Portable Infoboxes/FAQ

This page contains some Frequently Asked Questions (**FAQ**) related to Portable Infoboxes.

## What are Portable Infoboxes?

Portable infoboxes are a base to build infoboxes designed to display well across different devices (and provide other benefits).

## Do I have to use Portable Infoboxes?

No, but it's a really good idea for a lot of reasons. The most important of those is that an ever-increasing amount of Fandom traffic is from non-desktop devices (more than 50% and growing). Sometimes this means smartphones, tablets, Community Apps, televisions, and even other websites, such as Rotten Tomatoes. What looks good on desktop does not always translate well to other experiences. That's why they're called "portable".

## How do I change the appearance of a Portable Infobox?

Changing the appearance of a Portable Infobox requires one to change the wiki's CSS (e.g. MediaWiki:Common.css or MediaWiki:Wikia.css). This will require admin access on a given wiki. See Help:PortableInfoboxes/CSS for more information.

### Why can't I change the appearance  (e.g. borders or colors) of the infobox using a template?

The portable infobox was designed to use site wide css because unlike inline css it can be adapted to multiple device.

## I specified layout="horizontal" for a group, and the group is missing. Why?

When nesting groups, the infobox cannot change the layout. This isn't handled gracefully, and the entire section is skipped to avoid all the building blocks shifting and crumbling down.

## Can I put format tags inside default tags?

No. Format tags cannot be inserted inside default tags and vice versa, because they serve different needs. See which child tags (e.g. caption) are supported for each parent tag (e.g. image) in the Help:PortableInfoboxes/Tags page.

### How do I format what's in a default tag?

Use the wiki's CSS. See Portable Infoboxes/Tips and tricks for detailed tips.

## How do I hide unused sections using an infobox?

As long as a particular parameter isn't used in the whole section (e.g. <data>) that depends on it, the section will be automatically hidden. This is also true if show="incomplete" is set to true but none of the child tags contain any text.

## Can I collapse sections or groups?

Yes. Sections, rows or groups can be made collapsible. An arrow pointing downwards will appear only if that group has a heading (see Collapsible groups).

## I get "infobox error: tag <label> (or other) unsupported"

You have placed a supported tag into a section where it is not allowed. Use Help:PortableInfoboxes/Tags to verify document structure.

## Can I use parser functions or Lua inside infoboxes?

Yes. Wherever wikitext can be used, parser functions and Lua can also be used. Use Help:PortableInfoboxes/Tags to see where.

## How can I resize an image?

Images inside the <image> tag can only be resized using a wiki's CSS. See Tips and tricks.

## Does Tabber or Tabview work in Portable Infoboxes?

Yes. Tabber is supported for images  , however the gallery markup is recommended. Tabview isn't supported at all.

## Is the infobox main image showcased in category exhibition?

Yes, the first infobox image is "used to represent articles in Category Exhibition & Gallery, Read More module and in social media" .

## Can I alter the mobile styling or appearance of the infobox?

No. As of August 2016, the appearance of the infobox cannot be altered for mobile devices.

## How can I fix the error preventing the infobox from appearing?

Infoboxes use an XML structure, so it might be a good idea to learn it. An alternative is to use the Infobox Builder to create and edit them visually.

## References

1. ↑ 1,0 1,1 Reply #30 of Infoboxes are evolving - can you help guide their progress? by Shareif Bestand:WikiaStaff.png (message wall) on 1:06, May 21, 2015
2. ↑ Force all group elements to be displayed
3. ↑ Introducing Desktop Tabs and Portable Galleries in Infoboxes
4. ↑ User blog comment:Ducksoup/The Future of Infoboxes on Fandom comment by Shareif Bestand:WikiaStaff.png
5. ↑ Reply 273 of Infoboxes are evolving - can you help guide their progress?