Template:Cite web

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This template is used to cite online sources in Wikipedia articles. {{Cite news}} can also be used when citing a news source; for general information about citations in Wikipedia articles, see Wikipedia:Cite sources. A general discussion of the use of templates for adding citations to Wikipedia articles is available at Wikipedia:Citation templates.

Usage

Note: None of the parameters should be capitalised, in order to avoid the article being tagged as having a broken citation. For example, use "url", "title", etc. - not "URL", "Title", etc.

Common forms with authors in any format

Citations within a page should use consistent formats. However, there is no consensus about which format is best. The following examples are for citations where one or more authors are listed in a single |author=authors parameter, using any format. Also shown below are three separate date formats that are commonly used in Wikipedia:

Day Month Year

{{cite web |url= |title= |author= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=1 June 2024}}

Month Day, Year

{{cite web |url= |title= |author= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=June 1, 2024}}

YYYY-MM-DD

{{cite web |url= |title= |author= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=2024-06-01}}

Common forms with last1, first1; last2, first2

The examples below will suffice for up to two authors each with first and last names; for more, just create more parameters in a similar style:

Day Month Year

{{cite web |url= |title= |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=1 June 2024}}

Month Day, Year

{{cite web |url= |title= |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=June 1, 2024}}

YYYY-MM-DD

{{cite web |url= |title= |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=2024-06-01}}

All parameters

When copying all parameters in either the vertical or horizontal layouts, delete those which are not needed.

All parameters, horizontal layout

{{cite web |url= |title= |first= |last= |author= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |month= |year= |work= |publisher= |location= |page= |pages= |at= |language= |trans_title= |format= |doi= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |accessdate= |quote= |ref= |separator= |postscript= }}

All parameters, vertical layout

{{cite web
| url         =
| title       =
| first       =
| last        =
| author      =
| authorlink  =
| coauthors   =
| date        =
| month       =
| year        =
| work        =
| publisher   =
| location    =
| page        =
| pages       =
| at          =
| language    =
| trans_title =
| format      =
| doi         =
| archiveurl  =
| archivedate =
| accessdate  =
| quote       =
| ref         =
| separator   =
| postscript  =
}}

Required parameters

• url: URL of online item. Start the url with the communications protocol, e.g. http://.
• title: Title of online item. This title will appear as the citation itself, hyperlinked to the URL.

Optional parameters

• author parameters
  • author
  • last works with first to produce last, first
  • authorlink works either with author or with last & first to link to the appropriate wikipedia article. Does not work with URLs.
  • last1, first1, ..., last9, first9 and optionally authorlink1, ..., authorlink9 for specifying more authors (note: last1, first1 and authorlink1 are synonyms for last, first and authorlink, so use either last1 or last, not both)
  • coauthors: alternate way of specifying additional authors
• a date parameter
  • either date: Full date of publication. Should not be wikilinked.
  • or year: Year of publication, and month: Name of the month of publication. If you also have the day, use date instead. Should not be wikilinked.
• format: Format, e.g. PDF. HTML implied if not specified.
• work: If this item is part of a larger "work", such as a book, periodical or website, write the name of that work. Do not italicize; the software will do so automatically.
• publisher: Publisher, if any—for example if the website is hosted by a government service, educational institution, or company. (The publisher is not usually the name of the website, that is usually the work).
  • location: Geographical place of publication.
• a page parameter
  • either page: Page number if a multi-page web article and referencing a single page. "page=5" produces p. 5.
  • or pages: Page numbers if a multi-page web article and referencing more than one page. "pages=5–7" produces pp. 5–7. This is for listing the pages relevant to the citation, not a total number of pages.
  • or at: When the page prefix is unwanted. "at=Table 5" produces Table 5.
• language: language of publication (don't specify "English" as this is the default).
  • trans_title: A translated title of the article, in case the original title is in a foreign language. Would normally be used in conjunction with the 'language' parameter.
• doi: A digital object identifier for the document, such as 10.1038/news070508-7
  • Doilabel: If the doi contains some characters that must be escaped, use "doilabel" for the unescaped version. See {{doi}}: "id" is equivalent to "doi" and "label" is "doilabel"
• archive parameters (if used, must be used both of them together)
  • archiveurl: The URL of an archived copy of the page, if (or in case) the url becomes unavailable. Typically used to refer to services like WebCite and Archive.org.
  • archivedate: Date when the item was archived. Should not be wikilinked.
• accessdate: Full date when item was accessed. Should not be wikilinked. This should be given if the publication date is unknown; see Citation styles.
• quote: Relevant quote from online item.
• ref: ID for anchor. By default, no anchor is generated. The ordinary nonempty value |ref=ID generates an anchor with the given ID; such a linkable reference can be made the target of wikilinks to full references, especially useful in short citations like shortened notes and parenthetical referencing. The special value |ref=harv generates an anchor suitable for the {{harv}} template; see anchors for Harvard referencing templates.
• separator / postscript: The punctuation to use between fields / at the end of the citation

Duplicate periods

By default, {{cite web}} separates some fields with periods, so don't encode those fields ending with a period or a duplicate period will be added. Example: "publisher=Camelot, Inc" will correctly show as Camelot, Inc. but "publisher=Camelot, Inc." will incorrectly show as Camelot, Inc..

Examples

Some standard use cases

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |author=Doe, John |publisher=Open Publishing |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}
  → Doe, John (Template:Date style). "My Favorite Things, Part II". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. Retrieved on Template:Date style.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |author=Doe, John |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of things |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}
  → Doe, John (Template:Date style). "My Favorite Things, Part II". Encyclopedia of Things. Retrieved on Template:Date style.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |author=Doe, John |date=30 April 2005 |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}
  → Doe, John (Template:Date style). "My Favorite Things, Part II". Retrieved on Template:Date style.

• {{cite web ||url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II author=Doe, John |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}
  → Doe, John. "My Favorite Things, Part II". Retrieved on Template:Date style.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=My Favorite Things, Part II |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}
  → "My Favorite Things, Part II". Retrieved on Template:Date style.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/digestofrules |title=Digest of Rules |publisher=National Football League |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}
  → "Digest of Rules". National Football League. Retrieved on Template:Date style.

Using format

• {{cite web |url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |publisher=International Narcotics Control Board |format=PDF |accessdate=July 6, 2005 }}
  → "List of psychotropic substances under international control" (PDF). International Narcotics Control Board. Retrieved on Template:Date style.

Foreign language and translated title

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Honni soit qui mal y pense |author=Joliet, François |date=30 April 2005 |accessdate=6 July 2005 |language=French |trans_title=Shame on those who think evil }}
  → Joliet, François (Template:Date style). "Honni soit qui mal y pense" (in French). Retrieved on Template:Date style.

coauthors

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Our Favorite Things |first=John |last=Doe |coauthors=Smith, Peter; Smythe, Jim |publisher=Open Publishing |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=16 May 2006 }}
  → Doe, John; Smith, Peter; Smythe, Jim (Template:Date style). "Our Favorite Things". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. Retrieved on Template:Date style.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Our Favorite Things |first=John |last=Doe |coauthors=Peter Smith; Jim Smythe |publisher=Open Publishing |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=16 May 2006 }}
  → Doe, John; Peter Smith; Jim Smythe (Template:Date style). "Our Favorite Things". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing. Retrieved on Template:Date style.

No author

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Index of Sharp Things |publisher=Open Publishing |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=16 May 2006 }}
  → "Index of Sharp Things". Encyclopedia of Things. Open Publishing (Template:Date style). Retrieved on Template:Date style.

No author, no publisher

This abbreviated format should only be used when the editor cannot determine the publisher and author.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Index of Sharp Things |date=30 April 2005 |work=Encyclopedia of Things |accessdate=6 July 2005 }}
  → "Index of Sharp Things". Encyclopedia of Things (Template:Date style). Retrieved on Template:Date style.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.example.org/ |title=Index of Sharp Things |date=30 April 2005 |accessdate=6 July 2005}}
  → "Index of Sharp Things" (Template:Date style). Retrieved on Template:Date style.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |date=30 April 2005 |format=PDF |accessdate=July 6, 2005 |language=Greek }}
  → "List of psychotropic substances under international control" (PDF) (in Greek) (Template:Date style). Retrieved on Template:Date style.

Using "archiveurl" and "archivedate" for webpages that have been archived

• {{cite web |url=http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |title=List of psychotropic substances under international control |date=30 April 2005 |format=PDF |accessdate=July 6, 2005 |archiveurl=http://www.archive.org/2005-09-11/www.incb.org/pdf/e/list/green.pdf |archivedate=2005-09-11 }}
  → "List of psychotropic substances under international control" (PDF) (Template:Date style). Archived from the original on Template:Date style. Retrieved on Template:Date style.

• {{cite web |url=http://joanjettbadrep.com/cgi-bin/fullStory.cgi?archive=currnews&story=20060405-01shore.htm |title=Interview with Maggie Downs |date=2006-03-31 |publisher=The Desert Sun |archiveurl=http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:JAxf4v-pQmgJ:joanjettbadrep.com/cgi-bin/fullStory.cgi%3Farchive%3Dcurrnews%26story%3D20060405-01shore.htm |archivedate=2006-04-26 }}
  → "Interview with Maggie Downs". The Desert Sun (Template:Date style). Archived from the original on Template:Date style.

Using "quote"

• {{cite web |url=http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html |title=Daylight saving time: rationale and original idea |work=WebExhibits |date=2008 |accessdate=2009-09-27 |quote=... Lord Balfour came forward with a unique concern: 'Supposing some unfortunate lady was confined with twins ...' }}
  → "Daylight saving time: rationale and original idea". WebExhibits (Template:Date style). Retrieved on Template:Date style. “... Lord Balfour came forward with a unique concern: 'Supposing some unfortunate lady was confined with twins ...'”

Using cite web on other Mediawiki installations

If you want to use 'cite web' on another Mediawiki site, for example at wikia.com or at referata.com, you probably want to edit your http://yoursite.whatever.org/wiki/Mediawiki:common.css file to match the cite styles at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediawiki:common.css . Easiest is to just copy the whole file. But if you don't want that, you probably want to add the following:

/* Styling for citations */
span.citation, cite {
    font-style: normal;
    word-wrap: break-word;
}

/* For linked citation numbers and document IDs, where
   the number need not be shown on a screen or a handheld,
   but should be included in the printed version
*/
@media screen, handheld {
    span.citation *.printonly {
        display: none;
    }
}

The reason? If you don't, every URL will show up twice in your <references> or {{reflist}} section, because it think's it is printing on paper, and when it prints on paper, it prints out the entire URL.

See also

• Citation bot
• Citation templates
• Citing sources
• Citing sources/example style
• Digital Object Identifier
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite news
• Zotero

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:Cite web/doc. (edit | history)
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox (create | mirror) and testcases (create) pages.
Add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.