The current template is using a table for layout, which is generally frowned upon within web design. I have made another design (with some slight adjustments) using layers. My version of the template is available at User:AndreasBlixt/Sandbox/Template:Archives.

– Andreas Blixt ☺ 16:39, 9 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

What about using this image File:Wiki archive cpu.png —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Walter Humala (talk • contribs) 17:18, 8 January 2007 (UTC).[reply]

I'm getting: [{{fullurl:User talk:Darkest Hour/Archive|action=edit&preload=Template:Archives/Preload}} edit] in my archive box corner. --Semper Fi, Darkest Hour 23:18, 27 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

• I took out one option and it works just fine. See above. --Semper Fi, Darkest Hour 23:22, 27 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Talk:Child sexual abuse Please help if possible. Thank you. Joie de Vivre 20:43, 24 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I would like to put this template on the Talk:Circumcision page but there are 27 archives there and only 20 show up with this template. Can this be fixed? Joie de Vivre 20:43, 24 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

When I put {{archives}} on an archived page, the default /archivelist file is as a subpage of that archive page, not the main page. For example, the archivebox on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Chemistry/archive01 uses Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Chemistry/archive01/archivelist not Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Chemistry/archivelist. Seems like if the goal is to have a unified and semi-automated archive list for the archives of Foo, the archives should default to using the same archivelist as Foo itself. Should the archivelist parameter default to {{NAMESPACE}}:{{BASEPAGENAME}}/archivelist instead of ./archivelist (essentially {{FULLPAGENAME}}/archivelist)? DMacks 17:12, 12 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This template needs to be adapted, see w:Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)##ifexist limit.--Patrick (talk) 14:38, 10 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If you "edit" the default contents and create an archivelist, initially, the template will not change from its default appearance. However, if you click edit again, and save, the template then changes to the list you created. Very weird and I don't know why. That was my experience on two pages.

I don't know if this is relavant, but my watchlist added watches for [the article's name]/Archive 1, as opposed to [the talk pages name]/Archive 1, which I thought might be a clue. I'm sure someone could play with a sandbox and replicate this error. TheHYPO (talk) 07:16, 19 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Archived discussion (Index)
Archive 1   Archive 2
About archives • Edit this box

Hi, all. I've got some ideas that I think would make this template better. (1) Make the heading inside the box read "Archived discussion", instead of just "Archives". That makes it clearer to newbies what the archives are for. (2) Unlink the heading. I would expect a link to the archived discussion, not a link to help about archives. (3) Make the link to the help read "About archives", and put it at the end, so the archives themselves come first. (4) Move the edit link to the end, also. This conserves vertical space. (4) Make the index link (when present) a parenthetical, to connect it to the heading, and also to conserve vertical space.

Something like the mock-up that appears in this comment. (Note that the non-small option, auto features, and the rest of the layout would be preserved; I just wanted the mock-up code to be compact.)

Comments? Suggestions? Objections? —DragonHawk (talk|hist) 00:33, 31 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Well, nobody spoke up, so I did it. I figure that will attract any objectors.  :) If anyone does have objections/problems, please feel free to revert (although I would appreciate an explanation here). I did have one problem, something kept eating the space between the "Archives" title and the "(Index)" parenthetical (when index is used). I eventually gave up trying to figure out why and stuck an empty SPAN block in there. That's a kludge, of course; if anyone knows what's going on, please let me know what I'm missing and/or fix things! Cheers. —DragonHawk (talk|hist) 23:56, 8 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, disable or rename it (the target, too). I just had MrKIA11 subst my list into my talk page, saying the archivelist parameter is going away. I did some playing, and found that if I redirected User talk:Voyagerfan5761/archivelist to User talk:Voyagerfan5761/Archives/List, I could have the same behavior as before, but without the extra parameter.

Now, of course, the link to "Edit this box" points to a redirect. Does anyone know of a way to change the template so the edit link's target pagename can be changed, or the link removed altogether? Removal isn't the ideal for me, but if that's really a lot easier than making the link target changeable, I'll go for it. Just wondering, since I didn't see a problem with having archivelist in there...

Why's archivelist getting nuked, anyway? Tuvok[^T@lk/_Improve] 21:38, 22 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I think I was a little quick, so this shouldn't be a problem. Sorry, MrKIA11 (talk) 22:22, 22 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The part of this regarding archivelist has been resolved on my talk page. Tuvok[^T@lk/_Improve] 22:31, 22 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm wondering why the edit link is shown even if archivelist sub-page doesn't exist. Could it be made to only show the link if archivelist page exists? example --Kslotte (talk) 12:36, 27 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

What about editbox=auto that is default? --Kslotte (talk) 09:53, 4 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The solution here is to use parameter editbox=no. --Kslotte (talk) 09:50, 4 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have designed a new archive box that incorporates everything from {{archives}}, {{archive box}}, and {{archive box collapsible}}. I propose that this be the new code for {{archive box}}, and that {{archives}} and {{archive box collapsible}} translude it. Would people please test it out and see if there are any glitches or problems. I think I have tried every possible combination, but there might have been something that I missed. Comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. There has been some discussion about it, so you might want to look there first. Thanks. MrKIA11 (talk) 21:44, 22 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Firstly, massive thanks for this template. It's great.

Using auto=yes for pages which don't currently have any archives automatically adds a handy redlink to /Archive 1 - but this doesn't work for auto=long. I'd dive in, but there's some mighty template-foo in this one. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 00:32, 7 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

{{editprotected}}

|box-width= isn't being used, see Category:Archive boxes with unusual parameters. ({{Archive box}} uses |style= instead.) Could it please be removed? —Ms2ger (talk) 12:07, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm, that category isn't empty, and hasn't been for a day. Seems to be still in some use? --Amalthea 17:34, 30 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

At my whining protest, Thumperward (talk · contribs) made some proposed changes in the above linked sandbox to remove some seemingly unnecessary padding that was needlessly bloating the archivebox. When I suggested we go ahead and implement it, he said "Seems fine to me, but I'd like to hear from others regarding whether losing those classes is okay (they shouldn't be doing anything except adding default styling, but there might be some semantic or other value I'm missing)." So... thoughts? I've also removed the line "About archives" (moving the about instead to the title) which makes an unnecessary line when the archives are set to auto or specified in the parameters of Template:Archive box. –xeno (talk) 21:17, 30 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Diff. Looks good to me. --Amalthea 21:45, 30 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've made a change to the sandbox so that it now accepts all kinds of image parameters, per the section below, using the brand new {{Image}} template. The test cases are looking good. --Amalthea 16:03, 31 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

we should go ahead with implementation, if the changes I mentioned above screw things up royally, I'm sure we'll hear about it=) looks ok to me. –xeno (talk) 16:12, 31 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

this is  Done. shoot me, i'm impatient. –xeno (talk) 21:23, 31 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Has the option to use an image other than the default been removed from this template? If so, why and can it please be added back? Thank you. – ukexpat (talk) 03:37, 31 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It has been changed half a month ago to take in a full image link, instead of the image name. Changing the signature of a template is usually a bad idea, especially if it's that highly used, but since it's been a while already I don't know if changing it back would make things better.
I've fixed it for your talk page, and will prepare a version in the sandbox that can handle both input forms. --Amalthea 12:51, 31 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for the reply and the fix! – ukexpat (talk) 13:28, 31 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

{{sudo}} "Edit this box" link should only be displayed if "archivelist" parameter is set; most of the time the list of archives in this template is generated automatically and thus showing an "edit" link which points to an empty page is confusing, and may lead people to create said page for no reason, ending up with redundant pages. Gurch (talk) 21:04, 4 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Seems the option auto=no is specifically provided to avoid checking for that subpage and displaying that link. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 21:49, 4 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If that's the case, I'd think we would want that to be the default. I agree with Gurch in that that it's rare to have a "manual" archive list. If we put an "edit" redlink there by default, people are going to click it thinking they should. —DragonHawk (talk|hist) 22:07, 4 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

No, the link is hidden for any value of "auto". auto=no turns off automatic display of archive list, auto=long or auto=short display the list in long or short form . "long" is the default. "no" shouldn't be the default, because most of the time an automatic list of archives is all that's needed. Rather, the "edit this box" link should only display if auto=no, because that's the time when you'll need to edit the subpage to update the box. At other times adding a new archive will appear not to update the box, until the page is purged, then the new archive will appear in the list. You could even put a "purge" link in place of the "edit this box" link when auto is something other than "no", but it's not necessary. Gurch (talk) 13:06, 5 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

How's that now? — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 21:03, 5 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

better. Gurch (talk) 22:15, 5 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Now it has shown up in Template:archive box, which passes the non-auto generated list in a paramater rather than a subpage. –xeno ^talk 22:23, 5 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm. Is there actually any difference between this template and that one other than that that one has different default values? Perhaps that one should just be a redirect. Gurch (talk) 22:26, 5 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Erm, dunno. I just know I was quite cross when they got enjoined and then someone fixed it for me and I wasn't quite so cross, and now that "Edit this box" showed up, I'm starting to get cross again. Yes, anal-retentive ftw ! –xeno ^talk 22:30, 5 May 2009 (UTC) add: I believe the difference is, as I intimated above, archive box can take the customized archivelist without needing a subpage. (cf. User talk:Xeno/header) –xeno ^talk 22:32, 5 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

eh, when you want something, do it urself and all...  Fixed, but someone double check my work... –xeno ^talk 23:00, 5 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I know this is not the usual place to post a help request, but I've run into a problem directly related to this template (caused by a page move) so I thought I might give this a try.

If anyone watching this page could help, that would be much appreciated. If there's a better place to post this request, please let me know - here or on my talk page.

Here's the background: on an article archived by MiszaBot, there are 18 archive pages. The article was moved, along with its talk page, but the 18 archive pages did not move along with it - they still exist as subpages of the prior talk page (that is now a redirect).

My question is: is there a way to list the old archive pages in the archive box that uses {{archives}}? Or is it necessary to move all those subpages to the new page title?

If the links can't be added to the archive box made by {{archives}}, is there another template that would be better suited to this use? Would that require changes to the setup for MiszaBot?

Thanks a lot. --Jack-A-Roe (talk) 02:36, 25 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The proper thing is to move all subpages as well. Anything else would only cause problems with archiving down the line, unless you want to maintain two separate groups of archives. Amalthea 04:09, 25 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

OK, understood. Thanks for your help. --Jack-A-Roe (talk) 07:00, 25 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It would be great of this template included a red link (perhaps just a "+" sign) for the next-needed archive page, especially the first. It would certainly save time when archiving. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 13:16, 1 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not opposed, but make it optional -- a lot of pages are archived automatically by bots, so there's no need for humans to do the grunt work. —DragonHawk (talk|hist) 00:11, 2 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

{{editprotected}} For WP:ACCESSIBILITY by visually impaired readers, this template should provide alt text for functional images or should specify "|link=|" for purely-decorative images, as per WP:ALT. Whether the icon here is purely-decorative depends partly on what the caller wants, so I have added into the sandbox support for new alt= and link= parameters to let the caller specify this. The default is to use the archive icon with no link, as that is the most reasonable for plain archive boxes. I have tested this with the testcases and have documented the new behavior. Please install this sandbox patch. Thanks. Eubulides (talk) 23:49, 10 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

 Done Let me know if there are any problems. Plastikspork (talk) 01:03, 11 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Is the search parameter function broken in this template? I added "|search=yes" to the archives template in Talk:Kidnapping of Jaycee Lee Dugard but although it created a Search field and button in the Talk page, the search acted as a strange wikipedia "prefix" search and not a search of the Talk archives. I vaguely remember the search parameter working some months ago, so has something changed recently? I have also added search to this talk page to determine if and whether it works here. 84user (talk) 16:08, 2 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Update: I find the search function for Template:Archive box also does not work, but I wonder if the fix mentioned in Template talk:Archive box is or was relevant? As a test, to this talk page I have now added search=yes to talkheader and Template:Archive box. 84user (talk) 16:50, 2 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It seems to work OK other than the strange offer to create the redlink at the fully expanded search input (prefix:FULLPAGENAME/ is how to search archives...) . That page with a single archive might not be in the search cache yet, you should try with an older talk page archive. –xeno^talk 16:57, 2 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, the search works for older archives. But the single page archive I linked above is over 2 days old now. Is there a way to force the archive page into the search cache? It must confuse readers that click on search for an apparently existing page and get the message that it does not exist. 84user (talk) 17:44, 2 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Update 2: search is still broken for this Talk page where the associated archive page was created 7 days ago. But search worked when I added it to Talk:Agatha Christie on September 2 where Talk:Agatha Christie/Archive 1 was created August 22, some 11 days previously. Does this mean the time needed for an archive page to enter the cache is between 7 and 11 days, or is there another cause for this problem? 84user (talk) 21:23, 8 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It  Works for me. I searched for the word "yronwode" [1] and got the result:

" You may create the page "Yronwode prefix:Talk:Kidnapping of Jaycee Lee Dugard/", but consider checking the search results below to see whether it is already covered.

* Talk:Kidnapping of Jaycee Lee Dugard/Archive 1 cat yronwode Catherineyronwode (talk ) 01:08, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

(slightly truncated for readability). –xeno^talk 21:31, 8 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

And I can confirm it now  Works for me too. Strange. I had been adding search=yes to several Talk pages of various ages to discover what the delay might be. See my contributions on September 8 from [2] to [3]. 84user (talk) 13:43, 11 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Firstly, major kudos for adding a bot notice to the template.

The text is a little small, and also wasn't fully compatible with {{auto archiving notice}} (it omitted the word / parameter "days"). I've changed this in the sandbox: comments? Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 12:05, 16 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

{{editprotected}} No comment in six days, so requesting sync. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 08:16, 22 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done:. I think this would break existing uses, i.e. we will get sentences like "Threads older than 30 days days are archived." — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 10:20, 22 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The functionality is fairly new and as of yet not widely deployed: better to change it now and then fix the few existing uses than to leave it vaguely incompatible with the old system and make it harder to adopt IMO. If you want to add a hidden category like category:bot notices on archives then I'll fix any existing deployments myself. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 14:40, 22 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

{{editprotected}}

requesting sync with the sandbox to fix this: pages using the age parameter will be temporarily added to Category:archives with bot date notice. I'll fix any which have age=30 days as opposed to age=30 myself. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 13:52, 20 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

We could add some detection for whether the input is just a number of it it contains some text as well? — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 17:24, 20 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Less than a hundred transclusions picked up so far, and I doubt that half of them have the problem. I'm happy to fix it manually over the next day or so. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 23:13, 20 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Synced.  Skomorokh, barbarian  20:02, 20 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

{{editprotected}} All done. Please sync with the sandbox again to remove the temporary cat (and delete it too, please). Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 11:20, 21 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

• I preferred it <small>, so I added backwards compat. Feel free to tweak it if desired, but update User talk:Xeno/header if you do. Thanks! –xeno^talk 15:15, 21 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I think it would look better if the (Index) link is on it's own line, rather than next to Archives. I changed the sandbox to reflect this. Any problems with changing it? MrKIA11 (talk) 19:17, 2 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'd rather this template were kept compact if possible. It's very heavily deployed now, and a lot of editors get antsy about minor layout changes to it. Could you add an example to the test cases page? Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 22:10, 3 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I added a testcase. MrKIA11 (talk) 23:51, 3 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hey all. I would like to add a feature to this template. An option to have the archive box to appear full sized -- the same size as the other "banner boxes" on talk pages. Suggested paramaeter name box-style=<compact|full>, defaulting to compact. (Reason I'm looking to do this is entirely asthetic. Talk:Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy doesn't want {{talkheader}} (it's got banners covering everything it wants), but the side-style archive box squishes stuff.) Before I put template code work into it, does anyone have comments/objections/suggestions/etc? —DragonHawk (talk|hist) 13:58, 25 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Could we just simplify it to |class=tmbox, similar to style=float:none; but replacing the existing classes instead of adding? — Dispenser 05:07, 28 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I generally prefer to expose "application semantics" in templates like this, and leave CSS classes, HTML attributes, and the like hidden as an "implementation detail". I think it makes it easier to use. Many people have no idea what the CSS classes are. Plus, this way, if the CSS classes change, we don't need to change every template call. Standard "abstraction" programming concept. No? —DragonHawk (talk|hist) 01:12, 1 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

With all due respect, that page is something of an edge case. I dare say it would look cluttered no matter how it were laid out. That said, if a parameter is going to be added then the name should be small, which is the prevailing name for templates with this switch. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 13:05, 2 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

How about we add some padding to this template, say 5 px? I have a sandboxed version. This can be achieved by simply replacing

{|

with

{| cellpadding="5"

Then, we won't have these boxes with text in them that touch the edges anymore, which doesn't look very good. Centered text will look the same. Gary King (talk) 00:27, 23 March 2010 (UTC) [reply]

Archives

test

Archives

test

It is requested that an edit be made to the template-protected template at Template:Archives. (edit · history · last · links · sandbox · edit sandbox · sandbox history · sandbox last edit · sandbox diff · test cases · transclusion count · protection log) This template must be followed by a complete and specific description of the request, so that an editor unfamiliar with the subject matter could complete the requested edit immediately. Edit requests to template-protected pages should only be used for edits that are either uncontroversial or supported by consensus. If the proposed edit might be controversial, discuss it on the protected page's talk page before using this template. Consider making changes first to the template's sandbox and test them thoroughly here before submitting an edit request. To request that a page be protected or unprotected, make a protection request. When the request has been completed or denied, please add the |answered=yes parameter to deactivate the template.