Template talk:Infobox bell/Archive 1

Below is my proposal for fields which the infobox should have. Please suggest any additions or changes you can think of. — Kpalion^(talk) 16:00, 16 November 2018 (UTC)

Parameters list

Name

• Name

Name of the bell in English

• Other name 1, 2, ...

Alternative names

• Named for

Person, place, thing, etc., the bell is named for

Image

• Image
• Image size
• Image caption

Location

• Tower

Many bells are hung in a tower, which is part of a larger building or architectural complex, so it makes sense to add a separate field for the tower.

• Building
• Location

City, village, etc.

• Region

State, province, etc.

• Country
• Coordinates

To be used with Coord

• Map

Map image

• Map caption

History

• Cast

Date/year when the bell was created

• Installed

Date/year when the bell was installed

• Event 1, 2, ...

Dates/years of other events in the bell's history

• Event type

For example: Broken, Recast, Repaired, Reinstalled

• Cast by

Name of the caster

• Commissioned by

Name of the person who paid for the bell

Physical dimensions

• Volume 1, 2, ...

Total and/or of individual parts

• Volume unit 1, 2, ...
• Volume type

For example: Total, Body, Yoke, etc.

• Weight 1, 2, ...

Total and/or of individual parts

• Weight unit 1, 2, ...
• Weight type

For example: Total, Body, Yoke, etc.

• Width 1, 2, ...

Total and/or of individual parts

• Width unit 1, 2, ...
• Width type

For example: Total, Body, Yoke, etc.

• Height 1, 2, ...

Total and/or of individual parts

• Height unit 1, 2, ...
• Height type

For example: Total, Body, Yoke, etc.

Materials

• Material 1, 2, ...

Material of wich the bell or its part is made of

• Material type

Specific part (Body, Yoke, etc.)

Other characteristics

• Hung

How hung (dead, swinging, full circle)

• Manner of striking

For example: external hammer, clapper, clocked clapper

• Operation

Manual or automatic

• Musical note
• Earshot
• Earshot unit

Additional fields

• Website
• References

Suggestions

1.4 History

You need to allow for recasting. English practice (and probably elsewhere, but I know about England for certain) is to preserve the metal and inscriptions where possible. Some bells have been recast 4 or 5 times over their life. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 16:27, 16 November 2018 (UTC)

This is what "event" and "event type" fields could be used for (e.g., event_type1 = Recast | event1 = 1823). Or do you mean there should be a separate field specifically for recasting? — Kpalion^(talk) 17:02, 16 November 2018 (UTC)

Fair enough, I'll assume that the finished documentation would make that clear! ;-) Martin of Sheffield (talk) 17:27, 16 November 2018 (UTC)

1.7 Other characteristics

Add parameters for how hung (dead, swinging, full circle) and how struck (external hammer, clapper, clocked clapper). Martin of Sheffield (talk) 16:27, 16 November 2018 (UTC)

Great ideas! Added. — Kpalion^(talk) 17:02, 16 November 2018 (UTC)

Comment - @Kpalion and Martin of Sheffield: something to keep in mind is just how much information really belongs in the infobox versus in the article. For example, if a bell was cast, hung, taken down for cleaning, rehung, taken down and recast, rehung, taken down and polished, rehung, etc... That may all be worth mentioning in the article, but do you really want a list of 10 dates in the infobox? I'm exaggerating to make a point here... But remember that the infobox is supposed to be a quick glance way of seeing the basic statistics about an person/place/thing. Make sure you don't fall down the rabbit hole of including too much information in the box. My 2 cents, when in doubt, leave it out of the infobox, particularly for a first iteration! We can always come back and add more later. As a good barometer, if you are creating a new infobox for an object, take 10 of those objects and find what attributes all 10 have. So in this case we are looking at bells. Find 10 articles about bells. What attributes do all 10 of them have, or at least most of them? If 75% or more of the articles have an attribute (size of the bell, location it is hung, date it first rang, etc) that is definitely worth including. However, if less than 25% of the articles have an attribute (date declared a historic relic of the region, method bell was destroyed, last person to see the bell before it vanished, etc.) That information probably doesn't belong in the infobox, though it absolutely can and should go in the body of the article! Again, I'm exaggerating here and being a bit satirical with last person to see the bell before it vanished but I hope you get what I'm saying. You guys are doing a great job, just trying to help. If you have any quesitons, don't hesitate to {{ping}} me! :-) --Zackmann (^{Talk to me}/_{What I been doing}) 21:25, 16 November 2018 (UTC)

I've said as much when dealing with other templates. It is an interesting balance between providing enough flexibility to cover required options without encouraging blind filling in of all available parameters. Ultimately we have to rely on the common sense of editors to be selective. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 09:09, 17 November 2018 (UTC)

Notes

Let's do it

Zackmann08, I think it's time to make the first draft of the template. Could you please go ahead, using the suggestions above? Considering your comments, I agree that infoboxes should not be overloaded with information, but I also agree with Martin that we should make the template possibly flexible and leave the decision about which fields to use to editors of individual articles. Please let me know, if you need any input from me about the details. — Kpalion^(talk) 14:22, 27 November 2018 (UTC)

@Kpalion: I'll get started on this soon. If you don't hear from me in the next 24 hours do me a favor and drop me a {{ping}} to remind me? I've got a number of irons in the fire at the moment and don't want to forget about you guys. :-) --Zackmann (^{Talk to me}/_{What I been doing}) 17:54, 27 November 2018 (UTC)