Template talk:CAint

{{tl|CAint}} is the last {{tl|jctint}} template for the lower 48 states still to be converted to invoke Module:Jctint/USA (see Wikipedia talk:WikiProject U.S. Roads#Module:Jctint/USA). One reason for the delay was the manipulation of arguments to handle postmiles in the current template. The idea was to have {{para|postmile}} behave identically to {{para|mile}}, but the implementation fell short for a few reasons. First, some California routes do have mileposts listed instead of postmiles, requiring two columns, but a parameter for postmile interferes with this behavior so another parameter is needed to achieve the expected appearance. Second, a blank postmile cell requires adding a space as the content of the cell.

As part of converting this template, I am proposing a few changes to simplify the use of this template, shown in the following table:

class="wikitable"
Behavior ! Old markup ! New markup
Nonempty postmile | {{para|postmile|...}} | (no change)
Blank postmile cell | {{para|postmile| }} | {{para|postmile|none}}
Skipping postmile cell (e.g., when {{para|pmspan}} is used) | {{para|postmile|none}} | {{para|mile|none}}
Nonempty mile | {{para|mile|...}} | (no change)
Blank mile cell | {{para|columns|yes}} | (default, when {{para|postmile}} is unspecified)
Skipping mile cell (e.g., when {{para|mspan}} is used) | {{para|mile|none}} | (no change)

The idea is to think of the postmile column in the same way as the location column instead of the milepost column. When we want a blank location cell, we use {{para|location|none}}. We do the same with postmile. When we don't want the postmile and milepost columns at all, we simply use {{para|mile|none}}. In this way we don't need {{para|columns}} parameter, and this template can work in the same way as those for other states.

I have rewritten all {{para|postmile|none}} to {{para|mile|none}}, which results in the same behavior. The {{para|column}} parameter will simply be ignored after the conversion, and I will remove them afterwards. Blank postmile cells using {{para|postmile| }} will continue to work, but I will also rewrite them to use {{para|postmile|none}} after the conversion. In short, no non-user pages would break if this template were to be converted now.

Note that I am only editing pages not in userspace. The owners of user pages can follow the outlined changes above for transitioning to the new template.

Comments welcome. I will convert this template after a few days of inactivity on this thread. Chinissai (talk) 23:13, 23 November 2016 (UTC)