Archived versions not linkable

Can you add the archive-url and archive-date fields? Kaltenmeyer (talk) 18:07, 3 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Kaltenmeyer: I think I have this working in the sandbox version.
Current template:
* {{Cite comic| Cartoonist = [[Scott Adams|Adams, Scott]]|story=Sunday, September 9, 2012|title = Dilbert|Date = September 9, 2012|publisher = Universal UClick|url = http://dilbert.com/strip/2012-09-09}} will generate:
Sandbox template:
* {{Cite comic/sandbox| Cartoonist = [[Scott Adams|Adams, Scott]]|story=Sunday, September 9, 2012|title = Dilbert|Date = September 9, 2012|publisher = Universal UClick|url = http://dilbert.com/strip/2012-09-09 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230301204825/http://dilbert.com/strip/2012-09-09 |archive-date = 1 March 2023}} will generate:
* {{Cite comic/sandbox| Cartoonist = [[Scott Adams|Adams, Scott]]|story=Sunday, September 9, 2012|title = Dilbert|Date = September 9, 2012|publisher = Universal UClick|url = http://dilbert.com/strip/2012-09-09 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230301204825/http://dilbert.com/strip/2012-09-09 |archive-date = 1 March 2023 |url-status = live}} will generate:
Let me know what you think, Rjjiii (talk) 04:11, 8 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Also, StarTrekker and Emir of Wikipedia, I think this would also address the issues you mentioned a few years back. To make the abbreviations less cryptic, I linked to the relevant wiki articles. This provides a tooltip on desktop, a link for more information on mobile, can be accessed via keyboard navigation, and is better handled by screen readers. The previous version (using NVDA, Firefox, & Windows 10) read "Adams, Scott (w, a)" as "Adams Scott W. A." which can sound like his initials; with links it reads as "Adams Scott link W link A" Rjjiii (talk) 19:44, 8 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Template-protected edit request on 9 July 2023

Update this template to the sandbox version

In summary, the changes make this template capable of taking on {{comic strip reference}} citations per discussions above, fix several long-standing errors, improve accessibility, and bring this template slightly closer to CS1 template behaviors.

There are many changes, so I'll try to list the reasons for each:

  • Most of the changes are to create a template that can support both {{cite comic}} and {{comic strip reference}} usage per the discussion above.
    • Strip is added as a parameter. This was a required parameter for comic strip reference but unavailable here. Using the strip parameter will work as a switch to flip the template over to comic strip formatting. It serves the same purpose as title.
    • Syndicate is added as an alias of publisher. This is from comic strip reference. If publisher and syndicate are provided, the template uses the presence or absence of strip to choose the more specific.
    • Better support for "cartoonist"
    • Supplement and paper/newspaper added for comic strip formatting.
  • Better white space handling
    • Many uses of non-breaking spaces replaced with breakable spaces. These were used between most of the creator types, so when many creators were listed this could cause the template to create weird and inappropriate line breaks.
    • Small tweaks to prevent either no space between parameters or space between parameters and punctuation.
  • Error handling
    • No title previously generated: {{{title}}}. It now generates: Untitled and a preview warning.
    • No date previously generated: {{{date}}} It now gerates: n.d. and a preview warning.
  • Abbreviations all have a wikilink related to their role. This makes them less cryptic for users who may not expect something like "inker" or "penciller" as a credit. Unlike pure tooltips, these are accessible on mobile and screen readers. This also improves accessibility as screen readers would read the old version as "Kirby Jack P" no different than "Kirby, Jack P." as an initial. The sandbox version is read as "Kirby Jack link P".
  • Volume, issue, and page
    • The sandbox version uses the standard CS1/CS2 prefixes vol., no., p., and pp.
    • The previous version hid "volume=1" because the formatting was confusing without prefixes. It now renders correctly as vol. 1
    • The pages parameter was added for page ranges.
    • The at parameter was added for edge cases.
    • The issue parameter deletes the first "#" to prevent "no. #1". (Some editors resolved the lack of prefixes by putting them into the template parameter manually.) If there is a need to change "no." to "#" this is also fine, it just shouldn't appear twice (# #1).
  • Better handling of archive URL
    • Archive date is now a parameter, but not required.
    • Url-status is now a parameter, defaulting to dead.
  • Quote added in line with other templates per editor request here.

Thanks for taking a look, Rjjiii (talk) 22:45, 9 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Completed. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. put'er there 17:27, 11 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Seeking input before a merge with {{comic strip reference}}

Hello FlairTale, ZooBlazer, Morgan695, Thebiguglyalien, Curly Turkey, Josiah Rowe, Gog the Mild, BOZ, and BoomboxTestarossa! I've pinged some editors that I've seen put in good work on the comics articles. I hope you'll take this unsolicited signal as a compliment. I've recently updated both {{comic strip reference}} and {{cite comic}}, I wanted to gather some insight from folks who might be both affected and knowledgeable.

You can post here if there are any issues I'm overlooking. And below are some features that I have considered but have not implemented. Let me know if you think any of these should be included:

  • a switch that would use "#" instead of "no." when no "volume" is specified
  • "author" as an alias for a sole creator (right now it's "cartoonist" which works great but may be counter-intuitive)
  • a "ps" or "postscript" parameter to suppress the final period
  • a warning if using both "strip" and "title" (only title will show up if both are used)
  • a warning if using some combination of "page", "at", and "pages"
  • a warning if "inker" or "penciller" are used in addition to "artist" (artist suppresses inker and penciller fields)

Thanks, Rjjiii (talk) 04:18, 20 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The # symbol should not be used, per MOS:NUMERO. – Jonesey95 (talk) 16:29, 20 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks Jonesey95, I agree and this was largely the answer I got from a Manual of Style author.[1] I just want to be transparent. I don't know how you manage to stay on top of so much of the technical stuff. Regards, Rjjiii (talk) 19:29, 25 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
This looks very impressive. The only issue that came to mind is that, if a comic has a sole creator, crediting as "cartoonist" doesn't indicate they were also the writer (and for "author" if they were the artist too). Is it possible to credit the creator as just "creator"? --FlairTale (talk) 03:14, 28 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, that's possible. There are just two technical limits on adding parameter aliases (extra names). First, an alias shouldn't be used for multiple things. Second, fewer aliases are better because it reduces loading time. Rjjiii (talk) 04:26, 28 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Should not output "#". That's a shorthand that sometimes makes sense in running prose (e.g. "A mint-condition SuperDude #1 sold for $10,000 at Christies in 2023", or whatever), but the purpose of our citation templates is to present consistent bibliographic information. We just had a discussion about this at MoS: Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style#Is "no." or "#" meant to be used on comic issues?.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  01:07, 3 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Template-protected edit request on 25 July 2023

Change live template to sandbox version. The sandbox version will:

  1. Remove quote marks within the story parameter to avoid ""quadruple"" quotes and
  2. Fix an old bug with punctuation.

The top section on the testcases page shows the difference.[2] Rjjiii (talk) 19:55, 25 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Done * Pppery * it has begun... 21:33, 25 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Template-protected edit request on 2 September 2023

Change the current live template to the sandbox version. This has 2 effects. First, it fixes an old formatting bug when using the "cartoonist" parameter in some situations. Second, it still outputs a preview warning when no date is used but does not output "n.d." for the date, as this could be ambiguous. Many older handwritten comics citations do not include the date. You can see examples of the effect at the top of the testcases page: Template:Cite comic/testcases#Demo Rjjiii(talk) 18:25, 2 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

 Done - Favre1fan93 (talk) 17:11, 3 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Potential updates

Several potential updates are implemented in the sandbox including:

  1. The credit parameters are rewritten so that no credits are hidden in the citation. In the previous version, adding an |artist= would suppress the |penciller=, |inker=, and |colorist= parameters. In the sandbox update, these parameter will display if they are filled out.
  2. Preview warning for missing |date= now only appears if the |issue= is also missing. Previously the preview warning would display if the date was not present, and earlier would emit { { { date } } } in the citation. Citations are commonly made as only title and issue, so this should lower the barrier of complexity for editors using the template. The help link is modified to point at the "#Date" section of the documentation.
  3. Preview warning for missing |title= or |strip= will now only display the |story= is also missing. The help link is modified to point at the "#Title" section of the documentation.
  4. Maintenance categories are introduced for usage with both no date and no issue. And also for usage with title, strip, or story.
  5. |creator= introduced as an alias for |cartoonist=
  6. |year= introduced as an alias for |date=
  7. |others= introduced as uncategorized credit parameters

Please ask for clarification if anything is confusing. Let me know there are objections or additional areas for improvement, Rjjiii (talk) 07:41, 30 December 2023 (UTC) Update: Still giving a preview warning for missing |date=. Perhaps in a future update, a message will remain on the saved page for missing date and issue. 04:10, 6 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

automatic date formatting based on page templature

Most citation templates recognize if a page is tagged with {{use dmy dates}} or {{use mdy dates}} and visually formats its own date automatically. Is there a reason this isn't implemented here? WP:CITESTYLE allows YYYY-MM-DD dates in citation templates, and on large pages where this format is used, citations for websites, books, news, and more all duly display 32 Marchuary 2026 ... except for {{cite comic}}, making it the odd one out. — Fourthords | =Λ= | 19:28, 25 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This template does not use the shared modules that {{cite web}} and other Citation Style 1 templates use. It's a custom template. – Jonesey95 (talk) 19:54, 25 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
@Fourthords & Jonesey95, could we do this with {{date}} or is that template too slow? If it works, it could also be used on other wikitext templates as well. Example at: User:Rjjiii/sandbox9[ permanent link ] Rjjiii (talk) 19:50, 8 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
That looks functional. I don't know if it would be too slow; I'm guessing not, if the CS1 templates are able to call a similar module and not overload pages. I recommend more testing with a wide variety of date formats. You could check the monthly report for date formats that are provided to |date= and make sure that they work. – Jonesey95 (talk) 21:17, 8 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Kraven the Hunter which calls the template 70 times goes from "Post‐expand include size: 373992/2097152 bytes" to "Post‐expand include size: 384448/2097152 bytes". I think that is still lighter than CS1/CS2 templates
The sandbox module borrows the date format lookup from CS1/config, but {{date}} does its own thing. It will make the citations dmy if no template is on the page, it will convert really oddly formatted dates (like Oct. 31st), and it will ignore dates it can't parse rather than emit an error. Here are some examples:
live
Bill Watterson (w, a). Calvin and Hobbes (October 31, 1990). Andrews McMeel Publishing.
sandbox
Bill Watterson (w, a). Calvin and Hobbes (31 October 1990). Andrews McMeel Publishing.
live
Bill Watterson (w, a). Calvin and Hobbes (31-10-1990). Andrews McMeel Publishing.
sandbox
Bill Watterson (w, a). Calvin and Hobbes (31 October 1990). Andrews McMeel Publishing.
live
Bill Watterson (w, a). Calvin and Hobbes (Oct. 31st, 1990). Andrews McMeel Publishing.
sandbox
Bill Watterson (w, a). Calvin and Hobbes (31 October 1990). Andrews McMeel Publishing.
live
Gardner Fox (w). All Star Comics, no. 3 (Winter 1940/1941). DC Comics.
sandbox
Gardner Fox (w). All Star Comics, no. 3 (Winter 1940/1941). DC Comics.
I might seek broader input at WP:VPT if this seems to work for other non-CS1 templates like {{cite patent}} and so on, Rjjiii (talk) 02:52, 9 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template_talk:Cite_comic
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