Template talk:ItemNav

Lazy Loading
So this template takes 9-10 seconds to build. That means that every page that uses it takes an additional 9-10 seconds to load. Proposal: lazy load the template. In other words, rather than actually loading the template onto the page, place its closed form on the page, then only load it if a user manually tries to open it.


 * Advantage: all pages using this navbox load 10 seconds faster
 * Disadvantage: 10 second delay when someone tries to open the box the first time

This idea could also be applied to other navboxes, as navboxes have a strong tendency to be the most time-consuming elements of pages, and 10-15-second page load times seem to be an issue. PaladinAHOne (talk) 00:03, 19 January 2016 (UTC)


 * I support this, but don't know this can be implemented. Molldust (talk) 15:53, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

Seasonal items
I suggest to carve out seasonal items from the main game item navigation. It would be slightly faster as one point. The other reason is that the events will not come back in the same manner, I promise. There will be custom games instead that may or may not replace them or there will be new successors. So Template:ItemNav/Diretide etc. would be a good replacement and compatible with official future game modes that introduce new items (e.g. Template:ItemNav/Haunted Colosseum if there were any new items). Molldust (talk) 15:53, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

Item infobox
broken. Elite stay (talk) 17:54, 23 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Was related to Template:Item name Molldust (talk) 20:47, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Poor structure
The purpose of the template as I understand it is to make finding a specific item easy by only looking for it in one category. But the categories are messed up and most items can fit in multiple.

Some items aren't even placed in the multiple categories you could expect them to be in. Try to find manta style. It is not under weapons, nor is it under artifacts, it is under armor. Maybe a lore nerd knows this but I bet most readers do not. Guess where ring of aquila is. Guess where iron talon is. I bet they're not where you expected. And what is the difference between "Artifact" and weapons/armor in the first place? I can keep going.

I think the most practical fix would be to use price and attribute brackets instead of this fancy lore-centric "caster/support/weapon/armor" split. I know that glimmer cape is a ~1.8k item with an active ability and some magic resist but no attribute bonuses, I have no idea if it is a support item or an armor or an artifact. I haven't played allstars.

I understand that it's based on the columns items are arranged in in the ingame shop, but how many game hours do you need to know which column an item is in?


 * We will stick with the in-game structure. If you want it changed, your best bet is to make a suggestion on one of the places where dota is being discussed, like in the devs forum or on reddit.
 * Might as well throw these here, too: Manta Style used to be under Weapons for a long time. It was moved to armory in 6.67 to make room for a new item (Ethereal Blade). The shops in WC3 DotA had a serius slot limit issue.
 * Originally, the Arcane shop/collumn was for unique attack modifiers. Basically, it was to simplify UAMs. The "rule" was: do not buy multiple items from this shop/collumn, because their effects don't stack. But since UAMs got slowly removed over time, this original reason no longer applies. Now, the lifesteal items are the only ones being UAMs still.
 *  Bu3ny  (talk) 21:07, 23 September 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the quick response. Unfortunate that I haven't been able to convince you on the topic, but oh well. Thanks for the interesting tidbits on the provenance of artifacts.