stay using cite web might be the Mississippi Valley Conservancy because it's technically not a news organization? To clarify, you're recommending the parameter "newspaper=" as opposed to "work=". I see "work=" much more often, when is that supposed to be used? TipsyElephant (talk) 11:26, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

@TipsyElephant: I would say be consistent in which templates you use, but opinions differ and there will be borderline cases. For example, see the discussion at Help talk:Citation Style 1/Archive 98#Web-based "magazine" sources. Work in cite news is probably fine. It is used in {{cite news}} and in the citation templates dropdown list in the Wikipedia source editor. TSventon (talk) 14:28, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

"work" is a generic parameter for the source in the citation templates. Its aliases are "journal", "newspaper", "magazine", "periodical", "website". Any of these will be italicized in the reference, and the title will be in quotes. (It is not used in "cite book" since book titles are italicized, not put in quotes.) I always use one of the aliases because I am citing particular types of sources. But "work" works just fine since the results are the same. StarryGrandma (talk) 14:43, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

@StarryGrandma:, I would have left the question to you, but I thought you were probably offline. TSventon (talk) 14:53, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

While it is true that |journal=, |magazine=, |newspaper=, |periodical=, |website=, and |work= are all aliases, it should be remembered that {{citation}} uses these parameters to determine how the citation will render |issue= and |volume= parameters:

{{citation |title=Title |work=Work |volume=1 |issue=2}}

"Title", Work, vol. 1, no. 2

{{citation |title=Title |journal=Work |volume=1 |issue=2}}

"Title", Work, 1 (2)

Best to get in the habit of using the work alias that best describes the source so that follow-on editors know what it is that you are citing.

—Trappist the monk (talk) 15:27, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

Regarding External Links in Krabbe disease

In the second paragraph of the 'Society and Culture' section there is an external link to the official website of Hunter's Hope, a foundation founded by Jim Kelly to raise awareness about Krabbe. I assume clause 19 of WP:ELNO applies here but I just wish for confirmation. All Tomorrows No Yesterdays (Ughhh.... What did I do wrong this time?) 07:50, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

I've deleted it, All Tomorrows No Yesterdays. (The result is still a mess.) -- Hoary (talk) 08:42, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

Yep. Still sounds like a promotional. All Tomorrows No Yesterdays (Ughhh.... What did I do wrong this time?) 07:39, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

The Eras Tour Book

Hi, I'm just wondering, how I should expand this article? Jorge906 (talk) 10:24, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

Should you expand it at all? But if yes you should, then before you do so perhaps you could attend to the Cite template syntax errors. -- Hoary (talk) 11:02, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

Well, the info within the headings need expanding Jorge906 (talk) 12:51, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

@Jorge906: You might want to ask on the article talk page or at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Taylor Swift.

@Hoary: I fixed the Cite template syntax errors. GoingBatty (talk) 21:03, 27 February 2025 (UTC)

problem; talk page archiving items into earliest archive file, not the latest file

i have a problem with my talk page archives. why are the sections that are archived currently being saved to Archive #1, instead of the latest archive file? appreciate any help. please ping me when you reply. Sm8900 (talk) 16:10, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

@Sm8900: In Special:Diff/1227088369 you accidentally deleted the counter parameter from the archiving instructions. Put that back and all should be well. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:24, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

Script to find pages / adjust search to highlight redirects

This is kind of a niche problem, but I work on tornado articles where I cite a lot of local sources. These typically have four-letter identifiers, such as WHO-DT, WLS-TV, WQAD-TV, WPTZ. The problem is that none of these have a consistent naming scheme and when I just type in the identifier into a cite template it often turns into a redirect or disambiguation page (see WHO, WLS, WQAD, WPTZ-TV, etc). Is there a script of some kind or a similar solution that I can use to highlight redirects or disambiguation pages in the search bar? I use Vector Legacy 2010 as my skin, and prefer to edit in the source editor whenever possible simply due to its performance on my device; I'm aware the visual editor would solve this, but it doesn't run as well nor am I as acquainted to it as the source editor. Departure– (talk) 16:41, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

I'll also note that due to similar performance issues, simply opening a new Wikipedia tab to check what page I should target my template to does work and is often the best option but it's still far from ideal. Departure– (talk) 16:43, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

To editor Departure–: There's JavaScript which is now "turned on" by default, that, in the source editor when you enter a wikilink, if the page link is to a disambig page, a popup shows alerting you to that. Hitting the popup also takes you to a field which lets you do a page title search. (Try it out in your sandbox if desired.)

If you turn on the "make disambig links orange" gadget in your preferences, it, well... does that! Specifically, when a page is "rendered" and displayed. So when editing you have to preview your edit. You also may find Popups to your liking if you aren't using that already.

Also it's not any huge deal if you do link those pages. Links to mainspace redirects are often preferable except where proscribed by the MOS (for instance on disambig page entries). All your edits that contain a disambig link get automatically tagged with an indicative tag. You can review your edit history and change such a link if desired; there's nothing wrong with making multiple edits to a page (just don't go totally bonkers overboard, to the tune of like dozens of edits in quick succession). For editing questions tips et al go ahead and hit me up on my talk page anytime. --Slowking Man (talk) 18:06, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

The main problem with the Javascript is that it takes around 3 seconds to show up and doesn't actually tell me where I can find the link I'm looking for. Often it goes to a disambiguation page and, yes, it can be fixed relatively easier, but that means two edits and extra time spent on a mundane matter. In addition, popups are also less than ideal and sometimes don't have the full page title in the bold. Departure– (talk) 18:09, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

Yeah I hear you. Unfortunately this is a bit of a tricky thing that's hard to have "One True Solution" for. Personally my method would be to just have a second tab opened to Special:Search, search the station name and look at the results page. If what you searched for exists as the title of a page, it shows you at the top. If the page is a redirect the results show you the target page of the redirect; if you have the "turn dab links orange" gadget enabled, the link to the page you searched for will, indeed, be orange if it's a dab. Help:Searching may have some tips you find useful.

Also tip for popups: the page title in the pooup is a hyperlink, so with a mouse device, you can right-click on the page title in the popup to open your browser's right-click menu, which typically lets you open it in a new tab. For a touch interface, long press (tap and "hold" your tap for about a second). --Slowking Man (talk) 19:09, 1 March 2025 (UTC)

Optimising an article layout so that it 'looks right' on my screen

I'm sure that there is policy that says "don't try to wrangle the layout so that it suits a particular screen size". Or maybe there used to be? I've looked in MOS:LAYOUT and MOS:IMAGES, but neither say so anywhere obvious. Have I imagined it? 𝕁𝕄𝔽 (talk) 19:32, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

@JMF You may be thinking of Help:Pictures#Thumbnail sizes (and related links there), since it is usually images that create problems. Mike Turnbull (talk) 18:19, 27 February 2025 (UTC)

Thanks, but no, that's not it. The context is that an editor moved some (normal) thumbnails to the left because on their (wide) screen, the images had become detached from the text they illustrate. I suggested {{clear}} but that had the effect of introducing acres of white space – on their wide screen, of course. Oh well. Who ever said that life had to be fair? 𝕁𝕄𝔽 (talk) 18:29, 27 February 2025 (UTC)