Template talk:Quote inline

What precisely is this template for?

I understand that {{tq}} is to be used on talk pages for when you're quoting another person on the talk page, or article text, etc., but what is exactly the expected or desired usage of this template? As far as I can tell, it encloses a string in quotes, with an optional hover tooltip. Nothing about the formatting seems to stand out, it simply just adds two " symbols around the text as far as I can tell. The examples under usage don't seem give any clarity to this really (not to me, anyway!). Is it to be used in articlespace? If so, for what purpose?

with warmth and curiosity,

--Tomatoswoop (talk) 18:06, 4 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Tomatoswoop: Yes, it is to be used in the article space. The purpose is to standardize inline quotations all over the project and track them for maintenance. Est. 2021 (talk · contribs) 10:48, 19 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Is this happening? Do people do this? I feel like using quotation marks is such a natural thing to do, how would most editors know that the use of this template is desirable, or even that it exists at all? Or, conversely, is there some project to scour wikipedia for all uses of "" in articles and replace them with {{Quote inline}}? If that's the goal.

Also, when you say "track them for maintenance", what exactly does that mean, to track every instance of quoted text on wikipedia "for maintenance"? All the best --Tomatoswoop (talk) 14:06, 19 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Do people do this?

Also, when you say "track them for maintenance", what exactly does that mean

You can check pages that transclude this template to see usages of it. — W.andrea (talk) 14:15, 6 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I feel like using quotation marks is such a natural thing to do, how would most editors know that the use of this template is desirable, or even that it exists at all?

They wouldn't, and if I understand correctly, this template isn't necessarily desirable to use on all quoted text. This is part of a larger concept called semantic markup that's useful in some cases but not so much in others. On Wikipedia, I've mostly seen it used on high-traffic, important pages where precision and accessibility is important. Or, in other words, it's good to use, but not crucial.

Semantic markup can sometimes be a pain to get right, e.g. {{lang|en}} is redundant, and {{strong}} is best for the case where you want a screen reader to use a different voice, like sound more forceful, different from {{em}} or simply using bold.

— W.andrea (talk) 14:43, 6 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

As far as I can tell, it encloses a string in quotes, with an optional hover tooltip.

It actually encloses a string in <q>...</q> tags, and CSS adds the quotes. I edited § Usage to explain. — W.andrea (talk) 14:22, 6 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The benefit of using <q> is that user CSS can be added to it. For example, I have a userstyle that adds a green underline, which helps when skimming text looking for quotes. — W.andrea (talk) 14:24, 6 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I think it can also be used by a screen reader, like - I'm guessing - switch to a totally different voice, e.g. from a man to a woman. — W.andrea (talk) 14:46, 6 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Redundant Parameter

Since, unlike with {{tq}}, enclosing quotation marks are enabled by default here, the template param |quotes=/|q= is currently redundant. Any value there means is a boolean yes, but its default value is also "yes". If the param is to be included, then should therefore be that "no" (and/or any non-blank value) removes the quote marks.

(The reason I know this is sometimes I use this template when I want to input wikitext or HTML in visualeditor without having to switch between the editors repeatedly. Unintended use of course, but useful in the edit process... I went to disable the "" just for it to look better visually earlier while editing, but realized that there was no such option in practice despite the parameter existing)

--Tomatoswoop (talk) 14:24, 19 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

To disable the quote marks, set |q= (null). This is shown under § Examples. Ideally it would work if you put |q=no, but that would take a bit of effort. At least, I'm not sure how to do it off the top of my head. — W.andrea (talk) 22:24, 6 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]