Forum:Let's talk about template names
The nice thing about templates is, you can change the content of all of them everywhere in an instant. One thing you can't change quite so easily is the names of the templates. So before we go peppering the wiki willy-nilly w/templates who's names are awkward, confusing or anything else, I thought we should talk about it.
I want to base a series of templates off the ones for the game names, you know, like Template:Ultima IX. I've started on ones like Template:Ultima IX link, which isn't too bad. But now that I see a lot of pages linking to The Ultima 6 Project I want to make templates for that, as well as other things. But who has enough time in his day to put "{{Ultima 6 Project link}}"?
Issues:
- Background: I understand why we started out with "{{Ultima VIII}}". We could have made it "{{U8}}" but there were already plenty of "Ultima VIII"s out there, and the long form isn't that long. So, to be clear, I'm not proposing we change those templates, or, for that matter, any other templates that appear in more than about 5 articles already.
- Brevity: Someone's actually already beat me to an abbreviated version w/Template:U6PNPC which is pretty good, but it's not w/out its problems (see below). That's why before I start making more link templates (and more) maybe we could do it w/"{{U8link}}" or "{{U8 link}}"?
- Readability: When you read "[[Template:U6PNPC]]" you are putting a more strain on the reader to understand it than you would for "[[Template:Ultima 6 Project NPC]]" (anyone who doesn't instinctively understand "NPC" has no business being here)
Thoughts? The Ultra-Mind (talk) 16:04, 23 April 2019 (UTC)
- I'm on-board with the "{{U8link}}" format. Brevity is the reason these are so useful so I think it should be prioritized, and I don't consider readability much of a concern for something that's under the hood anyway. It might even be worth adopting "{{U8}}" for the non-linked templates; I regret not thinking of that to begin with. --Terilem (talk) 15:01, 24 April 2019 (UTC)
- I lean a bit towards brevity myself. Ok, I guess the way things are around here lately, 2 guys agreeing after 48 hours counts a consensus. As for the established templates though, I think that should be for another debate, although I think they should be left alone.
- Ok, I'll change the existing link templates and create new templates according to the following formats: "{{U8link}}", "{{UU2link}}", "{{UO2link}}", and "{{U6Plink}}". I'm not sure about Lazarus though. "{{U5Llink}}"? "{{U5Lazlink}}"? I see there's no template for Lazarus, but maybe there should be, since there seems to be a fair bit of material on it. This is where readability becomes an issue, but the more readable we make it, the most inconsistent it will be w/its peer templates. The Ultra-Mind (talk) 13:42, 25 April 2019 (UTC)
- Gimme a list of non-brief and the brief versions you want them to be. I can fix it up. -- Fenyx4 01:32, 27 April 2019 (UTC)
Now I'm going to start experimenting w/the linkless templates for fan projects--linked ones to follow. Right now I've got Template:U5Laz and I'll probably be moving onto one for The Ultima 6 Project and whatever else I fancy.
If someone doesn't like the naming convention I've chosen, please do let me know sooner rather than later, so the cleanup will be small. Some alternate names I've thought of are {{U5Lazarus}} although my runner-up preference {{Lazarus}}. BTW, if you were to consider an alternative name, also consider how that might affect a convention for its linked counterpart. The Ultra-Mind (talk) 16:09, 9 August 2019 (UTC)