Help:Userbox

"SMW:USERBOX" redirects here. For listing of userboxes, see MarioWiki:Userboxes.

This page explains what a userbox is and how to use, alter, and create one.

What is a userbox?

A userbox is a box that describes you, a user. It can represent a multitude of things:

• Favorite game
• Favorite series
• Favorite characters
• Favorite game consoles
• Stuff about you on and/or off the wiki

Many userboxes make up a userbox tower, a bunch of organized userboxes lined up vertically. There are quite a few available already at MarioWiki:Userboxes, but to really express yourself, you may wish to make your own.

Contents of a userbox

1. border sets the outer border color of the userbox (default is black).
2. mainbkgd sets the main background color of the userbox (default is white).
   • maincolor sets the main text color of the userbox (default is black).
3. codebkgd sets the background color of the left side only.
4. codecolor sets the text color of the left side only.
5. code is what goes in the left side of the box, either text or an image.
6. msg is what goes in the right side of the box. Wiki syntax may be used.
   • msgcolor sets the text color of the right side only.
   • msgbkgd sets the background color of the right side only.

The four six-alphanumeric codes above are hex decimal colors.

Code of a userbox

Note: Please know what a hex color is before reading this section. Also see a list of hex colors.

The syntax for the vg-5 userbox above is

{{userbox|border=#FF0000|mainbkgd=#FF5555|codebkgd=#FF0000|codecolor=#000000|code=vg-5|msg=This user is a professional gamer.}}

As revealed by the two squiggly brackets, the syntax is a template. There is also a top and a bottom template to add in-between the userboxes, completing the userbox tower. The code of these templates, one at a time:

Userboxtop

The {{userboxtop}} template opens up a table, aligned to the right, with the header "Userbox Tower" (linking to the userbox page). It sets up the main code.

Userbox

This is where you enter multiple instances of the {{userbox}} template with different parameters for each. There can be as many userboxes as you want, and they will be "stacked" on top of one another in the right-hand table going down, hence where the name userbox tower came from. Each userbox is an individual table inside of a whole tower table.

Userboxbottom

Though you can just as easily type |}, using {{userboxbottom}} denotes the end of the userbox on your user page, making the page source more understandable and consistent. The sole purpose of the code itself is to close the tower table from {{userboxtop}}.

Plain userboxes

Alternatively, {{userbox}} can be used without a tower (no need for the top/bottom template) and the boxes can be grouped however desired. That said, because of varying heights of userboxes, it's highly suggested that you group all plain userboxes together within a table.

Advanced techniques

There are a few steps beyond the normal {{userbox}} style to make your userboxes look unique:

1. Make the border and codebkgd colors the same. This makes the border look like it's coming out of the left side for a cool effect.
2. Set the mainbkgd without setting any other background parameters for a uniform background color throughout the whole userbox.
3. In the code parameter (left side), images are allowed. Be sure that they are only 40x40 max in pixels, or resize it, e.g. code=[[File:Formyuserbox.png|40x40px]].
4. Wrap the text in a span, e.g. <span style="...">Text goes here</span>. Add declarations to the style attribute such as:
   1. text-decoration:underline; to underline the text, or
   2. text-decoration:line-through; for a strikeout effect.