Template:Shoutbox

Shoutbox
Instructions Below is a shoutbox where smaller comments and rapid notifications are posted. Comments here are erased within some time (perhaps a day or a week). This useful tool avoids the over-flooding in talk pages and makes coordination easy. You are more than welcome to add a shoutbox to your self by putting: {{subst:Shoutbox}} in the top of your talk page. It's supposed to be in the talk page, so the user receive immediate notification of a new message.
Please make comments at the top. Click here to shout!

Template documentation

Purpose

This template was made to help in communications between online users. Sometimes, a whole new section is created in a user's talk page just to thank for something or make a pretty small comment, eventually making the talk page longer and making the user create archives for storage of the previous conversations in order to maintain a cheap, compact talk page. But with this tool, users don't need to overflood the page with smaller comments because they can place them on the shoutbox, where they'll be erased within some time. It can also help in coordinations for online users in a synergical work on wikipedia, but for more specific information, see the #manual.

Usage

This shoutbox template is best suited for very simple "User talk:" pages, because of its large, floating nature. Complex pages will require an alternative like Template:Shoutbox sidebar that does not interfere with other page elements, like Template:Archive boxes, talk page headers, status boxes and other frequently-installed features.

Comments in the shoutbox are intended to be replied in the other (corresponding) shoutbox of the one who wrote a message instead of responding to them in the same shoutbox in which the message was posted. The most suitable is that both users who send each other small messages have the shoutbox, however, none of the users is forced to have it, since small comments like "thanks for..." or "help me in..." or "{{Talkback|your username|section}}" doesn´t need to be replied.

To place the shoutbox in your talk page, simply place:

{{subst:Shoutbox}}

at the top of your talk page.

The shoutbox must be in the talk page, so you receive the orange bar of new message at the top of the screen. If you don't place it at the top, someone who want to make a comment will find it difficult to place it. The shoutbox won't work properly if it is not placed in a talk page, unless you modify the link in the "Click here to shout" section.

Options

You can also import the shoutbox directly to your userspace if you want to make more specific customizations (like changing the position, see the #manual for that):

Sub-page

You can create a subpage within you userspace like: "User:Your username/Shoutbox" --direct link--. In that new sub-page, you will insert this:

{{subst:Shoutbox/full}}

And customize it in that section as you desire. Then just put: {{subst:Shoutbox}} in your talk page and save it. Finally, edit again the talk page and change this: "{{Shoutbox/full |1=" for the name of your new section, like: "{{User:Example/Shoutbox |1="

Full mode

If you do not desire to create a whole new sub-page, simply add this directly to your talk page:

{{subst:Shoutbox/full}}

and replace this:

************LEAVE SMALL COMMENTS BELOW THIS LINE************************************** -->

{{{1}}}

<!-- *******************AND ABOVE THIS LINE (but in the top please) ************************ -->

for this:

************LEAVE SMALL COMMENTS BELOW THIS LINE************************************** -->

*

<!-- *******************AND ABOVE THIS LINE (but in the top please) ************************ -->

Doing that, you will have all the source code of the shoutbox inside your talk page, and you can modify and alter it there at your will.

Manual

Here's a shoutbox manual, first created for the first users of the shoutbox, containing all basic information and properties as well as special customization of the shoutbox (like the position) in a cheap, compact space:

Talk page shoutbox ver. 1.0

Owner´s manual
1. Introduction The shoutbox is a useful tool where smaller comments are posted. Examples are, "thanks for .....", "are you online?", "nice edit", "I´ve finished the ......", etc. It can also be used as a semi-instant messaging box where conversations can be held. These are some advantages of using a shoutbox: Avoids the need of creating a whole new section to place a small comment As consequence of the previous, it prevents overflooding in the talk page (a talk page will be filled eventually with more comments, and the user may have to create archives for storage of the previous discussions, the use of this tool allows to keep clean or compact the talk page, and prevents the early need to use archives) For users that are online, this can facilitate the synergy in cooperative edits on wikipedia. For example; if two or more users are working in real time on an article, articles of the same list or articles within the same category, they can communicate about progress or coordination tasks (again, avoiding overflooding) The shoutbox is intended to be in the talk page, so the user gets inmediate notification of a new message. My intentions in creating this chat-tool are to help in wikipedia´s improvement and enhancement, not to be confused with a WP:NOT violation. The idea of using a shoutbox in talk pages was originally mine (I don´t know of other user who had the same idea as me previously), however, it was inspired by: ♥Soccer5525♥Talk To Me! (so I´m giving his/her corresponding credits)
2. Use & maintenance To place a new comment in the shoutbox, a text in the bottom says "Please make comments at the top. Click here to shout" and it redirects to the edit section of the page. The shoutbox is a fixed object that must be in the first (on top) part of the edit section (the source code) so a user can see an arrow which leads him where to place the comment. The reply is suposed to be in the respective shoutbox of the other wikipedian. Image of the shoutbox source code, highlighting the section in which you can alter the position of the shoutbox You can change the position in where the shoutbox is placed; in the picture, you can see a line highlighted, that is the code for the positioning stuff. The number "20px" means that the object will separate 20 pixels from the right margins (and 50 pixels (px) from the top margins). The proper separation varies in each user talk page. You can also change the word "right" for "left" and "top" for "bottom" and the code will work accordingly. The code highlighted in the left means that the position from margins will be taken as of the page and not the screen. For example: if you change the word "absolute" for "fixed", the position will be separated from the screen margins (which are not the same). In consequence, the object (in this case, the shoutbox) will stick to the screen, no matter if you scroll down the page. Also, in the section marked below, if you change the word "collapsible" for "collapsible collapsed", with this you can make the shoutbox to stay collapsed all the time by default (untill you press the button "show"), keeping the shoutbox even more compact. Periodically you must manually clean (delete) the past comments, so the shoutbox is kept clean.
3. Technical support Feel free to send me a message to fix something, answer a question or help in some way. - Damërung ...ÏìíÏ..._Ξ_ . --  17:40, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

If you wish to have your own, add

{{User:Damërung/Templates/Shoutbox manual}}

to wherever you wish to have the manual!

Notes

• This template MUST be substituted
• Small notification templates such as the talkback template, are more suited to be placed in the shoutbox instead of the talk page

See also

• {{Shoutbox sidebar}} a much easier-to-use version, with cleaner code in the "User talk:" page and which plays nice with other page elements like archive boxes.