Template talk:Section link

Advantage?

What is the advantage of using this template?

I find writing [[France#Cities]] easier than writing {{section link|France|Cities}}, and for the former I don't need to know about the template. Further, if I find the latter as an editor, I have to check what the template is all about – I'd suppose it is something more sophisticated. New editors will not even know how to check.

I suppose knowledge of HTML syntax or URLs is common enough that most readers and editors understand France#Cities, and if they don't, they'll easily find out. For me it is France § Cities that is unfamiliar. I am not a native speaker, so I might be unaware of a common idiom, but so are most (?) of our readers.

–LPfi (talk) 08:06, 2 September 2020 (UTC)

The template documentation is already included a Wikipedia article which explains the usage of this sign. According to Wikipedia, it's a typographical glyph for referencing individually numbered sections of a document. So this template can give it more typical view rather than what editors familiared. -- Great Brightstar (talk) 04:24, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Wikivoyage does not use Wikipedia templates except where they are clearly more useful than not using them. I've posted to your user talk page about Wikivoyage policy on templates. Please address it and maybe, perhaps, slow down on importing templates that are not obviously needed here. Ikan Kekek (talk) 06:26, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

OK, but everyone are welcome to discuss the use of this template. :-) -- Great Brightstar (talk) 13:47, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Of course. I'd tend to vote to delete it, though. Ikan Kekek (talk) 18:44, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

The discussion seems stalled since two and a half years and the only argument that I can see in favour of it is that you get link text in the form "Paris § Cities" (which seems to be the English idiom) instead of "Paris#Cities" (which is the HTML idiom). Linking several sections in one sentence may be handier, but that need is not too common. You can of course get any link text you want by "piping" the ordinary link.

Does Great Brightstar or anybody else argue further or is it time to take this to Votes for deletion?

–LPfi (talk) 09:36, 2 May 2023 (UTC)

I do – having a template for section links is much easier and less cluttered than typing out §, especially on mobile. What are the advantages of deleting this template? SHB2000 (talk | contribs | meta) 09:42, 2 May 2023 (UTC)

Why do you need to type § on mobile? I never use "§" on Wikivoyage. I write "French cuisine has been inscribed on the UNESCO list (see France)" or "See Advantage above (each of which require less typing than using this template, and I think "#" is readily available on most smartphones, for me as easily as a question mark). Sometimes I might be sloppy and leave it at France#Eat, and I don't see that to be a faux pas. So the question is not whether to struggle writing § but whether it is important to recommend the France § Eat format. I think only a few editors use it at present. –LPfi (talk) 13:08, 2 May 2023 (UTC)

I note that the format with a "§" isn't used in any example, indeed not even mentioned, in Wikivoyage:Internal links. –LPfi (talk) 13:24, 2 May 2023 (UTC)