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The phrase "Thinking outside the (info)box" has many possible implications, as with the underlying phrase. It is very easy to code a small infobox outside, and below, as an extension of a formal template-infobox. Also, the structure of an infobox has implications, outside the English Wikipedia, for the other-language Wikipedias.
The use of infoboxes in Wikipedia articles has both advantages and disadvantages. While an infobox can provide a condensed summary of related data, it can oversimplify the connections, such as when a territory changes boundaries but is treated as being exactly the same place. However, there are other issues to consider:
- Infoboxing outside infoboxes – Many infoboxes have been greatly extended in hopes of covering all possible situations. Regardless, custom data is sometimes needed, or the basic data is too wide to fit, without pushing the edges of the infobox into an over-wide display. Appending another infobox could handle those cases (see below: Quick impromptu infoboxes).
- Gateway to other languages – Despite limitations, the infoboxes have proven invaluable to foster translation into the other-language Wikipedias, where the repeated items can be more easily translated, rather than having to interpret long sentences with complex verb and clause structures. Although each infobox provides only a small portion of the total information, those infoboxes have led the way to expanding coverage in many other languages. An article stub begins with one line + infobox, and it grows from there. The same could be said as a benefit of using lists, when kept simple for easier translation.