Template:comic discussion/doc

This documentation page is transcluded inside Template:comic as its documentation, so everyone can edit it.

The template {{comic discussion}} has an associated sandbox, available at {{comic discussion/sandbox}}. See also {{comic}} and {{comic/sandbox}}.

Usage

This template is compatible with dark mode.

This template is used to embed the talk page at the bottom of every explanation. On every page other than the MediaWiki:mainpage, it prints three quick action buttons (add a comment, start a new topic, and refresh), a "Discussion" heading, and a box transcluding the page's talk page, or a prompt to start one.

Explanation Improvement Project tracking

This template also records the outcome of a page's nomination for This Week's Explanation for Improvement (twefi), using the following optional parameters:

• twefi, either yes (the nomination went ahead and this page was featured) or no (the nomination did not go ahead).
• date, a month and year if the nomination, such as October 2026, matching a section anchor on the project page. Both twefi and date are expected to be set once a nominated explanation has either been selected or failed.
• old and new, optional permanent revision IDs shown as a link in the talk page banner to illustrate how much the explanation changed. Any combination works: if both are given, a diff link between the two revisions is shown; if only one is given, a permanent link to that revision is shown instead.
• |1= through |10=, optional improvement suggestions shown as a collapsible iconed list inside both talk page banners, in the same format as {{incomplete}}. The list is collapsed by default. At least |1= must be given for the list to appear.

This tracking is currently limited, on purpose, to the single test page 186: Console Lines, so the feature can be checked before being rolled out to every comic. On that page only:

• if twefi=yes and date are both given, the discussion box turns green, a green, borderless notice recording the successful week is added below it, the page is added to Category:Successful nominations for This Week's Explanation for Improvement, and a small star indicator linking to explain xkcd:Explanation Improvement Project#Past successful nominations Is added next to the page title.
• if twefi=no and date are both given, the discussion box stays its normal blue, a grey, borderless notice is added below it instead, the page is added to Category:Unsuccessful nominations for This Week's Explanation for Improvement, and the star indicator links to explain xkcd:Explanation Improvement Project#Unsuccessful nominations Instead.
• if only 1 parameter is given or twefi is anything other than yes or no, a red warning asks the editor to fix the template parameters.
• If the page is currently the TWEFI and these parameters aren't given, a red warning asks the editor to add them.
• Otherwise, nothing happens.

Examples

See an example of how it works in explain xkcd:This Week's Explanation for Improvement: 186: Console Lines. And see how it works on a previous successful (380: Emoticon) or unsuccessful (unixkcd) nomination.

=== Current TWEFI === {{:{{TWEFI}}}} === Past successful TWEFI === {{:380: Emoticon}} === Past successful TWEFI=== {{:1975: Right Click}}