Template talk:Kbd
Template usage
Given the variety of different ways to achieve the same input as well as the variety of different ways of representing those methods with this template, wouldn't it be a good idea to provide some more detailed examples of the preferred usage of this template?
When I made some changes to articles using this template, I initially changed the template usage to what I thought was "the standard", but quickly realized that there were many different ways of using this template and a clear standard had not be set by the articles using this template. Here are some of the usages that I noticed variations on:
- Shift vs. uppercase characters. The examples given on the {{kbd}} page by Paxed seem to prefer using shift + x, although that's most likely just because he was wanting to demonstrate that the template could handle up to 4 keys at once. I prefer the uppercase character method as for the reasons Tjr has mentioned, but mostly just because it's more compact.
- Using this template extended commands. I think that this template should not be used for extended commands, since this template seems to be oriented towards keys instead of commands, but I did see this usage, so it's something to discuss.
- Combining multiple key strokes, such as 100s. As long as there is no confusion between a single key name such as ctrl and a sequence of key strokes such as ctrl, this probably isn't an issue other than in linking, which can be turned off when using the template this way.
I'm not wanting to change the standards or even press other editors into using a certain standard, I'm simply trying to determine a standard that I can use, since I wasn't able to find a clear standard in the articles that use this template. Although if all interested editors can agree on a certain standard for certain usages, I'd be happy to see a note of that in the description of this template of even in the style guide if editors feel it's important enough.
--Dptr1988 02:35, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
- I think we should have a standard (if we reach consensus, that is).
- Do newbies really know what ^x means if they have no experience with MS-DOS? --Tjr 02:49, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
- I think that ^x (or ^ + x ?) is more obscure for most readers than the ctrl + x notation, but that we could easily clarify it in the ^ page if it was needed, so I don't think that obscurity would be much of an issue in this case. If the ^x notation is chosen, the situation of multiple keystrokes grouped in a single template parameter would need to be addressed. Wikipedia has list of notations [1] if anybody is interested to see what is commonly used.
- For people that have not had experience with case-sensitivity being an issue, it could be argued that the uppercase notation in shift vs. uppercase could be obscure. And since making a note of the case significance in the page for each character would probably not be as simple as it would be in the case of the ^ character, obscurity would be a bigger concern in the shift vs. uppercase issue.
- --Dptr1988 03:15, 2 January 2011 (UTC)