View source for Template:TOC left/doc

{{Documentation subpage}}
{{TOC left}}
{{Uses TemplateStyles|Template:TOC limit/styles.css|Template:TOC left/styles.css}}
<!--Categories where indicated at the bottom of this page, please; interwikis at Wikidata (see [[Wikipedia:Wikidata]])-->

== Purpose ==
{{tl|{{BASEPAGENAME}}}} forces the auto-generated "Table of Contents" for an article to appear floated to the left side of the page (as seen left), in order to improve article layout.

== Usage ==
Insert <code>{{braces|TOC left}}</code> at the point in the article where you want the top of the Table of Contents box to appear. Use with {{tl|clear}} or {{tl|clear left}} to prevent e.g. image collisions. To remove the small default margin/padding included above the box, set {{para|top|0}} (or, to customize it, use {{para|top|''(a value)''}}).
{{clear}}

== Cautions ==
Do not use this template to just force word wrap around the TOC, as this is an inappropriate method of achieving this.  Instead add a CSS class to your current skin's .css file, which will apply site wide. Go to [[Special:Mypage/skin.css]], which redirects to your current [[WP:SKIN|skin]]'s CSS file.

Do not place this template so that the TOC aligns with a large image or infobox; this breaks the layout on narrow screens (even users with screens as wide as 1024px wide can have problems). Also, a TOC that crosses a section division is probably a poor idea, if that can be avoided.

Unless the section in which the {{tl|TOC left}} is placed is long enough, the result may well be undesirable.  Note particularly that if the TOC is floated left of a bulleted list, the bullets will be hidden.

It should only be used in cases where the TOC gets in the way of other content or is detrimental to the layout of the page; it should ''not'' simply be used for aesthetics since it tampers with the standard appearance of articles. See [[Help:Section#Floating the TOC]] for further guidelines.

== See also ==
* {{Lts|TOC right}}

<includeonly>{{Sandbox other||

<!--------ADD CATEGORIES BELOW THIS LINE-------->
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toc Left}}
[[Category:Wikipedia table of contents templates]]
}}</includeonly> 
<templatedata>
{
	"params": {
		"limit": {
			"label": "Limit",
			"description": "Limits the depth of subheadings shown. For instance using limit=4 will hide the fourth level and deeper subheadings in the hierarchy. And limit=2 will hide all subheadings leaving only the main headings. This works by hiding the lower levels with CSS",
			"type": "number"
		},
		"clear": {
			"label": "Clear",
			"description": "Sets the CSS clear property, which forces this float underneath the side specified with this attribute. So, clear=left (which is the default) will place the element after all the right floating elements before it. Options are left, right, both, or none.",
			"type": "string"
		},
		"width": {
			"aliases": [
				"1"
			],
			"label": "Width",
			"description": "Overrides the CSS width"
		},
		"top": {
			"label": "Top spacing"
		}
	},
	"description": "{{TOC left}} forces the auto-generated \"Table of Contents\" for an article to appear floated to the left side of the page (as seen left), in order to improve article layout.",
	"paramOrder": [
		"clear",
		"limit",
		"width",
		"top"
	],
	"format": "inline"
}
</templatedata>