This is the ambox or article message box meta template.
It is used to create article message box templates such as {{wikify}} etc. It offers several different colours, uses default images if no image parameter is given and it has some other features.
This meta template is just a thin wrapper for the ambox CSS classes in MediaWiki:Common.css. The classes can also be used directly in a wikitable table-responsive , especially if special functionality is needed. See the how-to guide for that.
Simple usage example:
{{ambox | text = Some text.}}
Complex example:
{{ambox | type = style | image = [[Image:Emblem-question-yellow.svg|40px]] | style = width: 400px; | textstyle = color: red; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; | text = The message body text. }}
The message body text. |
The following examples use different type parameters but use no image parameters thus they use the default images for each type.
type=speedy – Speedy deletion issues, such as {{db-g1}} and {{db-g3}}. |
type=delete – Deletion issues, such as {{afd}} and {{prod}}. |
type=content – Content issues, such as {{POV}} and {{globalize}}. |
type=style – Style issues, such as {{cleanup}} and {{wikify}}. |
type=move – Merge, split and transwiki proposals, such as {{split}} and {{copy to wiktionary}}. |
type=protection – Protection notices, such as {{pp-vandalism}} and {{pp-semi-protected}}. |
The default images shown above are mostly for convenience. In many cases it is more appropriate to use more specific images. These examples use the image parameter to specify an image other than the default images.
type = content image = [[Image:Unbalanced scales.svg|40px]] This image is often used for {{POV}} and similar issues. |
type = style image = [[Image:Wikitext.svg|50px]] This image is often used for {{wikify}} etc. |
Some other parameter combinations.
List of all parameters:
{{ambox | type = delete / content / style / notice / move / protection | image = none / blank / [[Image:Some image.svg|40px]] | imageright = [[Image:Some image.svg|40px]] | style = CSS value | textstyle = CSS value | text = The message body text. }}
type
image
image = [[Image:Unbalanced scales.svg|40px]]
imageright
imageright = [[Image:Nuvola apps bookcase.png|40px]]
style
" "
. For example: style = margin-bottom: 0.5em;
textstyle
textstyle = text-align: center;
text
If you need to use special characters in the text parameter then you need to escape them like this:
{{ambox | text =Equal sign = and a start and end brace { } work fine as they are. But here is a pipe {{!}} and two end braces}}}} . And now a pipe and end braces|}} .
This template uses CSS classes in MediaWiki:Common.css for most of its looks, thus it is fully skinnable.
Internally this meta-template uses HTML markup instead of wiki markup for the table code. That is the usual way we make meta-templates since wiki markup has several drawbacks. For instance it makes it harder to use parser functions and special characters in parameters.
The default images for this meta-template are in png format instead of svg format. The main reason is that some older web browsers have trouble with the transparent background that MediaWiki renders for svg images. The png images here have hand optimised transparent background colour so they look good in all browsers. Note that svg icons only look somewhat bad in the old browsers, thus such hand optimisation is only worth the trouble for very widely used icons.
For more technical details see the talk page and the "See also" links below.
There are several meta-templates in the mbox family:
Other pages: