Template:inflection-table-top

The following documentation is located at Template:inflection-table-top/documentation.

Useful links: subpage list • links • redirects • transclusions • errors (parser/module) • sandbox

This template is designed to make it easy to create inflection tables that:

• appear correctly for readers using mobiles and tablets as well as computers
• fit in with the consistent look and feel of Wiktionary
• use contrasting text and background colours that meet accessibility guidelines in both light mode and dark mode
• do not require in-depth knowledge of HTML or CSS syntax on the part of the creator

These templates are not intended to be used directly in entries. Instead, they can be transcluded from inflection table templates.

{{inflection-table-top}} takes the following parameters:

|title=

The title of the inflection table. Defaults to Inflection of PAGENAME if not specified. You can set this parameter to - if you don't want a title at all.

|palette=

Select a color palette from the following options:

grey, red, scarlet, orange, amber, yellow, lime, green, teal, cyan, blue, indigo, purple, magenta, rose, brown

All palettes are currently dark-on-light ("pastel" colours).

The default palette is grey.

|tall=yes (optional)

This should be specified on tables with more than about 8 lines of content. It makes the table collapsible and hidden by default.

|class= (optional)

Use this to apply a CSS class (or classes) to the <div> element that wraps the inflection table. This can be used to influence the table's appearance in a particular way.

The following classes are pre-defined in this template's CSS file:

• wide: This is for tables with 8 or more columns in circumstances where the entries can potentially get quite long. These will usually be verb conjugation tables. This class reduces the font size to 90% of body text.
• very-narrow: This is for tables with numerous columns that contain very short words. It removes the minimum column width restriction and allows cells to become as narrow as they need. This should be used only when absolutely necessary, e.g. for pronoun tables like {{la-decl-ppron}} and {{pdc-decl-personal pronouns}}.
• sticky-left-column: On mobile phones and other narrow screens, this class "sticks" the leftmost column of the table in place when the user scrolls to the right, making it easier for the user to match each inflected form to its grammatical role. This should only be used on tables which have exactly one column of header cells down the left side.
• tr-alongside: For languages in non-Latin script, the transliteration is placed below the term by default. If the inflection table has only one or two columns, you may use this class to place the transcription next to the term instead. See e.g. Armenian իրենք (irenkʻ).

If more than one class is required, separate the class names with a space.

Infrequently used parameters

|category= (optional)

Individual Wiktionary readers can change the initial state (shown or hidden) of collapsible elements on the page using the so-called "default visibility toggles". These Show/Hide toggles are located under a "Visibility" header at the bottom of the page's "Tools" dropdown (left sidebar in non-default desktop skins; very bottom of the page on mobile).

By default, |tall=yes inflection tables are affected by the "inflection" toggle. Set the |category= parameter so a particular table responds to a different default visibility toggle, such as "declension".

|lang= (optional)

You can specify the language code of this inflection table. This is only used for applying a CSS class inflection-table-{{{lang}}} to the table, which may be referenced by scripts or personal stylesheets. It doesn't affect the look or content of the table at all.

|min-width= (optional)

See #Width below.

|vs-category= (optional)

Some very complex templates, such as {{hu-conj}}, require the simultaneous use of inflection-table and view-switcher (class="vsSwitcher") visibility toggles. Set this parameter to (a) enable view-switcher logic on the inflection table, and (b) define the default visibility toggle that the view-switcher aspect of the table should respond to. Example: |view-switcher-category=compound tenses

In between the two templates, write wikitext table syntax to construct the inflection table (see examples below).

{{inflection-table-bottom}} takes one parameter:

|notes= (optional)

Contains notes to be shown at the foot of the table.

Create a new template page and insert the following wikitext:

{{inflection-table-top|title=Inflection of {{m|en||{{PAGENAME}}}}|palette=blue}}
! 
! singular
! plural
|-
! nominative
| {{l-self|en|{{PAGENAME}}}}
| {{l-self|en|{{PAGENAME}}s}}
|-
! possessive 
| {{l-self|en|{{PAGENAME}}'s}}
| {{l-self|en|{{PAGENAME}}s'}}
{{inflection-table-bottom}}

Notice carefully how ! and | have been used at the beginning of each line to create headers and regular cells, respectively.

When you use your new template on the entry carrot, the following table would appear:

These two examples, for a made-up language, show some of the table and cell formatting features, including:

• the use of colspan and rowspan syntax
• class="outer" to format a secondary outer layer of header cells
• class="secondary" to format a secondary inner layer of header cells
• class="separator" to divide the table into sections and guide the reader's eye

Notice that, when using class="separator", you should specify rowspan="999" (for a column separator) or colspan="999" (for a row separator) to ensure the separator divides the entire table.

Example 1

{{inflection-table-top|title=Declension of ''{{{1}}}k''|palette=rose}}
! class="outer" |
! colspan="3" class="outer" | singular
! rowspan="999" class="separator" |
! colspan="2" class="outer" | plural
|-
! 
! masculine
! feminine
! neuter
! masc./fem.
! neuter
|-
! absolutive
| {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}k}}
| {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}ki}}
| rowspan="2" | {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}ka}}
| {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}kezz}}
| rowspan="2" | {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}kizz}}
|-
! ergative
| {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}t}}
| {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}kit}}
| {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}kezzd}}
|-
! possessive
| {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}p}}
| {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}kip}}
| {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}kap}}
| {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}kezzup}}
| {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}kizzup}}
{{inflection-table-bottom}}

Example 2

{{inflection-table-top|title=Conjugation of ''{{{1}}}''|palette=lime}}
! colspan="2" | infinitive
| {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}}}
| colspan="3" rowspan="4" class="blank-end-row" |
|-
! colspan="2" | present participle
| {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}enn}}
|-
! colspan="2" | past participle
| {{l-self|und|{{{2}}}}}
|-
! colspan="2" | gerund<sup>1</sup> 
| {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}et}}
|-
| colspan="999" class="separator" |
|-
! class="outer" |
! colspan="4" class="outer" | singular
! class="outer" | plural
|-
! rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" | first
! rowspan="2" | second
! colspan="2" | third
! rowspan="2" | {{...}}
|-
! class="secondary" | masculine
! class="secondary" | feminine
|-
! present
| {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}a}}
| {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}assa}}
| {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}a}}
| {{l-self|und|{{{1}}}at}}
| {{...}}
|-
! past
| {{l-self|und|{{{3}}}}}
| {{l-self|und|{{{3}}}ssa}}
| {{l-self|und|{{{3}}}}}
| {{l-self|und|{{{3}}}t}}
| {{...}}
{{inflection-table-bottom|notes=<sup>1</sup> Only used in dangling modifiers.}}

(Note, this more complex example also demonstrates the use of class="blank-end-row", which formats the blank cell at the end of a group of rows (between two separators) which does not occupy all the columns of the table. This removes the default white background from that blank cell.)

An example of an inflection table that contains many forms:

{{inflection-table-top|title=Declension of {{m|en||{{PAGENAME}}}}|palette=orange|tall=yes}}
! 
! singular
! plural
|-
! nominative
| {{l|en|{{PAGENAME}}}}
| {{l|en|{{PAGENAME}}s}}
|-

...

{{inflection-table-bottom}}

This template is designed to adapt to the width of its contents without any special effort. However, there are two situations where this can go wrong:

1. Problems arise in "tall" tables where the footnotes are wider than the table itself. As an example, notice that this template varies in width when you show or hide its contents:

   Wide notes example

   one	two	three
   some	sample1	contents

   ¹ These notes are wider than the table itself because of all the information that needs to be included.

   To prevent this, wrap the notes in a <div> element with a maximum width (chosen by trial and error) that just barely fits within the natural width of the template:

   {{inflection-table-bottom|notes=<div style="max-width: 17em">
   <sup>1</sup> These notes are wider than the table itself because of all the information that needs to be included.
   </div>}}
   

   Wide notes example

   one	two	three
   some	sample1	contents

   ¹ These notes are wider than the table itself because of all the information that needs to be included.

2. There are also issues with "tall" tables that have a long title relative to the width of the template. For example:

   Declension of someword

   	singular
   nominative	...
   accusative	...
   dative	...
   ...	...

   Some editors might be tempted to fix this by forcing the title text to stay on one line (using   or CSS nowrap). However, this is a bad idea, because it will prevent line wrapping even on narrow mobile phone screens.

   The best way to solve the problem is to use the |min-width= parameter to {{inflection-table-top}} to specify a minimum width for the entire table. Selecting an appropriate min-width value can take some trial and error. Example:

   {{inflection-table-top|...|min-width=18em}}
   

   Declension of someword

   	singular
   nominative	...
   accusative	...
   dative	...
   ...	...

   The title may still wrap onto a second line for very long lemmas, but that is an acceptable tradeoff.

If you want to force two or more adjacent inflection tables to share the same width, you can use {{inflection-table-block}}. See there for documentation and examples.

The {{inflection-box-top}} template allows you to place two or more independent inflection tables in a single collapsing box. The inner tables can be uncollapsed (as in {{da-conj}} or {{cs-conj-forms}}), collapsing (as in {{qu-poss-noun}}) or mixed (as in {{aa-decl}}).

See the documentation of {{inflection-box-top}} for more information.

To come

• At the time of creation of this template, the majority of inflection table templates on Wiktionary used lowercase grammatical labels ("singular", "present", "nominative").
• Do not include blank cells in inflection tables. Tables with blank cells look incomplete, and this presents an ambiguity to the reader – does the term actually lack certain forms, or have editors simply not yet finished filling in the table? Consider these alternatives to blank cells:
  • Where a form is grammatically impossible (e.g. reflexive nominative) or omitted for some other reason, place — (—) in the cell.
  • If the cell is blank for layout reasons, consider applying class="blank-end-row" to the cell (see above).
  • If a form is genuinely unknown (e.g. in reconstructed proto-languages), consider using a single ? character and offering an explanation in a note.
  • For cells that are waiting to be filled in, you could use the "term request" functionality of the link templates. For instance, in English, {{l|en}} produces .
• Links should be avoided in header cells with class="outer". This is because the contrast ratio between the blue color used for links and these cells' darker background is noncompliant.