User talk:RandomDSdevel/Archive 6
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WikiProject X Newsletter • Issue 4
Hello friends! We have been hard at work these past two months. For this report:
For the first time, we are happy to bring you an exhaustive, comprehensive WikiProject Directory. This directory endeavors to list every single WikiProject on the English Wikipedia, including those that don't participate in article assessment. In constructing the broadest possible definition, we have come up with a list of approximately 2,600 WikiProjects. The directory tracks activity statistics on the WikiProject's pages, and, for where it's available, statistics on the number of articles tracked by the WikiProject and the number of editors active on those articles. Complementing the directory are description pages for each project, listing usernames of people active on the WikiProject pages and the articles in the WikiProject's scope. This will help Wikipedians interested in a subject find each other, whether to seek feedback on an article or to revive an old project. (There is an opt-out option.) We have also come up with listings of related WikiProjects, listing the ten most relevant WikiProjects based on what articles they have in common. We would like to promote WikiProjects as interconnected systems, rather than isolated silos.
A tremendous amount of work went into preparing this directory. WikiProjects do not consistently categorize their pages, meaning we had to develop our own index to match WikiProjects with the articles in their scope. We also had to make some adjustments to how WikiProjects were categorized; indeed, I personally have racked up a few hundred edits re-categorizing WikiProjects. There remains more work to be done to make the WikiProject directory truly useful. In the meantime, take a look and feel free to leave feedback at the WikiProject X talk page.
What have we been working on?
- A new design template—This has been in the works for a while, of course. But our goal is to design something that is useful and cleanly presented on all browsers and at all screen resolutions while working within the confines of what MediaWiki has to offer. Additionally, we are working on designs for the sub-components featured on the main project page.
- A new WikiProject talk page banner in Lua—Work has begun on implementing the WikiProject banner in Lua. The goal is to create a banner template that can be usable by any WikiProject in lieu of having its own template. Work has slowed down for now to focus on higher priority items, but we are interested in your thoughts on how we could go about creating a more useful project banner. We have a draft module on Test Wikipedia, with a demonstration.
- New discussion reports—We have over 4.8 million articles on the English Wikipedia, and almost as many talk pages as well. But what happens when someone posts on a talk page? What if no one is watching that talk page? We are currently testing out a system for an automatically-updating new discussions list, like RFC for WikiProjects. We currently have five test pages up for the WikiProjects on cannabis, cognitive science, evolutionary biology, and Ghana.
- SuggestBot for WikiProjects—We have asked the maintainer of SuggestBot to make some minor adjustments to SuggestBot that will allow it to post regular reports to those WikiProjects that ask for them. Stay tuned!
- Semi-automated article assessment—Using the new revision scoring service and another system currently under development, WikiProjects will be getting a new tool to facilitate the article assessment process by providing article quality/importance predictions for articles yet to be assessed. Aside from helping WikiProjects get through their backlogs, the goal is to help WikiProjects with collecting metrics and triaging their work. Semi-automation of this process will help achieve consistent results and keep the process running smoothly, as automation does on other parts of Wikipedia.
Want us to work on any other tools? Interested in volunteering? Leave a note on our talk page.
The database report which lists WikiProjects according to the number of watchers (i.e., people that have the project on their watchlist), is back! The report stopped being updated a year ago, following the deactivation of the Toolserver, but a replacement report has been generated.
Until next time,
Harej (talk) 22:20, 17 June 2015 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent changes
- Some wikis can now be used only with HTTPS. This includes the English, Russian and Chinese Wikipedias, among others. Soon all wikis will use only HTTPS for all users. [1] [2]
- You can't use HTTPS wikis with Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP. You need to use another browser. [3]
Problems
- On June 15, search was broken on all wikis for several hours. [4] [5] [6]
- On June 16, images were broken for several hours on wikis that use InstantCommons. [7] [8] [9]
- Many Labs tools were broken for several days. Almost all of them are back now. They may be missing some data for the last 10 days. [10] [11] [12]
Changes this week
- The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from June 23. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from June 24. It will be on all Wikipedias from June 25 (calendar).
Meetings
- You can join the next meeting with the Editing team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs are the most important. The meeting will be on June 23 at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.
Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
15:24, 22 June 2015 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent changes
- Long lines in code blocks now look better. [13]
- You can now see graphs in VisualEditor. [14]
- When you read a page on the mobile site, you can now see a link to go to its talk page. [15]
- The code coloring tool has changed. You can now use many more languages. It now also works on mobile. [16] [17] [18]
- You can look at a new site to learn how to reuse data from Wikimedia sites. [19]
Problems
- JavaScript was broken on some wikis due to a code error. VisualEditor and other tools that use JavaScript were broken. [20]
Changes this week
- The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from June 30. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from July 1. It will be on all Wikipedias from July 2 (calendar).
- You can now use a tool in VisualEditor to add and edit code in color. [21]
- When you edit a sentence in the Translate tool, it can show you older translations. They help you save time if they look alike. The older translations should now work better. If you see problems, you should report them. [22]
- If you are an admin or have other special rights, you now need a strong password. [23]
- Bot and JavaScript coders: The old continuation mode of the API for
action=querydoesn't work any more. [24]
Meetings
- You can join the next meeting with the Editing team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs are the most important. The meeting will be on June 30 at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.
Future
- When you create a new account, it will also create one on Meta-Wiki and mediawiki.org. [25]
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15:56, 29 June 2015 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent changes
- On the mobile site, you now see more information when you search for a page. It now shows the description from Wikidata. [26]
Problems
- The code of long pages is not colored any more. You may see this problem on the pages of long gadgets. [27]
Changes this week
- The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from July 7. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from July 8. It will be on all Wikipedias from July 9 (calendar).
- The "Page information" tool shows how many users watch the page. You can now see how many are active. [28] [29]
- You can now translate articles into English with the new translation tool. [30]
Meetings
- You can join the next meeting with the Editing team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs are the most important. The meeting will be on July 7 at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.
Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
15:13, 6 July 2015 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent changes
- You can now see a list of pages with errors in code coloring. [31]
Problems
- There was a problem with editing on Thursday. Some tools like bots and VisualEditor were broken on all wikis for 10 minutes. [32]
- There was a problem with images on Thursday. They were broken on all wikis for 15 minutes. [33]
Changes this week
- The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from July 14. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from July 15. It will be on all Wikipedias from July 16 (calendar).
Meetings
- You can join a technical meeting at Wikimania in Mexico City this week. [34]
Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
15:06, 13 July 2015 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Changes this week
- The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from July 21. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from July 22. It will be on all Wikipedias from July 23 (calendar).
- You now see more warnings in the image viewer. They tell you to be careful when using the image, for example if it shows a person. [35]
Meetings
- You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs are the most important. The meeting will be on July 21 at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.
Future changes
- Soon you won't be able to use MathJax to display math. [36]
Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
03:05, 21 July 2015 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent changes
- You can now use redirects to link to JavaScript pages. [37]
- You cannot use the compact user bar any more. [38]
- You can change your options to see bigger images. [39]
- You can watch short videos about how to use VisualEditor. [40]
- You can now edit pages linked in "what links here" more easily. [41]
Problems
- There was a problem with some Lua modules on July 22 and 23. Some pages using them did not list them in "what links here". You can fix those pages with a null edit: edit and save the page without making any change.
- There was a problem with the abuse filter page on big wikis on July 23. It was due to a code error. [42]
Changes this week
- The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from July 28. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from July 29. It will be on all Wikipedias from July 30 (calendar).
- JavaScript authors: You cannot use
wgNoticeUserDatato get edit counts anymore. [43]
Meetings
- You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs are the most important. The meeting will be on July 28 at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.
Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
15:05, 27 July 2015 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent changes
- The ContentTranslation extension has been updated:
- The error page you see when the sites are not working is now simpler and easier to read. It also shows the Wikimedia logo. [49]
- MediaWiki now supports redirects for CSS pages. [50]
- Bots can't guess captchas unlimited times anymore. [51]
Problems
- There was a problem with thumbnails on wikis with local images on July 24 and 25. It was due to a code error. [52]
- We can't search by file type on Wikimedia wikis now. [53]
Changes this week
- The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from August 4. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from August 5. It will be on all Wikipedias from August 6 (calendar).
Meetings
- You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs are the most important. The meeting will be on August 4 at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.
Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
15:51, 3 August 2015 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent changes
- MediaWiki can now hide the signature button when you edit a content page. [54]
- The "Your preferences have been saved" message has changed. You can now see more easily what was saved when you change preferences several times. [55]
- You can now play Ogg video files in some browsers that don't support this format. This solution uses JavaScript and works on desktop browsers only for now. It will work on mobile later. [56]
- You can now use the same tools to edit style in VisualEditor on mobile as in desktop browsers. [57]
- It is now easier to see if there is a JavaScript error in a user or site script. [58]
- JavaScript authors:
- You can no longer use the Sajax library. You can see a list of pages to fix. [59] [60]
- You can no longer use
document.writeon Wikimedia wikis. You can see a list of pages to fix. [61] [62]
- The content translation tool now works better. It is easier to use math, and useless tags are no longer added. [63]
Problems
- More edits have been rejected due to loss of session data lately. This is now fixed. [64]
- Importing a Lua module sometimes didn't work. This is now fixed. [65]
- Text was sometimes lost in the content translation tool. One part of the problem is now fixed. [66]
Changes this week
- The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from August 11. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from August 12. It will be on all Wikipedias from August 13 (calendar).
- UploadWizard is getting a new look. The look of buttons and checkboxes has already changed. This week, UploadWizard gets a new date picker. The other text fields will change soon. [67]
- You can now test VisualEditor on mobile devices of all sizes. [68]
Meetings
- You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs are the most important. The meeting will be on August 11 at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.
Future changes
- Some things in the watchlist will get a new look. [69]
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14:58, 10 August 2015 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent changes
- Many Wikipedias can now use information from any Wikidata item in any Wikipedia article. Before they could only use the Wikidata item that matched the subject of the article. [70] [71] [72]
- Some auto-saving problems and other issues in the Content Translation tool are now fixed. Please report to the Content Translation feedback page if you still have problems. [73]
Problems
- Older gadgets that are not using ResourceLoader are not loading anymore. They need to be updated. [74] [75]
- On August 12 the machine translation servers and the Content Translation tool didn't work. This was fixed on the same day. [76]
Changes this week
- The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from August 18. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from August 19. It will be on all Wikipedias from August 20 (calendar).
- You can soon watch when something is added to or removed from a category. [77]
Meetings
- You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs are the most important. The meeting will be on August 18 at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.
Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
16:17, 17 August 2015 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent changes
- Disambiguation pages are now excluded from the random page function. [78]
Problems
Changes this week
- The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from August 25. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from August 26. It will be on all Wikipedias from August 27 (calendar).
Meetings
- You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs are the most important. The meeting will be on August 25 at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.
Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
13:02, 24 August 2015 (UTC)
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent changes
- VisualEditor will now automatically create a link when you type in or paste an ISBN, PMID, or RFC. [80][81]
- The link editor in VisualEditor is now a bit wider. It's now the same width as the automatic citation tool. [82]
- VisualEditor gadget authors can no longer use the backwards-compatibility module
ext.visualEditor.viewPageTarget.init. Useext.visualEditor.desktopArticleTarget.initinstead. [83] - Gadget writers can now use mediawiki.ForeignApi to communicate between different Wikimedia wikis. [84]
Changes this week
- The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from September 1. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis from September 2. It will be on all Wikipedias from September 3 (calendar).
Meetings
- You can join the next meeting with the VisualEditor team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs are the most important. The meeting will be on September 1 at 19:00 (UTC). See how to join.
Future changes
- The Wikidata API will be updated with breaking changes. This will probably happen on September 9. [85]
Tech news prepared by tech ambassadors and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.
21:36, 31 August 2015 (UTC)