Wikipedia:Article message boxes:

There is a standard and consistent design for article message boxes — templates which go at the top of articles/sections, and identify problems or issues with the article. The design was standardized and implemented in September 2007.

Scope

The scope of this effort is the design of article message boxes ("amboxes"). Article message boxes are template messages, in a square frame (box), which are placed in articles, and are also about articles. They identify issues or important information about the article, but are not part of the article content itself.

Terminology

Design

The ambox tags that we use to notify people of problems within an article are on thousands of our pages. Our readers see them and judgements are made not only about the article at hand, but about the project itself. In the past, we had a myriad of templates that often shared some level of consistency, but still looked very mismatched.

Categories and colours

Amboxes are divided into various categories. Each category has a corresponding colour code. The colour-coding helps to inform of the severity of the issues at a glance.

The choice of colour is partly inspired by the ANSI standard safety "Signal Words" and their corresponding colors: Danger (Red), Warning (Orange), Caution (Yellow), and Notice (Blue).

Most amboxes have a background colour of #fbfbfb (slightly off white), which is intended to contrast slightly with the full white (#ffffff) used for articles, while still being easy to read. The exception is the Speedy category, which uses a pink background (#b22) to highlight the immediate nature of the problem.

Implementation

As of the end of 2007, most article message boxes have been converted to this design.

The meta template {{ambox}} makes it easy to create article message boxes in the new design. It has usage documentation and examples. Note that {{ambox}} is just a thin wrapper for the CSS classes.

Alternate skins

Examples

Speedy deletion

This page may meet Wikipedia’s criteria for speedy deletion.
The given reason is: It is a very short article providing little or no context (CSD A1), contains no content whatsoever (CSD A3), consists only of links elsewhere (CSD A3) or a rephrasing of the title (CSD A3).
Please consider placing {{subst:empty-warn|Wikipedia:Article message boxes}} ~~~~ on the User Talk page of the author.

Deletion

This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedia's deletion policy .
Please share your thoughts on the matter at this article's entry on the Articles for deletion page. Feel free to edit the article, but the article must not be blanked, and this notice must not be removed, until the discussion is closed. For more information, particularly on merging or moving the article during the discussion, read the guide to deletion.

Steps to list an article for deletion: {{subst:afd}} • Preloaded debate OR {{subst:afd2|pg=Article message boxes|cat=|text=}} • {{subst:afd3|pg=Article message boxes}} log

Content

The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.

This article or section reads like an advertisement.
To meet Wikipedia's quality standards and comply with Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy, it may require cleanup.

Style

To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article may require cleanup.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page, and/or replace this tag with a more specific message. Editing help is available.

This article or section lacks formatting.
Please wikify it as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style.

Notice

This article documents a current event.
Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

Move

It has been suggested that this page or section be merged with Page title. (discuss)

Protection

This page is currently protected from editing to deal with vandalism. Protection is not an endorsement of the current version (protection log). Please discuss changes on the talk page or request unprotection. You may use {{editprotected}} on the talk page to ask for an administrator to make an edit for you.

Stacking demo