Template talk:United States topics - Wikipedia Template talk:United States topics From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search WikiProject United States (Rated Template-class) United States portal v t e This template is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Unreferenced BLPs Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States articles  Template  This template does not require a rating on the project's quality scale.   Contents 1 Legal history of marijuana in the United States 2 Template title 3 Two types of separators 4 Sport 5 How should we decide what gets included here? 6 indention bug 7 US flag icon 8 Theater? 9 Template size 10 Take the cabinet departments out of the "Uniformed Services" section 11 Reducing width taken by group-plus-subgroup names 12 Colours Legal history of marijuana in the United States[edit] Should Legal history of marijuana in the United States be included in this template? —User:Christopher Mann McKayuser talk 21:35, 19 May 2007 (UTC) Fleshed out the US-specific drug links in the controversies group. Thanks for pointing it out, MrZaiustalk 02:11, 20 May 2007 (UTC) I think that the link to drug policy is enough to cover the subtopics (specific to marijuana). Certainly there are other topics in the template that could be broken down with similar specificity, but I believe this template should serve as a link to summary-style pages that have links to other appropriate titles, not a list of every "n in the United States" articles. As such, I am removing several of the drug-related topics from the template. Madcoverboy 14:48, 20 May 2007 (UTC) Yeah, I suppose it is. Didn't occur to me because I created the page from the US section at Prohibition (drugs) specifically to give me an excuse to group those articles here by topic instead of littering them all over the place alphabetically. ;) MrZaiustalk 15:13, 20 May 2007 (UTC) There is a closing parentheses missing in the "society" section. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 129.110.241.17 (talk) 20:34, August 23, 2007 (UTC) Template title[edit] Currently, the title of this template is "Major topics in the United States". Shouldn't this be "Major topics of the United States", or even simpler "United States topics"? Regards. --Old Hoss (talk) 18:51, 26 February 2008 (UTC) While I see your point, it seems a slight majority of article titles in this template are "in the United States." While most of the section devoted to history seems to favor "of," most of the topics covering current events seem to favor "in." I counted 39 "ofs" and 43 "ins" but... that really doesn't mean anything. An article titled "Plumbers of the United States" would seem to imply it contains a list of famous plumbers, while an article titled "Plumbers in the United States" would seem to imply content on plumbers in general. Ergo, I think it makes more sense to use "of," since this template is indeed a list of major topics of the United States. More importantly, would anyone care if we changed it? --ErgoSum88 (talk) 08:49, 27 February 2008 (UTC) Two types of separators[edit] There are two types of separators: {{·}} and {{•}}. The former should be used in between parenthesized items, with the latter used between main items. I've updated two groups but more remain. 66.167.49.13 (talk) 06:51, 29 March 2008 (UTC). Sport[edit] Should aport not be included in this template? Surely it is an significant as music, film and television. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.200.12.203 (talk) 17:27, 18 April 2008 (UTC) Done. Thanks for the suggestion. --ErgoSum88 (talk) 18:35, 18 April 2008 (UTC) How should we decide what gets included here?[edit] I feel that the inclusion of material here is somewhat haphazard- including "Uncle Sam", the "Puerto Rican independence movement", and "Pornography", while leaving out the "Iraq War", "9/11", and "Feminism". What is our rationale? In other areas of Wikipedia, we rely on reliable sources- I think we should do the same thing here. Nothing should be included here if we can't find a reliable source that declares it to be a "major topic". Also, I'm sure we can find some kind of scholarly history material or other such source that gives a list of what it considers to be "the definitive most-important topics in America". johnpseudo 20:33, 1 May 2008 (UTC) You bring up a good point, it seems this template has the potential to become rather large and stuffed full of links. Policy states navboxes should not be too large or too small. However, I think most of the current links are notable major topics, although I'm not sure there should be more than one link for the Puerto Rican debate (when was the last time that was even in the news?). I'm also not sure if finding reliable sources declaring "major topics of the US" is feasible. I think the general guideline is, broad-scope topics listed with a few major narrow-scope topics nested adjacent. If you want to add 9/11 or the Iraq War to the list of politics, go ahead, I don't think anyone would disagree with you that these are major topics. This list wasn't created by one person and therefore it is haphazard as such. In the end, we decide what gets included here by adding them, discussing them and so on, just like any other part of Wikipedia. --ErgoSum88 (talk) 06:42, 2 May 2008 (UTC) I'd say we should add things that fall under 2 criteria. (1) Only include "X in the United States" articles if there are also articles about X for other countries. (2) Include articles that are emblematic, intrinsic, or unique to the US but are also notable internationally. Madcoverboy (talk) 06:48, 2 May 2008 (UTC) Yeah but what other countries? The US has far more articles than all the other countries. Many countries lack basic articles such as sports or personal income. Also, I don't see why they have to be "notable internationally." If someone from another country wants to learn about the US, they probably already know about the Iraq War and 9/11, but most likely they know nothing about Uncle Sam or our transportation system. --ErgoSum88 (talk) 08:36, 2 May 2008 (UTC) Putting aside my reliable sources complaint for now... would you (Madcoverboy) include something here if it was the #1 most-important thing in the United States, but was hardly known about outside of the US? How could we say this is a complete list of "Major topics of the United States" if it's really just a "Major U.S. topics that are considered important outside of the U.S."? johnpseudo 19:10, 5 May 2008 (UTC) indention bug[edit] Template has an indention bug. if you put the templat in something like: foo [template] ... then the template doesn't allow the succeeding text to revert back to the proper margin. Gonn wrap it in a table till someone else can mess with it. J. D. Redding 12:08, 9 July 2009 (UTC) I've tested and tested this, and I can't find anything wrong with this template. I noticed this template in a Navbox grouping in the United States article. It was noticeably different from the other Navboxes, which is what interested me. Evidently the table wrapping has the effect of shortening the Navbar. I went ahead and unwrapped it, but only after trying to repeat the problem you described. Perhaps if you would somehow describe or demonstrate the problem to me, I can try and fix the template. Best of everything to you and yours!  —  .`^) Paine Ellsworthdiss`cuss (^`.  05:51, 15 September 2009 (UTC) US flag icon[edit] Best. Edit summary. Ever. Normally, I would say that WP:ICONDECORATION discourages this, but I think that the scope of the navbox would make this a good exception to the rule. I would ask that any well-meaning editors not revert this. bahamut0013wordsdeeds 02:00, 5 March 2010 (UTC) Theater?[edit] Should Theater be added to the template, maybe right next to "television/cinema"? Aristophanes68 (talk) 20:13, 29 July 2010 (UTC) Done. Next time, why don't you be bold and add it yourself? bahamut0013wordsdeeds 20:21, 29 July 2010 (UTC) Thanks -- templates make me nervous.... Aristophanes68 (talk) 20:31, 29 July 2010 (UTC) Template size[edit] Is anyone else concern with the size of this template? I dont thin we need to link everything do we? The history section is so bloated its confusing.Moxy (talk) 19:25, 13 December 2012 (UTC) Oh, dear! I agree that it's too big. Navboxes should not be larger than the typical user's display. This template was unwieldy before the recent expansion of the History section, but the current version is most definitely too big. I endorse taking it back to this version that existed two days ago, then discussing further reductions in the history section. Instead of adding detail items like "Progressive Era" and "Assassination of John F. Kennedy" to that earlier template version, we should be removing other items that don't represent major historical periods (like "War on Terror (War in Afghanistan, Iraq War)" and "Timeline of modern American conservatism"). Another measure I'd endorse to make the template more compact would be to consolidate the separate links to "Territorial acquisitions" and "Territorial evolution" (link one or the other of these related pages, not both of them). --Orlady (talk) 21:00, 13 December 2012 (UTC) Why do you think the Progressive Era, a major article on political and social changes, is a mere detail? The historical section failed to provide any connection to "Category:Eras of United States history" nor to the events actually shaping them. I am also rather surprised you feel this rather small template is "bloated" at 14,332 bytes. Template:Timeline history of the British Isles is currently stable at 20,939 bytes. Dimadick (talk) 21:43, 13 December 2012 (UTC) Have move the links to Template:US history. way to many... we can talk about ones that should be there..but templates do not help if they have hundreds of links thats why we have the the history template and Index and Outline.Moxy (talk) [EC]This is not a template for U.S. history, but rather a template for all topics related to the United States, and it is transcluded onto several hundred pages as a navbox. In contrast, the templated timeline of the history of the British Isles is used on two pages, on which pages it provides a large amount of the page content. These are two entirely different purposes for a template. A navbox should be fairly compact so that it can used for navigation; the same requirement does not apply to the timeline. If this were a navbox template specifically for U.S. history, I agree that Progressive Era should be included, but it's a navigational template for all topics related to the United States, and it needs to be somewhat selective. Progressive Era is linked from other pages that are included. --Orlady (talk) 22:06, 13 December 2012 (UTC) I see we have another problem ..this template was spammed all over today to places like Financial crisis of 2007–2008 and Cuban missile crisis. I guess will look over all the edits and start reverting ones that are not related.Moxy (talk) 22:33, 13 December 2012 (UTC) Templates should not replicate Outline of the United States or Index of United States topics (or Index of United States–related articles) or Book: United States This template, being so large, is trying to do that. It should be trimmed to the main points, and subpoints split out to subtemplates for those main points. (etc, until reasonable sized templates emerge) -- 70.24.247.127 (talk) 07:16, 14 December 2012 (UTC) As a comment, while I agree that this template being overstuffed is a problem, I think that this set of links is just homeless and shouldn't be moved to {{US history}}. I reverted the addition of the links there; there's no rhyme or reason for how it's picked; it's something better for the articles mentioned above. I also think that neither template should be carelessly spammed at the bottom of any article that vaguely has to do with US History or US topics - this is a HUGE number of articles which could theoretically imply this can show up anywhere. Template bloat is already a huge problem; people will ignore 6 different collapsed templates, but if the page was maintained to have just 1 relevant template, readers can pay attention. SnowFire (talk) 05:36, 16 December 2012 (UTC) Note that User:Dimadick has now spammed {{US history}} to a horde of topics, something I very much disagree with except for topics where a link to an overview of all US History makes sense (rather than just random historical incidents). These templates should not attempt to pick 50 random overview articles of US History and have them linked from everywhere... there's some more discussion on Template:US history. SnowFire (talk) 19:08, 16 December 2012 (UTC) Take the cabinet departments out of the "Uniformed Services" section[edit] IMO, cabinet departments like Dept. of Homeland Security and Dept. of Commerce don't belong in this part of the template. Keep Coast Guard, NOAA Corps, and Public Health Service Corps, but eliminate their parent agencies. --Orlady (talk) 21:06, 13 December 2012 (UTC) I thought that was such a good idea that I implemented it. --Orlady (talk) 21:14, 13 December 2012 (UTC) Reducing width taken by group-plus-subgroup names[edit] How about this version of the template, modified from here to remove the multiple [show]/[hide] links..? : v t e United States articles History Timeline Pre-Columbian era Colonial era Thirteen Colonies military American Revolution War Federalist Era War of 1812 Territorial acquisitions Territorial evolution Mexican–American War Civil War Reconstruction Era Indian Wars Gilded Age Progressive Era African-American civil rights movement 1896–1954 Spanish–American War Imperialism World War I Roaring Twenties Great Depression World War II home front Cold War Korean War Space Race African-American civil rights movement 1955–1968 Feminist movement Vietnam War Post-Cold War (1991–present) War on Terror War in Afghanistan Iraq War Timeline of modern American conservatism By topic Demographic Discoveries Economic debt ceiling Inventions before 1890 1890–1945 1946–1991 after 1991 Military Postal Technological and industrial Geography Regions Great Plains Mid-Atlantic Midwestern New England Northwestern Southern Southwestern Pacific Western Rivers Colorado Columbia Mississippi Missouri Ohio Rio Grande Other features Cities, towns and villages Counties Extreme points Islands Mountains Appalachian Rocky peaks National Park System States Territories Governance Executive Cabinet Civil service Executive Office Executive departments Independent agencies Law enforcement President Public policy Legislature Congress Senate Vice President President pro tempore House of Representatives Speaker Judiciary District courts Federal courts Courts of appeal Supreme Court Law Bill of Rights civil liberties Code of Federal Regulations Constitution federalism preemption separation of powers Federal Reporter Human rights LGBT Law enforcement United States Code United States Reports Intelligence Central Intelligence Agency Defense Intelligence Agency Federal Bureau of Investigation National Security Agency Uniformed Armed Forces Air Force Army Marine Corps Navy National Guard Coast Guard NOAA Corps Public Health Service Corps Politics Divisions Elections electoral college Foreign policy Foreign relations Ideologies Local government Political parties Democratic Party Republican Party third parties Political status of Puerto Rico Red states and blue states Scandals State governments Uncle Sam Economy Agriculture Banking Companies by state Dollar (currency) Economic issues Energy Federal budget Federal Reserve System Insurance Labor unions Mining Public debt Social welfare programs Taxation Telecommunications Tourism Trade Transportation United States' financial position Wall Street Society Key topics Crime Demographics Education attainment Family structure Health care insurance reform Immigration illegal Incarceration capital punishment International rankings Languages American English Spanish French People Public holidays Water supply and sanitation Social class Affluence wealth American Dream Class conflict Educational attainment Homelessness Homeownership Household income Income inequality Middle class Personal income Poverty Standard of living Social issues Abortion Affirmative action Anti-Americanism Capital punishment Discrimination Drug policy Energy policy Environmental movement Exceptionalism Gun politics Health care reform Illegal immigration Obesity Racism Same-sex marriage Separation of church and state Terrorism Culture Architecture Art Cinema Cuisine Dance Fashion Flag Folklore Literature Media newspapers radio television Music Philosophy Religion Smoking Sports Theater Outline Index Category Portal CsDix (talk) 12:11, 13 January 2013 (UTC) Non-neutral display - templates should present all the links in a neutral manner (meaning all the same size and font).Moxy (talk) 16:59, 13 January 2013 (UTC) Which links are presented non-neutrally – do you mean the section titles and/or group names, or something else..? CsDix (talk) 21:27, 13 January 2013 (UTC) (...continued here: [1]) CsDix (talk) 19:51, 17 January 2013 (UTC) Not a good link - Its clear they have there own plans here. Best to bring this up at WP:USA - as its were they tlak about this (as reflected in there recent change to the template). A conversation at some faraway template does not mean it can be changed all over. I will always object to a format here that is not the stranded and involves more coding and cause the template to waste of space.Moxy (talk) 20:06, 17 January 2013 (UTC) Below showing how much more space the sub section version with its more coding takes up on a page- our goal should be to fine was to reduce the complexity of the coding and to find more compact solutions - not the other way around.Moxy (talk) 21:12, 17 January 2013 (UTC) Side by side comparison {{United States topics}} {{United States topics/sandbox}} v t e United States of America Overviews Outline Index History Timeline Pre-Columbian era Colonial era Thirteen Colonies Colonial American military history American Revolution War Federalist Era War of 1812 Territorial acquisitions Territorial evolution Mexican–American War Civil War Reconstruction Era Indian Wars Gilded Age Progressive Era African-American Civil Rights Movement (1896–1954) Spanish–American War Imperialism World War I Roaring Twenties Great Depression World War II Home front Cold War Korean War Space Race African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968) Feminist Movement Vietnam War Post-Cold War (1991–present) War on Terror War in Afghanistan Iraq War Timeline of modern American conservatism Topics Demographic Discoveries Economic Debt Ceiling Inventions before 1890 1890–1945 1946–1991 after 1991 Military Postal Technological and industrial Federal government Law Constitution Federalism Preemption Separation of powers Bill of Rights Civil liberties Code of Federal Regulations Federal Reporter United States Code United States Reports Legislature - Congress Senate Vice President President pro tem House of Representatives Speaker Judiciary - Supreme Court Federal courts Courts of appeal District courts Executive - President Executive Office Cabinet / Executive departments Civil service Independent agencies Law enforcement Public policy Intelligence Central Intelligence Agency Defense Intelligence Agency National Security Agency Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniformed Services Armed Forces Air Force Army Marine Corps Navy National Guard Coast Guard NOAA Corps Public Health Service Corps Politics Divisions Elections Electoral College Foreign policy Foreign relations Ideologies Local governments Parties Democratic Party Republican Party Third parties Political status of Puerto Rico Red states and blue states Scandals State governments Uncle Sam Geography Cities, towns, and villages Counties Extreme points Islands Mountains Peaks Appalachian Rocky National Park System Regions Great Plains Mid-Atlantic Midwestern New England Northwestern Southern Southwestern Pacific Western Rivers Colorado Columbia Mississippi Missouri Ohio Rio Grande States Territory Water supply and sanitation Economy Agriculture Banking Communications Companies by state Dollar Energy Federal Budget Federal Reserve System Financial position Insurance Labor unions Mining Public debt Social welfare programs Taxation Tourism Trade Transportation Unemployment Wall Street Society Topics Crime Demographics Education Family structure Health care Health insurance Incarceration Languages American English Spanish French Media People Public holidays Religion Sports Social class Affluence American Dream Educational attainment Homelessness Homeownership Household income Income inequality Middle class Personal income Poverty Professional and working class conflict Standard of living Smoking Wealth Culture Architecture Art Cinema Cuisine Dance Fashion Flag Folklore Literature Music Philosophy Radio Television Theater Issues Abortion Affirmative action Anti-Americanism Capital punishment Discrimination Drug policy Energy policy Environmental movement Exceptionalism Gun politics Health care reform Human rights Immigration Illegal Immigration International rankings LGBT rights Same-sex marriage Obesity Racism Interpretation of "Separation of church and state" Terrorism Book Category Portal WikiProject v t e United States articles Outline Index History Timeline Pre-Columbian era Colonial era Thirteen Colonies military American Revolution War Federalist Era War of 1812 Territorial acquisitions Territorial evolution Mexican–American War Civil War Reconstruction Era Indian Wars Gilded Age Progressive Era African-American civil rights movement 1896–1954 Spanish–American War Imperialism World War I Roaring Twenties Great Depression World War II home front Cold War Korean War Space Race African-American civil rights movement 1955–1968 Feminist movement Vietnam War Post-Cold War (1991–present) War on Terror War in Afghanistan Iraq War Timeline of modern American conservatism By topic Demographic Discoveries Economic debt ceiling Inventions before 1890 1890–1945 1946–1991 after 1991 Military Postal Technological and industrial Geography Regions Great Plains Mid-Atlantic Midwestern New England Northwestern Southern Southwestern Pacific Western Rivers Colorado Columbia Mississippi Missouri Ohio Rio Grande Other features Cities, towns and villages Counties Extreme points Islands Mountains Appalachian Rocky peaks National Park System States Territories Governance Executive Cabinet Civil service Executive Office Executive departments Independent agencies Law enforcement President Public policy Legislature Congress Senate Vice President President pro tempore House of Representatives Speaker Judiciary District courts Federal courts Courts of appeal Supreme Court Law Bill of Rights civil liberties Code of Federal Regulations Constitution federalism preemption separation of powers Federal Reporter Human rights LGBT Law enforcement United States Code United States Reports Intelligence Central Intelligence Agency Defense Intelligence Agency Federal Bureau of Investigation National Security Agency Uniformed Armed Forces Air Force Army Marine Corps Navy National Guard Coast Guard NOAA Corps Public Health Service Corps Politics Divisions Elections electoral college Foreign policy Foreign relations Ideologies Local government Political parties Democratic Party Republican Party third parties Political status of Puerto Rico Red states and blue states Scandals State governments Uncle Sam Economy Agriculture Banking Companies by state Dollar (currency) Economic issues Energy Federal budget Federal Reserve System Insurance Labor unions Mining Public debt Social welfare programs Taxation Telecommunications Tourism Trade Transportation United States' financial position Unemployment Wall Street Society Key topics Crime Demographics Education attainment Family structure Health care insurance reform Immigration illegal Incarceration capital punishment International rankings Languages American English Spanish French People Public holidays Water supply and sanitation Social class Affluence wealth American Dream Class conflict Educational attainment Homelessness Homeownership Household income Income inequality Middle class Personal income Poverty Standard of living Social issues Abortion Affirmative action Anti-Americanism Capital punishment Discrimination Drug policy Energy policy Environmental movement Exceptionalism Gun politics Health care reform Illegal immigration Obesity Racism Same-sex marriage Separation of church and state Terrorism Culture Architecture Art Cinema Cuisine Dance Fashion Flag Folklore Literature Media newspapers radio television Music Philosophy Religion Smoking Sports Theater Book Category Portal WikiProject May we have this (good) discussion in one place, please? This seems the most central. Or perhaps there's a better and more public place (not associated with a particular template or project)..? CsDix (talk) 12:07, 18 January 2013 (UTC) A few things on the proposed box on the right: (1) "Governance" should read "Federal Government"; (2) The Coast Guard is defined as one of the Armed Forces under Title 10 of the United States Code, and thus should be included in the parenthetical. -- Foofighter20x (talk) 19:08, 7 June 2015 (UTC) Colours[edit] Shouldn't you give the template the colours of the flag. This is my example of new colours for this template: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Module:Navbox_United_States RainbowSilver2ndBackup (talk) 14:38, 16 June 2019 (UTC) Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template_talk:United_States_topics&oldid=902095636" Categories: Template-Class United States articles Template-Class United States articles of NA-importance NA-importance United States articles WikiProject United States articles Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Template Talk Variants Views Read Edit New section View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Print/export Download as PDF Printable version Languages This page was last edited on 16 June 2019, at 14:40 (UTC). 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