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Columns are currently supported only by newer versions of Gecko-based browsers (such as Mozilla Firefox) and WebKit-based browsers (such as Google Chrome and Safari). All versions of Internet Explorer through to version 9 and Opera through to version 11 do not support columns. See below for more information.
This template encapsulates the <references /> tag to show the list of references defined by <ref></ref> tags, with some formatting. It reduces the font size and has options for columns and groups. References can be defined within the body of the article or within the reference list.
The <ref></ref> and <references /> tags are part of the Cite.php MediaWiki extension.
Usage
Using only footnote-style references
==Content==
Lorem ipsum.<ref>Source name, access date, etc.</ref>
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.<ref>Source name, access date, etc.</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
Using only bibliographical style references (no direct references from the text)
==Content==
Lorem ipsum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
==References==
{{Refbegin}}
* reference 1
* reference 2
{{Refend}}
Using both footnote-style and bibliography-style references
Using {{Reflist|2}} will create a two-column reference list, and {{Reflist|3}} will create a three-column list, and so on. Choose the number of columns that is appropriate for the average width of the references on the page.
Using {{Reflist|30em}} will create columns with a minimum width of 30 em, allowing the browser to automatically choose the number of columns based on the width of the web browser. Choose a column width that is appropriate for the average width of the references on the page.
The use of columns can result in widows and orphans, where a citation at the bottom of a column may be split to the top of the next column. There are CSS3 selectors that could resolve this, but they are not yet supported by any major browsers.
Reference lists are by default numbered lists. By using the |liststyle= parameter, you can control how the list is rendered. For example, using |liststyle=upper-roman will result in items being prefixed with roman numerals instead of decimal numbers. The parameter accepts any valid CSS value defined for list-style-type as shown below.
The citations in the reference list will show the default decimal styling if:
The value for |liststyle= does not exactly match one of the predefined values
If {{Reflist}} is used multiple times without a parameter, each instance will include all of the previously defined references. To force the parser to close previous references, each use of {{Reflist}} must be forced as a new instance by the use of any parameter. If no parameter is desired, the convention is to use the undefined parameter {{Reflist}}.
A list of references may be defined within {{Reflist}} using the |refs= parameter, just like including named <ref name=". . ."> elements inside the <references> container. This has been available since September 2009. There are new error messages associated with this feature, documented at সহায়:Cite errors, including one for references defined in {{Reflist}} but not used within the body.
Example
This is reference 1.<ref name="refname1" />
This is reference 2.<ref name="refname2" />
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="refname1">content1</ref>
<ref name="refname2">content2</ref>
}}
The LDR group text is to avoid conflicts with other groups of references in this documentation and would not be present in real use.
Grouped references
As of June 2008, the footnotes system supports the separation of references into groups. This allows groups for explanatory notes, table references and the like. See ৱিকিপিডিয়া:REFGROUP.
Where groupname would be a group identifier such as "note", "nb" or "label".
There are three pre-defined group names that will automatically cause the link labels and this template to display other characters instead of numbers (see List styles above). These are: "lower-alpha" (a, b, c...), "lower-greek" (α, β, γ...) and "lower-roman" (i, ii, iii...) and must be written without quotes.
The font size should reduce to 90% for most browsers, but may appear to show at 100% for Internet Explorer and possibly other browsers.[4] As of December 21, 2010, the standard <references/> tag has the same font styling. The smaller font may be disabled through বিশেষ:Preferences → Gadgets → Disable smaller font sizes of elements such as Infoboxes, Navboxes and References lists.
Chrome 13 has display issues with colwidth parameter.
Multiple columns are generated by using CSS3, which is still in development; thus only browsers that properly support the multi-column property will show multiple columns with {{Reflist}}.[5][6]
By editing your CSS, the personal appearance of the reference list can be customized. From Preferences, select the Appearance tab, then on the selected skin select Custom CSS. After editing and saving, follow the instructions at the top of the page to purge. See ৱিকিপিডিয়া:Skin#Customisation (advanced users) for more help.
Font size
The font size for all reference lists defaults to 90% of the standard size. To change it, add:
You can alter the appearance of the dividers by changing the values.
Bugs
Note that, whereas {{Reflist|15em|group="e"}} works as expected, {{Reflist|15em |group="e"}} (with an extra space) currently does not display in columns.
Perennial suggestions
Collapsing and scrolling
There have been a number of requests to add functionality for a collapsible or scrolling reference list. These requests have not been fulfilled to due to issues with readability, accessibility, and printing. The applicable guidelines are at MOS:SCROLL. Links between the inline cite and the reference list do not work when the reference list is enclosed in a collapsed box.
