Template:Category series navigation/sandbox

This is the template sandbox page for Template:Category series navigation (diff).
See also the companion subpage for test cases.

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This template is used on approximately 510,000 pages, or roughly 1% of all pages.
To avoid major disruption and server load, any changes should be tested in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. The tested changes can be added to this page in a single edit. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

This template uses Lua:

About[edit]

{{Category series navigation}} is intended to be a minimal-input, near-universal template for automatically navigating most numerically adjacent categories.

Type Example category BC(E)? Example output

Season

2001–02 FA Cup

No

TV season

Futurama season 1 episodes

–

Office term (regular)

MEPs 2004–2009

No

Office term (irregular)

Wales AMs 2003–2007

No

Numerical range

Taxonbars with 30–34 taxon IDs

–

15–19
20–24
25–29
30–34
35–39
40–44
45–49

Decade

1990s in Scotland

BC

Year

1999 in Scotland

BC(E)

Year (auto-condensed)

Candidates in the 2000 US presidential election

–

Year (|skip-gaps=yes)

Amusement parks opened in 1880

–

Ordinal (temporal)

2nd-century rabbis

BC(E)

Ordinal (numeric)

9th Lok Sabha

–

Ordinal (word)

First Dynasty of Egypt

–

Roman numeral

Deputies of Legislature X of the Kingdom of Italy

–

Mixed decade

1760s in the Province of Quebec (1763–1791)

–

Mixed year

1778 establishments in the Province of Quebec (1763–1791)

–

Searching behavior[edit]

Most multi-year seasons/office terms/numerical ranges are acceptable, as long as the season duration/term length/range size is <= 10, and the gap between seasons is <= 6. For series exceeding either of these criteria, see/use {{Irregular category series navigation}}.

The length of each season is automatically determined from the originating category name, up to and including 10 years. MOS:DATERANGE compliance is preferred, but some deviation is allowed and tracked for regular series with seasons > 1 year long. {{Category redirect}}s are followed, and tracked for either MOS contravention (to be corrected) or for navigational aid (no error). The gap size between successive seasons is also automatically determined, up to and including 6 years, and defaults to 0 (e.g. 1995–96 → 1996–97).

Automatically condensed years are supported for presidential categories only (but can be easily expanded as needed), for gaps up to and including 5 years, and defaults to 1. To skip gaps of up to 30 years in any year categories, use |skip-gaps=yes.

Limitations[edit]

Numerical limitations and AD/BC/E[edit]

Season/office term categories do not work for any years BC, which will be hidden, because no working examples were found.
Decade categories recognize BC, but not BCE, because no working examples were found.
Ordinal & numeral words do not work above the ninety-ninth & ninety-nine, because no working examples were found.

Condensation[edit]

Automatically condensed Olympics display is not supported due to peculiarities; use {{Winter Olympics by year category navigation}}, etc., instead.
Automatically condensed years are supported for presidential categories only, due to their consistency; use |skip-gaps=yes as desired elsewhere.

Work-arounds[edit]

Base-name changes: create at least 2 logically numbered {{R from category navigation}} (1 backward & 1 forward), to join both related series.
Unaccounted-for name+number conventions: where a fixed number is part of the prefix or suffix text, e.g. Chapter 11 bankruptcies, a non-breaking space may force the template to work. See this fix, where {{title year}} skipped over 11 as part of a word rather than a discrete number. (This case has been accounted for and is no longer required in this example.)
General: for large, permanent gaps^† between successive categories, use {{Succeeding category}}, {{Preceding category}}, {{Category pair}}, as needed, in addition to {{Category series navigation}} on both sides, or in the middle, of the gap. Even if {{Category series navigation}} is isolated, it has the benefit of confirming the absence of nearby categories to the reader or maintainer.
^†Permanent gaps, where there is a confirmed permanent absence of data, and not just a temporary, yet to be filled, gap on Wikipedia.