Talk:Currency symbol

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Infobox will get out of control unless it has a policy setting

It seems to me that the infobox is likely to become clogged with every currency symbol in existence, unless we can reach a consensus on limiting it. I want to give some reasons why we should do this:

the typical purpose of the currency symbol infobox is to show just one symbol in a very large font, making it both easy to see the detail and to provide an 'at a glance' confirmation that the reader has found the right article.
in this article, the infobox only needs a very few examples to illustrate the purpose of the article. It doesn't need every currency under the sun.
without a consensus decision on limiting its size, it will just grow and grow, until it becomes a fork. I was just about to add the Russion Rouble, before realising that another line would be needed and this way madness lies.

I propose therefore that we limit its scope to the top four international reserve currencies (USD, EUR, JPY, GBP). The fifth is CHF, which doesn't have a symbol so offers a convenient break point. Comments? --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 12:57, 5 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The trouble is that once you've deleted some country's favourite currency, one of their editors will come back and add it again. We could, alternatively, have some fun with $ € ¥ £, with as many symbols as thought sensible. There might be a template to do this more easily, but I couldn't find one; and I'm sure someone can do some smarter coding to automate the random bit. Bazza (talk) 14:24, 5 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

All the symbols are listed in the table. It would be silly to copy every single symbol from the table to the infobox but that is exactly what will happen (and has every right to happen) unless there is a defensible line in the sand that says thus far and no further. --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 17:24, 6 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm. That doesn't seem to work as I expected. But you get the idea? Bazza (talk) 14:25, 5 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Randomising doesn't make a lot of sense to me given that most readers will visit the page once. --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 17:24, 6 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Here, they could be illustrative i.e., only some. Same question at play in {{Currency symbols}} (talk), with different purpose. (total List is about 116 signs, plus 41 historical ones). -DePiep (talk) 15:12, 6 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Which is why I proposed that we just have the top four as an illustration for the article. It is that or give all 116. The only other alternative that I can think of would be a photo of the European Central Bank showing the euro sign but I doubt that anyone would find that acceptable. Otherwise drop the infobox completely but that would be the worst compromise. --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 17:24, 6 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

... or no infobox at all. It does not have any other info at all. -DePiep (talk) 17:32, 6 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

True, its only purpose is to illustrate the article, like putting 273R on an airport runway to confirm that you are on the correct trajectory. Arguably, it fails the "to illuminate not to decorate" test? --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 17:50, 6 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I'd say: show some, but not in an infobox. Just an image. As illustration it is fine w/me. -DePiep (talk) 18:05, 6 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

And where do we find such an illustration? Something like this (© istockphoto), for example, would be good but it is not free or even CCbyA. The idea is not original so if anybody speaks animated gif, it could be emulated. --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 21:12, 6 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

We can create the same image as is now in the i'box. Just not that box around it. -DePiep (talk) 22:10, 6 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

That is incidental, if I may say so. The issue is not the presentation, it is the content. We need to constrain the number of symbols and we need a good justification for where we draw the line. So now I will be bold and see what happens. --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 14:41, 7 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Take away the infobox, present the very same images as there is now, and continue discussing/selection signs to show. One change does not prohibit/prejudge the other change. -DePiep (talk) 15:01, 7 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

As I predicted. Bazza (talk) 09:09, 22 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Five weeks between interventions is not too bad :-)

Following up on DePiep's idea, we could have a simple image box (File:reservecurrencies.png|thumb|etc), which I guess someone could also extend but hopefully it would be too much work for most people. Next problem: who has the skill to do it? (is there a more clever way than to print the current page, take a picture of the print and upload it?) --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 09:56, 22 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I can do that. Tell me which symbols you want, and what background colour (text ought to be black). Bazza (talk) 11:13, 22 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Best repeat what we have at present: top four reserve currencies in black on white. --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 11:19, 22 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Done. Text colour is black, there is no background. No font is set, so it uses whatever Commons uses when it converts the SVG source file into a PNG image. Bazza (talk) 19:32, 22 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, but why use the infobox at all? (DePiep asked the same question and didn't get a good answer. Now we have the answer.) Just an ordinary thumbnail looks fine to me. Any objections to just going with that? --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 23:18, 22 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I used the infobox in the example above because that's what's currently in the article. It's an illustration, so using a plain image as suggested is fine. Linking "reserve currencies" would be helpful. I've been bold, but happy for further improvements to be made! Bazza (talk) 08:33, 23 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that looks good. --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 10:07, 23 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]