Introduction to User Interest Lists

Welcome to User Interest Lists!

A User Interest List serves the same purpose as a Userbox: telling visitors who Users are, what languages they speak,
and their basic interests.

Unlike Userboxes:

• They keep personal information about users on User pages rather than elsewhere
• They do not use fair use or copyrighted images
• They allow for greater personal creativity and expression
• They can't be deleted by others who may not like them
• They aren't subject to long, angry deletion debates over images and content
• They are simpler, so you can quickly get back to editing the encyclopedia

In addition:

• They are COLORFUL! CUSTOMIZABLE! Etc.!
• You can still use some User boxes (if you wish) by simply placing the code for the templates under the List table.

Examples of User Interest Lists

• User:Nhprman
• User:Kurtan
• User:Lakinekaki
• User:Gadren
• User:Ian3055
• User:Mingus ah um
• User:Pvoerman

Very nice Examples!! (add your name here, too!)

How to make them

User Interest Lists are very easy to make. (These directions will assume you have only very basic knowledge of editing. For advanced Wikipedians: Go down to the "Getting Started" section below, hit "edit," copy the stuff between the words "pre", paste it to the top of your User page, and start customizing!) Others, keep reading.

List Lines are composed of two lines of Wiki table language that you can learn easily:

The first is the "style" line:
|- style="background:blue"

• which consists of a "background" which determines the color of the Line.
• to change the color of text in a Line, add color:name within the quote marks:

|- style="background:blue color=white"

The second is the "text" line:
| Likes to [[<insert here>]].

• which is what you want people to see as text in the Line, and can support Wikilinks to articles.

A text line is really just one of these things, usually located above your "Enter" key, if you "Shift": | A style line is just that line, with a dash after it: |-

1. Getting started: take the template

First, add the text in the gray box below to your User page.

To begin, open up your Userpage in a new window (or a new Firefox tab.) Then open up your User page and select "edit."

Copy-and-paste the Starter Template below (be sure to get all the text) into the top of your User page. Then "Show preview."

When you've done this, go to step 2, below.

{| border="0" cellpadding="2" align=right
!width="300" style="background:silver" | MY USER INTEREST LIST:
|- style="background:white;" align="center"
| '''''This Wikipedia User...'''''
|- style="background:navajowhite"
| Is a native speaker of [[xxx language|Name here]], who speaks a very little [[xxx language|Name here]] and even less [[xxx language|Name here]].
|- style="background:lightcyan"
| Lives in [[<city/state/province>]], a region of [[<state/province or larger region>]] in the nation of [[<nation name>]].
|-style="background:red; color:white"
| Drives a(n) [[<insert car name>]].
|- style="background:yellow"
| Is interested in [[<list your hobby here>]].
|- style="background:palegreen"
| Has been editing on Wikipedia since [[month day]], [[20xx]]
|- style="background:lightskyblue"
| Likes to edit Wiki articles on [[<insert article name or favorite editing interest>]].
|- style="background:orange"
| Has visited [[<place1>]], [[<place2>]], [[<place3>]].
|- style="background:aquamarine"
| Likes [[<insert interest here>]].
|- style="background:lightsteelblue"
| Enjoys reading [[<insert genre>]].
|- style="background:palegreen"
| Is interested in [[<type interest>]].
|- style="background:mediumaquamarine"
| Likes author [[<insert author name>]].
|- style="background:lavender"
| Wants to visit [[<place name>]] one day.
|- style="background:goldenrod"
| Is engaged in [[<insert your job here>]].
|- style="background:lightblue"
| Is <not> involved heavily in [[Sports]].
|- align="center"
| '''Learn More About [[User:Nhprman/Userinterestlist|User Interest Lists]]''' <!-- Invisible note: Please make this your bottom list line. Spread the word! -->
|}

2. Create your List

Now that you've pasted the template into your User page, start customizing your User Interest List.

• Start changing words between the bent brackets ("< >") to ones reflecting YOUR interests. Or change the entire text of every Line completely! Using Wikilinks is also optional.
• To add Lines to the List, simply add a style line and a text line. (You must add one of each for each new Line, or it will get ugly very fast!)
• While "starter colors" were chosen for the template's Lines, you will want to choose colors of your own. Below, in the gray box, are some background color ideas for List Lines. You can copy-and-paste this gray box onto your User page like you did before, then canibalize it for new Lines (again, add a text line for each new Line you want.)
• You can preview these and many more color choices at Web colors. LIGHT colors work best with links.
• Does every line need to be a different color? No. Be creative.
• To center the text in a Line, note how it's done in the template on line 3, and note the added colon ";" after the background color, when text color is added to a style line.

Please leave the last Line intact, so people can link back here and learn more about User Interest Lists, and so I will know people are using this format. Eventually, if this is widely accepted, the link will likely be redirected to a formal article of its own.

Some parting suggestions:

• Be creative with your User Interest List
• Avoid insults or divisive comments
• Be Brief
• Remember: We are here to write an encyclopedia

Nhprman

(Note: the User List at the top of this page is a sample.)

|- style="background:sandybrown"
|- style="background:navajowhite"
|- style="background:red"
|- style="background:khaki"
|- style="background:yellow"
|- style="background:pink"
|- style="background:palegreen"
|- style="background:lightskyblue"
|- style="background:orange"
|- style="background:aquamarine"
|- style="background:lightsteelblue"
|- style="background:palegreen"
|- style="background:mediumaquamarine"
|- style="background:lavender"
|- style="background:goldenrod"
|- style="background:lightblue"
|- style="background:cyan"
|- style="background:aqua"
|- style="background:tomato"
|- style="background:orangered"
|- style="background:slategray"
|- style="background:mistyrose"
|- style="background:lightblue"
|- style="background:paleturquoise"
|- style="background:thistle"
|- style="background:plum"
|- style="background:lightgray"
|- style="background:silver"
|- style="background:honeydew"
|- style="background:mintcream"
|- style="background:ghostwhite"
|- style="background:whitesmoke"
|- style="background:lavenderlbush"
|- style="background:beige"
|- style="background:oldlace"
|- style="background:seashell"
|- style="background:snow"
|- style="background:tan"
|- style="background:burlywood"
|- style="background:lightcyan"
|- style="background:gold"