Template talk:Colored link

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Template:Colored link is indefinitely protected from editing as it is a heavily used or highly visible template. Substantial changes should first be proposed and discussed here on this page. If the proposal is uncontroversial or has been discussed and is supported by consensus, editors may use {{edit template-protected}} to notify an administrator or template editor to make the requested edit. Usually, any contributor may edit the template's documentation to add usage notes or categories.

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This template was considered for deletion on 2017 January 22. The result of the discussion was "do not merge".

Protected edit request on 4 August 2024

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Enable optional mw-no-invert for contexts that require preserved colors in dark mode. On Template:Shades of black, for example, I want the header to display as black on white text in dark mode, but if I enable mw-no-invert for the header, it will affect only the background because the title calls this template.

Shades of black

Bistre	Black	Black bean	Black Coral Pearl	Black olive	Charcoal	Charleston green	Cool black	Davy's gray	Dim gray

Ebony	Eerie black	Eggplant	Eigengrau	Gray	Jet	Jungle green	Licorice	Midnight blue	Midnight blue (Crayola)

Milky way	Olive	Onyx	Outer space	Raisin black	Rich black	Russian violet	Smoky black	Super black	Taupe

Vantablack

A typical sample is shown for each name; a range of color-variations is commonly associated with each color-name.

–LaundryPizza03 (d c̄) 23:34, 4 August 2024 (UTC)

Done Sohom (talk) 08:55, 5 August 2024 (UTC)

How to recreate this template in WikiText

How do I recreate this template in a MediaWiki Wiki using WikiText? I can't find sources (that aren't blocked) online about such, so please tell me.

Thank you.
2603:6011:6700:4C46:347C:82E7:5B72:3F7 (talk) 01:27, 17 May 2025 (UTC)

Underline by default

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Because you can't tell by color that links created with this template are links, there should be a different way to know that they are links. The only way to do that is underlining them, so I request to change the first line of this template so that

[[:{{{2}}}|<span class="tmpl-colored-link {{{{{|safesubst:}}}#if:{{{noinvert|}}}|mw-no-invert|}}" style="color: {{{1}}}; text-decoration: inherit;">{{{3|{{{2}}}}}}</span>]]<noinclude>

becomes

[[:{{{2}}}|<span class="tmpl-colored-link {{{{{|safesubst:}}}#if:{{{noinvert|}}}|mw-no-invert|}}" style="color: {{{1}}}; text-decoration: underline;">{{{3|{{{2}}}}}}</span>]]<noinclude>

sapphaline (talk) 10:52, 14 October 2025 (UTC)

Completed. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. – welcome! – 17:09, 14 October 2025 (UTC)

Tysm!! sapphaline (talk) 19:21, 14 October 2025 (UTC)

Happy to help! Paine 19:26, 14 October 2025 (UTC)

Was this really necessary? Just feels like more of a personal preference than something that's genuinely helpful to have the underlines there by default, but I strongly disagree with the change and think that it looks like overkill – there's nothing wrong with working out that the coloured links are links by hovering over them instead of having unnecessary extra formatting (if it ain't broke...); please revert the change and achieve more of a consensus for this first. 4TheWynne (talk • contribs) 15:13, 16 October 2025 (UTC)

This may be a good change, but I don't think this was an uncontroversial change. This code change has significantly changed the look of thousands of navboxes and sidebars, especially in their headers, such as {{Reggae}}, {{Big Sky Conference navbox}}, {{Amtrak South Carolina stations}}, and {{Olympiacos B.C.}}. Linking to this discussion from a MOS page is probably appropriate. – Jonesey95 (talk) 15:32, 16 October 2025 (UTC)

there's nothing wrong with working out that the coloured links are links by hovering over them - you need to know that something is a link before you hover over it. sapphaline (talk) 18:08, 16 October 2025 (UTC)

I have reverted this because we now have a mismatch of things underlying and not underlined in various places. Is the intent to do this for all Category:Text color templates? Was there a wider talk about this? Because obviously this is being contested now.Moxy🍁 18:22, 16 October 2025 (UTC)

we now have a mismatch of things underlying and not underlined in various places - yes; that's intentional. Is the intent to do this for all Category:Text color templates? - no, because these aren't (shouldn't be) used for interactive elements (links), so they shouldn't indicate that you can interact with them. sapphaline (talk) 18:33, 16 October 2025 (UTC)

I'm wondering if there's a better solution here.... as being underlined does not indicate a link to the average reader. Perhaps best to add a lnk symbol that people would be familiar with in the real world like a Arrows (Unicode block)? Moxy🍁 18:49, 16 October 2025 (UTC)

being underlined does not indicate a link to the average reader - why do you think so?

And I think we should continue at Wikipedia:Village_pump_(proposals)#Underline_links_colored_with_Template:Colored_link_by_default. sapphaline (talk) 18:57, 16 October 2025 (UTC)

I understand in the real world an underlying word may indicate a link..... but it's simply not so here in Wikipedia because we use color to indicate links and no links etc. that being said in my view we should not be using color links at all for accessibility concerns as mentioned in multiple pages in our MOS. Good to see a wider talk happening.... will let the community make a decision. And then whatever outcome I'll implement it here. Moxy🍁 19:00, 16 October 2025 (UTC)