Template:Reflist/doc

This citation template provides formatting and organizational features for footnotes. It encapsulates the tag used by the  MediaWiki extension to show the list of references as defined by  tags. It adds support for a reduced font size, columns, groups and.

Parameters

 * First unnamed parameter:
 * column-count: a natural number specifying fixed columns into which the reference list is to be rendered. Example: 2.
 * column-width: a typographic unit of measurement such as em, specifying the width for the reference list columns. Example: 30em.
 * refs: used with.
 * group: identifies by name the subset of references to be rendered; the value should correspond to that used inline, e.g., renders all references with groupname as the group name . There are five pre-defined group names that style the list differently. See § Grouped references below.
 * liststyle: specifies the style used when the reference list is rendered. The default is a numbered list. When set, it will override the style set by the group parameter, without affecting group functionality. See § List styles below.

Obsolete
These parameters are obsolete and should be removed or replaced when encountered.
 * colwidth: same as specifying a column-width for the first unnamed parameter.
 * close: Until 2014 the parameter 1 was used to work around a bug involving multiple uses of Reflist on the same page.

Usage
{{markup|title=Using only footnote-style references
 * Lorem ipsum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.

Columns

 * Browser support: Internet Explorer 10+, Firefox 2+, Chrome 4+, Safari 3.1+, Opera 11.1+

Using will create columns with a minimum width of 30 em, allowing the browser to automatically choose the number of columns based on the width of the web browser. Choose a column width that is appropriate for the average width of the references on the page. A width measurement must conform to the format given in CSS 2.1 Syntax and basic data types: Lengths; in particular, there must not be a space between the number and the unit.

Using will force creation of a two-column reference list, and  will force creation of a three-column list, and so on. This feature is now deprecated in favor of the option described above, which is better suited to flexible formatting for a variety of display screen sizes, ranging from mobile phones and tablets to wide-screen "cinema" displays. Forcing a fixed number of columns has been disabled in mobile view.

Widows and orphans
The use of columns can result in widows and orphans, where a citation at the bottom of a column may be split to the top of the next column. MediaWiki:Common.css includes CSS rules to avoid list items from breaking between columns. Widows may still show in extreme circumstances, such as a reference list formatted in columns where only a single reference is defined.

{{markup
 * Lorem ipsum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.

Practices
The number of columns to use is up to the editor, but some major practices include:
 * 1 column (default): Where there are only a few ; see
 * 30em: Where there are many footnotes plus a page-width Bibliography subsection: see
 * 20em: Where are used; see.

Examples
{{markup|title=Two columns
 * Lorem ipsum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.

List-defined references
A list of references may be defined within Reflist using the refs parameter, just like including named  elements inside the  container. This has been available since September 2009. There are new error messages associated with this feature, documented at Help:Cite errors, including one for references defined in Reflist but not used within the body.

Example
{{markup
 * This is reference 1.

This is reference 2.

Grouped references
As of June 2008, the footnotes system supports the separation of references into groups. This allows groups for explanatory notes, table references and the like.

The general format for the reference tag is:



And using group for the reflist:


 * Where groupname is a group identifier such as "notes", "nb" or "label".

Predefined groups
There are predefined group names that automatically set the labels in the footnote markers and the reference list to other styles. Thus, setting  will set the group to   and will style the reference list with lower alpha characters. The matching footnote marker can be formed by . This is made easier by a series of templates to set the group/label styles for the footnote marker and the reference list:

List styles
As noted in § Predefined groups, there are predefined groups that automatically add list styling. Using the listed templates is more convenient than using liststyle.

Reference lists are by default numbered lists. By using the liststyle parameter, you can control how the list is rendered. For example, using upper-roman will result in references being labeled with Roman numerals instead of decimal numbers. The parameter accepts any valid CSS value defined for  as shown below.

It is possible to use liststyle so that the labels for the footnote marker and the reference list marker differ. This should be used with care as it can be confusing to readers. For example:

Image flow issues
When an image is inserted to the left of the reference list, the list may flow under the image, clipping the reference numbers or hiding them behind the image frame, depending upon the browser.

{{markup
 * Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.

Font size
The font size should reduce to 90% for most browsers, but may appear to show at 100% for Internet Explorer and possibly other browsers. As of December 21, 2010, the standard tag has the same font styling. The smaller font may be disabled through.

Browser support for columns
Multiple columns are generated by using CSS3, which is still in development; thus only browsers that properly support the multi-column property will show multiple columns with Reflist.

These browsers support CSS3 columns:
 * Gecko-based browsers such as Mozilla Firefox
 * WebKit-based browsers such as Safari and Google Chrome
 * Opera from version 11.10 onward
 * Internet Explorer from version 10 onward

These browsers do not support CSS3 columns:
 * Microsoft Trident-based browsers including Internet Explorer through to version 9
 * Opera through to version 11

Supporting CSS
Reflist uses a CSS rule in MediaWiki:Common.css to set the font size:

One of the following classes is assigned by the template when either column count or column width is set:
 * and  (where   is the number of columns)

The following CSS properties are utilized using the column-count and column-width templates:
 * CSS3 standard
 * CSS3 standard
 * Mozilla CSS extension
 * Mozilla CSS extension
 * Webkit CSS extension
 * Webkit CSS extension

Customizing the view
By editing your CSS, the personal appearance of the reference list can be customized. From Preferences, select the Appearance tab, then on the selected skin select Custom CSS. After editing and saving, follow the instructions at the top of the page to purge. See WikiDevi:Skin for more help.

Font size

The font size for all reference lists defaults to 90% of the standard size. To change it, add:

Change 90% to the desired size.

Columns

To disable columns, add:

Similarly, to force all reference lists to a certain number of columns, change the number to the desired ammount.

Column dividers

To add dividers (rules) between columns, add:

You can alter the appearance of the dividers by changing the values.

Perennial suggestions
Collapsing and scrolling

There have been a number of requests to add functionality for a collapsible or scrolling reference list. These requests have not been fulfilled due to issues with readability, accessibility, and printing. The applicable guidelines are at MOS:SCROLL. Links between the inline cite and the reference list do not work when the reference list is enclosed in a collapsed box.

To display the reference list in a scrollbox or collapsed per user, see Help:Reference display customization.

For discussion on previous attempts to do this with a template, see the discussions for Scrollref and Refbox.

Including the section title

There have been suggestions to include section header markup such as. This is inadvisable because:
 * There is no standard section name; see WP:FNNR.
 * When transcluded, the article will have an edit link that will confusingly open the template for editing.