Template talk:Election table

Discussion

The edit and discuss links make it easier to edit the table and easier to discuss the election results in the right place. Electionworld = Wilfried (talk 22:02, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

I suppose, but they also have the potential to reduce readability and confuse readers by adding metacontent in unusual places. Then again, given how WP structures its elections articles, the links may be necessary after all...

Or how about leaving only the "Edit" link? Comments/questions are far more likely to be noticed on a relevant article page (Jordan, Elections in Jordan) or a WikiProject page (Wikipedia:WikiProject Elections and Referenda, Wikipedia:WikiProject Elections and Referenda/Overview of results) than the template itself, no? --zenohockey 22:17, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

What would be the best place to discuss: the Elections in Jordan article, the Politics of Jordan article, the Parliament of Jordan article or the article on this specific election. I would really prefer to have the discuss link in. Electionworld = Wilfried (talk 07:04, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

• Can we at least make the edit and discuss links smaller, using <small> or <span style="font-size:80%"> or similar? Or use an existing view/edit template like Tnavbar if appropriate? Wantok (toktok) 01:53, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

Given it's simplicity, this template should just be subst'd. ed g2s • talk 19:23, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

Sortable

This needs to allow class="wikitable sortable" to be specifiable in the table. With all the numeric data in election results it's an obvious feature to have.

Of course it can't be added willy-nilly. Existing transclusions will need to explicitly switch sortability on and add class="unsortable" to any relevant columns. Possible implementations:

1. having sortable as a parameter of this template which would be trigger class="wikitable sortable" inside the table
2. having class as a parameter, passed straight through to the table
3. having table-params as a parameter, passed straight through to the table
4. having a separate Template:Electionsorttable based on this Template

The disadvantage of 3 and maybe of 2 is that the existing table style parameters (border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; text-align:right; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;") could be overridden: does that defeat their standardization purpose? jnestorius^(talk) 13:17, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

The best way is option 4 with a layout as similar as possible to the existing template, I think. Electionworld Talk? 16:00, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

The advantage is it's easy to code up the template. The disadvantage is having to maintain two otherwise identical templates in parallel. jnestorius^(talk) 21:16, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

I know, but what alternative can be made without having to chnage each entry where the template is used. Electionworld Talk? 08:14, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

Lots of templates have optional named parameters. (e.g. Template:cite book, title is the only mandatory parameter) Adding an extra optional parameter with default behaviour if it's absent will work in pre-existing transclusions where the parameter will obviously be absent. The wikicode to make this work is a bit complicated; I'm unsure of it, but I'm sure someone else could code it up easily. jnestorius^(talk) 14:12, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

Do you know whom? Electionworld Talk? 17:58, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

No, but it should be easy to request help once we've agreed on precisely what we're looking for. jnestorius^(talk) 21:38, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

Would it be possible to make these tables sortable (or at least optionally sortable)? --Eleassar ^{my talk} 11:57, 22 September 2008 (UTC)

Second that. Would be useful to be able to sort a long table like MEPs for the Netherlands 2009-2014 by party, by group, by number of votes, or by date of entry into the parliament - basically by every single column. Would adding class=sortable to this template not do the trick? Classical geographer (talk) 14:25, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

I now noticed the topic has been dicussed before, and have moved these last two remarks below the existing discussion. It seems the technology is not as straightforward as I hoped, but adding an optional parameter sounds great - if someone is willing to program it. Classical geographer (talk) 14:28, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

Links

Please change the discuss and edit links to something like "v • d • e" used everywhere. Thanks. This shouldn't be protected. ☆ CieloEstrellado 15:33, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

Query

I dont understand the purpose of this template. Why dont we just build the table in the article space, instead of a template-space? kawaputra^torque 12:01, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Title

In Mozilla Firefox the title bunches around the edges of links. Could someone please fix this. ChrisDHDR 07:41, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Merge

If this is the preferred template, and Template:Election table is not but continues to be used/abused, then merging the two and redirecting the other here should fix any conficts. - Trevor MacInnis (Contribs) 15:11, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Proposed change to edit/discuss links

I propose changing the [edit] [discuss] links to use

{{navbar|{{subst:PAGENAME}}|mini=1}}

which would produce

Any objections? Thanks! Plastikspork (talk) 23:44, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Proposed solution: sortable, v/e/d

{{editprotected}} I've made Template:Electiontable/proposed which adds 3 features. The first 2 are suggested above.

• Changes [edit] [discuss] links to use {{navbar}}.
• Has a {{Electiontable|...|sortable=yes}} parameter if you want to make your table sortable. This is off by default as you need to tweak each template to make this work.
• Allows title to be in the format {{Electiontable|Template name|Title}} in addition to the current {{Electiontable|Template name}} '''Title'''. I'm adding this to make this template use navbar in the same way most of the other templates do.

The changes are backwards compatible: I've tested it on Template:United Kingdom parliamentary election, 2005 and the example code on the page. --h2g2bob (talk) 22:11, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

 Done —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 22:43, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

Talk link

Is there a reason the reader should be prevented from viewing a redirected talk page, when pressing the 'd' link? 117Avenue (talk) 00:02, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Problem with absent metadata

If you look at Colombian presidential election, 2006 you can see that in the absence of a template giving metadata for the party's "shortname" it inserts the text "Alternative Democratic Pole|Template:Alternative Democratic Pole/meta/shortname". Obviously that can be fixed in this one instance by creating the relevant metadata, but is there a way the table can be changed so that in the absence of a "shortname" template, it just inserts the name?--82.35.251.109 (talk) 02:45, 30 June 2012 (UTC)

You want Template:Infobox election, there you'll see that the party_name parameter does what you want. 117Avenue (talk) 05:44, 30 June 2012 (UTC)

View/edit links

The View/edit links look a bit odd. Can we do away with them. They are no used very often anyway (IMO). -- Alan Liefting (talk - contribs) 22:26, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

When this template, is used in a template, that can't be edited from an article, it is appropriate to have a link that can get you there. 117Avenue (talk) 05:22, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

If, for arguments sake, the links were not there editors can still get to the template by other means. It is less convenient but given that the templates only get a flurry of editing when first set up they is no need to have the two links there until the death of the WP servers. How about making it optional? -- Alan Liefting (talk - contribs) 06:01, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

They are already optional, since this doesn't have to be used in a template. But I would suggest against removing them, when it is used on a different page. Sure, we know how to get there, but novice users don't, and on election day that is where the flurry of edits come from. If this becomes a problem, protect the page, but hiding links is sneaky, and not the spirit of Wikipedia. 117Avenue (talk) 02:00, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

Undo

I believe it was the edit at 11:16, 9 January 2015‎ by User:Gadget850 that has messed up the spacing of all the templates on wikipedia. Please do something to revert it. Thank you. Lmmnhn (talk) 19:19, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 19 May 2015

Please either make electiontable a wikitable as per <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Election_table/sandbox&diff=663104224&oldid=642588896>. Note that some styles have been retained. I have tested the changes on the template testcases, however, they are rather uncomprehensive. 87.254.70.96 (talk) 17:08, 19 May 2015 (UTC)

Done - for future reference, please note that you can't have multiple class attributes. Alakzi (talk) 19:46, 19 May 2015 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 23 November 2020

Please fix the code editing as to prevent excess spacing from being rendered above table in transclusions, as can be seen from here, for instance. Hildeoc (talk) 05:13, 23 November 2020 (UTC)

 Not done: I removed a line break in the article, which fixed it for me. Please confirm that looks okay for you too? — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 11:52, 23 November 2020 (UTC)

@MSGJ: Thanks for fixing that! It's fine in the article now. However, I don't get why that single blank line caused the rendering of excess line spacing there. Normally, a single blank line in the source code does not evoke this issue, right?--Hildeoc (talk) 09:24, 24 November 2020 (UTC)

You're right. There is something not quite right about this template. When I substitute Template:2016DCDem a blank line appears even though there is no blank line showing in the wikicode of Template:Election table. I think a visit to WP:VPT may be needed because I can't see what's wrong. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 11:28, 24 November 2020 (UTC)

@MSGJ:  Note: Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)#Template:Election_table.--Hildeoc (talk) 22:23, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

This extraneous linespace may be related to Wikimedia parser bug T18700 where nested templates can lose track of whether output is currently at the start of a line or not. I've seen this with {{taxobox}} and {{clade}}. If it is the issue, then a workaround is placing a <nowiki/> tag before the table in the template, which for some obscure reason prevents the extra line. —  Jts1882 | talk  15:30, 26 November 2020 (UTC)

Add sticky-header option

So that readers can see the headers of a long table without repeatedly scrolling to the top, can an admin please add the option of adding sticky-header as a parameter similar to sortable?

In the wikitext, one must first add {{sticky-header}} before the table and add sticky-header to the table's class.

Thanks, cmɢʟee⎆τaʟκ 14:38, 5 July 2024 (UTC)

Test version in sandbox:

{{Election table|title=Summary of [[Mars|Martian]] election results, 2020 |sticky-header=yes}} |- ! colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Parties ! Votes ! % ! ± ! Seats ! ± |- | style="background-color:#ff0000;" | | style="text-align:left;" | The red party | 6042 | 45.40 | −4.41 | 23 | −2 |- | style="background-color:#00ff00;" | | style="text-align:left;" | The green party | 5678 | 42.67 | +1.23 | 21 | 0 |- | style="background-color:#0000ff;" | | style="text-align:left;" | Free Mars | 345 | 2.59 | +2.59 | 1 | +1 |- | style="background-color:#eeeeee;" | | style="text-align:left;" | None of the above (unfilled seats) | 1242 | 9.33 | +0.59 | 5 | +1 |- ! colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Total ! 13307 ! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| 100% ! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| 50 |}

Summary of Martian election results, 2020

Parties		Votes	%	±	Seats	±
	The red party	6042	45.40	−4.41	23	−2
	The green party	5678	42.67	+1.23	21	0
	Free Mars	345	2.59	+2.59	1	+1
	None of the above (unfilled seats)	1242	9.33	+0.59	5	+1
Total		13307	100%		50

This places the template {{sticky-header}} before the table, but I think this can introduce a spurious blank line when the sticky parameter isn't used. I'll use this example on this page to test a way around this.  —  Jts1882 | talk  16:18, 5 July 2024 (UTC)

@Cmglee: The sandbox version seems to work. Can you test it on the example table you want to use it on or give me the page here?  —  Jts1882 | talk  16:44, 5 July 2024 (UTC)

@Jts1882: Thank you so much for the quick response. I wish to use it on Template:2024_United_Kingdom_parliamentary_election and reproducing it below, it's perfect except that the sticky header did not include the second row of the header. I'm unsure what the best solution is. Cheers, cmɢʟee⎆τaʟκ 17:47, 5 July 2024 (UTC)

P.S. It seems one needs sticky-header-multi instead to handle multiple header rows, and the table must be sortable. Adding both sticky-header and sticky-header-multi generally works but the rendering for multiple header rows is off. May I request another flag sticky-header-multi and let the editor have to decide which one to use (and also add sortable)? Thanks, cmɢʟee⎆τaʟκ 18:08, 5 July 2024 (UTC)

Color Data A B C Red 1 2 3 Lime 4 5 6 Total 22 26 30

Color A B C Red 1 2 3 Lime 4 5 6 Total 22 26 30

Color Data A B C Red 1 2 3 Lime 4 5 6 Total 22 26 30

Color Data A B C Red 1 2 3 Lime 4 5 6 Total 22 26 30

Color Data A B C Red 1 2 3 Lime 4 5 6 Total 22 26 30

 Results of the July 2024 general election to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom (649 of 650 seats declared)

Political party		Leader	Candidates	MPs					Aggregate votes
				Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Of total (%)	Total	Of total (%)	Change (%)
	Labour	Keir Starmer	631	411	220	6	214	63.2	9,698,409
	Conservative	Rishi Sunak	635	121	1	252	251	18.6	6,824,809
	Liberal Democrats	Ed Davey	630	71	63	0	63	10.9	3,501,040
	Scottish National Party	John Swinney	57	9	1	39	38	1.4	708,759
	Sinn Féin	Mary Lou McDonald	14	7	0	0		1.1	210,891
	Independents	—	459	6	6	0	6	0.8	564,243
	Reform UK	Nigel Farage	609	5	5	0	5	0.6	4,114,287
	Democratic Unionist	Gavin Robinson	16	5	0	3	3	0.8	172,058
	Green (England & Wales)	Carla Denyer & Adrian Ramsay	574	4	3	0	3	0.6	1,841,888
	Plaid Cymru	Rhun ap Iorwerth	32	4	2	0		0.6	194,811
	Social Democratic & Labour	Colum Eastwood	18	2	0	0		0.3	86,861
	Alliance	Naomi Long	18	1	1	1		0.2	117,191
	Ulster Unionist	Doug Beattie	17	1	1	0	1	0.2	94,779
	Traditional Unionist Voice	Jim Allister	14	1	New			0.1	48,685		New
	Speaker	Lindsay Hoyle	1	1	0	0		0.1	25,238
	Workers Party	George Galloway	152	0	0	0		0.0	210,194		New
	Scottish Greens	Patrick Harvie & Lorna Slater	44	0	0	0		0.0	90,647
	Social Democratic Party	Clouston William	122	0	0	0		0.0	33,811
	Yorkshire Party	Andy Walker	27	0	0	0		0.0	17,227
	Trade Unionist & Socialist	Dave Nellist	40	0	0	0		0.0	12,562
	Alba	Alex Salmond	19	0	0	0		0.0	11,784
	Rejoin EU	Brendan O'Donnelly	26	0	0	0		0.0	9,245
	Green Party (NI)	Mal O'Hara	11	0	0	0		0.0	8,692
	People Before Profit	Collective leadership	3	0	0	0		0.0	8,438
	Aontú	Peadar Tóibín	10	0	0	0		0.0	7,466
	Newham Independents Party	Mehmood Mirza	1	0	0	0		0.0	7,180
	Heritage Party	David Kurten	41	0	0	0		0.0	6,597
	UK Independence Party	Nick Tenconi (interim)	26	0	0	0		0.0	6,530
	Liberal Party	Steve Radford	12	0	0	0		0.0	6,375
	Ashfield Independents	Jason Zadrozny	1	0	0	0		0.0	6,276
	Monster Raving Loony	Howling Laud Hope	22	0	0	0		0.0	5,814
	Christian Peoples Alliance	Sidney Cordle	22	0	0	0		0.0	5,604
	Scottish Family	Richard Lucas	16	0	0	0		0.0	5,425
	English Democrats	Robin Tilbrook	15	0	0	0		0.0	5,182
	Party of Women	Kellie-Jay Keen	16	0	0	0		0.0	5,077
	Socialist Labour Party	Jim McDaid	12	0	0	0		0.0	3,609
	Liverpool Community Independents	Alan Gibbons	1	0	0	0		0.0	3,293
	Swale Independents	Mike Baldock	1	0	0	0		0.0	3,238
	Hampshire Independents	Alan Stone	10	0	0	0		0.0	2,872
	Communist Party of Britain	Robert Griffiths	14	0	0	0		0.0	2,622
	Democracy for Chorley		1	0	0	0		0.0	2,424
	Independent Oxford Alliance		1	0	0	0		0.0	2,381
	Climate Party	Edmund Gemmell	13	0	0	0		0.0	1,967
	South Devon Alliance		1	0	0	0		0.0	1,924
	British Democratic Party	Andrew Brons	4	0	0	0		0.0	1,860
	North East Party	Brian Moore	1	0	0	0		0.0	1,581
	Consensus		1	0	0	0		0.0	1,289
	Propel	Neil McEvoy	1	0	0	0		0.0	1,041
	Independent Alliance (Kent)		1	0	0	0		0.0	926
	Portsmouth Independents Party	Brian Moore	1	0	0	0		0.0	733
	Cross-Community Labour Alternative	Owen McCracken	1	0	0	0		0.0	624
	Putting Crewe First		1	0	0	0		0.0	588
	Taking the Initiative Party	Nicola Zingwari	1	0	0	0		0.0	503
	Parties with fewer than 500 votes each		TBD
Blank and invalid votes									TBD	—	—
Total			4515	650			0	100	TBD	100	0.0
Registered voters, and turnout									TBD	TBD	TBD

Adding sortable changes the way HTML tables are rendered. Iirc, it adds <thead> and <tbody> blocks to the HTML, which needs differnt CSS styling. There are also differences between skins and mobile view. This makes these templates using CSS and templatestyles tricky. This template has sortable as an option, so I think it best to leave that as an independent option and just add |sticky-header-multi= as a second sticky option. I've set it up with the following logic:

• IF |sticky-header=yes ADD class .sticky-header ELSEIF |sticky-header-multi=yes ADD class .sticky-header-multi ENDIF

So it adds one or the other, but ignores |sticky-header-multi= if |sticky-header= is present. On reflection it may be better to invert that so .sticky-header-multi is set if both are present. —  Jts1882 | talk  08:27, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

Thanks very much, @Jts1882: sounds great! cmɢʟee⎆τaʟκ 12:10, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

@Cmglee: I've being trying to get it to work without class sortable, but now see that {{sticky header}} requires the sortable class. You mentioned this above but I missed that part. So there are two approaches here:

1. Get the template to add sortable when class sticky-header-multi is present. The advantage is that it will work when sticky-header-multi is added. It has the disadvantage that it overrides the |sortable= parameter, which might confuse people.
2. Make it a requirement to add both sortable and sticky-header-multi. This will make it clear how the table should behave, but will require people to read the instructions and remember that both are needed for sticky headers with multiple row headers.

On balance I favour the latter. I suspect in most cases, tables that want sticky headers will already be sortable. —  Jts1882 | talk  08:34, 7 July 2024 (UTC)

@Jts1882: I concur. Another risk of the former is that if a table has only sticky-header-multi and an editor removes it, they might not realise that it is no longer sortable (and might not know how to add only sortable back). Cheers, cmɢʟee⎆τaʟκ 14:28, 7 July 2024 (UTC)