Template:Infobox album/doc

The standard infobox for album articles is the Infobox Album template. The box to the right is an example. You can click on "edit this page" and copy-and-paste the markup to a different article, replacing its information with info on the album you choose to write about.

The infobox code should be placed at the top of the article.

Code
Most articles should only need the following fields (for the full list of parameters see advanced usage). Please note that the field names are case-sensitive:

Album cover

 * Upload a copy of the album cover (under fair use) - Ideally the image should be at least 200px wide (it'll be resized to 200px wide for display anyway).
 * On the image description page, use the image copyright tag.  Selecting "Album cover" from the pulldown list on the image upload page will accomplish this.
 * Fill the template's Cover= line with the name of your file.

If you cannot find a cover image, just leave this line blank. The default, "No cover available," image will display.

Details
Try to fill in as many of the details as you can. If some details are unknown, leave the section blank or fill it with "???" to make it obvious to other editors that the info is needed. Wikilink wherever appropriate.


 * In the name field, the album's title will be automatically italicized.
 * The Longtype field can be used if you wish to include information such as the title of the film that an album is the soundtrack to, or the name of the artist that a tribute album is in honor of. Your text appears between the type and the word "by."
 * The Released date should refer to the earliest known date.
 * Recorded should include details on where and when the album was recorded.
 * In the Length field, it may be helpful to include a source in a comment, such as
 * Label should refer to the Record label the album was originally released on. Where significantly different versions have been released (featuring alternate track listings) e.g. US vs UK, the later release date and/or record label should be mentioned in the article.

If you link any terms, make sure you check your links and disambiguate accordingly. Under the Genre heading (see music genre), for example, "Rock" should link to Rock music, "Alternative" should link to Alternative rock, "Punk" to Punk rock, and so on.

Professional reviews
Please note that the table should only include professional reviews – that is not a precise term (and should, perhaps, be interpreted broadly), but please use your best judgement and do not include reviews from people or groups whose judgement our audience has no reason to respect. See below for some sources of professional reviews. The reviews should be ordered alphabetically. Start each one on a new line, beginning with an asterisk (*).

The first bit of info should be the name of the source (most commonly a magazine like Rolling Stone – note that magazines are italicized); due to their proliferation and dubious value, lists (e.g. Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Punk Rock Albums of the Early 1980s) may not be included. The second bit should be either a rating (e.g. 4/5) or the word favorable or unfavorable (possibly allowing for ambivalent, mixed, extremely favorable and more, but keep it short and simple). You can also use one of the rating templates, for example, entering  , will render:. The third bit is preferably a link to the actual review on an official page; it may also be a summary of the review located elsewhere (if the original publisher doesn't include it online). If there are no online sources, you may include no link at all. The link should display as the date of the review being published, preferably including the page number – even if there is no link, this information should still be included. If you can not find the date of publication, the word link will suffice.

A list of sites for reviews is available at WikiProject_Albums.

Chronology
The chronology section should link to the previous album on the left and the next album on the right. (Only studio albums, usually excluding lives, compilations, singles and EPs.)


 * For first albums the left box (the "Last album=" field) should be left blank.
 * For latest albums, the right box (the "Next album=" field) should be left blank, or with a " . . . ".
 * For final albums, the right box (the "Next album=" field) should be left blank.

Separate the album title and date with. At least one of the two fields, previous or next, must have a value filled in, for the chronology to display.

Wikipedia's date style guidelines recommend that years should not be linked within the chronology section.

Advanced usage
In special situations, additional fields may be applicable. Unused fields may be either left blank, or deleted.


 * Use the Cover size field if you can't find a proper resolution cover (200px or bigger). Fill it with the width of the image you want to use.
 * Compiled by is only applicable to compilation albums of any kind where the person or entity responsible for selecting the album's track listing is known.
 * The Chronology field is useful when the album belongs to an overall series that is not adequately described by the artist's name alone; in these situations, the text entered in this field replaces the artist name that would normally be displayed preceding "chronology". Examples include series of compilation albums compiled by different people, and series of soundtracks (which are often "various artists" collections).

Misc
Two templates exist that can be inserted in the Misc field: and.

Template:Extra album cover
If the album has been released with different album covers, use this format to add them to the bottom of the infobox:

}}
 * Misc       =

Add a second set of closing brackets for the nested template. Caption allows an optional header to be inserted, with an explanatory label. Background, if used, should contain the same color as the rest of the infobox.

Template:Extra chronology
Additional chronologies are generally useful for split records, collaborative records, and series of albums.

}}
 * Misc       =

Format is the same as the standard chronology. As with the Extra album cover template, the Background field should contain the same color as the rest of the infobox.