Notifications/Testing

Welcome to our testing page for the Notifications project!

We'd love it if you could help us test Notifications (formerly known as Echo), which we just deployed on the English Wikipedia, as outlined below. (You can also test it here on MediaWiki.org).

Once you've tested Notifications, please share your feedback on this discussion page. You're also welcome to report bugs on Phabricator.

To learn more about Notifications, check out this project hub, the feature requirements page and other related documents.

Testing Tips for Notifications
Here are a few tips for testing Notifications, our new notifications system on MediaWiki.org.

1. Log in (or sign up)

First, log in on en.wikipedia.org – or create a new account if you don't have one yet – using the links at the top right corner of the page. Once logged in, you should see a notifications badge near your name in the top right corner of any page on the English Wikipedia.

Before you test it, we recommend that you go to your preferences page, and enable all the notifications you want (be sure to check email notifications, which are mostly 'opt-in' for current users).

2 Testing options


 * Create a second account: Either create a second account on en.wikipedia.org, using a separate browser, so you can easily test notifications between the two accounts. But, see also Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Sockpuppet. If you create a new account, make sure to mention in the userpage that you have created the account for testing so that you don't face problems later.
 * Ask someone to help: Or better ask any other editor to help you to test by mentioning you somewhere. There is a list of editor below who can help you test. Contact them if you need help or you can add your name there too!

3. Post a talk page message

Next, use your second account to post a message on your first account's talk page. (See feature description.)

4. Check your notification

You should now see a red badge near the notifications link in the top right corner of any page on the English Wikipedia. Click on it to see your new notification.

5. Test other notifications

These are the notifications included in the first release of this feature on the English Wikipedia: you can trigger most of them for your first account by performing the corresponding trigger actions from your second account.
 * user mention (link to your first account's user page on your second account's talkpage)
 * edit reverted (undo or rollback an edit made by your first account)
 * page link (add a link to a page created by your first account)
 * review a page (this feature can only be tested on this prototype site)
 * user rights (ask an administrator or bureaucrat to change the user rights for your first or second account)
 * thank you (click on a thank link next to any edit by your first account on any article history page)
 * 'Welcome' notification
 * 'Getting started' notification (test it now on this E3 lab site)

6. Test the features

Here are some of the features you can test in this version:

(only appears if you have more new notifications than your flyout can display)
 * Archive page (updated version)
 * Preferences (updated version)
 * Bundling
 * 'Mark all as read' button

To learn more about our other features, read the feature requirements page.

7. Coming soon

In coming weeks, we plan to implement other features and notifications:


 * HTML Email
 * Default settings by user group
 * Watchlist preference change
 * Metrics dashboards

8. More guidelines

For more testing guidelines, we also recommend reading this test charter.

Editors who can help you test

 * Titodutta (talk) (Contact at English Wikipedia) 09:42, 2 May 2013 (UTC)
 *  Sophus Bie  (talk) (Contact at English Wikipedia) 15:29, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

How to give us feedback
General feedback

If you have any questions or suggestions about this release of Echo, you are welcome to post a comment on this discussion page. If reporting a bug, please file a task on Phabricator, as outlined below. We will respond as soon as we can.

Report bugs on Phabricator

If you encounter a technical bug, please post it on Phabricator, and add this info :
 * Summary: Enter a short headline for your bug
 * Description: Describe your bug, in detail:
 * What is the problem you experienced?
 * What steps can we take to reproduce this bug?
 * What did you think would happen?
 * Add a URL for the page where your bug can be found.
 * Attachment: Include a screenshot (if it helps show your bug visually).


 * Note: To see all of the bugs, check this Phabricator list of open tasks.

Join our community events

From time to time, we host online events over IRC to discuss this project with community members. Our last IRC chat took place on January 8, 2013 (see chat log). Our next community chat will be scheduled in coming weeks on IRC channel. This IRC chat will be aimed at experienced Wikipedians and MediaWiki developers, and we will invite participants to test our next beta version on MediaWiki, when it is ready. A banner will be placed at the top of this page once we have set a date. More info will also be provided in this section.

To learn more about Echo, check out our project hub, the feature requirements page, and other related documents.

Enjoy this early version of Echo ;o)