Help:Manual/References
References
From 25 February 2024 the Reference system has been redesigned:-
- All information about a reference will be held in the Ref: namespace (alias Ref-ID:). The Page and sub-pages is like a record and fields.
- Each article in NS_Ref: will have multiple sub-pages, each containing part of the data, populate as required or if data is available
- The data, from relevant sub-pages, will be transcluded into a Reference Index
- Pages from the Reference Index can / will be transcluded into pages associated with the entity that published them
- When the Ref-ID is transcluded it contains a Category and a Link.
- The Link is separated from the Ref-ID text so that a Tooltip will function.
- The Tooltip has the reference description, publisher, date
Categories
- The Ref-ID is also used as a Category Name
- Pages which include referenced content are in that Category
- To prevent non-public pages from also being in the Category, the code is conditional
- The expression is part of the Template:ReferenceID
Code to use in NS_Ref: pages:-
Copy into each page.
<onlyinclude>
{{ReferenceID
<!-- do not use variables -->
|Ref-ID=
<!-- include the Ref-ID as an anchor # -->
|Link=
}}
</onlyinclude>
<noinclude>
<h5>Subpages and Data</h5>
<dl>
<dt>Title: Article, webpage heading, title or book title</dt>
<dd>{{Ref:{{PAGENAME}}/Title}}</dd><br />
<dt>Publisher / Entity: media company, government department, organisation, or book publisher</dt>
<dd>{{Ref:{{PAGENAME}}/Publisher}}</dd><br />
<dt>Tooltip: the text which will be in a Tooltip</dt>
<dd>{{Ref:{{PAGENAME}}/Tooltip}}</dd><br />
<dt>Author(s): webpage author, book author, journalist name, government spokesperson</dt>
<dd>{{Ref:{{PAGENAME}}/Author}}</dd><br />
<dt>Day Number: numeric, uses template to convert to day and date</dt>
<dd>{{Ref:{{PAGENAME}}/DayNum}}</dd><br />
<dt>Date: Manually entered date</dt>
<dd>{{Ref:{{PAGENAME}}/Date}}</dd><br />
<dt>URLs: List of source URLs, Original / Current / Web Archive </dt>
<dd>{{Ref:{{PAGENAME}}/URLs}}</dd><br />
<dt>Notes: any other relevant information</dt>
<dd>{{Ref:{{PAGENAME}}/Notes}}</dd><br />
</dl>
{{ShortLine}}
<h5>Sub-page List</h5>
<p>{{Special:PrefixIndex/{{FULLPAGENAME}}/}}</p>
</noinclude>
Code to use in a page listing of references:-
- Copy one or many times into a reference page.
- Data in Ref: pages is unformatted. Format when used.
- Ref: pagename/subpages are like fields in a database record. Some 'fields' are empty
- Use only the fields required. Separate with spaces, commas, ne lines etc as required
Links
- List of Media Sources and Abbreviations: References/Media/Sources
Sub-page List
From July 2023 all References are centralised in sub-pages of NS_Main:References.
Each reference item is assigned a unique Reference-ID.
Each Reference ID is created in the NS_Ref-ID: (alias Ref:).
For example: Ref-ID:ABCAU-021
Each Reference-ID is composed of three parts:-
- A prefix which identifies the source - organisation, government department, media agency etc.
- An abbreviation which describes the type of document:- MS = Media Statement; Rpt = Report; or Country Code
- A number to represent the date:- typically the Day Number.
Each part uses upper case. And hyphens are used as separators.
To create a new Reference ID use the sample code in Help:Manual/References/Code.
In a Reference/subpage use a template - see Template:Reference.
The Reference ID is used in two ways:-
- The Reference-ID is written into the template used on a References/subpage where it becomes an anchor and also a link to a category page.
- The Reference-ID is transcluded to a Source: ... line at the end of each instance of usage. This provides a link to the anchor on the appropriate References/subpage.
Links
The type of link depends on the context:-
- The Reference ID in NS_Ref-ID: is a link to the actual reference in a References/subpage#anchor.
- In a References/subpage the Reference ID is used as an anchor AND is used as a link to a Category
Categories
A Category is also created for each Reference-ID. Whenever the Source for a reference is used and the Reference ID is transcluded, the host page is automatically added to that category.
From the References/subpage clicking on the Reference-ID will open the Category page and list all the articles which use or refer to that Reference.
Tooltips
Tooltips were started and abandoned. Tooltips do not work within links so the prefix Ref: had to be used for a the link. It is better to not quote the namespace and to use the whole Reference ID as the link.