Userbox

{{Wikipedia:Userboxes/Headers/Main}}

A **userbox** (commonly abbreviated as **UBX**) is a small colored box (see examples to the right) designed to appear only on a Wikipedian's user page as a communicative notice about the user, in order to directly or indirectly help Wikipedians collaborate more effectively on articles.

The first userboxes were introduced to support the Babel inter-language effort by indicating users' skills in other languages.

## Using existing userboxes

Userboxes belong on their users' pages. In some cases, it may be considered uncivil to place userboxes on other users' pages without their permission (*especially* in a mean-spirited way—homophobia, racism, sexism, etc). However, userboxes may be placed on non-mainspace talk/discussion pages by anyone. (See also Wikipedia:Talk page.) The {{clear}} template can be placed after the plain userbox if text is added on a new line immediately after it.

A gallery of existing userboxes can be found here: WP:Userboxes/Gallery.

### Syntax

The standard syntax for adding a userbox to your user page (also known as transclusion) is: `{{user *name\_of\_box*}}`.

### Optional substitution

You may decide to substitute the template code onto your user page using the syntax `{{subst:user *name\_of\_box*}}`. The use of "subst:" will ensure that the template is always displayed in its form when you add it to your user page, i.e. it will not reflect subsequent edits to the template. This method will lead to large amounts of code on your user page.

## Creating a new userbox

Shortcuts:
* [[:]]
* [[:]]
* [[:]]
* [[:]]

*If you wish to offer an idea for a userbox, do so on the ideas page.*
If you have designed a userbox that you would like to make available to others, you may wish to first display it on the New Userboxes talk page for community comment.

### Which namespace?

Template:Seealso
Userboxes may only be created or displayed in the User, Project, or Template namespaces.

So should your userbox be prefixed with `User:`, `Wikipedia:`, or `Template:`?

As content in User: space is traditionally given more leeway than in other namespaces, userboxes in User: space may not be as directly collaborative in nature as those in Template: or Wikipedia: namespaces, which are expected to adhere more tightly with policies and guidelines, such as neutral point of view and what Wikipedia is. (This should also be considered before moving a userbox from userspace to any other namespace.)

If in doubt, consider presenting the userbox at New Userboxes talk page for community comment.

`User:`
To host a userbox in the user namespace, simply create a subpage of your own user page or User:UBX.
`Wikipedia:`
Userboxes in the project namespace are generally for WikiProject or task force usage. Simply create it as a subpage of the WikiProject (e.g. `Wikipedia:VG/DAH!/userbox`).
`Template:`
In the template namespace, userbox names must begin with "`User` " (e.g. `Template:User Brazil` or `Template:User en`)
### Caution about image use

Wikimedia Commons has a large range of icons for use within boxes. However, if you select an image from somewhere else, make certain the image has a free license. Templates (which includes userboxes) on user pages may not contain any copyrighted content not under free license; so, for example, "fair use" images are explicitly forbidden. This is interpreted strictly and without exception. See Wikipedia's fair use policy guidelines for more details.

### Caution about category use

*Main article: Wikipedia:User categories*
Template:Seealso

* User categories must be sub-categories of Category:Wikipedians.
* Names and descriptions of user categories are subject to the same rules and restrictions as userbox content.
* Overcategorization should be avoided.

### Caution about colours

Shortcuts:
* [[:]]
* [[:]]
* [[:]]

Please be mindful of the colour contrast guidelines at WP:COLOUR - low-contrast colours present accessibility barriers to people with colour-blindness or other visual disabilities.

### Content restrictions

Template:Shortcuts

* All userboxes are governed by the civility policy.
	+ Userboxes **must not** include incivility or personal attacks.
	+ Userboxes **must not** be inflammatory or divisive.
	+ Wikipedia is not an appropriate place for propaganda, advocacy, or recruitment of any kind, commercial, political, religious, or otherwise, opinion pieces on current affairs or politics, self-promotion, or advertising.

**Simply:** If content is not appropriate on other parts of a user page, it is not appropriate within userboxes.

### Content examples

*The following section is not to be considered all-inclusive. As such, other word combinations (both appropriate and inappropriate) are obviously possible.*
Typical userbox content:

* This user <verb phrase> <noun phrase>
* This user <verb phrase> <noun phrase> <prepositional phrase>

Typical verbs:

* verbs of action: contributes (to), drives, eats, edits, plays, uses, watches
* verbs of comprehension: reads, speaks, understands
* verbs of preference: enjoys, likes, loves

Additional examples, using the linking verb is:

* This user is <noun phrase>
* This user is a fan of <noun phrase>
* This user is a member of <noun phrase>
* This user is interested in <noun phrase>

#### Potentially divisive words

Avoid verbs (often followed by the word "that") which may be used to suggest negative comparison and would thus be potentially divisive, such as:

* believes, considers, finds, knows, prefers, thinks, wishes.

Avoid negative verb phrases which can be potentially divisive, such as:

* dislikes, despises, hates, loathes

Also avoid compound sentences which are positive and negative, such as:

* This user likes <noun phrase>, but does not like <another noun phrase>.

**Essentially:** Express what you do like, rather than what you don't like. Express what you comprehend, rather than what you don't comprehend. Express what you do, rather than what you don't. Express who you are, rather than who you aren't.

### Constructing a userbox

#### How to construct the box

There are a number of box types to select from when deciding to make a userbox. The most commonly used design is the "**Standard box**". It has one square shaped area on the left ("*id*") and a rectangular area on the right ("*info*").

For ease of use, userboxes are typically made using maker-templates that have a number of parameters.

The **id** and **info** boxes can include text, links, and images using the usual Wikipedia syntax. Generally, the **info** box will contain a sentence with a link or two, while the **id** box will contain a few letters or a 43px image.

##### Userbox types

***Note**: If omitted, border colour and side-box 2 colour default to the same colour as side-box 1, and font colour is black. Default border thickness is 1.*

*or* `{{Userbox-m |box colour |box content}}`

##### Userbox sampling templates

To make it easier to quote the generation code for a userbox in a uniform format, a template {{Userbox sample compact}} has been made available, which produces a picture of the userbox along with the code necessary to create it. To use it, just give it exactly the same parameters you would give the {{Userbox}} template. You must use **subst:**, or the template will not work properly. An example is shown below:

Produces:

There are not yet any similar templates available for userboxes created by the templates *Userbox-r*, *Userbox-2* and *Userbox-m*.

## Grouping userboxes

### Using the Userboxtop template

```
 {{Wikipedia:WikiProject Userboxes/Userbox}}
 User:UBX/Rome
 User:Nihiltres/Userboxes/Friendly

```

As with the Babel box, there is a box to group userboxes together. Just make a list of userboxes with {{Userboxtop|box-name}} at the top, followed by your list of userboxes, and {{Userboxbottom}} at the bottom. For example, the box to the right is created using the following list:

```
{{Userboxtop|Example 1}}
{{Wikipedia:WikiProject Userboxes/Userbox}}
{{User:UBX/Rome}}
{{User:Nihiltres/Userboxes/Friendly}}
{{Userboxbottom}}

```

#### Using collapsible tables

If you wish to group your userboxes into expandable lists in the {{Userboxtop}} template, one way of doing this is by using collapsible tables with certain classes. Wikipedia's Mediawiki configuration attempts to make this happen through a combination of ECMAScript and CSS. This method is accessible to users with ECMAScript (jScript/JavaScript) disabled, and should work in most modern browsers (it is the method used by {{Navbox}}).

Using the codes in Help:Collapsing works much better and simpler using normal wiki table markup!

```
 {{Userboxtop|Example 2}}
 <table class="collapsible collapsed" style="width: 100%; background: transparent; color: inherit;">
   <tr><th class="navbox-title">(Caption)</th></tr>
   <tr><td>
     (Place your userboxes here...)
   </td></tr>
 </table>
 {{Userboxbottom}}

```

Include '`collapsed`' if you want the box to start closed, omit it if you want the box to start open. You can also use multiple tables to get separate collapsible parts like in the example to the right.

### Using the Babel grouping system

Similar results can be achieved with either of the following:

The older Babel grouping system can also be used, e.g. {{Babel-3|sv|no-4|rome}}. However, it only works for user boxes with the "User" prefix, which must then be dropped for the arguments. Also, boxes that need arguments of their own (such as `{{User:UBX/Monty Python}}`) cannot be used with the Babel system.

### Using tables

Another alternative would be to table your userboxes:

```
{| style="margin: 1em auto;"

```

would produce the following:

example 6

To center one userbox use this coding:

```
{| style="margin: 1em auto;"

```

which produces:

example 7

### Combining tables and the boxboxtop template

Yet another method of grouping boxes is done by combining Examples 2 and 4 together. Example 2 breaks DHTML interoperability. It works as intended on Internet Explorer; however, it does not work well with Firefox, Google Chrome or Opera when additional hide/show sections are added. This solution provides proper rendering on all three web browsers and scales much better when it comes to the number of groups you want to have. The table property can be adjusted by adding width="100%" (adjusting its percentage or by using a pixel width multiple of the userbox) to add more than one column. Another property align="right" can be changed to place the userboxes left, right, or center of the page.

Template:Boxboxtop

My yellow userboxes

Template:Boxboxbottom
Template:Boxboxtop

My purple userboxes

Template:Boxboxbottom
Template:Boxboxtop

My green userboxes

Template:Boxboxbottom

```
{| style="background-color: transparent; text-align: right; width: 160px;"
{{Boxboxtop| }}
<div class="NavFrame" style="padding: 0px; border-style: none;">
<div class="NavFrame" style="border-style: none; padding: 0px;">
<div class="NavHead" style="background: #EDF1F1; text-align: left; text-style: normal;">
Caption</div><div class="NavContent" style="display: none;">
''Place your userboxes here...''
</div></div></div>
{{Boxboxbottom}}
''Place additional userbox groups here...''
</div>

```

## Gallery

*Main article: Wikipedia:Userboxes/Gallery*
{{Wikipedia:Userboxes/Gallery}}
This is a list index of various userboxes on Wikipedia.

## See also

* Wikipedia:Jimbo on Userboxes
* Wikipedia:List of userbox deletion nominations
* Wikipedia:User page design center
* Wikipedia:Userbox Maker
* Wikipedia:Userbox migration
* Wikipedia:WikiProject Userboxes
* Users who may make userboxes upon request