Thread:Project:Current issues/Adding a dev namespace for "Data and developer hub" articles/reply (5)

Here's how I think this should work:


 * Use the existing API namespace for this.
 * The name is clear and unambiguous, unlike 'dev'
 * A new namespace leaves the question about what to do with existing API pages - move them (in which case the API namespace will end up empty, aside from redirects) or leave them (in which case we will end up with pairs of similar articles in different namespaces). Neither of these seem like a good outcome.
 * Create an appropriate hub page (if it doesn't already exist) which is the focal point for this new sub-site.
 * Use this as an opportunity to improve the content of that namespace as well as adding whatever other API-consumer-related documentation is appropriate. I am comfortable for the API documentation to be written with a focus on third-party use, rather than an MW developer focus.
 * If there are pages in the API namespace that are not appropriate to be there, then they can be moved.
 * I can sort of see why you want a separate skin, but I don't really agree with it, and I'm not sure how well it would work in practice. Unless you plan to ban internal links to other namespaces (including links to user pages), there will be plenty of places where users will 'break out' of the skin, which will be confusing for the third-party users, as much as it will be for the MW regulars who suddenly find their skin changing as they navigate the site.  Perhaps a useful compromise would be to use the separate skin for anonymous (non-logged-in) visitors only.  Would that work?