Template:Infobox software/doc

Usage

{{Infobox software
| name                   = 
| title                  = 
| logo                   = <!-- [[File: ]] -->
| screenshot             = <!-- [[File: ]] -->
| caption                = 
| collapsible            = 
| author                 = 
| developer              = 
| released               = <!-- {{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| discontinued           = 
| latest release version = 
| latest release date    = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| latest preview version = 
| latest preview date    = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| frequently updated     = <!-- DO NOT include this parameter unless you know what it does -->
| programming language   = 
| operating system       = 
| platform               = 
| size                   = 
| language               = 
| status                 = 
| genre                  = 
| license                = 
| website                = {{URL|example.org}}
}}

Example

The following example is captured on 1 September 2010 from GIMP article and is include only with the purpose serving as an example. Information included in this example infobox are therefore bound to become obsolete as the time passes. Images in this example are published under free licenses.

GIMP

Screenshot of GIMP 2.6
Developer(s)	The GIMP Development Team
Initial release	1996 (1996)
Stable release	2.6.10 / July 8, 2010 (2010-07-08)
Preview release	2.7.1 / June 29, 2010 (2010-06-29)
Development status	Active
Written in	C and GTK+
Operating system	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris
Available in	52 languages in GIMP 2.6, 37 fully translated, others partly translated.
Type	Raster graphics editor
License(s)	GNU General Public License
Website	gimp.org

{{Infobox software
| name                   = GIMP
| logo                   = [[File:The GIMP icon - gnome.svg|64px|Wilber, The GIMP mascot]]
| screenshot             = [[File:Gimpscreen.png|250px]]
| caption                = Screenshot of GIMP 2.6
| developer              = The GIMP Development Team
| released               = {{Start date and age|1996}}
| latest preview version = 2.7.1
| latest preview date    = {{Start date and age|2010|06|29}}
| latest release version = 2.6.10
| latest release date    = {{Start date and age|2010|07|08}}
| programming language   = C and GTK+
| operating system       = Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris
| language               = 52 languages in GIMP 2.6, 37 fully translated, others partly translated.<ref>{{cite web|title=GIMP - Documentation|url=http://www.gimp.org/docs/|date=2001-2009|work=GIMP documentation|publisher=GIMP Documentation team|accessdate=2 July 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://l10n.gnome.org/module/gimp/ |title=GNOME GIMP translation statistics, see GIMP 2.6}}</ref>
| status                 = Active
| genre                  = Raster graphics editor
| license                = GNU General Public License
| website                = {{URL|www.gimp.org}}
}}

---

Parameters

All parameters are optional.

name

Name of the infobox. Usually, it is used to display the name of the software product, but may be anything, as it used as an internal parameter for use with frequently updated parameter, and "Stable release" / "Preview release" fields. When modifying an article which already has an infobox, be careful not to edit this parameter when frequently updated parameter is set to yes. In such cases, if you want to edit the title at the top of the infobox, use the title parameter instead.

ATTENTION: Please do not include a wikilink, hyperlink or image in this parameter. This parameter should be composed of pure text.

title

Name of the software product as displayed above the infobox. When not specified, contents of name parameter will be displayed instead.

Important note: Please do not include an image in this field. Accessibility requirements mandates that this field should contain text that can be read by screen readers.

logo

Code for a small image to be displayed as software product's logo or computer icon. The contents of this field should look like:

[[File:File name.ext|Sizepx]]

Replace Filename.ext with the name of your image and Size with width of your image in pixels. For more information regarding use of images and their syntax, please consult: Help:Contents/Images and media.

screenshot

Code for an image to be displayed as software product's screenshot. The contents of this field should look like:

[[File:File name.ext|Sizepx]]

Replace Filename.ext with the name of your image and Size with width of your image in pixels. For more information regarding use of images and their syntax, please consult: Help:Contents/Images and media.

caption

A caption for screenshot that appears below it. Please include this parameter only when there is an image to display.

collapsible

Whether this screenshot is by default hidden and is only shown when user clicks on a minuscule "Expand" button. Can be set to "yes". Especially useful in case of long vertical screenshot.

developer

Name of the current developer of the software product. It can be either an individual or an organization/business.

author

Name of the original author or publisher of the software product. It can be either an individual or an organization/business. Most of the times, it only needs to be specified when developer field is populated.

released

The date in which version 1.0 (or closely-matching release) of the software product in question reaches its release to manufacturing (RTM) stage. In case the article is about a specific major release of a software product (for instance Internet Explorer 8 or Microsoft Office 2007), this field should contain the date in which that specific major release reached RTM stage. In case the software product is still in development and has not reached its RTM stage, please ignore this field; do not use this field to specify the release date of the first preview/test release of the software product; there is already another parameter for that use.

The content of this field should look like the following:

{{Start date and age|year|month|day}}

In case the article uses DMY as date format, use this code instead:

{{Start date and age|year|month|day|df=yes}}

If you are unsure which date format to use, please consult WP:MOSDATES.

latest release version

The version number of the latest release of the software product. Please observe the following examples:

Example #1: If the article is about a product called Example Software whose latest version is 1.5, specify:

v1.5

Example #2: If the article is about a product called Example Software whose latest release is called Example Software 2008 and whose latest version number is 12.2, specify:

2008 (v12.2)

Example #3: If the article is about Famous Example Software 2010, which is a significant release of a product called Famous Example Software and whose latest version number is 14.0.0.25, just specify:

v14.0.0.25

Example #4: If the article is about Famous Example Software 2010 for which no update is released since its initial release-to-manufacturing (RTM), please omit this parameter unless there is an evidence that it is necessary for the reader to know this number. One reason would be the presence of preview releases of the software product which can only be distinguished from the RTM by their version number.

This parameter and latest release date complement each other but none strictly requires the other.

latest release date

The release date of the latest released version. If no update is released for the software since its initial release, please omit this field; filling in the released field would be enough. The content of this field should look like the following:

{{Start date and age|year|month|day}}

In case the article uses DMY as date format, use this code instead:

{{Start date and age|year|month|day|df=yes}}

If you are unsure which date format to use, please consult WP:MOSDATES.

This parameter and latest release version complement each other but none strictly requires the presence of the other.

discontinued

Whether this product is no longer being developed, thus changing the phrase "Latest release" in the infobox to "Discontinued". For technical reasons, anything for this parameter has the same effect, be it "yes", "no" or anything else. To nullify the effect of this parameter, you need to omit it.

latest preview version

The version number of the latest preview version or development branch. Should only be specified when development of a new version of the software product in question (newer than one specified in latest release version) is in progress. Please consult descriptions for latest release version provided above for best practices of specifying this parameter.

latest preview date

Specifies the release date of the latest preview version or development branch. Should only be specified when development of a new version of the software product in question (newer than one specified in latest release version) is in progress. Please consult descriptions for latest release date provided above for best practices of specifying this parameter.

frequently updated

Specifies whether the infobox retrieves the software product's latest release version, latest release date, latest preview version and latest preview date from outside the article. Users visiting the article may click the numbers directly in the infobox to edit that external source. This mode is very useful for articles about software products whose vendors keep releasing updates or newer versions. With this mode is enabled, users can quickly and effectively edit the release data without affecting the articles.

For technical reasons, anything for this parameter has the same effect, be it "yes", "no", "true", "false" or anything else. To nullify the effect of this parameter, you need to omit this parameter or specify nothing for it. Note however, that if any of latest release version, latest release date, latest preview version or latest preview date parameters are specified, external source will be ignored.

To make the infobox retrieve release data from outside the article:

1. Delete latest release version, latest release date, latest preview version or latest preview date parameters from the infobox.
2. Save the article.
3. Create external source that supplies data for latest stable release. To do so:
   1. Copy and paste the following URL into your browser's address bar, replacing INFOBOX_NAME with the value supplied in name parameter of the infobox:
      https://www.limswiki.org/index.php?title=Template:Latest_stable_software_release/INFOBOX_NAME&action=edit&preload=Template:LSR/syntax
   2. In the page that opens, fill in the required information.
   3. Save the page.
4. Create external source that supplies data for latest preview release. To do so:
   1. Copy and paste the following URL into your browser's address bar, replacing INFOBOX_NAME with the value suppplied in name parameter of the infobox:
      https://www.limswiki.org/index.php?title=Template:Latest_preview_software_release/INFOBOX_NAME&action=edit&preload=Template:LPR/syntax
   2. In the page that opens, fill in the required information.
   3. Save the page.
5. Refresh the article.

programming language

The programming language of that subject of the article.

When specifying the name of the programming language please make sure that you cite your source. If you do not have a source, do not include this parameter.

operating system

The operating system on which the given software product works. Please be as accurate as possible in specifying this parameter (but also be mindful of the length) and avoid specifying vague phrases such as cross-platform or multi-platform. Please consider these examples:

• If the software product works on all incarnations of Unix, Linux, and derived operating systems, please specify:
  • Unix-like
• If the software works unconditionally on ALL incarnations of Microsoft Windows, please specify:
  • Microsoft Windows
• If the software product works only on Windows XP and all subsequent releases of Microsoft Windows, please specify:
  • Windows XP and later
• If the software product works only on Windows XP and all subsequent releases of consumers versions of Microsoft Windows, please specify:
  • Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7
• If the software product is released for various families of different operating systems, (such as specific versions of BSD, Linux, Mac OS and Microsoft Windows) so that listing them in the infobox gives it undue length, please leave the details to article body and specify:
  • BSD, Linux, Mac OS and Microsoft Windows
• If the software is an operating system–independent web application, ignore this parameter.

platform

The computing platform under which the product runs. You might like to include the following information:

• Processor architecture: Some software products only run under a certain processor architecture. The most common architectures are IA-32 (also known as x86, i386 and 32-bit processor), x86-64 (also known as x64, AMD64, EM64T and 64-bit) and Itanium. Unfortunately, these information are very technical. Specially, a lot of people do not know that x86 is not the same as IA-32. For that reason, please consider specifying the following phrases:
  • For software products that run on IA-32 processors, please specify: Intel x86 - 32-bit or IA-32. Do not specify: x86 or 32-bit
  • For software products that run on x86-64 processors, please specify: x64. Do not specify: 64-bit, AMD64, or EM64T
• Software frameworks: Some software products run on the Java platform, .NET Framework, Adobe Flash, Adobe AIR, Microsoft Silverlight, or XUL without regard to the processor architecture. If so, you may ignore processor architecture and instead specify the framework.

Please avoid specifying vague phrases such as cross-platform unless the following conditions meet:

1. The software product has been released for numerous different platforms, so much so that including all of them causes the infobox size to grow unduly large.
2. The article body lists the platforms under which the product runs.

If the above do not meet, then specifying such a vague phrase is the same as not specifying it.

size

Size of the installer package. Only applies to software products that are available via download. For products distributed physically in boxes or other packages, ignore this parameter. Do not forget to include your unit of measurements (i.e. Kilobytes, megabytes or gigabytes).

Note: Use a non-breaking space (" ") to prevent numbers and units of measurements from separating when "word wrapping" occurs. You can also use {{Nowrap}} template to produce the same effect.

language

Lists the Natural languages in which the software product user interface can interact with user. Please do not supply "Multilingual" or such vague phrases which do not add to the knowledge of the reader. When the list of languages is huge AND when those languages are listed in the article body, please specify number of the supported languages instead. Also please do not wikilink the name of languages: Readers are most likely unwilling to read about those languages.

status

The development status of the computer program, such as: Planned, Active, Unmaintained, Discontinued, Stalled, or Abandonware

genre

Type of program. Should be wikilinked to an article such as geographic information system. Please do not use this field to briefly describe the role and function of the subject of the article. For example, instead of "SVG creator, editor and converter", consider using "Vector graphics editor". Instead of "PDF creator, editor, converter and viewer", consider using "Desktop publishing software". Instead of "DWG creator/editor", consider using "Computer-aided design".

license

Type of the software license under which the consumer is allowed to use the product. You may specify it in two forms:

• You may specify a type of well-known license. For example:
  • Proprietary commercial software: Software products which are licensed for use for a price. Most software today are published under this license type.
  • Freeware: Software products which are licensed for use (and sometimes redistribution) but free of charge.
  • Free software: Software products that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form.
• You may specify a well-known licensing scheme, such as:
  • GNU General Public License
  • GNU Lesser General Public License
  • BSD License

Please avoid specifying phrases that makes no sense to the reader such as "Microsoft EULA", "Adobe End-User License Agreement" or "Symantec Terms of License", etc. (Always bear in mind that you are writing the article for those who do not know about the subject and come to the article to gain knowledge. You are not writing Wikipedia articles for your fellow co-editors who already know!)

licence

Same as license. Pick either license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English), not both - select the one which matches the content of the article the template is used in.

website

The web site URL of the software package. This URL must be readable in print. Therefore, you should use {{URL}} template like this: "{{URL|http://www.example.com}}". Avoid using printer-hostile forms like "[http://www.example.com Example website]".