Wikinews:Water cooler/technical

Refresh

Shortcut:
WN:WCT

Archive, post

---

Archives 2009  July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December 2009 2010  January 2010 February 2010 March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010 August 2010 September 2010 October 2010 November 2010 December 2010 2011  January 2011 February 2011 March 2011 April 2011 May 2011 June 2011 July 2011 August 2011 September 2011 October 2011 December 2011 2012  March 2012 April 2012 May 2012 July 2012 August 2012 September 2012 October 2012 November 2012 December 2012 2013  January 2013 February 2013 March 2013 April 2013 May 2013 June 2013 July 2013 August 2013 September 2013 October 2013 November 2013 December 2013 2014  January 2014 February 2014 March 2014 April 2014 May 2014 June 2014 July 2014 August 2014 September 2014 October 2014 November 2014 December 2014 2015  January 2015 February 2015 March 2015 April 2015 May 2015 June 2015 July 2015 August 2015 September 2015 October 2015 November 2015 December 2015 2016  January 2016 February 2016 April 2016 May 2016 June 2016 July 2016 August 2016 September 2016 October 2016 November 2016 December 2016 2017  January 2017 February 2017 March 2017 April 2017 May 2017 June 2017 July 2017 August 2017 September 2017 October 2017 November 2017 January 2018 February 2018 March 2018 April 2018 May 2018 June 2018 July 2018 August 2018 September 2018 October 2018

Inherently unhelpful protection message

	You do not have permission to edit this page, for the following reason: This page has been protected to prevent editing or other actions.
—Wikinews main page

Consider the Main Page. The message that comes when an user tries to edit it (see left) is pretty generic (infact, it's the Mediawiki default).

	This page is currently protected and can be edited only by administrators.
—Wikibooks main page

That message won't even tell you whether it's semi-protected or fully protected.

Most other Wikimedia sites do it properly; see Wikibooks' main page. It also tells you why the page is protected, and what one can do about it.

Shouldn't the messages be changed (i.e, by importing it from elsewhere) so that they are more helpful? Leaderboard (talk) 16:37, 26 October 2018 (UTC)

@Leaderboard: Makes sense. Do you, perchance, know what the MediaWiki-space hooks are for this?

(In the longer term, I hope to devise a mechanism so that when someone tries to edit a page that's protected, they'll get a semi-automated assistant and may be given an opportunity to "edit" the page thereby generating an editprotected request on the talk page that, in turn, offers a semi-automated assistant to a user with higher privs that they can use to examine the proposal, and accept reject or modify it. This would be a very cool facility. Not there yet.) --Pi zero (talk) 16:53, 26 October 2018 (UTC)

@Pi zero: For Wikibooks, it's here. Hence Wikinews' equivalent is at here, and it's barren, as expected. Leaderboard (talk) 17:54, 26 October 2018 (UTC)

Looking at the hard-to-read code on Wikibooks, and comparing it to the differently obscure code on Wikipedia, it seems clear to me this needs to be done carefully, to modularize it in a way that supports the sort of customizations we'll want for Wikinews. I'll try to focus on this and work it out promptly (though stuff on the review queue tends to take priority). --Pi zero (talk) 19:31, 26 October 2018 (UTC)

@Pi zero: See my sandbox; I've copied the code from Wikibooks and made it more Wikinews-y (though I should note that the template is dynamic and doesn't show its full capabilities inside my sandbox). I've also copied a template (with its documentation) as part of it (you'll need to perform a history merge to it). Leaderboard (talk) 12:45, 27 October 2018 (UTC)

I have some thoughts on this, but am atm in the midst of one of those moments of being overwhelmed with immediate priorities. (Nowadays we don't use the traditional types of boxes at Wikinews; I favor {{xambox}} as a general-purpose device; and there's a very-long-standing low-level debate running here over whether it's okay to import "code"-type infrastructure from Wikipedia, as opposed to content... but really those are side issues.) --Pi zero (talk) 17:21, 27 October 2018 (UTC)

I've tried something. Further customizations should be primarily in template space. --Pi zero (talk) 08:01, 6 November 2018 (UTC)

MediaWiki:Edittools and MediaWiki:Edittools.js still need fixing

I raised an issue early this year about MediaWiki:Edittools and MediaWiki:Edittools.js possibly not working properly. There weren't enough replies here, so five months ago I decided to ask for help or suggestions at MediaWiki.org's Support Desk. I figured that the suggestions there are helpful, but I'm unsure. I wanted to file a Phabricator task about this, but I decide to raise this once more. --George Ho (talk) 08:48, 28 October 2018 (UTC)

Thanks for following this up George Ho.

Why don't they fix it? Edit tools is a part of MediaWiki.

Does this bug not occur at Russian Wikinews or English Wikipedia?

If it does not parse our MediaWiki:Edittools then it is a bug in MW's code?

I do not follow what code needs fixing.

If you don't understand either then we can ask at the topic that you linked. --Gryllida (chat) 09:35, 28 October 2018 (UTC)

I still don't understand codes much, even when using the "F12" key, i.e. developer tools. I tried finding flaws in Elements tab via Google Chrome, but I don't know which code needs fixing. I also couldn't detect "exceptions". --George Ho (talk) 09:51, 28 October 2018 (UTC)

OK thanks George Ho;

@Microchip08, Bawolff, Pi zero: and maybe others; do you have suggestions different from 'this is a bug in MediaWiki which needs to be reported'? --Gryllida (chat) 10:41, 28 October 2018 (UTC)

"Opinions" tab not appearing while using debug=true in a browser's address bar

When I was using "debug=true" (e.g. this one) and developer tools, I noticed that "Opinions" tab is missing. On the other hand, without using "debug=true", the "Opinions" tab appears. Also, when I used the developers tools (F12 key) via Google Chrome, I found one error message (or an "exception"?). --George Ho (talk) 10:04, 28 October 2018 (UTC)

Editing News #2—2018

Read this in another language • Subscription list for this multilingual newsletter

Did you know?

Did you know that you can use the visual editor on a mobile device?

Tap on the pencil icon to start editing. The page will probably open in the wikitext editor.

You will see another pencil icon in the toolbar. Tap on that pencil icon to the switch between visual editing and wikitext editing.

Remember to publish your changes when you're done.

You can read and help translate the user guide, which has more information about how to use the visual editor.

Since the last newsletter, the Editing Team has wrapped up most of their work on the 2017 wikitext editor and the visual diff tool. The team has begun investigating the needs of editors who use mobile devices. Their work board is available in Phabricator. Their current priorities are fixing bugs and improving mobile editing.

Recent changes

• The Editing team has published an initial report about mobile editing.
• The Editing team has begun a design study of visual editing on the mobile website. New editors have trouble doing basic tasks on a smartphone, such as adding links to Wikipedia articles. You can read the report.
• The Reading team is working on a separate mobile-based contributions project.
• The 2006 wikitext editor is no longer supported. If you used that toolbar, then you will no longer see any toolbar. You may choose another editing tool in your editing preferences, local gadgets, or beta features.
• The Editing team described the history and status of VisualEditor in this recorded public presentation (starting at 29 minutes, 30 seconds).
• The Language team released a new version of Content Translation (CX2) last month, on International Translation Day. It integrates the visual editor to support templates, tables, and images. It also produces better wikitext when the translated article is published. [1]

Let's work together

• The Editing team wants to improve visual editing on the mobile website. Please read their ideas and tell the team what you think would help editors who use the mobile site.
• The Community Wishlist Survey begins next week.
• If you aren't reading this in your preferred language, then please help us with translations! Subscribe to the Translators mailing list or contact us directly. We will notify you when the next issue is ready for translation. Thank you!

—Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk)

14:17, 2 November 2018 (UTC)

Open call for Project Grants

Greetings! The Project Grants program is accepting proposals until November 30 to fund both experimental and proven ideas such as research, offline outreach (including editathon series, workshops, etc), online organizing (including contests), or providing other support for community building for Wikimedia projects.

We offer the following resources to help you plan your project and complete a grant proposal:

• Program guidelines and criteria
• Tutorials for writing a strong application
• General planning page for Project Grants
• Scheduled proposal clinics to discuss your proposal and ask questions

Also accepting candidates to join the Project Grants Committee through November 15.

With thanks, I JethroBT (WMF) 19:46, 5 November 2018 (UTC)