සැකිල්ල:Sc/doc

This is a documentation subpage for සැකිල්ල:Sc.
It may contain usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original සැකිල්ල page.

This template employs intricate features of template syntax.

You are encouraged to familiarise yourself with its setup and parser functions before editing the template. If your edit causes unexpected problems, please undo it quickly, as this template may appear on a large number of pages.
Remember that you can conduct experiments, and should test all improvements, in either the or your user space before changing anything here.

Usage

{{sc}}, named after small caps, is a more robust and consistent WYSIWYG extension of {{Smallcaps}}, backward-compatible in syntax and results. It will rewrite your text using typographical SMALL CAPS. This template is especially useful for name/surname disambiguation in lead sections, and to lighten all-caps words or pronounceable acronyms.

Code	`Adolfo {{sc\|B\|ioy\| C\|asares}}`
Displayed	Adolfo BIOY CASARES
Pasted	Adolfo BIOY CASARES

Contrary to {{Smallcaps}}, the text will still show the disambiguated "Adolfo BIOY CASARES" (instead of "Adolfo Bioy Casares") in:

A copy-pasted version of the text.
A degraded version displayed by a non-CSS browser, or one whose CSS has been disabled, or portable devices such as mobile phones.
An excerpt as displayed in the results of search engines such as Google.

This preserves the benefit of small caps where they were judged useful.

Code	`{{sc\|The Lord G\|OD\| was the L\|ORD\| in 4004 \|BC}}`
Displayed	The Lord GOD was the LORD in 4004 BC
Pasted	The Lord GOD was the LORD in 4004 BC

In this case, the pasted/degraded/excerpted text will retain proper theological caps (instead of the erroneous "The Lord God was the Lord in 4004 bc" that {{Smallcaps}} would give.)

Notes

An optional parameter, wrap=no will prevent the wrapping of a part of the text:

{{sc|wrap=no|4004 |BC}}

The template will handle up to 20 segments, but could very easily be extended to do twice or more. If you accidentally use more than 20 segments, the template will output an error message in a yellow box like this: 1234567891011121314151617181920
Template:sc error: Too many parameters.
This will let you know about it instead of having your extra segments be silently ignored.

The actual process depends on the alternance of odd and even segments (see also the more visual examples):
- Odd segments are outputted verbatim, and displayed with a small caps filter, that is: uppercase letters are outputted uppercase and displayed as regular caps, lowercase letters are outputted as lowercase but displayed as small caps. All other characters are unaltered. A copy-paste of this segment (or a degraded visual on an older browser) will thus display the original text provided to the segment, with its original case. This allows both control of where regular caps will go, and of the contents of copy-paste and degradation.
- Even segments are forced to uppercase for output, and displayed in small caps, that is: whether the source text is uppercase or lowercase doesn't matter here, the output and display will be the same, uppercase letters displayed as small-caps. Note that non-letter signs (especially numbers) shouldn't go in this segment, because they too would be reduced in size.

Diacritics (å, ç, é, ğ, ı, ñ, ø, ş, ü, etc.) are handled.

There are dedicated templates {{LORD}} and {{GOD}} for the scriptural use. They are equivalent but streamlined. Preferably do not use {{sc}} for this.

With a single argument, {{sc|Your Text}} is 100% equivalent to {{Smallcaps|Your Text}}. Thus, {{Smallcaps}} could be redirected to {{sc}} without breaking anything. However, {{Smallcaps}} is not to be redirected to {{sc}}, because there would be no benefit to it, and because the code for {{Smallcaps}} is much shorter to transclude for what it does than the longer code for {{sc}}.

Use of this template does not generate any automatic categorization. As with most templates, if the argument contains an = sign, the sign should be replaced with {{Equal}}, or the whole argument be prefixed with 1=. And for wikilinks, you need to use piping.

Code examples

	Display (screen) Output (pasted)	Code
Y	Sinéad O'CONNOR (born 1966) Sinéad O'CONNOR (born 1966)	Sinéad {{sc\|O'C\|onnor}} (born 1966)
Y	Leonardo DiCAPRIO (born 1974) Leonardo DiCAPRIO (born 1974)	Leonardo {{sc\|DiC\|aprio}} (born 1974)
Y	Adolfo BIOY CASARES is at "B" Adolfo BIOY CASARES is at "B"	Adolfo {{sc\|B\|ioy\| C\|asares}} is at "B"
Y	José ÁLVAREZ de TOLEDO y GONZAGA José ÁLVAREZ de TOLEDO y GONZAGA	José {{sc\|Á\|lvarez\| de T\|oledo\| y G\|onzaga}}
Y	NESBØ, VÅGEN, LOUŸS, ZÚÑIGA, KABAAĞAÇLI NESBØ, VÅGEN, LOUŸS, ZÚÑIGA, KABAAĞAÇLI	{{sc\|N\|esbø\|, V\|ågen\|, L\|ouÿs\|, Z\|úñiga\|, K\|abaağaçlı}}
Y	THE NAME OF THE 2^ND GAME THE NAME OF THE 2ND GAME	{{sc\|T\|he\| ''N\|ame'' of the\| 2\|<sup>nd</sup>\| G\|ame}}
When your text shouldn't be wrapped:
Y	From 4004 BC to 525 AD From 4004 BC to 525 AD	From {{sc\|wrap=no\|4004 \|BC}} to {{sc\|wrap=no\|525 \|AD}}
Y	The shortcut is CTRL + ALT + DEL The shortcut is CTRL + ALT + DEL	The shortcut is {{sc\|wrap=no\|C\|TRL\| + A\|LT\| + D\|EL}}
When your text uses an = sign:
N	YOU AND MEs	{{sc\|Y\|ou and\| M\|e\| = U\|s}}
N	YOU AND ME = US	{{sc\|Y\|ou and\| M\|e\| {{=}} U\|s}}
Y	YOU AND ME = US	{{sc\|Y\|ou and\| M\|e\| <nowiki>=</nowiki> U\|s}}
Y	YOU AND ME = US	{{sc\|Y\|ou and\| M\|e\| = U\|s}}
Y	YOU AND ME සැකිල්ල:Equals US	{{sc\|Y\|ou and\| M\|e\| {{Equals}} U\|s}}
When your text has a template inside:
N	in FIDDLER'S GREEN forever	in {{sc\|F\|iddler's\| {{Green\|G}}\|{{Green\|reen}}}} forever
N	G}}{{GREEN\|REEN}} forever	in {{sc\|F\|iddler's\| {{Green{{!}}G}}\|{{Green{{!}}reen}}}} forever
Y	in FIDDLER'S GREEN forever	in {{sc\|1=F\|2=iddler's\|3={{Green\| G}}\|4={{Green\|reen}}}} forever
Y	in FIDDLER'S GREEN forever	in {{sc\|F\|iddler's}} {{Green\|1={{sc\|G\|reen}}}} forever
When your text is inside a template:
N	in FIDDLER'S GREEN forever	{{Green\|in {{sc\|F\|iddler's\| G\|reen}} forever}}
Y	in FIDDLER'S GREEN forever	{{Green\|1=in {{sc\|F\|iddler's\| G\|reen}} forever}}
Y	in FIDDLER'S GREEN forever	{{Colors\|green\|yellow\|3=in {{sc\|F\|iddler's\| G\|reen}} forever}}
When your text uses a \| pipe:
N	AFTER	{{sc\|B\|efore\|{{!}}\|afteR}}
N	BEFOREafteR	{{sc\|B\|efore\|3={{!}}\|afteR}}
Y	BEFORE\|AFTER	{{sc\|B\|efore\|<nowiki>\|</nowiki>\|afte\|R}}
Y	BEFORE\|AFTER	{{sc\|B\|efore\|\|\|afte\|R}}
When your text uses a link:
N	[[MAO Zedong]]	[[{{sc\|M\|ao}} Zedong]]
Y	MAO Zedong	[[Mao Zedong\|{{sc\|M\|ao}} Zedong]]

Note: some of the "wrong" examples would actually work when used outside of a table, but it is preferable to know and use codes that will work everywhere instead.

සැකිල්ල:Sc/doc/Smallcaps and sc

Reasons to use small caps

Small caps are useful for encyclopedical and typographical uses including:

To lighten ALL-CAPS words or pronounceable acronyms

The biblical "[[The LORD|සැකිල්ල:LORD]]" (instead of LORD or Lord) or "Lord සැකිල්ල:GOD" as written in the King James Bible and such
The acronyms UNESCO (instead of UNESCO or Unesco) or UNICEF
The trademark TIME (instead of TIME or Time)

To lighten ALL-CAPS surnames mandated by citation styles such as Harvard

Piccadilly has been compared to "a Parisian boulevard" (DICKENS 1879).
DICKENS, C., Jr (1879). "Piccadilly" in Dickens's Dictionary of London. London: C. Dickens.[1]

To disambiguate Western names and surnames at a glance

Many Hispanic names are tricky to decompose:
- Jorge Luis BORGES, but Adolfo BIOY CASARES (both filed under "B")
- José ÁLVAREZ de las ASTURIAS de BOHÓRQUEZ y GOYENECHE, Marqués de los Trujillos
And many Hispanic names are better known by their second surname:
- Pablo RUIZ PICASSO, Federico GARCÍA LORCA, Emir RODRÍGUEZ MONEGAL, José Luis RODRÍGUEZ ZAPATERO
Many names (Martín, Miguel, Ramón, Tomás, etc.) can be either forename or surname:
- Juan Martín HERNÁNDEZ vs. Rafael MARTÍN VÁZQUEZ (two ball players)
Hungarian names natively use the surname-first order:
- PETŐFI Sándor is usually westernized Sándor PETŐFI

To disambiguate Eastern surnames and given names at a glance

Most Chinese names and Korean names retain their surname-first order:
- MAO Zedong fought CHIANG Kai-shek
- The movie Oldboy by PARK Chan-wook starring CHOI Min-sik was not seen by KIM Il-sung
Most Japanese names are reversed in the West, but not all:
- (Akira KUROSAWA or Motojirō KAJII are usually westernized)
- But MATSUO Bashō, ONO no Komachi, KAGA no Chiyo (haiku poets known under their given name)
- But EDOGAWA Ranpo (kept due to wordplay "EdgarA–llanPoe) vs. Ranpo EDOGAWA (some modern uses)
Burmese names ignore the concept of forename/surname, but are adapted in the West:
- Daw Aung San SUU KYI, daughter of General AUNG SAN ("Daw" is honorific, her name take part of his name)
And some Burmese names are so short they need to retain an honorific prefix (U for Mister, Daw for Madam, Thakin for Master) which is confusable with a forename or a surname:
- U NU ("Mister NU"), a.k.a. Thakin NU ("Master NU")

Technical code

Technically, any call such as:

x{{sc|L|ord}}x

x{{sc|L|oRd}}x

x{{sc|L|ORD}}x

Will result in the very same code:

xLORDx

That is:

 ...  in the odd segments
{{uc: ... }} in the even segments

The "font-size:80%" displays a capital at the same height than those generated by "font-variant:small-caps". (The "font-variant:small-caps;text-transform:lowercase" has not been used because it doesn't work at least in Internet Explorer 5 and 6, which are still fairly common browsers.)