Template:Talk header/doc

This is a documentation subpage for Template:Talk header.
It contains usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original Template page.

This template employs intricate features of template syntax.

You are encouraged to familiarize yourself with its setup and parser functions before editing the template. If your edit causes unexpected problems, please undo it quickly, as this template may appear on a large number of pages.
Remember that you can conduct experiments, and should test all improvements, in either the or your user space before changing anything here.

This template is a signpost. It may be used on talk pages to attract commentary from inexperienced editors, or where there are high levels of debate from everyone. It provides:

A short introduction and appropriate links for newcomers
A reminder of policy to experienced users
A list of links to the current talk page's archives
An optional archive search box

Usage

{{Talk header}}

To add this template to a talk page, just edit the talk page, and put {{Talk header}} at the top of the page.

This template should only be placed where it's needed. Don't visit talk pages just to add this template, and don't place it on the talk pages of new articles. Talk pages that are frequently misused, that attract frequent or perpetual debate, articles often subject to controversy, and highly-visible or popular topics may be appropriate for this template.

By convention, this template goes at the very top of the talk page. However, this is not an absolute rule, and editors should use common sense when deciding its placement.

This template should not be added to otherwise empty talk pages. That changes the "discussion" tab at the top of the page from a "redlink" into a "bluelink", which may mislead people into thinking there is discussion.

For more information on this topic, see the talk page for this template on the English Wikipedia:, including the talk archives and the TfD logs.

Parameters

Full syntax

{{talk header|bottom=no|disclaimer=no|display_title=custom page title|noarchive=no|search=|shortcut1|...}}

Up to five shortcuts can be added to the template, as unnamed parameters, or as named ones (any of |1=, |sc=, |sc1=, |shortcut= or |shortcut1=, then |2=, |sc2= or |shortcut2=, etc., will work). For example, {{Talk header|WP:SHOR|WP:TCUT}}. They will display similar to the {{shortcut}} template, but within the Talk header message box.
When used on a talk page that has archives, links to those archives and a search box will be displayed automatically within this template. To switch the archive links off, use the parameter |noarchive=yes. For example: {{Talk header|noarchive=yes}}. For automatic archive links to be displayed, archives must be named in the standard way. A link to the archive index is also displayed, if it is named "/Archive index". If no archives exist for the current talk page, or if archives exist but possess non-standard names, no archive links will be displayed.
To override the default behaviour for the search box appearance, use |search=yes or |search=no.
On user talk pages, |disclaimer=yes adds an additional banner which identifies the page as being originally from Wikipedia (and modifies the width to suit), matching the style of {{Userpage }}.
To add an additional instructions to "please place new discussions at the bottom of the talk page", use |bottom=yes.
To display a custom page title, use |display_title=custom page title

Hiding the template

If you would prefer not to see this template on any talk page, you can hide it from your view. You'll need to have a named account to do this.

Edit your user style page.
Add a line: #talkheader {display:none;}
Save the change.
Bypass your cache.

Appearance variations

Be aware that this template will appear differently in different namespaces.