Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Lists

message: There is a discussion at the WP:FRAT talk page about list creation/inclusion which could use outside input. Please join in the conversation here. Primefac (talk) 10:45, 9 May 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: This seems to have pretty quickly archived to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Fraternities and Sororities/Archive 9#Including list of fraternity/sorority founders., without a clear resolution. But there have been later follow-up discussions about lists there.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  03:15, 14 November 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  WikiProject list discussion 

message: Here is a humdrum example of a common phenomenon: A list ("Festivals") with a single reference ("[4]") atop, and presumably for, all the items. Let's avoid what's irrelevant to the question I'm about to pose, and instead assume that the referenced source is reliable, and that it does indeed back up the appropriateness of each list item. A reference index floating by itself looks wrong (to me). An obvious alternative is to repeat the (named) reference for every list item; easily done, of course but the result would look lame-brained (to me). Another obvious (but worse) alternative would be to append the reference to the last item; but then it would be unclear whether this reference was supplied for the list as a whole or merely for its last item. And one could supply an introductory sentence ("According to Taiwan Docs,[4] the film has been shown in the following festivals:"), but this adds flab. Is there a better way of referencing an entire list? -- Hoary (talk) 01:23, 14 November 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: For most lists (any that could be subject to changes in entries), repeat the ref for every list item, no matter how "lame-brained" you think it looks; this isn't VisualDesignPedia. Use shorthand  format or  or some other shorthand for entries after the first one; obviously don't repeat the entire citation over and over again.  Every list item should be sourceable, various of them will accrete additional citations over time, and more people will add new entries with (we certainly hope) other citations to back them up. The exception would be when it's a list of a permanently fixed number of things that do not change (e.g. already-complete list of presidents of a company that no longer exists). In such a case, have an intro sentence/phrase above the list with a single citation at the end of that sentence/phrase.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  01:44, 14 November 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Thank you, SMcCandlish. Well, even aside from its commendable adaptability, that's clearly preferable to this approach. -- Hoary (talk) 02:00, 14 November 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Yeah, that's , since we don't put templates and other complex code inside headings.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  02:59, 14 November 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: You name the atrocity, I've probably perpetrated it in my time. -- Hoary (talk) 04:37, 14 November 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Oh, sure. Been here since something like 2005, and probably broken everything at some point. I even had templates in my sig at first, despite that being a big no-no I hadn't read about yet. Heh.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  06:17, 14 November 2023 (UTC)
thread_title: Single reference for every list item

message: The template  automatically forces a bulleted list for its main-alcohol parameters.  Bulleted lists in infoboxes aren't unheard-of, though rare.  However, that template forces a bullet even for single entrants, making the oxymoronic single-item list.  Given there is no actual list created, should that template be invoking list markup for single variables?  —  Fourthords | =Λ= | 22:27, 29 December 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: What do you mean specifically? Can you point to an usage of the template where this is visible? Gawaon (talk) 04:39, 30 December 2023 (UTC)
replies: text:  Sure, easy-peasy.  In the infobox's implementation at mojito, there's a bulleted list with one item (rum).  Given how the bulleted-list markup interacts with other variables like scrapers, screen readers, and more, are there any technical, grammatical, accessibility, or stylistic problems caused by a 'list' that then only has one entrant?  —  Fourthords | =Λ= | 06:00, 30 December 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Yeah, I agree that looks odd. I'd say it should just be a plain wikilink in such a case, not a list. But ultimately you'll have to discuss that with the template authors. Gawaon (talk) 06:18, 30 December 2023 (UTC)

text: Fixing that is a simple #if test to check for multiple parameter values. And it should probably use an unbulleted list, since bulleted ones are unusual in infoboxes and waste space in them. The more general ingredients list lower in the i'box might sensibly use a bullet list, but it could be CSS kerned to waste less horizontal space.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  00:28, 3 January 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: A "bullet" (i.e., Unordered) list with no bullet at all would be better, as the list of recipe ingredients would look like a list of recipe ingredients.  Try Template:Plainlist. WhatamIdoing (talk) 07:21, 9 January 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: Made that recommendation in the template documentation. We'll see if it sticks.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  10:30, 9 January 2024 (UTC)
thread_title: single-item lists

message: You are invited to join the discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Lists § Should Template:Dynamic list be used in sections that also have Template:Main?.   talk 21:32, 2 January 2024 (UTC)
thread_title: Discussion at [[:Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Lists#Should Template:Dynamic list be used in sections that also have Template:Main?|Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Lists §&nbsp;Should Template:Dynamic list be used in sections that also have Template:Main?]]