Template talk:Yearlist

When do eras begin and end?

Since the displayed era is automatically determined by the template, a central question is when do eras begin and end? Currently the template uses the dates in the BattleTech eras article (revised as of July 2, 2009):

• STAR LEAGUE: 2598 - 2781
• SUCCESSION WARS: 2782 – 3049
• CLAN INVASION: 3050 – 3061
• CIVIL WAR: 3062 – 3066
• JIHAD: 3067 – 3081
• DARK AGE: 3082 - current

These dates can be easily changed if there is a consensus for the correct date. Discussions should be made here or on the talk page of BattleTech eras. --Ebakunin 21:30, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Ebakunin, I think you know I'm a big fan of your yearlist template. The need to upgrade the site was predicated on making it the best it could be, and I think you achieved that. I say, feel bold and start populating. There is no reason /not/ to have the yearlists, and any changes -I presume- can be made remotely by changing the template itself.

I think you provided a well-written template guide, as well.

May I recommend calling the period of time 3082-3131 the Era of the Republic, or Republic Era, until the actual name is canonized? --Revanche ^{(talk|contribs)} 22:58, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Is there some way you can make an announcement to encourage editors to start adding the template? Otherwise this'll take forever.

About the Republic era – I'll ask if CGL has a formal name in mind on their forums. Thanks a lot. --Ebakunin 23:15, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Wow, that was unexpected. According to Herb Beas, God of Nukes, Fire, and Death (and BattleTech's Line Developer), the Dark Age started with the end of the Jihad and the defeat of the Blakists. I'll mention this over on the BattleTech eras article and make the necessary changes. (I wonder if that was a minor spoiler :P) --Ebakunin 00:13, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

How's that? --Revanche ^{(talk|contribs)} 00:23, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

I don't know about Herb's answer, he been indirect alot of the answers he's been given lately because their gage order on future products. The comment would likely sound like they haven't decided yet. They may just call it Dark Age for sake of brand questioning. Jihad novels may have yet to come out, but war is half way over. They'll likely do stories in Republic Era soon enough. However, this limited age names may end up confusing things with different era mixed in there. So if they do something in Age of War, they'll call it Star League. Personally, i don't like it. -- Wrangler 17:54, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

I'm not too crazy about it either, but he gave a definitive answer and he's the boss :P --Ebakunin 18:11, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

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{{PAGENAME}}

Have you considered using the {{PAGENAME}} code in your timeline tags? At the least, it would save the user from having to type in the year, and there is a way to use math to account for the adjoining years. Here is example I use on my private wiki that has the previous and next year bookending the center column that depicts the century and decade, all using the {{PAGENAME}} code:

{| class="browser" align="center" border="2" style="background:#BDBDBD; text-align: center"
|-
| class="prev" width="75"|[[{{{1|{{#expr:{{PAGENAME}}-1}}}}}]]
| class="topic" width="125"|[[{{nth|{{#expr:(({{PAGENAME}}-({{PAGENAME}} mod 100))/100)+1}}}} century]]<br />[[{{#expr: {{PAGENAME}} - ({{PAGENAME}} mod 10)}}s]]
| class="next" width="75"|[[{{{2|{{#expr:{{PAGENAME}}+1}}}}}]]
|}

--Revanche ^{(talk|contribs)} 16:19, 15 June 2009 (PDT)

Thanks a lot Revanche. It's a great idea, and I've rewritten the template to automate the entire process. The trial template is called template:yearbox alt. You can see it in action here: 3133.

The template itself looks awful when the {{PAGENAME}} is not an integer. This can be fixed with the {{#iferror}} parser function, but I'm unsure whether it's been installed since I can't get it to work in any manner. Would you please check and see whether this extension is available. Thanks for the help. --Ebakunin 10:06, 16 June 2009 (PDT)

Glad I could help. Seeing your efforts sparked a memory of my having done something similar (albiet more simple). However, I'm not at all an expert at coding; I poke, borrow and steal code I see doing something similar to what I want and attempt to get it to work for me. I feel stupid for pointing you to the Version page, because with your skill I assume you know about it, but if you don't, it shows what extensions are loaded. If you don't see anything that relates to that, post a request to Nic's page. When you do, I'll email him with a request to take a look at your request (as it would improve the wiki considerably). Sorry I can't be more help. --Revanche ^{(talk|contribs)} 14:00, 16 June 2009 (PDT)