Encyclopedia:Timeline standards

Template:For Template:WikiProject style advice This page describes a standard layout to use when adding millennia, centuries, decades, or years to the history timeline. Any comments on changes to this format should be added via Wikipedia Talk:Timeline standards. There is a proposal for changing the current standard (shown below) on the talk page and there is a recently closed survey on years pages here.

See also: WikiProject Days of the year (template for day pages)

Scope

Articles for the year AD 999 and earlier should be redirected to the relevant decade. Articles for the year 1700 BC and earlier should be redirected to the relevant century. Articles for the year 4000 BC and earlier should be redirected to the relevant millennium.

Layout for year pages

Here is the format for the Year pages. Note: Wikipedia:WikiProject Years is working on minor updates for this version.

Infobox

Each year should have an infobox at the top right. The templates will be the template Template:Tl followed by the template Template:Tl (or applicable centuries template).

<syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext">Template:Yearbox Template:C21YearInTopic </syntaxhighlight>

Intro section

The first sentence in the introduction explains that the page is for a year and not a number. This statement should only be included if the number is on the List of numbers page. The second introduction sentence will describe the year (a link to a calendar) and the type of calendar the year belongs to. The following sentence lists any official designation the year has.

Template:About

2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. It was designated the:

* International Year of Rice (by the United Nations)
* International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO)
* Year of the Monkey (by the Chinese calendar)

</syntaxhighlight>

Sections

Events

The events section is divided into months, each month has a calendar at the beginning and lists any important events that occurred. The month header once linked to the particular month in the year (if the page exists, e.g. January 2004), but doesn't anymore. Every item links to the day.

Events

January

January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt, killing all 148 aboard.
January 4
- Mikhail Saakashvili wins the presidential elections in Georgia.
- NASA's MER-A (Spirit) lands on Mars.

February

February 1 – A hajj stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills 251 pilgrims.

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

</syntaxhighlight>

Births section

The Births section list births in that year, divided into month section. Each entry links to the day page, has a very short description of the person, and links to the death year if known. There may be other restrictions as to who may appear, but absent other consensus, the person must have a'Wikipedia article.

Births

January

January 21
- Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway
- another name, American author (d. 2005)
January 31 – another name, Polynesian King (d. 2003)

February

</syntaxhighlight>

Deaths section

The deaths section begins with a see also statement, and follows the same format as the births section: Month section, day link, name, and birth year link if known.

Deaths

Template:For

January

January 27 – Jack Paar, American television show host (b. 1918)

December

December 28
- Jerry Orbach, American actor (b. 1935)
- Susan Sontag, American writer and activist (b. 1933)

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More

It has not yet been decided what else will be included on the year pages. Many currently have sections for awards, fiction, external links etc. These sections may be removed (or more likely moved to a separate page to be included on the infobox) later, but for now the following form can be followed to close out the page.

Layout for decade pages

The format for the Decade pages is out of date and will soon be replaced with the current format.

Layout for century pages

Here is the format for the century pages

1st century BC – 1st century – 2nd century – other centuries

Events and trends

Significant people

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

Decades and years

0s BC	9 BC	8 BC	7 BC	6 BC	5 BC	4 BC	3 BC	2 BC	1 BC
0s		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10s	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20s	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30s	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39
40s	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49
50s	50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59
60s	60	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69
70s	70	71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79
80s	80	81	82	83	84	85	86	87	88	89
90s	90	91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99
100s	100	101	102	103	104	105	106	107	108	109

End of format for the century pages

Layout for millennium pages

Here is the format for the millennium pages

Infobox Each millennium should have an infobox at the top right. The templates will be the template Template:Tl

Template:Millenniumbox </syntaxhighlight> Intro section The first paragraph in the introduction explains the start date and end date for the millennium as well as the type of calendar the millennium belongs to. Editors may choose to explain what the millennium is not as popular dating often conflicts with official dating. It is recommended that editors then attempt to summarize the essence of the millennium in a few paragraphs, similar to other Wikipedia articles.

Sections

Civilizations can be divided by continent and organized in columns <syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext">

Africa

Asia

Europe

Americas

Oceania

</syntaxhighlight> Events and trends The events section can be divided into centuries. Care should be taken not to list every important event of the millennium, but choose those that best represent the overall trends of the period.

Events and trends

11th century

yyyy Event 1
yyyy Event 2
yyyy Event 3

12th century

yyyy Event 1
yyyy Event 2
yyyy Event 3

13th century

yyyy Event 1
yyyy Event 2
yyyy Event 3

</syntaxhighlight>

Significant people can be divided by continent and century. Care should be taken to provide representative examples from each century and each continent whenever possible. The following table may serve as a guide.

Significant people of the millennium
	Africa	Asia	Europe	America	Oceania
11th Century
12th Century
13th Century
14th Century
15th Century
	Africa	Asia	Europe	America	Oceania
16th Century
17th Century
18th Century
19th Century
20th Century

</syntaxhighlight>

Inventions, discoveries, introductions can be grouped together into subtopics such as science, mathematics, communications, transportation and warfare.

Centuries and decades

11th century	1000s	1010s	1020s	1030s	1040s	1050s	1060s	1070s	1080s	1090s
12th century	1100s	1110s	1120s	1130s	1140s	1150s	1160s	1170s	1180s	1190s
13th century	1200s	1210s	1220s	1230s	1240s	1250s	1260s	1270s	1280s	1290s
14th century	1300s	1310s	1320s	1330s	1340s	1350s	1360s	1370s	1380s	1390s
15th century	1400s	1410s	1420s	1430s	1440s	1450s	1460s	1470s	1480s	1490s
16th century	1500s	1510s	1520s	1530s	1540s	1550s	1560s	1570s	1580s	1590s
17th century	1600s	1610s	1620s	1630s	1640s	1650s	1660s	1670s	1680s	1690s
18th century	1700s	1710s	1720s	1730s	1740s	1750s	1760s	1770s	1780s	1790s
19th century	1800s	1810s	1820s	1830s	1840s	1850s	1860s	1870s	1880s	1890s
20th century	1900s	1910s	1920s	1930s	1940s	1950s	1960s	1970s	1980s	1990s

More: Close the page with something similar to the following: <syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext">

References

Template:Reflist

Template:Millennia

</syntaxhighlight>

End of format for the millennium pages <syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext">

External link

Template:Commonscat </syntaxhighlight>

End of format for the Years