User talk:Joseph A. Spadaro

How to format a hidden table

{{helpme}}

I'd like to know if anyone can help with this issue. Thanks in advance. Below is a Chart / Table that is "hidden". If you click the word "[show]" that appears all the way over to the far right, this will change the hidden Table so that it is unhidden / viewable. My question is: Is there any way to "move" that Show Command? Can it be moved more to the left of the screen? Can it be moved to be immediately after the words This is a List of Notable Salutatorians? If so, how is this achieved? Or am I "stuck" with it being all the way over to the far, far right --- and, with so much blank white space in between --- risking its going unnoticed? Thanks. (Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 08:00, 23 June 2009 (UTC))

This is a List of Notable Salutatorians

List of Notable Salutatorians
01.	Kathy Augustine	First female State Controller in Nevada	[1]
02.	Parisse Boothe	Actress (Deadwood)	[2]
03.	Ronnie Burke	Son of female serial killer Velma Barfield	[3]
04.	Jimmy Carter	39th President of the United States (1977-1981)	[4]
05.	Jacki R. Chan	Actress, model, musician, and stunt performer	[5]
06.	Daniel Chun	Comedy writer (The Simpsons)	[6]
07.	Henry Roe Cloud	First Native American to attend Yale University	[7]
08.	Rah Digga	Hip hop artist and rapper	[8]
09.	Ray Edwards	NFL football player (Minnesota Vikings)	[9]
10.	Juan Ponce Enrile	Senator of the Philippines	[10]
11.	Richard Reid Fliehr	Adoptive father of professional wrestler Ric Flair	[11]
12.	Georgie Anne Geyer	Journalist and foreign affairs columnist	[12]
13.	John Heisman	Namesake of the Heisman Trophy	[13]
14.	Todd David Hess	Commander in the United States Air Force	[14]
15.	Oliver Hill	Civil rights lawyer (Brown v. Board of Education)	[15]
16.	Gary Hirte	Eagle Scout and teenage murderer	[16]
17.	George H. Hitchings	Pharmacologist and Nobel laureate	[17]
18.	John Legend	R&B singer–songwriter	[18]
19.	Monica Lewinsky	White House intern in Bill Clinton sex scandal	[19]
20.	Holly Maddux	Murder victim of Ira Einhorn, the "Unicorn Killer"	[20]
21.	Del Martin	Partner in California's first same-sex marriage	[21]
22.	Tim McGraw	Country music singer	[22]
23.	Evan Mecham	Governor of Arizona (1987-1988)	[23]
24.	Aaron Miller	College pitcher drafted by Los Angeles Dodgers	[24]
25.	Robert S. Mulliken	Chemist and Nobel laureate	[25]
26.	Michelle Obama	First Lady of the United States	[26]
27.	Walter O'Malley	Owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers	[27]
28.	Bettie Page	Pin-up model and Playboy Playmate	[28]
29.	Linus Pauling	Chemist and Nobel laureate	[29]
30.	George Poage	First African American to win an Olympic medal	[30]
31.	James Knox Polk	11th President of the United States (1845-1849)	[31]
32.	Robin Roberts	Co-anchor of Good Morning America	[32]
33.	Eliza Schneider	Voice actress (South Park)	[33]
34.	Erich Segal	Author and screenwriter (Love Story)	[34]
35.	William Howard Taft	27th President of the United States (1909-1913)	[35]
36.	Carrie Underwood	Country pop singer and American Idol winner	[36]
37.	John Wayne	Iconic actor (Stagecoach, The Searchers)	[37]
38.	Ryan Weemer	Marine accused of war crimes in Iraq	[38]
39.	Robert Wone	Victim of a bizarre and unsolved murder	[39]
40.	Jeremiah Wright	Controversial former pastor of Barack Obama	[40]

You can use toggle=left as a parameter to move the "Show" button to the left (I changed it below to show you how it will look). Regards SoWhy 09:14, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

This is a List of Notable Salutatorians

List of Notable Salutatorians
01.	Kathy Augustine	First female State Controller in Nevada	[41]
02.	Parisse Boothe	Actress (Deadwood)	[42]
03.	Ronnie Burke	Son of female serial killer Velma Barfield	[43]
04.	Jimmy Carter	39th President of the United States (1977-1981)	[44]
05.	Jacki R. Chan	Actress, model, musician, and stunt performer	[45]
06.	Daniel Chun	Comedy writer (The Simpsons)	[46]
07.	Henry Roe Cloud	First Native American to attend Yale University	[47]
08.	Rah Digga	Hip hop artist and rapper	[48]
09.	Ray Edwards	NFL football player (Minnesota Vikings)	[49]
10.	Juan Ponce Enrile	Senator of the Philippines	[50]
11.	Richard Reid Fliehr	Adoptive father of professional wrestler Ric Flair	[51]
12.	Georgie Anne Geyer	Journalist and foreign affairs columnist	[52]
13.	John Heisman	Namesake of the Heisman Trophy	[53]
14.	Todd David Hess	Commander in the United States Air Force	[54]
15.	Oliver Hill	Civil rights lawyer (Brown v. Board of Education)	[55]
16.	Gary Hirte	Eagle Scout and teenage murderer	[56]
17.	George H. Hitchings	Pharmacologist and Nobel laureate	[57]
18.	John Legend	R&B singer–songwriter	[58]
19.	Monica Lewinsky	White House intern in Bill Clinton sex scandal	[59]
20.	Holly Maddux	Murder victim of Ira Einhorn, the "Unicorn Killer"	[60]
21.	Del Martin	Partner in California's first same-sex marriage	[61]
22.	Tim McGraw	Country music singer	[62]
23.	Evan Mecham	Governor of Arizona (1987-1988)	[63]
24.	Aaron Miller	College pitcher drafted by Los Angeles Dodgers	[64]
25.	Robert S. Mulliken	Chemist and Nobel laureate	[65]
26.	Michelle Obama	First Lady of the United States	[66]
27.	Walter O'Malley	Owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers	[67]
28.	Bettie Page	Pin-up model and Playboy Playmate	[68]
29.	Linus Pauling	Chemist and Nobel laureate	[69]
30.	George Poage	First African American to win an Olympic medal	[70]
31.	James Knox Polk	11th President of the United States (1845-1849)	[71]
32.	Robin Roberts	Co-anchor of Good Morning America	[72]
33.	Eliza Schneider	Voice actress (South Park)	[73]
34.	Erich Segal	Author and screenwriter (Love Story)	[74]
35.	William Howard Taft	27th President of the United States (1909-1913)	[75]
36.	Carrie Underwood	Country pop singer and American Idol winner	[76]
37.	John Wayne	Iconic actor (Stagecoach, The Searchers)	[77]
38.	Ryan Weemer	Marine accused of war crimes in Iraq	[78]
39.	Robert Wone	Victim of a bizarre and unsolved murder	[79]
40.	Jeremiah Wright	Controversial former pastor of Barack Obama	[80]

Great! That is helpful, thank you. Now, are there any other options -- other than toggle left and toggle right -- that a user has? Or just those two? And, in particular ... is it possible to make my text come out like this?
This is a List of Notable Salutatorians [ show ]. In other words, to move the "show" command to be immediately after the title instead of immediately before the title? Thanks. (Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 14:11, 23 June 2009 (UTC))

Not that I'm aware of, but you can right-align the title and [show] so they will appear next to each other on the right side of the list. Take a look at Template:Hidden begin-end/doc for more. Xenon54 (talk) 16:36, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

How to shade a succession box

{{helpme}}

Let's say that I have a "succession box" such as that below. Is it possible to add different colors / shading / etc. into the box? For example ... see this article ... List of Academy Award-winning films ... that has various rows listed in blue shaded backgrounds. In that article, the blue shading comes from the use of the "computer language code" (or command or whatever it is): bgcolor="91CFF6" . Is there a way to use that similar concept in my succession box below? If so, how exactly and where exactly would I enter that color code language / command? Also ... how would I (or anyone) know that the color code bgcolor="91CFF6" stands for blue? Is there a list somewhere of what codes correspond to what colors? Thanks. (Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 20:58, 7 June 2009 (UTC))

The 'code' for succession box is stored in template:succession box. That might look complicated, but don't be put off.

Like anything else, it is best to make a copy to your user area, and work on it there. I have just copied that file to User:Joseph A. Spadaro/Succession box.

The hex number used for the colours is an HTML colour code. There are many lists; I usually refer to this website to get the numbers.

I will edit the template a little, and demostrate a bit more below, soon. Cheers,  Chzz  ►  21:18, 7 June 2009 (UTC)

Looking at that template, if I planned to work on it, I would start again - it's deprecated and old-style code. Therefore, I have made a new template, User:Joseph A. Spadaro/Succession2. This is a simple table format, same as the original - all I've done is changed the colour.

Therefore, if I put this;

{{start box}}
{{User:Joseph A. Spadaro/Succession2
| title=  [[Capital punishment in Connecticut|Executions in Connecticut]]
| before= [[Capital punishment in Connecticut|Frank Wojculewicz]] - 1959
| after=  [[Michael Bruce Ross]] - 2005
| years=  
}}
{{User:Joseph A. Spadaro/Succession2
| title=  [[Capital punishment in the United States|Executions in the United States]]
| before= [[Capital punishment in California|James Hooton]] - California
| after=  [[List of individuals executed in New York|Henry Flakes]] - New York
| years=  
}}
{{end box}}

...it comes out like this;

I hope that this points you in the right direction. Good luck with it, and please ask if you need more help.  Chzz  ►  22:01, 7 June 2009 (UTC)

How to stack tables

{{helpme}}

Sorting a table

I would like to know if it is possible to do what I am trying to do in the chart given below as an example. Is it possible to make this into a sortable table, so that each column can be sorted? In other words, I would like the table to be able to be sorted by the person's name as well as by their age. The problem seems to stem from using the "multi-column" (colspan) command, which somehow screws up the sorting features. I recognize that I can "undo" the multi-column spanning ... and create a Table with seven columns (superlative, name, age, name, age, name, age) ... but that would not make a particularly aesthetic or effective chart (i.e., it would be hard to read and understand). Does anyone know of a way to fix this issue, so that it can sort the way I would like? Or is there any "back door method" that can achieve this? Thanks. (Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 22:24, 18 October 2010 (UTC))

Yes - it's definitely possible and it's actually not too difficult. See here for details.  7  07:32, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, I checked that link out ... but I did not see how that addressed my problem. In fact, what I read there seems to be a direct contradiction to your above post. At that link, it says: "Do not have elements spanning several columns; instead, again, repeat the content on each row, in a short form." So, what am I missing? How is it possible to get what I want ... and what is the "not too difficult" solution? Thanks! (Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 13:49, 19 October 2010 (UTC))

I don't see a way to do it, but you might be able to use something like what I've done below as a start. The biggest problem I see with your request is that you want to sort by a column with no header of its own; I don't see how you could do that. You need to have a header cell to sort by.  Frank  |  talk  17:07, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

Note: Questions that are "difficult" (like this one), should probably not use the {{helpme}} tag, but rather asked at the help desk or a village pump. Killiondude (talk) 19:12, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

Superlative	Overall	Actor	Actress

Category	Name	Age	Name	Age	Name	Age
Oldest Nominee	Gloria Stuart	87	Hal Holbrook	82	Gloria Stuart	87
Oldest Winner	Jessica Tandy	80	George Burns	80	Jessica Tandy	80
Youngest Winner	Tatum O'Neal	10	Timothy Hutton	20	Tatum O'Neal	10
Youngest Nominee	Justin Henry	8	Justin Henry	8	Tatum O'Neal	10

(←) Apologies - I may have underestimated how "not too difficult" this was. The best kludge that I can come up with involves slapping a fake header table on the top and changing the positioning on the second table and hiding some borders. An example is below. This displays well (fairly) on my screen at 1200px wide, but I am not a table expert and I can clearly see that the alignment of the two tables gets messed up as you resize your screen downward. As suggested above, someone at the helpdesk or the village pump who is an expert in table parameters may be able to get this to stay aligned during a resize.

Example with two tables:

Youngest Nominee Superlative	Overall	Actor	Actress

Oldest Nominee	Gloria Stuart	Age 87	Hal Holbrook	Age 82	Gloria Stuart	Age 87
Oldest Winner	Jessica Tandy	Age 80	George Burns	Age 80	Jessica Tandy	Age 80
Youngest Winner	Tatum O'Neal	Age 10	Timothy Hutton	Age 20	Tatum O'Neal	Age 10
Youngest Nominee	Justin Henry	Age 8	Justin Henry	Age 8	Tatum O'Neal	Age 10

Did this ever work - or not what you were looking for?  7  04:03, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

Quite some time ago (October 18, 2010), you provided me with some help on my Talk Page. The issue was about my trying to sort a Wikipedia Table by combining two tables to appear as if they were only one table. I have put that project on my "back burner" for now, as I have become preoccupied with other matters. But, I wanted to thank you for your time and assistance. And I wanted to thank you for replying to my Help request. If I have further questions in the future (when I tackle that issue once again), I may be in touch. Thanks for all of your help. Much appreciated. (Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 20:56, 27 November 2010 (UTC))

Hello, my friend

Yes it has been a while. My break didn't last long, or you could say it's not absolute. I couldn't believe the troubles I see reflected on your talk page. I know you to be reasonable, and I reviewed the circumstances of the conversation which led to your block. Needless to say I was a bit disenchanted. You, like me, appear to be a strong advocate for your side of a debate. While not unwilling to listen to an opposing view, you are not swayed unless the argument is particularly strong, and sound. The funny thing is I remember working differences with you, and found the debate quite refreshing. I think we both accepted parts of the others valid considerations and moved forward with good intentions.

There is another irony. I just had an RfA and got hammered because of this similar tendency. The irony gets even deeper when you realize that I stated the Cheshire Connecticut article as a proud accomplishment and my reason for stating that was because I was proud of the collaboration which achieved the result. I had already decided I wasn't going to take undue credit for what was a joint effort by several players. My first protagonist was intent to make me compare my efforts to others. Here is a quote: "I want to know how much he did versus Joseph Spadaro" I held my ground, got the shit kicked out of me and if I would have been gone it would be the RfA that took me out.

Yes it is an irony of ironies that you should have messaged me when you did. And I don't mind telling you that you, or me, will not be appreciated much; Because many in authority want to tell you how to think and expect that you will follow. I think you would enjoy seeing me destroyed by the bullshit, and the ironic part is it started because I didn't want to play the comparison game. Good talking to you again. For context here is my RfA, Find within my stated accomplishments "Cheshire, Connecticut, home invasion murders is a collaboration of which I am most proud. It really is a textbook example of people coming together from different walks, to collaborate on a high profile story that deserved the benefit of a proper telling. Even when you review the talkpages you can see dispute resolution and cooperation which manifest in a pretty good telling of a particularly hard story to tell" and know that it was you I had in mind when writing that. And you can search your name to see how I was hounded to define further my involvement. And that I stuck to my original statement of the cited collaboration.

It is a very terrible aspect of Wikipedia that if two people oppose in views, one has to be the bad guy. And there seems to be a tendency for it to be pinned on the one who makes the better argument. Anyway, I respect your manner and feel shame that your were blocked until you were made to say those pithy words. That you wouldn't do it again. My strong advice is, to not do it again, but for a different reason. Some minds are so thick, it truly is a waste of your own effort to form the good argument. So my friend, let's both endeavor to remain sane during these insane times. And do know there is a larger irony in play. Cheers My76Strat (talk) 23:49, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

Help me: Leather

• Leather question on Ref Desk