Extension:SandboxLink

The SandboxLink extension adds a link to user's personal sandbox to personal tools menu. The sandbox is assumed to exist, or will be created, at a "/sandbox" subpage of user's userpage.

More limited version of this functionality can be achieved with a JavaScript snippet: Snippets/MySandbox. This snippet was previously used as a gadget on many wikimedia wikis, most of which had it set to default=on.

The main disadvantages of the gadget are performance and mis-clicks: Because the snippet only loads after everything else is rendered, it causes a distracting "movement" in the personal bar. This also leads to many mis-clicks, when an editor tries to visit their userpage or usertalkpage, and those links moved just before the click. The extension also accurately reflects the existence of the page (redlink, vs always-a-bluelink in the gadget) which will be useful for bringing it to the attention of newcomers. The extension also keeps the link available on restricted special pages (special:preferences and special:userlogin).

User documentation
See Help:Extension:SandboxLink.

Server-side configuration
This extension provides one configuration option:
 * (Default: )
 * Whether to disable the functionality for anonymous users.
 * Whether to disable the functionality for anonymous users.

On-wiki configuration
The sandbox link generated by this extension can be tweaked by modifying some system messages.


 * sandboxlink-subpage-name
 * (Default in English: "sandbox", varies per language)
 * The name of user's subpage where the sandbox should be created. By default, the page used will be "User:Example/sandbox".
 * Set this message to '-' to remove the sandbox link for all users.
 * The value in wiki's content language will always be used, regardless of user's chosen language. If you're running a multilingual wiki, this can be overridden with the  MediaWiki configuration setting.


 * sandboxlink-portlet-label
 * (Default in English: "Sandbox", varies per language)
 * The label of the link in the user's personal toolbar.


 * tooltip-pt-sandbox
 * (Default in English: "Your sandbox", varies per language)
 * The text contained in the "title" attribute of the link to the sandbox. This text is displayed when the user hovers their mouse over the link.


 * sandboxlink-editintro-pagename
 * sandboxlink-preload-pagename
 * (Default: '-')
 * When the sandbox page doesn't exist, the page title to use for the 'editintro' and 'preload' parameters of the link. See Manual:Parameters to index.php. Not enabled by default.