Wikipedia talk:Navigation template

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Navigation template page.

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Essay

Wanted to remind editors that this is an essay, and carries no weight in policy or guideline discussions aside from personal opinions. Since I have no idea what has been subtracted or added with the multitude of recent edits (tried to backtrack and gave up somewhere in the middle), instead of editing the page I'll just point out that, happily, this is an essay, more or less an editorial. Randy Kryn (talk) 16:41, 19 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Clarification on inclusion of images (WP:NAVIMAGES)

Hi all, the wording of WP:NAVIMAGES ("Navigation templates are not arbitrarily decorative" section) currently reads: Per MOS:DECOR, images are rarely appropriate in navboxes. Is the choice of the word "navboxes" here meant to exclude sidebars for some reason? Or does this apply to navigation templates in general? To me, the reasoning (MOS:DECOR) would seem to be as relevant, if not more so, to sidebars, but I've seen an editor claim otherwise. Some clarification here (and perhaps in the guideline itself) would be appreciated. R Prazeres (talk) 16:39, 17 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It doesn't apply at all, this is an essay (as is WP:NAVIMAGES, while DECOR refers to icons and not navbox images) which some editors freely edit at will without much effort to debate the new additions. It is more or less an editorial. Randy Kryn (talk) 04:43, 26 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I get that. Still, if it's possible to get some feedback from various editors on the general question of images in nav templates, it would provide a useful benchmark for discussion, in the absence of any official guideline.

After your clarification, it also seems clear that the reference to MOS:DECOR must have been intended to be a reference to MOS:PERTINENCE. Indeed, the images in nearly every navbox seem to be purely decorative in that sense and take up unnecessary additional space. R Prazeres (talk) 05:09, 26 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Nothing wrong with images in navboxes if done well. This has been discussed and decided at attempts to remove images. Randy Kryn (talk) 05:28, 26 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]