2017 wikitext editor/Feedback

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Post your feedback about using the first iteration of the 2017 wikitext editor as a Beta Feature.

If you are reporting a problem directly on this page, please include your web browser, computer operating system, and wiki skin (usually Vector, sometimes Monobook). Also, while editing to reproduce a problem, please try to append &safemode=1 at the end of the URL; if the problem disappears, you are using a gadget or script that interferes with the editor.

The Editing team welcomes your feedback and ideas, especially on user interface decisions and the priorities for adding new features. All comments are read, in any language, but personal replies are not guaranteed.

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From a pain-disabled user

3 comments • 21:20, 20 June 2017 2 days ago
3
Summary by Whatamidoing (WMF)
Tracked in Phabricator
Task T167832
Geekdiva (talkcontribs)

(My user page on en.WP discusses my limitations to some degree.)

Since the 1990s I've seen many tools migrate from text-based interfaces to graphical ones, and not always with good results for various sets of users with various disabilities. I've just used this editor, and it did not surprise me. It significantly increased the amount of mouse clicks I was forced to use to complete a task.

(Side note: Clicking Publish... to get to Preview... is right up there in awkwardness with Windows' Start > Shut Down.)

One of the reasons I wasn't surprised was because of the careless usurpation of Alt-Shift-V. Even though as of the time of this post it still is in the tooltip on en.WP if you hover over the Show changes button, the shortcut's function is now to switch you to the Visual Editor.

There is at least one bug about this, but if you look at my en.WP user page, you might get some understanding of why, when I found it had been closed or had been given some such status, I didn't try to figure out how reopen the issue. I have to do what I can, when I can. I was discouraged and out of when-I-can.

So now I have to use what hotkeys I can simply to get to that button's location before wasting an incrementally pain-filled mouse click on it, and I use that view often to make sure I don't upload the wrong thing after, say, passing out or a stillsdisease.org fever spike. And right before I click, I get irritated by a tooltip that still shows me how I used to check my [V]ersion before saving it by comparing it with the previous [V]ersion.

It's like a poorly-formed curb cut: you don't notice it's a problem unless you have to push overly hard against it to move on when it's supposed to be there to help you move on in the first place.

Thank you for all your hard work in general, your patience with my irritated tone in this post, and your consideration of how to make this tool in particular less mouse-click dependent for those of us who are rodent-impaired. I'd consider help on the Alt-Shift-V problem a bonus.

I will try to take notes the next time I use the 2017 Wikitext Editor so the bulk of my feedback's details on this page can be on what this page is actually about. Heh!

Reply 12:46, 12 June 2017 10 days ago
TheDJ (talkcontribs)

Just a personal note as a volunteer who often tries to fix and evaluate these kinds of accessibility problems.

1: You can always mail me with whatever problem you have and I will make sure we at least have a ticket for it, an analysis of the problem and an idea of what would be required to fix it. The actual fix might take a while.

2: "how to make this tool in particular less mouse-click dependent" We strive for all tools to be fully keyboard accessible, but often we miss something, because we don't rely on this accessibility ourselves. Please DO tell us, it is important to us.

3: More mouse clicks are going to be needed, because the software gains ever more features and complexity and we can't put all that in a single window of course. Again, we try to make everything keyboard accessible, if you need something, please let us know either by mail or in phabricator.

Reply 21:20, 20 June 2017 2 days ago
Whatamidoing (WMF) (talkcontribs)

Hi Geekdiva,

Thanks for this note. I've filed a bug about the alt-shift-v problem.

For visual mode, I think that you might want to take a look at the keyboard shortcuts. They're at VisualEditor/Keyboard shortcuts – no, don't reach for the mouse: if you can't tab to the link in your browser, then Alt+⇧ Shift+f (or your usual meta keys + f; it's Ctrl+⌥ Option+f on my Mac) should take you to the search box, and then you can type the name without another mouse click.

There are also a few undocumented shortcuts in the visual mode that might interest you: {{ opens the template dialog, and [[ opens the link tool, which is handy for both avoiding cut-and-paste maneuvers and perhaps a little easier to remember for long-time editors than the official version, which is Control+k (for PCs; Command-K for Macs). And the reason that meta-k is worth mentioning is because there's a new shortcut for the citation dialog, which is Control+⇧ Shift+K (⌘ Command+⇧ Shift+K on a Mac).

I'd be happy to hear more from you about whatever you want to share, from the bad curb cut to the minor paper cut.

P.S. This message, including formatting, was typed in visual mode, entirely from the keyboard (except that I'll have to use the trackpad to click the reply button), because I share your POV on the subject. It's not possible to do everything without a mouse/pointer here, but it's pretty close.  :-)

Reply 21:29, 13 June 2017 9 days ago
Reply to "From a pain-disabled user"

The problem of the wikitext

2 comments • 21:03, 19 June 2017 3 days ago
2
Menthe 555 (talkcontribs)

Hello to all and to all !

Further to the announcement of the community to delete(eliminate) our expensive and soft bar(helm) of tool for the benefit of an other one at present in stupid man in the mode Wikitexte, I take advantage of it to make some complaints which(who) seems to me justified:

* We ask for the compatibility of the gadget DotsSyntaxHighlighter the new mode of wikitexte

* We ask for the compatibility of the gadget Quick Preview the new mode of wikitexte

* We ask for the institution of most of the features of ForceMonobookToolbar the new bar(helm) of tool of the new mode of wikitexte

Delete(Eliminate) our good old bar(helm) of tool to proceed to the transition on the long term for the benefit of the new mode of wikitexte : why not?! But we delete(eliminate) something so important for us the old dinosaurs of Wikipedia with nothing in return! I hope that these complaints shall not go unheeded!

Reply 17:03, 19 June 2017 3 days ago
Whatamidoing (WMF) (talkcontribs)

I'm not sure which project you're talking about. You may be looking for Contributors/Projects/Accessible editing buttons or Contributors/Projects/Removal of the 2006 wikitext editor or another project.

It's okay to write in French on this wiki. Also, please give me links to these gadgets. They look useful. :-)

Reply 21:03, 19 June 2017 3 days ago
Reply to "The problem of the wikitext"

Essential changes need on the new wikieditor

4 comments • 22:12, 18 June 2017 4 days ago
4
Ranjithsiji (talkcontribs)

The New wikieditor is very good. It is intelligent also . I need some essential things missing with old wikieditor.

  • The button to add my signature in articles - This is missing. In talk pages click of a button is faster than typing ~ 4 times . Must need a dedicated button on the bar
  • Gallery and Reference list are more important than a heirogliph and musical notation
  • The single click button to place a redirect is missing. It is a frequently used button in old wikieditor.
  • Bold, Italic are frequently used buttons. We need dedicated buttons there also.
  • Font problem. On source edit mode the text appear narrow and small - more pressure on eyes.

Find and replace is great. Expecting syntax heighlighting.

--~~~~

Reply 17:47, 19 May 2017 1 month ago
Whatamidoing (WMF) (talkcontribs)

There have been many requests for a signature button (for other pages/not for encyclopedia articles), especially for people who write in non-Latin languages. The button is in the Insert menu: Insert > More> Your signature. (On my keyboard, it's faster to type ~~~~ than to take my hands off the keyboard and click any button.) You might be interested in phab:T166494.

There isn't enough space on a computer screen to make everything "important" be in the main toolbar.

I filed a report about the font size at phab:T168092; you may have an e-mail message about that now.

Reply 20:21, 16 June 2017 6 days ago
Ranjithsiji (talkcontribs)

IF you can give some keyboard shortcuts then that will be Ok. I know that there not enough space to place everything.

Request of Shortcuts for

  1. Place Signature
  2. Place a redirect on the page

Also another requirement is to just rearrange the gallery and Reference before the hieroglyph and musical notation. Is that possible.

Reply 07:36, 17 June 2017 5 days ago
Whatamidoing (WMF) (talkcontribs)

I believe that the <references /> item (to make the list) was placed at the end so that it would be easier to find ("all the way down" is easier than "somewhere in the middle").

Does your wiki use galleries frequently?

Reply 22:12, 18 June 2017 4 days ago
Reply to "Essential changes need on the new wikieditor"

Missing: Option to easily add signature

5 comments • 08:18, 18 June 2017 4 days ago
5
Summary last edited by Kaartic 08:31, 18 June 2017 4 days ago
Tracked in Phabricator
Task T166494 Stalled
Kaartic (talkcontribs)

The current wikitext editor seems to be missing an option to easily add signature to talk page discussions. It would be nice if it was enabled in some way. Two possibilities are:

  1. Keyboard shortcut
  2. Option in menu bar

Expecting one soon!

Reply 05:20, 28 May 2017 26 days ago
Whatamidoing (WMF) (talkcontribs)

The keyboard shortcut is ~~~~.

The option in the menu bar is halfway down in the Insert menu: Insert > More > Your signature.

Reply 19:08, 16 June 2017 6 days ago
Kaartic (talkcontribs)

Yeah, but when I was mentioning about signature I had the signature added by the old wikitext editor (- -~~~~) in mind. I guess a keyboard signature to add would be useful for users who are in a situation to sign often. (Obviously, this isn't required if Flow is used in places requiring user interaction)

Regarding the option, it would be better to show it more explicitly as a way of inducing the user to sign their posts in Talk pages and other pages where signature is required.

Reply 08:16, 18 June 2017 4 days ago
Ranjithsiji (talkcontribs)

But for Me. I want to switch to engish keyboard layout from Malayalam first to get the ~ character. then press ~ four times is the only way. If i get a keyboard shotcut like Alt+Shift+S or something like that for this thing then it is a way better . If I am typing in english pressing a ~ four times is not a big deal. But changing the keyboard layout from Malayalam to english is a different scenario. Hope you understand.

Now my keyboard short cut is

Super+Space > Select English > ~ four times > Super+Space > Select Malayalam

What I expecting is

Alt+Shift+Somekey

No changing of keyboard layout Included.

Also I think lot of non latin people face this problem.

Reply Edited 07:50, 17 June 2017 5 days ago
Kaartic (talkcontribs)

That's right. Other language editors would be a great audience of this shortcut.

Reply 08:18, 18 June 2017 4 days ago
Reply to "Missing: Option to easily add signature"

Clicking a red link shouldn't take me straight into editing with no way to back out

4 comments • 07:16, 17 June 2017 5 days ago
4
Samwalton9 (talkcontribs)

On the old wikitext editor, clicking a redlinked article that has previously been deleted gives me clickable information at the top including the deletion log for the page and a line I can click that takes me to a page showing deleted edits. On the new editor, clicking a redlink immediately goes into the full editing interface, with the "view X deleted edits" line greyed out and not clickable, and no mention of the deletion log. I can't figure out how to click the "X deleted edits" line without manipulating the URL, and would appreciate being able to see the deletion log.

Reply 11:14, 14 May 2017 1 month ago
Whatamidoing (WMF) (talkcontribs)

Sam, are you still seeing this? (You can go to Help:Sample page#World literature and click the red link to test.)

Reply 20:30, 16 June 2017 6 days ago
Samwalton9 (talkcontribs)

Nope, did the behaviour get changed? :)

Reply 20:50, 16 June 2017 6 days ago
Whatamidoing (WMF) (talkcontribs)

I hope so. Unless it's the change that means that I can't hand-edit the URL to avoid the new wikitext mode (which copes very badly on <translate>d pages right now), in which case, I hope that they un-fix it and try a different approach. ;-)

Thanks for the update. If it breaks again, then please come back and let me know.

Reply 07:16, 17 June 2017 5 days ago
Reply to "Clicking a red link shouldn't take me straight into editing with no way to back out"

Links to other wikis

3 comments • 20:26, 16 June 2017 6 days ago
3
Darkdadaah (talkcontribs)

There needs to be a "link to another wiki" tool that would add the proper prefix to the link (e.g. Wiktionary -> wikt, or even French Wiktionary: wikt:fr:).

Right now it is like the good old wiki code: you need to know and write the right prefix yourself.

Another small issue: Wiktionaries are case sensitive, so the capitalization of the first letter also has to be fixed manually when creating such a link (highlight text > make link). And even if I do change it, the final link has its prefix capitalized too (sure the link works but it's not a good habit).

Reply 13:52, 23 May 2017 30 days ago
ESanders (WMF) (talkcontribs)

If you just paste an external link to another wiki it will get converted to the correct notation.

Reply 16:51, 26 May 2017 27 days ago
Whatamidoing (WMF) (talkcontribs)

One related bug has been solved: phab:T166593.

But you may be affected by phab:T133535 or another problem.

Reply 20:26, 16 June 2017 6 days ago
Reply to "Links to other wikis"

Copy/Paste problem

5 comments • 20:26, 16 June 2017 6 days ago
5
Leonekmi (talkcontribs)

When i try to paste something in the editor, it just make a newline.

Vivaldi, Ubuntu 64bit (it worked days ago)

Reply 12:06, 27 May 2017 26 days ago
Elitre (WMF) (talkcontribs)

Can you please give a specific example of something you tried to paste, and where? Have you checked whether the browser needs to be updated? (These are the only reported issues with newlines in the editor so far.)

Reply 10:27, 29 May 2017 24 days ago
Leonekmi (talkcontribs)

Simple text

Reply 15:13, 29 May 2017 24 days ago
Whatamidoing (WMF) (talkcontribs)

Does this happen if you copy a single word from the middle of a sentence, and paste it into the middle of an existing sentence, or only if you copy and paste the end of a pargraph? How many newlines do you get? (For example, one before and one after, or only one after the pasted text?)

Reply 19:12, 16 June 2017 6 days ago
Leonekmi (talkcontribs)

This happen in every case you mention. 1 newline

Reply 20:26, 16 June 2017 6 days ago
Reply to "Copy/Paste problem"

Feedback

3 comments • 20:08, 16 June 2017 6 days ago
3
El Funcionario (talkcontribs)

Hello, thanks for this tool. I used it with the french wikipedia. Please pardon my basic level of english. I'm sorry if someone already told this but I won't read each post on this page :-/

  • I'd like to sign my messages with only one button, not by typing ~ ~ ~ ~ each time.
  • When I preview my changes before publishing, I'd like to see categories on the bottom and languages on the left

Anyway, you did a great job. Thank you again.

Reply 09:44, 25 May 2017 28 days ago
Elitre (WMF) (talkcontribs)

Hey!

For signature, you probably know there is a button for that (Insert menu --> More --> Your signature), but, you could also help us choose a shortcut for that! Task T166494

The rest is covered by https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T153534 .

TTYS!

Reply 14:32, 14 June 2017 8 days ago
Whatamidoing (WMF) (talkcontribs)

Also, it's okay to write in French on this wiki. This is a multi-lingual wiki.

Reply 20:08, 16 June 2017 6 days ago
Reply to "Feedback"

Interferes with WP:RFPP (request for page protection) on enwiki

8 comments • 19:06, 16 June 2017 6 days ago
8
Tom Morris (talkcontribs)

I enabled the new wikitext editor. It's mostly okay, but a bit slower to start up than the old one.

One problem I've had: it massively interferes with the workflow that admins use on English Wikipedia's RFPP (request for page protection).

The new editor does not show the editing notice that appears at the top of the page, which includes the "Administrator instructions" which you use to work out what RFPP template you include to basically say that the request has been closed (either successfully or not). Not being able to see this edit notice is a problem. If you then go and find the administrator instructions, the text you copy and paste then gets "escaped" in the editor (with code and nowiki tags).

This turns an otherwise simple administrative process into a rather long-winded one. Is there any way of turning off the new wikitext editor on specific pages (like RFPP or other admin/process pages) until these issues have been fixed?

Reply 09:21, 28 May 2017 25 days ago
Elitre (WMF) (talkcontribs)

Now, that's a username I hadn't read in a while. Thanks for stopping by to leave feedback. When I edit en:Wikipedia:Requests for page protection (not just a single section), I see both an edit notice that recommends following instructions (linked), and some commented example code at the top of the page to generate requests. If I open the linked instructions in a different tab I just land at en:Wikipedia:Requests_for_page_protection#Instructions. So if I copy the examples from there, or from the commented lines, and paste them, there are no nowiki tags added. (However, pasting with CTRL-SHIFT-V prevents any tags from being added).

Reply 09:46, 29 May 2017 24 days ago
Tom Morris (talkcontribs)

(Hey Elitre! I'm still lurking around!)

So, the page I'm looking at is Wikipedia:Requests_for_page_protection/Administrator_instructions . As an administrator, closing a request requires you to add an indented response using (e.g. "{{RFPP|s|one week}}" to say it has been semi-protected for a week). For the common ones, admins who frequent RFPP tend to know them (s for semi-protect, p for full-protect) but for the less commonly used ones like template protection (tp), extended confirmed (ec) and pending changes (pd) it is pretty common to look them up on the Administrator Instructions page above , which is helpfully transcluded into the edit page as an edit notice.

When I tried to answer an RFPP request the other day, it took me about 5x longer than usual because the new editor didn't show me the edit notice, and when I copied the text from the Administrator instructions page, it came through with code and nowiki tags embedded.

In general, I actually like the new wikitext editor, especially the integration with Citoid. Being able to just paste a link in and get a pretty comprehensive ref tag added is really nice.

Reply Edited 14:12, 29 May 2017 24 days ago
Tom Morris (talkcontribs)

Ah, "not just a single section". As an admin, responding to a request, generally I edit the single section so as to not edit conflict with other admins closing requests on RFPP.

Reply 14:13, 29 May 2017 24 days ago
Elitre (WMF) (talkcontribs)

The link to the admin's instructions could be added to en:Template:Editnotices/Page/Wikipedia:Requests for page protection: and if the examples there were formatted in plain text, like the ones at Wikipedia:Requests_for_page_protection#Instructions, you'd be fine, because the editnotice is visible even in section editing, so you can right-click to open it in different tab. I mean, the editnotice that says "Please ensure you follow these instructions before making a request. ..." is the only one I see also in the old wikitext editor when editing the requests page? (PS: I think that the section editing to avoid conflict thing has actually been a myth for years now, but that's something for later.)

Reply 14:32, 29 May 2017 24 days ago
Tom Morris (talkcontribs)

The admin instructions (specifically https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:RFPP/codes) are transcluded in the edit notice you link to. See "RFPP administratior notation templates [show]". I'll happily change the formatting to plain text in that template, but there's still an issue here with the editnotice not displaying when editing a section using the new wikitext editor. It shows when you use the old one.

Reply 10:42, 30 May 2017 23 days ago
Elitre (WMF) (talkcontribs)

Not in my browser. However, we may be talking about https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T154204 . That's a case I can reproduce.

Reply 11:08, 30 May 2017 23 days ago
Whatamidoing (WMF) (talkcontribs)

Mere mortals like us see this:

Please ensure you follow these instructions before making a request. In particular, please place new requests AT THE BOTTOM.Please notify Wikipedia talk:Twinkle and Cyberpower678 of any proposed changes to section headers or your edit may mess up requests for page protection using Twinkle or archiving by Cyberbot I.

But Template:Editnotices/Page/Wikipedia:Requests for page protection has some content that is only shown to admins, and I'm guessing that this isn't shown. @Tom Morris, is it failing to show the admin-only content?

Reply 19:06, 16 June 2017 6 days ago
Reply to "Interferes with WP:RFPP (request for page protection) on enwiki"

Cannot select the page title

One comment • 18:32, 16 June 2017 6 days ago
1
Summary by Whatamidoing (WMF)
Tracked in Phabricator
Task T156047
Ash Crow (talkcontribs)

If I am in edit mode, the page title is greyed out and I cannot even select it to copy it.

Reply 18:32, 16 June 2017 6 days ago
Reply to "Cannot select the page title"
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