Contributors/Projects/Removal of the 2006 wikitext editor



The 2006 wikitext editor is being removed from production on WMF sites. If you do not know which editor you use, then please look at the list of editors to see screenshots for most of the editing environments in use.

Data indicates that very few active editors are using this, so it doesn't make sense to commit further resources to maintaining it. At the English Wikipedia, only about 50 editors use it (about 1 in 3,000 of the active editors there). Other wikis have even fewer editors using it.

What will happen
On 24–25 October 2018, the code for this wikitext editor and associated preference options will be removed from production, through the normal deployment train.

This change will be made at the English Wikipedia Beta Cluster on 16 October 2018 (the Tuesday before the deployment). (Other test wikis are possible on the same day; please contact User:Whatamidoing (WMF) to request any other test wiki.) You can import your scripts to the Beta Cluster and test them there for approximately six days before the next deployment train runs. Please consider setting up your scripts now, so that you have everything in place when the testing can begin on that Tuesday. Watch T30856 for the announcement that the old editor has been removed from the Beta Cluster.

When this editor is removed, the editors that are using it will default to the 2003 wikitext editor, which has no buttons or toolbar. The team chose this option because the editors who are still using this old toolbar regularly tend to be high-volume editors, and the 2003 wikitext editor will load more quickly and take up less space on their screens than the alternatives. All editors are free to change their editing preferences at any time by going to Special:Preferences and choosing from among the options.

Alternatives
The toolbar could be converted to a Javascript-based user script by any volunteer developer that is interested in doing so. Please leave a note on the talk page if you are interested in doing this.

For third-party wikis
This was deprecated in MediaWiki 1.29 and will be removed during 1.30. See T30856 for more information about how this might affect your wiki.