Template:Talk header/doc

This is a documentation subpage for Template:Talk header. It may contain usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page.

This template is used on many pages and changes may be widely noticed. Test changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

This template employs intricate features of template syntax. You are encouraged to familiarise yourself with its setup and parser functions before editing the template. If your edit causes unexpected problems, please undo it quickly, as this template may appear on a large number of pages. You can conduct experiments, and should test all major changes, in either this template's sandbox, the general template sandbox, or your user space before changing anything here.

This template should be used only when needed. There is no need to add this template to every talk page. Do not create a talk page just to add this template.

This template is a signpost. It may be used on talk pages to attract commentary from inexperienced editors, and/or where there are high levels of debate from everyone. It provides:

• A short introduction and appropriate links for newcomers.
• A reminder of policy to experienced Wikipedians.
• A list of links to the current talk page's archives.
• An optional archive search box.

To add this template to a talk page, just edit the talk page, and put {{Talk header}} at the top of the page.

Talk pages that attract frequent or perpetual debate, articles often subject to controversy, and highly-visible or popular topics may be appropriate for this template.

By convention, this template goes at the very top of the talk page, above WikiProject templates and other talk-page banners. However, this is not an absolute rule, and editors should use common sense when deciding its placement.

In accordance with Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines, this template should not be added to otherwise empty talk pages. That changes the "discussion" tab at the top of the page from a "redlink" into a "bluelink", which may mislead people into thinking there is discussion.

Full syntax:

{{talk header|noarchive=no|search=|arpol=no|wp=no|disclaimer=no|bottom=no|force=true|shortcut1|shortcut2|shortcut3|shortcut4|shortcut5}}

• Up to five shortcuts can be added to the template, as unnamed parameters. For example, {{Talk header|WP:SHOR|WP:TCUT}}. They will display similar to the {{shortcut}} template, but within the Talk header message box.
• For use on WikiProject talk pages, the parameter |wp=yes can be included to add "and anything related to its purposes and tasks." to the top line of the banner.
• When used on a talk page that has archives, links to those archives and a search box will be displayed automatically within this template. To switch the archive links off, use the parameter |noarchive=yes. For example: {{Talk header|noarchive=yes}}. In order for automatic archive links to be displayed, archives must be named in the standard way. A link to the archive index is also displayed, if it is named "/Archive index". If no archives exist for the current talk page, or if archives exist but possess non-standard names, no archive links will be displayed.
• To override the default behaviour for the search box appearance, use |search=yes or |search=no.
• On user talk pages, |disclaimer=yes adds an additional banner which identifies the page as being originally from Wikipedia (and modifies the width to suit), matching the style of {{userpage}}.
• Additional policy content can be added to talk headers on user talk pages by adding |arpol=yes.
• To add an additional instructions to "please place new discussions at the bottom of the talk page", use |bottom=yes.

If you would prefer not to see this template on any talk page, you can hide it from your view. You'll need to have a named account to do this.

1. Edit your user style page. (Special:Mypage/skin.css redirects to your current skin's CSS file)
2. Add a line: #talkheader {display:none;}
3. Save the change.
4. Bypass your cache.

Be aware that this template will appear differently in different namespaces. In particular, in the article namespace, there is an additional box of "Article policies". That box does not appear when this template is used in any other namespace (including the template namespace) but may be optionally added with the |arpol=yes parameter. Here is what the template looks like with the "Article policies" box:

• Wikipedia:Template messages
• MediaWiki:Talkpagetext