Template talk:Character

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Contents 1 Ajahs? 2 Replacing 3 Physical descriptions 4 At your service 4.1 final form? 5 A couple of bugs... 6 eWoT links... 7 Automatic affiliation.. 8 Category:S ? 9 Small Change in rank 10 Aes Sedai fields 11 Darkfriend formatting 12 Infobox and character flags 13 Infoboxed 14 Character colors

[edit] Ajahs?

Should we bother to make note Ajahs with this template, or just have rank=Aes Sedai ? Gherald _{(talk) (contrib)}

I think Aes Sedai is sufficient, since the article will list their Ajah if known. There's maybe cause for putting their Ajah in parenthesis, but that's a lot of extra work for little gain IMO. nae'blis _(talk) 18:12, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, that was my thinking too, Naeblis. Just noted something to that effect on the discussion page on Aes Sedai. :) I'd also like to see to adding templates to the rest of the Aes Sedai pages (which I started in Nov).

Moridin_2000

[edit] Replacing

The template:infobox character design will likely replace or deprecate this template, so please go comment on / help out with that. --Gherald 21:07, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Since this never happened, what I expect is that {{infobox character}}'s updates will get folded into this template, preventing us from having to recode every character page already started. -- nae'blis 17:58, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

Hmmm. I checked and the "infobox character template" looks pretty good. Although you can improve it to change color according to the alliegence of the character. Light/Dark. And If Aes Sedai then which Ajah. I'm pretty sure I can incorporate those changes. But I won't do so unless you allow me to of course. One more thing. I think the name would be better if it was Character Infobox and not the other way around. - Zero - Talk 13:55, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Physical descriptions

Until the infobox template becomes standard, I'm making a quick update to the hair and eye headings, to give us a bit more freedom for adjectives. Aristoc 12:52, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] At your service

So tell me what you want. This will be easy. - Zero - Talk 04:21, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

Cool. I've never gotten the hang of using conditionals in templates. The biggest thing I want to be able to do is tie categorization into use of the template; if someone's title is "High Lord", they should sort automatically into Category:High Lords, for example. But if it's empty, it shouldn't try to add a bogus category. Tear/Tairens, etc will be a problem obviously, but hopefully you've dealt with something like that before.

I also dearly would love to have anyone with a value in the death variable to sort into a category, whether it's Category:Deceased or whatever we end up calling it (I'm open to suggestions, as I'm not sure it's useful to sort people from hundreds of years ago into it).

Ooookkkkaaaayyyyy. That's a biggie. Ive never done that either. Let me see what I can come up with. Hey wait! I just got an idea! I think I got it. Write: <includeonly>[[Category:{{{title}}}]]</includeonly>. That might work. Put whatever the name of the field you have instead of title. It all might amount to the same thing. Of course this is all still Theoretical. It would have to be tested before we can be sure. - Zero - Talk 16:53, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

Nah, it's definitely not that simple; this'll require use of the if syntax, possibly nested. If that's outside your skillset, that's cool. Take a look at Faile Bashere for a page where it's not working well right now. -- nae'blis 18:25, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

Hmmm. I'll see what I can do. But did you try what I said? I really think that works too. - Zero - Talk 18:35, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

It works in the sense that it does what it tries to do; it doesn't work (or didn't a few days ago) in the sense that it tries to categorize the page even if nothing exists for that field (death date for example, or title). All <includeonly> does is keep it out of the Template:character page. -- nae'blis 20:18, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

Hmmm. Putting a | after title and before the triple braces (}}}) might remove that problem. See if that works. - Zero - Talk 05:41, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

As for <includeonly>. That is the purpose of that tag. - Zero - Talk 05:42, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

I think I have fixed the deceased problem that was bothering you. But you'll have to check to make sure. Tell me here whether it is fixed or not. - Zero - Talk 17:49, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Actually, Scratch the last two sentences of my last post. I checked myself. It works as it should. I can guarantee it. - Zero - Talk 17:54, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Right now the death parameter is programmed so that if no value put in it then Category:Living will be used, if unknown or Unknown is used the Category:Status Unknown will be used and if any other value is input then Category:Deceased will be used. The Categories can still be changed. - Zero - Talk 18:00, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

So... anything else? Come on. I'm raring to go. - Zero - Talk 18:01, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! Sorry, I don't have everyday access. What do you think about the nationality problem? (Tear vs. Tairen, Arad Doman vs. Domani, etc)? -- nae'blis 16:26, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

I'm a recent user here. You're gonna have to be a little more explanatory. - Zero - Talk 16:33, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Actually, before we get to that, is there any good way to prevent Category:Deceased from showing up when the death= tag is not used at all? See Annoura Larisen for an example, or Rand al'Thor. Not everybody puts in all blank tags when they use a template...

Also, I removed Category:Living for now, as that's not really noteworthy (to me). -- nae'blis 16:44, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Well that seems to have fixed it. But I think that the Living Category should be added. It may not be important to you but if death is important then so is life. - Zero - Talk 17:53, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Cool, if that fixes it, I won't fret about it. It doesn't seem to be working on Be'lal at all right now, though. I'm just concerned that ancient characters we don't have an exact death date for will get miscategorized... -- nae'blis 18:25, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Its programmed to put anything in death category if any other data is added other than the ones already specified for living and Status Unknown. So you can write Died in Tear and it would be the same thing. - Zero - Talk 20:02, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Okay, apparently my computer wasn't keeping up with all the changes. Looks like it's working now... -- nae'blis 20:21, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Well. It seems like i fixed it. Sorry I can't do any better than this. All the character pages will have to be updated though. - Zero - Talk 09:03, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

Actaully scratch that last one. I managed to figure out the problem. Now it's fixed. I figured out that as long as the parser function was within the hidden structure it would give problems if the field was not called at all. But if put outside the structure, it would work even in that case. - Zero - Talk 09:24, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

I've also created the Category:Living Page. Be patient. It will take a while for the system to compile a list of all the pages. - Zero - Talk 09:38, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

There is one thing I should mention. Each field can carry only one value. using commas to specify a second value will result in a new category being made. So remember that. - Zero - Talk 13:46, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

[edit] final form?

So there was no way to do it without the new variable? That's okay, maybe we can hijack it for separating out mythical/ancient peoples, too... I'm inclined to let the template sit for a day or two while it tries to repopulate, before messing with it too much further. Next fields might be ajah and marital status (I had one other one the other day, but I've forgotten it now). -- nae'blis 14:15, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

We should probably not try to edit hundreds of entries if we're just going to have to go back over them again in a week or two to add more parameters. I'm not sold on ajah yet, but maybe we can repurpose one of the other variables. I do think a relationship parameter would have value. How long do you think it would take to incorporate the color-changing aspects we were talking about on Template_talk:infobox character? -- nae'blis 17:35, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

A few days or weeks maybe. Depends on the amount of info added. First we have to decide what data, in which field, will trigger what color. - Zero - Talk 05:50, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

[edit] A couple of bugs...

Was trying to figure out what was happening to the template on the Verin Mathwin page. Brackets were popping up all over the show. I think it is because Far Madding and Aes Sedais (a typo) weren't part of the template, because other pages seemed to be OK. I'll add in Far Madding and fix the typo and see if that helps.

She also appears in the 'gender unknown' category! I assume that creating that page will give a list of all the characters that have no sex entered in the template? Moridin_2000 13:15, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

I believe so. - Zero - Talk 17:51, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

I've fixed all the pages for Aes Sedai in which the above problems occur now. There are now no 'gender unknown' entries for the character template. I think there are a few Seanchan, Whitecloaks and other major characters that may have the same problem with additional brackets though. The only way of telling is by checking all the character pages to date, but not that many outside of the Aes Sedai that I have already done use templates. - Moridin_2000 18:23, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

The Additional Brackets only occur if someeone enters a linked text into the field. Example: [[Aes Sedai]]. Don't do that and simply write the text then the template automatically links it. Example: Aes Sedai. - Zero - Talk 00:28, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

Yep, but the problem was more that the pages had already been linked to on many of the templates that had already been created. Altering the template code made all of those links redundant and so the extra brackets popped up where there had been none before. I'll not add the extra brackets into any new usage of the templates, but it is still necessary to go back and check all the pages on which that template had been used previously.

Moridin_2000 01:26, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

I had started to do that but then I was told to wait until the template was fully ready before doing it. - Zero - Talk 06:46, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

Well most of the pages need revisited anyway to add more content. If any new categories are added it will take less time because there will be only one line to edit in the template. Like with the 'Gender Unknown' a page can be made to find all the ones that need changing pretty quickly. It also only picks up on the pages that already have templates, so the more character pages with templates the better. :) Moridin_2000 10:48, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

That's why I added the Gender Unknown Category. To winnow out the pages without Gender specified. - Zero - Talk 10:12, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

[edit] eWoT links...

..although I'm not a fan of linking to their stuff, someone should check out the links for the template. They don't work for me. They need to be fixed or removed if it is broken Moridin_2000 22:54, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

In what way are they breaking for you? I noticed a very few breaking, which then were able to be fixed by use of the ewot variable. A separate problem seems to be that EWoT and Firefox don't play nice anymore.... -- nae'blis 16:29, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Yep, that is maybe it. I do use Firefox. When I click any of the links to the characters, it tries to load the page and the simply times out. Accessing eWoT normally through favourites seems to work without any problems, however. Moridin_2000 22:32, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Fixed the problem with bad ewot links. Still trying to figured out how to do history characters. I think I might change it so you must enter history in the name ie. ewot = history lews therin.--Optimous 15:48, September 10, 2009 (UTC)

OK so instead you put ewothist= then the name if it is a character from history.--Optimous 16:26, September 10, 2009 (UTC)

Last thing I fixed was Ogier characters will now lead to ogier section of ewot.--Optimous 01:31, September 11, 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Automatic affiliation..

..is there any way that someone could edit the template so that the automatic affiliation is disabled for some entries. I want to enter 'Pedron Niall' as the affiliation of Geofram Bornhald, but that results in him being added to the as-yet-nonexistent category of 'Pedron Nialls'. Moridin_2000 00:59, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

OK, I just took out the section of the code that added the automatic categories. Any categories we don't have in the switch code will have to be added later when they crop up, but I think we have it mostly covered anyway. Any other entries to the affiliation field will appear as a link to the page. Moridin_2000 13:04, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Category:S ?

Why is this appearing?

http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/Category:S

I can't figure it out.... Moridin_2000 12:34, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

Figured out what was wrong. No entry for the occupation field results in being added to this category Moridin_2000 15:56, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Small Change in rank

So I changed that the rank in the character will not lump together the rank I.E. Lan has multiple titles and I thought we wouldn't want it to have on page name Lord of the Seven Towers, Dai'shan, Uncrowned King of Malkier. But actual seperate pages for each. The bad thing is that you have to manually put the [[ ]] around things. But i thought taking the effort is alright.--Optimous 15:37, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Those are titles, not ranks. Rank should be left blank in this case. Perhaps we could have one field, "title", that displays Title: and puts the [[ ]] around, and another field, titles, that displays Titles: and requires the [[ ]] to be typed out for each one when you use the field. --24.240.33.109 15:42, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Ah good idea. I will go about changing it then.--Optimous 17:41, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Aes Sedai fields

Should we be listing them as Occupation: Aes Sedai, Title: Aes Sedai, or Rank: Aes Sedai? More than one is redundant. I don't think Aes Sedai should be a title for our purposes, it's not unique enough. So I'm leaning towards Rank. This would free up Occupation, which would be empty for most but could be filled in for those that play a particular role more interesting that what Aes Sedai in general or those of that particular Ajah generally do. (e.g. I don't think "Healer" would be worth adding to all Yellows)

I agree it is redundant. So Rank is a good idea.--Optimous 18:01, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

I had trouble figuring it out too when i did a lot of the entries for Aes Sedai. I kept title as Aes Sedai because I saw it as the equivalent title of 'Doctor' in real life. Verin Mathwin has earned the right to call herself Verin Mathwin Aes Sedai (or even Verin Sedai), not Verin Mathwin, Aes Sedai. That is why I construed it as being a title. It is an honorific title.

I decided to leave out Rank in most of the Aes Sedai because I saw it more as a military thing. I possibly used rank for Sitters to denote the fact that they were higher up in the hierarchy.

With occupation, I see the problem in that it isn't specific enough. Some Aes Sedai have their own occupations like mediator or librarian. Removing this is a good idea because it means we can include more Aes Sedai in subsets like librarians that are shared with non-channelers. Moridin_2000 12:36, September 20, 2009 (UTC)

Opps so with the Aes Sedai template Occupation = blank, Title = Aes Sedai, and Rank = Aes Sedai. Is that correct. Will go through and changs them if thats the case. Sorry I think i went back changing some others u had already done --GuanYu79 20:56, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Right now my thinking is Occupation=usually blank (but not, if they have a special one). Title= blank, unless they have a special one. Rank=Aes Sedai for most, rank=Sitter for those.

[edit] Darkfriend formatting

How about do something different for characters that serve the Shadow? A dark black border around the name, or around the whole infobox, perhaps? Thus all characters (darkfriend or not) would have the usual colors suited to their nationality/ajah/race/station, but have something else distinctive to indicate they're darkfriends/black ajah/etc. --Gherald 20:10, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Infobox and character flags

Ok few things.

1. Should I change this template completely to look more like this one: Template:Infobox character. I think it looks cleaner/neater. Also I was thinking of getting rid of people being able to change the color of the templates and just go by the information. Like if the character is a darkfriend it could be a dark version of that template. And change for ajahs and if those are not there we could go by nationality. If thats not there we could have a default.
2. Should I change it so that the image of the character will check(second after to see if an image is being sent in)the nationality of the character and just use the flag of that country? Or should we stick with the chapter icons?

OPTIMOUS 18:23, September 25, 2009 (UTC)

I don't think we ever actually intended to have both templates active, one was just being used to test features that could be used in the other. So if you want to redirect that one to this (and fix anything that process breaks), it should be fine. However I may not be understanding your question... -- nae'blis 18:39, September 28, 2009 (UTC)

My question is can I make our current character template look like the infobox character cause it looks nicer--OPTIMOUS 21:54, September 28, 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Infoboxed

Alright I made it look like an infobox because it looks cleaner and I made the colors based on the information of the character. The colors can't be changed. I can change this later if we want. But I think this looks better. Also we don't have to change any characters pages.--OPTIMOUS 05:30, October 1, 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Character colors

So I was thinking about adding more colors to more nationalities like the Sea Folk and Aiel. Any other ones I should add colors too? And what colors I should use?--OPTIMOUS 16:45, October 9, 2009 (UTC)