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Usage

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{{Usertalkback}} is a template intended to be placed at the very top of your user talk page, so as to inform your interlocutors of your user discussion preferences (whether you prefer to maintain discussions on a single user talk page or fragment them across two, etc.).

Its main difference with the various similar templates is that it is customizable for its content, while following the official talk page guidelines for its aspect.

Notes

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  • By default, it follows the scheme of answering on the same page a discussion was started so as to avoid talk fragmentation, and notifying the other party with the {{Talkback}} template, but options allow to express other preferences.
  • Contrary to a lot of similar templates that use various color schemes, this one follows the official guideline on talk page boxes and will self-adapt to your interlocutor's skins.
  • Optionally, you can also duplicate this template at the very top of your user page.
  • Preferably, do not subst: this template in order to automatically benefit from its improvements.

Options

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For each option, the default value is displayed in bold and automatically assumed if the field is left blank.

you
Explain what you should do if I left you a message:
  • talkback : please answer on your talk page, then place {{Talkback}} on my talk.
  • notify : please answer on your talk page, then notify my talk page.
  • watched : please answer on your talk page, as I am watching it.
  • other : please answer on my talk page, else inform me.
me
Explain what I will do if you leave me a message:
  • talkback : I will answer on my talk page, then place {{Talkback}} on your talk.
  • notify : I will answer on my talk page, then notify your talk page.
  • watched : I will answer on my talk page, so please add it to your watchlist.
  • other : I will answer on your talk page, unless you request otherwise.

The value of "you" and "me" do not necessarily have to be the same, but should of course be consistent: either you chose both "other" (for suggesting discussions fragmented across both talk pages), or you chose a combination of the three first values (for suggesting discussions that stay on the page they started, and how the other party will know that you answered).

hint
Defines if the mandatory parameters for the talkback template should be shown:
  • yes : the usage examples are included, such as {{Talkback| your username }}.
  • no : only the short references to {{Talkback}} are provided.
small
Define the size and position of the box:
  • no : the regular sized centered box is used.
  • yes : the template will shrink to a small, right-aligned floating box.
runon
Defines how the three sentences are displayed:
  • no : as three bullet items.
  • yes : as a runon text.
icon
Selects an optional icon for the left side:
  • none : keeps maximum space to prevent lines wrapping. (On a standard 1024 display with average browser fontsize, adding an icon can make the three sentences wrap to six lines on your interlocutors' screen).
  • blank : (empty icon-sized placeholder)
  • plus : (plus, add new message)
  • lang : (language, talk)
  • info : (for your information)
  • attn : (attention please)
  • stop : (stop, warning)
  • frag : (fragmented discussion)
  • anyfile.img : any valid image filename.
iconalt
Defines the icon's alternative text (displayed in text-only, or as tooltip):
  • User talk : default short and relevant text.
  • Any text : should satisfy text-only browsers and the blind.
iconcell
Defines the attribute or CSS style of the icon's table cell:
  • [none] : put the icon in the middle of its column
  • valign=top : put the icon at the top of its column
  • valign=bottom : put the icon at the bottom of its column
iconsize1
Defines the size of the icon when in regular mode:
iconsize2
Defines the size of the icon when in small mode:
hidenew
Defines if the "Leave me a new message" line will be hidden:
  • no : normal mode at the top of a user/talk page.
  • yes : advanced use inside User:YourName/editintro (see #Editintro below).

Most values are case-insensitive ("watched" or "WAtChEd" work the same), except when it matters (such as a custom icon filename).

Examples

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Template:Mainlist

  • The regular version (with default values) can be seen at the top of this page.
  • The {{Usertalkback|small=yes}} version (with default values) can be seen at the right side of this section. It is inserted at the top of the section, just below the heading and before this bullet list. The text that follows will wrap next to it. In this version, the items of the regular version are merged into a single sentence, without the bullets. Just below is the code {{Usertalkback|you=other|me=other |small=yes|runon=yes |icon=frag|iconcell=valign=bottom}} for a fragmented discussion preference. (You can skip the two next paragraphs, they are a dummy latin text for showing how text flow around the small template.) Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
    Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
  • Live examples of the regular version with default values can be seen at User:Komusou and User talk:Komusou.

Editintro

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(This is a special case for advanced users.)

  • The "&editintro=" option of wiki URLs allows to customize the text that will appear above the inputbox in edit mode. If you create a user subpage at User:YourName/editintro (all-lowercase "editintro"), the template will autodetect it and use it as the editintro for its "Leave me a new message" link. However, a user can set the editintro page manually using the "editintro" parameter. Regardless of which technique is used, the template will check if the page exists before including it as the editintro.
  • If you wish, you can also reuse a copy of the template in your /editintro subpage. The only change is to add the option "hidenew=yes". This is not required, but cosmetic: for someone who is already in edit mode to write you a message, it'd look silly to show him again a "Leave me a new message" link, so the option will hide it for your editintro.
  • More importantly, if you use elsewhere on Wikipedia a direct link to "create a new message on my talk page", the person using it would bypass your talk page and not see your user discussion preferences. The copy of the template in your editintro remedy this.
  • This would be even more useful in the future if it becomes possible to make such a link in the custom user signature. (Currently, external URLs are forbidden, and wiki markup doesn't seem to allow using the special options without an external URL.)
  • Example of such a link, code and result:
<SPAN CLASS="plainlinks">[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Komusou&action=edit&section=new&editintro=User:Komusou/editintro Leave a new message to Komusou.]</SPAN>
Leave a new message to Komusou.

Technical

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Before changing the template's code or text, please bear in mind some points that should be preserved:

  • The box follows the standards from the Wikipedia:Talk page templates guideline (such as the mandated background color, width, small= implementation, icon size, etc.), which automatically derive from a class that will self-adapt to each user's skin. The visual aspects and colors should thus not be changed, because it would hardcode colors that may look good on your own skin but could be poor on the screen of people using other skins.
  • The template is designed so that you can also place it on your user page (if wanted) in addition to your talk page, and it stays functional, that is:
    • The new message URL is contructed with TALKPAGENAME so as to work in both cases.
    • The texts say "on my talk page" rather than "here" so as to be valid in both cases.
  • The template is designed to have three short sentences that stay on a single line each, on as many screen configuration as possible:
    • The icon has been removed by default on purpose to limit line wraps.
    • The sentences have been kept concise rather than verbose.

See also

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Useful related templates:


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