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Reduced page load time significantly once again. Page load time was cut to roughly 2/3. For now we’re happy with the resulting page load times. We’ll start concentrating on other areas of the user interface now.
Fixed faulty selection handling when adding a property using the keyboard (bugzilla:62868)
Worked on fixing issues with handling of spaces in quantities (bugzilla:62567)
Fixed miscount of Wikidata changes on the client watchlist (bugzilla:45812)
Wrote new browser tests for special pages using the Cucumber and Selenium frameworks
Improved error formatting, localisation and handling. We will work on error message wording next to make them more understandable.
Worked on the code which propagates page moves from the clients into Wikidata as a preparation for allowing page deletions to appear on Wikidata
Made the Wikibase extension work with the new “Compact language links” Beta feature and a bit more independent from the UniversalLanguageSelector in general
The student team working on the entity suggester has finished the first version of it. The code is being reviewed now and is hopefully ready for deployment soon. Once it is deployed it will show you what new properties you could add to an item.
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please inform other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent software changes
The latest version of MediaWiki (1.23wmf20) was added to test wikis and MediaWiki.org on March 27. It will be added to non-Wikipedia wikis on April 1, and all Wikipedia wikis on April 3 (calendar).
Typography Refresh was added to test wikis and MediaWiki.org on March 27. You'll only see it if you use the Vector skin. For users on non-Wikipedia wikis, it will be enabled on April 1, and for Wikipedia users on April 3.
CirrusSearch, the new search tool, was enabled as a beta feature on over 30 new wikis on March 27. [1][2]
VisualEditor news
Blocked users now see the same messages in VisualEditor as in the wikitext editor. [3][4]
The search box for re-using a reference in VisualEditor is now cleared after each use. [5]
New links on sub-pages no longer point to the wrong location in VisualEditor. [6]
VisualEditor's media dialog no longer breaks when opening some types of images. [7]
Future software changes
You will not be able to use the Wikitech wiki for a short period around 16:00 UTC on April 1 due to a server change. [8]
CirrusSearch will become the main search engine for all non-Wikipedia wikis except Commons, Meta and Incubator on April 2.
You will soon be able to use a new special page listing duplicate files. [9]
Deleting a version of a file or a version of its description page will soon be shown differently in the logs. [10]
News and notes: Wikimedia conferences—soul-searching about costs, attendance, and future The run-up to the conference has seen the unfolding of two fractious threads on the Wikimedia public mailing list, both of which may serve as background for the last session at Berlin: "Future of the Wikimedia Conference".
WikiProject report: Deutschland in English This week, we visited with WikiProject Germany.
Special report: On the cusp of the Wikimedia Conference The annual Wikimedia Conference is about to start in Berlin, hosted by Wikimedia Germany, which won the bid to hold the event over three others. This will be the fifth time the chapter has hosted the Wikimedia Conference—it did so from 2009 to 2012, with attendance ranging from 100 to 180 Wikimedians. This year 160 people are expected at the four-day event, which is mainly for representatives of affiliated Wikimedia organisations. The conference has been built around two themes: Organisation, structures, and grants and Success and impact.
Featured content: April Fools The Signpost's "Featured content" writers had a bit of fun this week.
Traffic report: Regressing to the mean The mysterious fate of MH370 still tops the list, but in all other respects our readership has retreated from the real world into its pop-cultural happy place: TV, movies, music, Reddit and Google Doodles all made an appearance.
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please inform other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent software changes
The latest version of MediaWiki (1.23wmf21) was scheduled to be deployed to test wikis and MediaWiki.org on April 3, however it was temporarily put on hold due to localization issues. (calendar).
Typography Refresh was enabled on non-Wikipedia wikis on April 1, and on all Wikipedias on April 3. You'll only see it if you use the Vector skin.
CirrusSearch was enabled as the primary search method on over 400 non-Wikipedia wikis on April 2. [11]
Future software changes
A new special page (Special:TrackingCategories) will soon list all the tracking categories on a wiki. [12][13]
All Wikiquote projects will start using language links from Wikidata on April 8. [14]
The Hovercards feature will soon work with right-to-left languages. [15][16]
You will soon be able to download files directly from MediaViewer, the new multimedia tool. [17]
MediaViewer will be enabled for all users on MediaWiki.org on April 10. Comments are welcome.
You can help check that users can read CAPTCHAs in your language. [18]
News and notes: Round 2 of FDC funding open to public comments Community review is open for the four applications in the second and final round of applications to the WMF's Funds Dissemination Committee for 2013–14. Three eligible organisations have applied for funding under the newly named "annual program grants": Wikimedia France, Wikimedia Norway, and the India-based Centre for Internet and Society, which last November was recognised as eligible to apply for FDC funding purposes.
WikiProject report: WikiProject Law This week, we interviewed the Law WikiProject.
Special report: Community mourns passing of Adrianne Wadewitz "I remember laughing and talking and laughing and talking at Wikimania 2012. I took this picture of her that she used for a long while as a profile pic. Someone on Facebook said it looked 'skepchickal', which she loved."
Traffic report: Conquest of the Couch Potatoes Television has always been a topic of choice on this site, but it exploded this week. Fully six slots were devoted to television shows, as the final episode of How I Met Your Mother, one of the most popular Wikipedia searches of the last few years, coincided with the season finale of The Walking Dead and the upcoming fourth season of Game of Thrones. The number rises to 8 if movies released on video and new TV tech are are included.
Featured content: Snow heater and Ash sweep Five article, five lists, and ten pictures were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia last week.
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please inform other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
We are looking for contributors to help write new issues every week. If you would like to help, please contact us.
Recent software changes
The latest version of MediaWiki (1.23wmf22) was added to test wikis and MediaWiki.org on April 10. It will be added to non-Wikipedia wikis on April 15, and all Wikipedias on April 17 (calendar).
MediaViewer was enabled for all users on MediaWiki.org on April 10. It will be enabled for all users on the Catalan (ca), Hungarian (hu) and Korean (ko) Wikipedias and English Wikivoyage on April 17. Comments are welcome. [19][20][21]
You will now see only three options when you try to add a template parameter in VisualEditor; you will see other options after a click. [24]
The size changing controls in VisualEditor media editing dialog were simplified further.
The wikitext editor tab will now fold into a drop-down menu in the Vector skin if there is not enough space on your screen. [25][26]
Future software changes
The font used for body text on Wikimedia wikis will change to your system default sans-serif font. This temporary change will be enabled on all non-Wikipedia wikis on April 15, and on all Wikipedias on April 17. [27][28]
Files from Commons seen on another wiki will soon have a tab saying "View on Wikimedia Commons". The create tab will change to "Add local description" (see screenshot). [29]
An IRC discussion with the Wikimedia Foundation Multimedia team will take place on April 16 at 18:00 UTC on the channel #wikimedia-office on Freenode (time conversion). [39]
Problems
Wikimedia Foundation servers were updated after a security bug called Heartbleed was discovered last week. You should change your password as an extra precaution. [40]
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please inform other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
We are looking for contributors to help write a new issue every week. If you would like to help, please contact us.
Recent software changes
The latest version of MediaWiki (1.24wmf1) was added to test wikis and MediaWiki.org on April 17. It will be added to non-Wikipedia wikis on April 22, and all Wikipedias on April 24 (calendar).
CirrusSearch was enabled as a beta feature on 27 new wikis on April 18. [42][43]
Problems with various fonts in SVG files were fixed last week. Files that use DejaVu Sans Condensed, DejaVu Serif Condensed, DejaVu Sans Light, Kochi Gothic and Kochi Mincho fonts now show correctly. [44][45][46][47]
The page view statistics site developed by Henrik (stats.grok.se) should now work faster. [48]
You can read a summary of the Wikimedia technical report for March 2014. [49]
VisualEditor news
If you try to add a category which redirects to another category, VisualEditor will now suggest adding the target category directly. [50][51]
VisualEditor tabs will no longer appear on Education Program pages. [52][53]
You can now use VisualEditor on Meta-Wiki and the French Wikinews by enabling it in your preferences. [54][55][56]
Future software changes
MediaViewer will be enabled for all users on the Czech (cs), Estonian (et), Finnish (fi), Hebrew (he), Polish (pl), Romanian (ro), Slovak (sk), Thai (th) and Vietnamese (vi) Wikipedias on April 24. Feedback is welcome. [57]
Edits by anonymous users will now be marked with a new CSS class (mw-anonuserlink). This way, you can easily make those edits use a different color, font or background. [58][59]
The user preference to remember login will soon be removed from all wikis. The edit review preferences will be moved to the recent changes tab, and the preference for the WikiLove tool will be moved to the editing tab. [60][61][62][63]
You will soon be able to give parameters to preloaded templates. [64][65]
You will soon be able to use CodeEditor in read-only mode on pages that you cannot edit. [66][67]
An IRC discussion about Phabricator will take place on April 22 at 03:30 AM UTC on the channel #wikimedia-office on freenode (time conversion). [69]
Problems
For about 40 minutes on April 17, there were problems with page loading due to high server load.
There is a problem with the rendering of formulas with MathJax. If you enabled MathJax in your preferences, you might need to turn it off and on again. [70]
Special report: 2014 Wikimedia Conference—what is the impact? The annual Wikimedia Conference wound up last Sunday, 13 April—a four-day meeting costing several hundred thousand dollars, hosted in Berlin by Wikimedia Germany and attended by more than 100 Wikimedians.
Op-ed: Five things a Wikipedian in residence can do Hey you—yeah you, the Wikipedian! Do you want to help a museum, a library, a university, or other organization explore ways to engage with Wikipedia? Great—you should offer your expertise as a Wikipedian in residence!
News and notes: Wikimedian passes away Cynthia Ashley-Nelson, who edited as "Cindamuse" on the Wikimedia projects, passed away in her sleep at the Wikimedia Conference in Berlin on 10 April.
Wikimania: Winning bid announced for 2015 After just over a month of deliberation, the Wikimania jury has selected Wikimedia Mexico's bid to host Wikimania 2015 in Mexico City, with a proposed date of 15–19 July.
Traffic report: Reflecting in Gethsemane If I were the kind of person who made snap judgments based on flimsy evidence, I'd say our readership is in a funk.
Featured content: There was I, waiting at the church Fourteen articles, four lists, seven pictures, and one topic attained "featured" status on the English Wikipedia over the last two weeks.
You can use VisualEditor to make redirects. First, remove any unwanted content from the page. Then go to the "Page options" menu (next to "⧼visualeditor-toolbar-cancel⧽") and choose the "Page settings" item. Click the box to "Redirect this page to". In the box, type in the name of the page that you want to redirect this page to.
You can also set or remove categories for the redirect in the "Page options" menu. Read the user guide for more information.
Since the last newsletter, the VisualEditor team has mostly worked on performance improvements, image settings, and preparation for a simplified citation template tool in its own menu.
In an oft-requested improvement, VisualEditor now displays red links (links to non-existent pages) in the proper color. Links to sister projects and external URLs are still the same blue as local links.
You can now open templates by double-clicking them or by selecting them and pressing Return. This also works for references, images, galleries, mathematical equations, and other "nodes".
VisualEditor has been disabled for pages that were created as translations of other pages using the Translate extension (common at Meta and MediaWiki.org). If a page has been marked for translation, you will see a warning if you try to edit it using VisualEditor.
When you try to edit protected pages with VisualEditor, the full protection notice and most recent log entry are displayed. Blocked users see the standard message for blocked users.
The developers fixed a bug that caused links on sub-pages to point to the wrong location.
The size-changing controls in the advanced settings section of the media or image dialog were simplified further. VisualEditor's media dialog supports more image display styles, like borderless images.
If there is not enough space on your screen to display all of the tabs (for instance, if your browser window is too narrow), the second edit tab will now fold into the drop-down menu (where the "Move" item is currently housed). On the English Wikipedia, this moves the "Edit beta" tab into the menu; on most projects, it moves the "Edit source" tab. This is only enabled in the default Vector skin, not for Monobook users. See this image for an example showing the "Edit source" and "View history" tabs after they moved into the drop-down menu.
After community requests, VisualEditor has been deployed as an opt-in feature at Meta and on the French Wikinews.
The drop-down menu is on the right, next to the search box.
Looking ahead: A new, locally controlled menu of citation templates will put citations immediately in front of users. You will soon be able to see the Table of Contents while editing. Support for upright image sizes (preferred for accessibility) is being developed. In-line language setting (dir="rtl") will be offered as a Beta Feature soon. Looking further out, the developers are also working on support for viewing and editing hidden HTML comments. It will be possible to upload images to Commons from inside VisualEditor.
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please inform other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent software changes
The latest version of MediaWiki (1.24wmf2) was added to test wikis and MediaWiki.org on April 24. It will be added to non-Wikipedia wikis on April 29, and all Wikipedias on May 1 (calendar).
You can now use interwiki prefix c: to link to pages on Wikimedia Commons. [71]
VisualEditor news
You will soon be able to set content language and direction with VisualEditor. [72]
VisualEditor now works on all Wikipedias after broken MediaWiki:Common.js pages (and similar) were fixed last week. [73]
VisualEditor dialogs now use an animation of moving lines rather than animated GIF images.
Future software changes
CirrusSearch will be enabled as a beta feature on 41 new wikis, including Meta-Wiki and the Swedish (sv), Russian (ru), Polish (pl), Japanese (ja) and Chinese (zh) Wikipedias next week. This change means that CirrusSearch will now be enabled on all Wikimedia wikis.
MediaViewer will be enabled for all users on the French (fr) and Dutch (nl) Wikipedias on May 1. Feedback is welcome. [74]
The mobile version of Wikimedia wikis will soon include filters to limit the number of uploaded files that are copyright violations. [75]
CodeEditor will soon have a status bar about errors and warnings. [76][77]
You can test a new version of Winter, a proposal to have a fixed toolbar at the top of wiki pages. Comments are welcome. [78]
Problems
For about 30 minutes on April 21, there were problems with image scaling due to a high server load. [79][80]
On April 22, it was not possible to use the Collection extension for about 90 minutes due to a server move. [81][82]
News and notes: WMF's draft annual plan turns indigestible as an FDC proposal Like hammering a square peg into a round hole, the Wikimedia Foundation has submitted a draft annual plan for 2014–15 to its own Funds Dissemination Committee. Unlike the WMF's submission to the FDC's inaugural round in October 2012, the "proposal" does not seek funding.
Traffic report: Going to the Doggs Not much to report this week. The same post-Easter celebrations (4/20, Earth Day) were popular again this year, except last year we were still reeling from the Boston Marathon bombing.
Breaking: The Foundation's new executive director The Wikimedia Foundation has announced that its new executive director will be Lila Tretikov, until now a chief product officer in Silicon Valley.
WikiProject report: Genetics This week, we unraveled the mysteries of WikiProject Genetics.
Interview: Wikipedia in the Peabody Essex Museum Ed Roley, Associate Director of Integrated Media at the Peabody Essex Museum, talks about GLAM engagement with Wikipedia.
Featured content: Browsing behaviours Four articles and sixteen featured pictures were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia last week.
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please inform other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent software changes
The latest version of MediaWiki (1.24wmf3) was added to test wikis and MediaWiki.org on May 1. It will be added to non-Wikipedia wikis on May 6, and all Wikipedias on May 8 (calendar).
The Compact Personal Bar was added as a beta feature to test wikis and MediaWiki.org on May 1. It will be added as a beta feature to non-Wikipedia wikis on May 6, and to all Wikipedias on May 8. To test it, you can enable it now in your preferences on MediaWiki.org. [83]
External links in VisualEditor are now in the same light blue color as in MediaWiki. [85]
The template tool now tells you if a parameter is obsolete. [86]
You can now add "suggested" parameters in TemplateData; VisualEditor will add them like required ones. [87]
There is a new type for TemplateData parameters: wiki-file-name for file names. [88][89]
Editing formulae in VisualEditor will soon be enabled for all users. [90][91]
You will soon be able to try a new beta feature to edit text in another language. [92][93]
Future software changes
MediaViewer will be enabled for all users on the Japanese (ja), Portuguese (pt), Spanish (es), Swedish (sv) and Telugu (te) Wikipedias on May 8. Feedback is welcome. [94]
You can help translate about 100 new language names that have been added to our data source. They are used, for example, as hover text for interwiki links. Send an e-mail to Nemo if you want to help.
If you click on a redirect page in your watchlist, you will soon access the redirect itself. [95][96]
Problems
For about 40 minutes around 00:20 UTC on April 29, there were problems with page loading due to high server load.
News and notes: New system of discretionary sanctions; Buchenwald; is Pirelli 'Cracking Wikipedia'? The English Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) introduced the first form of what are known as the "discretionary sanction" (DS) in 2009. A new DS regime, called Discretionary sanctions (2014), is the result of an elaborate review process involving both the community, since last September, and the committee, for more than a year.
Traffic report: TMZedia For all the claims of Wikipedia bringing the world's knowledge to all who want it, it seems the human race most wants is a tabloid newspaper; a quick source for TV listings, pop culture facts, celebrity gossip and, above all, scandal—with some nice juicy racism thrown in too.
In focus: Foundation announces long-awaited new executive director In a live video stream on 1 May, the Wikimedia Foundation announced that Lila Tretikov will be replacing Sue Gardner, its executive director. Gardner, who has been in the position since 2007, declared her intention to leave more than a year ago.
In the media: Google and the flu; Adrianne Boston Children's Hospital postdoctoral fellow David McIver and a team have determined that using page view statistics from Wikipedia, they can track flu progression better than the Center for Disease Control can using Google searches.
WikiProject report: Singing with Eurovision Formed in 2003, the Eurovision WikiProject boasts four featured articles and 22 good articles. The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 is currently taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark, so we went to the stage to talk with one of the project's members.
Featured content: Wikipedia at the Rijksmuseum Four articles, two lists, and five pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia last week.
Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please inform other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.
Recent software changes
The latest version of MediaWiki (1.24wmf4) was added to test wikis and MediaWiki.org on May 8. It will be added to non-Wikipedia wikis on May 13, and all Wikipedias on May 15 (calendar).
VisualEditor news
A new citation system in VisualEditor was enabled on the English Wikipedia. It will soon be enabled on more wikis. [97]
Templates that were previously broken in VisualEditor should now appear correctly. [98]
Future software changes
It will soon be possible to move category description pages. Pages in changed categories will still have to be moved independently. [99][100]
Investigative report: Hong Kong's Wikimania 2013—failure to produce financial statement raises questions of probity On 2 May 2012, the Wikimania jury announced that Hong Kong's bid to hold the 2013 event had beaten four other proposals. Moderator James Forrester wrote: "The Jury has confidence that the Hong Kong bidding team will pull off a magnificent Wikimania,"—and indeed there were positive comments about the event from most attendees.
WikiProject report: Relaxing in Puerto Rico This week, the Signpost jumped over the ocean to chat with the Puerto Rico WikiProject.
News and notes: 'Ask a librarian'—connecting Wikimedians with the National Library of Australia Editors of Australian-related topics on the English Wikipedia may have noticed an odd addition if they viewed the article's talk pages. For example, on Talk:Darwin, Northern Territory, they might be drawn in by the question mark, nested within what is often a sea of WikiProject templates: "Need help improving this article? Ask a librarian at the National Library of Australia, or the Northern Territory Library." Just what is this?
Featured content: On the rocks Six articles, seven lists, and four pictures were promoted to 'featured' status on the English Wikipedia this week.
Looking for a cool university project with impact? We have some of them around Wikidata - not just for computer science students. Get in touch with Lydia.
Had a lot to think about and recap from the Zürich Hackathon, e.g. things regarding search, suggestions as well as the user interface redesign
Started doing mockups of the new user interface (Nothing to show yet, sorry!)
Setup an autogenerating code documentation instance on labs at wbdoc.wmflabs.org. Hint: Submitting patches that make the inline code documentation even better is a good starting point to get involved in coding
Worked on new datatype monolingual text (basically a string with an associated language)
Reworked a hell lot of “change operations” code that’s responsible for each and every edit as well as validating user input and API requests, for example denying empty descriptions and finding and blocking unnecessary duplications
Checked all the new Beta features that the teams in San Francisco are developing and made sure they work with Wikidata
Our efforts to make Wikidata faster broke some gadgets so we helped fixing them. Sorry for the breakage!
Dug into odd display bugs with the MonoBook skin and attempted to fix them (bugzilla:64741)
More testing on simple queries
Tpt worked on making inter-project links in the sidebar a beta-feature
The Wikipedia Library
