Template:Infobox software/doc
 | This is a documentation subpage for Template:Infobox software. It may contain usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page. |
 | This template is used on approximately 14,000 pages and changes may be widely noticed. Test changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them. |
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Usage[edit source]
The following is the base code required to generate an infobox. One can copy and paste the base code into an article and insert relevant information in front of the = signs. Removing HTML comments (<!-- anything -->) is optional. To avoid accidental misuse, this base code does not have a handful of parameters that must be handled with absolute care and are not normally needed, such as {{{bodystyle}}}.
| [[File:{{{logo}}}|{{{logo size}}}|alt={{{logo alt}}}|upright=0.55]] {{{logo caption}}} | |
| [[File:{{{screenshot}}}|{{{screenshot size}}}|alt={{{screenshot alt}}}|upright=1]] {{{caption}}} | |
| Other names | {{{other_names}}} |
|---|---|
| Original author(s) | {{{author}}} |
| Developer(s) | {{{developer}}} |
| Initial release | {{{released}}} |
| Stable release | {{{latest release version}}}
/ {{{latest release date}}} |
| Preview release | {{{latest preview version}}}
/ {{{latest preview date}}} |
| Repository | {{{repo}}} |
| Written in | {{{programming language}}} |
| Middleware | {{{middleware}}} |
| Engine | {{{engine}}} |
| Operating system | {{{operating system}}} |
| Platform | {{{platform}}} |
| Included with | {{{included with}}} |
| Predecessor | {{{replaces}}} |
| Successor | {{{replaced_by}}} |
| Service name | {{{service_name}}} |
| Size | {{{size}}} |
| Standard(s) | {{{standard}}} |
| Available in | {{{language count}}} languages{{{language footnote}}} |
List of languages {{{language}}} | |
| Type | {{{genre}}} |
| License | {{{license}}} |
| Website | {{{website}}} |
| As of | {{{AsOf}}} |
<syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext" style="overflow:auto;">
| Repository |
|
|---|---|
| Engine |
</syntaxhighlight>
Example[edit source]
<syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext" style="overflow:auto;">
</syntaxhighlight>
Conditional formatting parameters[edit source]
The following shows the effect of three parameters which change the formatting of certain infobox fields: |collapsible=, |discontinued=, |ver layout=.
 | |
Screenshot  GIMP version 2.10 | |
| Repository |
|
|---|---|
| Engine | |
<syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext" style="overflow:auto;">
| |
Screenshot GIMP version 2.10 | |
| Repository |
|
|---|---|
| Engine | |
</syntaxhighlight>
Parameters[edit source]
All parameters are optional.
- bodystyle
- CSS styling for the infobox as a whole
- title
- Name of the software as displayed above the infobox. Defaults to {{PAGENAMEBASE}}
- logo
- Code for a small image to be displayed as the logo or computer icon of the software. You may specify a file name, with or without namespace prefix. In other words, the following examples are all acceptable:
- The GIMP icon - gnome.svg
- File:The GIMP icon - gnome.svg
- logo size
- Size of the logo.
- logo caption
- Caption of the logo that appears below it. Should not be used to provide trivial captions, such as "This is the logo of X", which is automatically assumed. Reserved for special cases when a description beyond telling the obvious is needed, or for inserting {{ffdc}} or {{deletable image-caption}}.
- logo alt
- Alternative text of the logo; very important.
- collapsible
- Whether this screenshot is by default hidden and is only shown when user clicks on a minuscule "Expand" button. Can be set to "yes". Especially useful in case of long vertical screenshot
- screenshot
- Code for an image to be displayed as a screenshot of the software. You may specify a file name, with or without namespace prefix. In other words, the following examples are all acceptable:
- GIMP screenshot.png
- File:GIMP screenshot.png
- screenshot size
- Size of the screenshot.
- screenshot alt
- Alternative text of the screenshot; very important. Defaults to image caption.
- caption
- A caption for screenshot that appears below it. Please include this parameter only when there is an image to display.
- other_names
- Other names for the software.
- author
- Name of the original author(s) or publisher(s) of the software. It can be an individual or organization. Most of the time, it only needs to be specified when
|developer=field is populated. - developer
- Name of the current developer of the software. It can be an individual or organization.
- released
- The date in which version 1.0 (or closely-matching release) of the software in question reaches its release to manufacturing (RTM) stage. In case the article is about a specific major release of a piece of software (for instance Internet Explorer 8 or Microsoft Office 2007), this field should contain the date in which that specific major release reached RTM stage. In case the software is still in development and has not reached its RTM stage, please ignore this field; do not use this field to specify the release date of the first preview/test release of the software; there is already another parameter for that use.
- The content of this field should look like the following:
{{Start date and age|year|month|day}}
- In case the article uses DMY as date format, use this code instead:
{{Start date and age|year|month|day|df=yes}}
- If you are unsure which date format to use, please consult WP:MOSDATES.
- ver layout
- Defines how version number information appear in the infobox. Can be set to "simple" (default) or "stacked". "Simple" allocates an ordinary row to "latest release version" and another to "latest preview version". But "stacked" gives the full width of the row the info and adds a header, so that several version numbers can appear and use the infobox space more efficiently. Additionally, "stacked" could automately generate an edit link at the header to allow editors to update the version number.
- discontinued
- Whether this software is no longer being developed, thus changing the phrase "Latest release" in the infobox to "Last release". For technical reasons, anything for this parameter has the same effect, be it "yes", "no" or anything else. To nullify the effect of this parameter, you need to omit it.
- latest release version
- The version number of the latest release of the software. Please observe the following examples:
- Example #1: If the article is about Example Software whose latest version is 1.5, specify:
- 1.5
- Example #2: If the article is about Example Software whose latest release is called Example Software 2008 and whose latest version number is 12.2, specify:
- 2008 (12.2)
- Example #3: If the article is about Famous Example Software 2010, which is a significant release of Famous Example Software and whose latest version number is 14.0.0.25, just specify:
- 14.0.0.25
- Example #4: If the article is about Famous Example Software 2010 for which no update is released since its initial release-to-manufacturing (RTM), please omit this parameter unless there is an evidence that it is necessary for the reader to know this number. One reason would be the presence of preview releases of the software which can only be distinguished from the RTM by their version number.
latest release datedepends on this parameter.- latest release date
- The release date of the latest released version. If no update is released for the software since its initial release, please omit this field; filling in the
releasedfield would be enough. The content of this field should look like the following:{{Start date and age|year|month|day}}
- In case the article uses DMY as date format, use this code instead:
{{Start date and age|year|month|day|df=yes}}
- If you are unsure which date format to use, please consult WP:MOSDATES.
- This parameter only works when a
latest release versionis present. - latest preview version
- The version number of the latest preview version or development branch. Should only be specified when development of a new version of the software in question (newer than one specified in
latest release version) is in progress. Please consult descriptions forlatest release versionprovided above for best practices of specifying this parameter. - latest preview date
- Specifies the release date of the latest preview version or development branch. Should only be specified when development of a new version of the software in question (newer than one specified in
latest release version) is in progress. Please consult descriptions forlatest release dateprovided above for best practices of specifying this parameter. - repo
- The online source code repository, if available. For example, the sourceforge or github project page. As with the
websiteparameter, this should use the {{URL}} template. In the absence of this parameter, infobox attempts to acquire the repository link from Wikidata. This parameter overrides the Wikidata link. - qid
- Q-identifier from Wikidata.
- programming language
- The programming language of that subject of the article. If the program language of the software has a corresponding article in Wikipedia, please link to it. Here is an example:
- When specifying the name of the programming language please make sure that you cite your source. Unreferenced assertions in Wikipedia may be challenged or removed. If you do not have a source, do not include this parameter.
- middleware
- Middleware for the software.
- engine
- Software engine that is used by this software. In absence of this parameter, infobox attempts to acquire the (P408) from Wikidata. This parameter overrides the Wikidata engine.
- engines
- List of software engines, if multiple are used.
- operating system
- The operating system on which the given software works. Please be as accurate as possible but also be mindful of the length and avoid specifying vague phrases such as "Cross-platform", "Multi-platform", "all" or "none". If the project is a web app or if only an OS-agnostic source code is released, ignore. Please consider these examples:
- If the software works on all incarnations of Unix, Linux and derived operating systems, please specify:
[[Unix-like]]
- If the software works unconditionally on ALL incarnations of Microsoft Windows, please specify:
[[Microsoft Windows]]or simply[[Windows]]
- If the software works only on Windows XP and all subsequent releases of Microsoft Windows, please specify:
[[Windows XP]] and later
- If the software is released for various families of different operating systems, (such as specific versions of BSD, Linux, macOS and Microsoft Windows) so that listing them in the infobox gives it undue length, please leave the details to article body and specify:
[[BSD]], [[Linux]], [[macOS]] and [[Microsoft Windows]]
- If the software works on all incarnations of Unix, Linux and derived operating systems, please specify:
- platform
- The computing platform on which the software runs. You might like to include the following information:
- Processor architecture: Some software runs on a certain processor architecture such as IA-32 (also known as x86 an i386), x86-64 (also known as x64, AMD64 and EM64T), Itanium, ARM and MIPS.
- Software frameworks: Some software runs on Java platform, .NET Framework, Adobe Flash, Adobe AIR, Microsoft Silverlight or XUL without regard to the processor architecture. If so, you may ignore processor architecture and instead specify the framework.
- Please avoid specifying vague phrases such as "cross-platform" unless the following conditions meet:
- The software has been released for numerous different platforms, so much so that including all of them causes the infobox size to grow unduly large.
- The article body lists the platforms under which the software runs.
- If the above do not meet, then specifying such a vague phrase is the same as not specifying it.
- included with
- Devices and operating systems that come preloaded with this browser.
- replaces
- What the software replaces, if applicable.
- replaced_by
- What the software has been replaced with.
- service_name
- Service name for the software.
- size
- Size of the installer package. Only applies to software available via download. For software distributed physically in boxes or other packages, ignore this parameter. Do not forget to include your unit of measurements (i.e. kilobytes, megabytes or gigabytes).
- Note: Use a non-breaking space (" ") to prevent numbers and units of measurements from separating when "word wrapping" occurs. You can also use {{Nowrap}} template to produce the same effect.
- Observe the following examples:
760 KB→ 760 KB32 MB→ 32 MB
{{Nowrap|842 KB}}→ 842 KB{{Nowrap|48.5 MB}}→ 48.5 MB
- For more information, visit WP:UNITS
- standard
- Technical standard of the subject of the article adheres.
- language
- Lists the natural languages in which the software's user interface can interact with user. Please do not supply vague phrases, such as "multilingual", which do not add to the knowledge of the reader. Also please do not wikilink the name of languages; readers are most likely uninterested in reading about those languages. For a comprehensive list of items that should not be generally linked to, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Linking § What generally should not be linked. A large list of languages can disrupt the natural flow of the article. When the list of languages grows large, consider one of the following measures:
- Use
|language count=parameter in conjunction with this parameter. This will allow the list of languages to be hidden and revealed with the click of a mouse. This method is not printer-friendly: A collapsed list does not appear on print and an expanded list may disrupt the natural flow of the article. - Add a link to a section of the article which lists languages. Please keep the link printer-friendly. For example, instead of "[[#Localization|Click here to see the list of languages]]", consider "35 languages; see [[#Localization|§ Localization]]". This solution is useful when the inclusion of a list of languages is important or when the localization of the subject of the article is discussed.
- Ignore this parameter and use
|language count=and|language footnote=instead. This approach is useful when the article is short and inclusion of the list of languages is unwanted or contested.
- Use
- language count
- Number of natural languages in which the software's user interface can interact with user. Please supply a number only. Don't use this parameter if the list of languages includes fewer than five entries. (Please see: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers § Numbers)
- If both
|language=and|language count=parameters are present, the value of|language=will be collapsed under "List of languages" title. - language footnote
- Use this parameter to supply citation on available translations, especially when
|language=is not specified. Use of this parameter is not mandatory, as long as appropriate citation information is attached to the text. For instance, citation information may be attached to text itself in the article body or|language=, especially when there are more than one source for it information given. (E.g. when one source includes full translations and another includes partial translations; or when one source specifies the translations of one given version and another discusses what is added to that version after an update.) As a general rule, avoid citing automatically generated reports, statements about development versions or other sources of time-sensitive information. - genre
- Type of program. Should be wikilinked to an article such as Geographic information system. For more information, consult List of software categories. Please do not use this field to briefly describe the role and function of the subject of the article. For example, instead of "SVG creator, editor and converter", consider using "Vector graphics editor". Instead of "PDF creator, editor, converter and viewer", consider using "Desktop publishing software". Instead of "DWG creator/editor", consider using "Computer-aided design".
- license
- The software license under which the user is allowed to use the software. It is recommended to specify the specific license the software is released under by name. See Category:Software licenses. For example:
- Proprietary (
[[Proprietary license|Proprietary]]): Software with a license which prohibits modifying the software and sharing copies, and where generally a copy of the source code cannot be obtained by the user. (As in this example, please be sure to link to[[Proprietary license]], which is an article about this type of software, and not to[[Proprietary]], which is a disambiguation page.) - GNU General Public Licenses, GNU Lesser General Public Licenses, BSD Licenses, and other free software licenses: pieces of software released under a free software license provide copies of the source code to users, and give users the freedom to modify and share copies of their copy of the source code. The GNU licenses mentioned have multiple versions each; there are multiple BSD licenses. Please make sure to specify which one.
- Proprietary (
- licence
- Same as
|license=. Pick either license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English), not both – select the one which matches the content of the article the template is used in. - website
- The web site URL of the software package, if one wants to override the Wikidata official URL value. This URL must be readable in print. Therefore, you should use {{URL}} template like this: "
{{URL|http://www.example.com}}". Avoid using printer-hostile forms like "[http://www.example.com Example website]". In addition, the special value "hide" suppresses this field, even in presence of a Wikidata link. This is useful for articles with several infoboxes, to avoid repeating one Wikidata link. If left blank, the Wikidata official website value will display by default. - AsOf
- A pseudo-parameter populated by bots and users tending to maintenance categories. The intricacies of this parameter are not included here. If you don't know what it does, please do not touch.
Moving release data outside the article[edit source]
The subject's latest release version, latest release date, latest preview version and latest preview date can be moved outside the article.
Template Method (single wiki)[edit source]
Users visiting the article may click the version number or "[±]" link in the infobox to edit that external source. This mode is very useful for articles about software products whose vendors keep releasing updates or newer versions. With this mode is enabled, users can quickly and effectively edit the release data without editing the article proper (and cluttering its edit history with inconsequential edits).
Note, however, that if |latest release version= or |latest preview version= parameters are explicitly specified, the infobox does not look for external sources. (This can be useful if, for example, the preview version is frequently updated, but the release version is not.)
To make the infobox retrieve release data from outside the article:
- Create an external source that supplies data for latest stable release. To do so:
- Copy and paste the following URL into your browser's address bar, replacing INFOBOX_NAME with the value supplied in
|name=parameter of the infobox:https://wub.wiki/index.php?title=Template:Latest_stable_software_release/INFOBOX_NAME&action=edit&preload=Template:LSR/syntax - In the page that opens, fill in the required information.
- Save the page.
- Copy and paste the following URL into your browser's address bar, replacing INFOBOX_NAME with the value supplied in
- Create an external source that supplies data for latest preview release. To do so:
- Copy and paste the following URL into your browser's address bar, replacing INFOBOX_NAME with the value suppplied in
|name=parameter of the infobox:https://wub.wiki/index.php?title=Template:Latest_preview_software_release/INFOBOX_NAME&action=edit&preload=Template:LPR/syntax - In the page that opens, fill in the required information.
- Save the page.
- Copy and paste the following URL into your browser's address bar, replacing INFOBOX_NAME with the value suppplied in
- In the main article, delete
|latest release version=,|latest release date=,|latest preview version=or|latest preview date=parameters. - Save the article.
- Refresh the article.
Wikidata Method (multi-language, potentially all wikis)[edit source]
With a Wikidata entry, OS version information can be input once, and then automatically transcluded to any Wikipedia in any language, as long as they are using a Wikidata template for their data.
See: Template:Wikidata for usage information
See: Template:Infobox software#Example for a usage example. (The Infobox:software example uses this method.)
Microformat[edit source]
The HTML mark-up produced by this template includes an hCalendar microformat that makes event details readily parsable by computer programs. This aids tasks such as the cataloguing of articles and maintenance of databases. For more information about the use of microformats on Wikipedia, please visit the Microformat WikiProject.
- Classes used
The HTML classes of this microformat include:
- attendee
- contact
- description
- dtend
- dtstart
- location
- organiser
- summary
- url
- vevent
nor collapse nested elements which use them.
TemplateData[edit source]
TemplateData documentation used by VisualEditor and other tools
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See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Infobox software in articles based on its TemplateData.
TemplateData for Infobox software An infobox for computer software
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Tracking categories[edit source]
- Category:Pages using Infobox software with unknown parameters (0)
- Category:Pages using Infobox software with version errors (0)
See also[edit source]
Compatible derivatives
- Template:Infobox programming language(edit talk links history) – programming languages, integrated development environments and development tools
Related[edit source]
- Template:Infobox OS(edit talk links history) for operating systems
- Template:Infobox software platform(edit talk links history) for software platforms
- Template:Infobox video game(edit talk links history) for video games
- Template:Infobox website(edit talk links history) for websites and web applications
- WP:IB - list of infoboxes