Template:Cite web

Documentation

This documentation is transcluded from Template:Cite web/doc and needs to be edited separately.

For making citations of non-news web pages. For news related pages, use {{cite news}}.

Usage

Copy a blank version to use. All parameter names are supported only in lower case. Use the "|" (pipe) character between each parameter. Unused parameters may be deleted to avoid clutter in the edit window. Some samples on this documentation page may include the current date. If the date is not current, then purge the page.

Common forms

Common form (with current date)

{{cite web |title= |url= |work= |date= |access-date=2024-04-16}}

With author

{{cite web |title= |url= |work= |date= |author= |access-date=2024-04-16}}

With author (first and last name)

{{cite web |title= |url= |work= |date= |last= |first= |access-date=2024-04-16}}

Archived link

{{cite web |title= |url= |archive-url= |work= |date= |archive-date= |access-date=2024-04-16}}

A link to a file, rather than an HTML webpage (e.g. a PDF)

{{cite web |title= |format=PDF |url= |work= |date= |access-date=2024-04-16}}

Choosing between {{cite news}} and {{cite web}}

• {{cite news}} can be used for offline sources, whereas {{cite web}} will return an error if no URL is supplied.
• {{cite news}} has several parameters specific to periodicals and offline material, including issue, page/pages, place, publisher, and publication-place.

Other than the above differences, both templates return the same result for the same parameters.

Parameters

{{ cite web 
|title= 
|url= 
|archive-url=
|archive-date=
|author=
|author-link=
|first=
|last=
|access-date=
|date=
|format=
|language=
|doi=
|work=
|quote=
}}

Required parameters

• title: The title of the referenced source, as it appears on the page. This is used with url to create a link, and cannot contain wikilinks.
• url: The URL of the online location where the referenced source can be found, or could formerly be found if it is no longer available.

Optional parameters

• access-date: The date that the referenced source was last successfully accessed, written in YYYY-MM-DD format.
• archive-url: A link to an archived version of the referenced source hosted elsewhere (e.g. the Wayback Machine), if the source is no longer available or the content has since been altered to remove the cited information. Requires archive-date.
  • archive-date: The date that the archive was created, written in YYYY-MM-DD format.
• author, author2, author3: The pseudonym, username, or other identifying name of the author of the source, if a first and last name are not known. Do not wikilink, use author-link instead.
  • author-link, author-link2, author-link3: Works with either author, or first and last, to produce a link to the appropriate wiki article. Does not work with URLs.
  • first, first2, first3: The first name of the author. Requires last.
  • last, last2, last3: The last name of the author.
  • author4 and last4 are not shown, but will output "et al." if either is set.
• date: The date that the referenced source was written or published. This can be a full or partial date expressed in YYYY-MM-DD format.
• doi: Digital Object Identifier; for example: 10.2979/jfolkrese.56.2_3.08.
• format: The format of the referenced source, if not an HTML webpage. This should be the file type as you would typically see it given in a file extension, such as PDF, DOC, JPG, etc.
• language: The language of the referenced source, if not in English.
• work: The title of the website that hosts the referenced source. May contain wikilinks.
• quote: Relevant text quoted from the source.

Extension parameters

These parameters are intended for use by templates that extend and build upon this one. They should not be used in articles.

• title-after: Free text to insert after the title.
• title-before: Free text to insert before the title.

Backwards compatibility

For compatibility with older versions of {{cite web}}, the following legacy parameters map to these newer equivalents. The newer parameter should be used for all new citations.

• accessdate → access-date
• authorlink → author-link
• archiveurl → archive-url
• archivedate → archive-date
• publisher → work