Extension:GettingStarted

MediaWiki extensions manual

GettingStarted Release status: stable
Implementation	User interface, API
Description	Delivers task suggestions to new editors and shows editors how to complete those tasks
Author(s)	Munaf Assaf, Matthew Flaschen, Pau Giner, Kaity Hammerstein, Ori Livneh, Rob Moen, S Page, Sam Smith, Moiz Syed
Latest version	Continuous updates
MediaWiki	1.25+
License	GNU General Public License 2.0 or later
Download	Download extension Git [?]: Download Git master browse repository (GitHub) commit history repository contributors (GitHub) code review
Parameters $wgGettingStartedRedisSlave $wgGettingStartedTasks $wgGettingStartedRedisOptions $wgGettingStartedRedis $wgGettingStartedCategoriesForTaskTypes $wgGettingStartedExcludedCategories
Hooks used ArticleDeleteComplete BeforePageDisplay CategoryAfterPageAdded CategoryAfterPageRemoved CentralAuthPostLoginRedirect GetPreferences MakeGlobalVariablesScript PostLoginRedirect ResourceLoaderGetConfigVars ResourceLoaderRegisterModules UserLogoutComplete
Translate the GettingStarted extension if it is available at translatewiki.net
Check usage and version matrix.
Issues	Open tasks · Report a bug

The GettingStarted extension provides an onboarding process for new editors of Wikipedia.

The extension was deployed by the Growth team circa 2014. However, in October, 2014, the Growth team disbanded and since then a number of the extension's authors have shifted focus. The extension is still maintained by Sam Smith.

Features

UX/UI described in more detail at Onboarding new Wikipedians

GettingStarted provides several interfaces for suggesting introductory tasks to newly-registered editors, and it uses guided tours to show them how to complete their first edits.

If CentralAuth is installed, GettingStarted users are redirected back to their internal referrer (or the main page, if there was no referrer) post-registration. After users are sent back, they are provided with an invitation to either edit the current page or take a suggestion of something easy to edit.

Without CentralAuth, the above is the same, but the standard core interstitial page letting you change your preferences (or click a link to return) shows. The link to their internal referrer is modified to include a GettingStarted parameter (triggering the above-mentioned invitation).

Installation

• Install the required dependencies:
  • EventLogging (for logging)
  • GuidedTour (for providing tours and tooltips)
  • Redis (for maintaining its lists of articles)
• Download and place the file(s) in a directory called GettingStarted in your extensions/ folder.
• Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php:

  wfLoadExtension( 'GettingStarted' );
  

• Configure as required
•  Done – Navigate to Special:Version on your wiki to verify that the extension is successfully installed.

To users running MediaWiki 1.27 or earlier:

The instructions above describe the new way of installing this extension using wfLoadExtension(). If you need to install this extension on these earlier versions (MediaWiki 1.27 and earlier), instead of wfLoadExtension( 'GettingStarted' );, you need to use:

require_once "$IP/extensions/GettingStarted/GettingStarted.php";

CentralAuth is supported but not required.

Configuration

The following configuration parameters are provided:

• $wgGettingStartedTasks
• $wgGettingStartedCategoriesForTaskTypes
• $wgGettingStartedExcludedCategories
• $wgGettingStartedRedis
• $wgGettingStartedRedisSlave
• $wgGettingStartedRedisOptions
• $wgGettingStartedRunTest
• $wgvTaskRecommendationsExperimentV1StartDate
• $wgTaskRecommendationsExperimentV1EndDate

API

gettingstartedgetpages
This module cannot be used as a generator.
Prefix	gsgp
Required rights	none
Post only?	No
Generated help	Current

The extension implements a MediaWiki API query list submodule "gettingstartedgetpages" that supplies

• suggested pages to work on
• or simply related pages.

"Related pages" relies on the morelike: prefix search feature of the Cirrus Search extension.

Suggested pages are optional for the GettingStarted new user experience and they only appear if the wiki has appropriate task categories set. GettingStarted stores lists of articles in Redis, populating them from on-wiki categories such as English Wikipedia's All articles needing copy edit according to the configuration in $wgGettingStartedCategoriesForTaskTypes . You may also exclude certain categories via $wgGettingStartedExcludedCategories . On the Wikimedia cluster, configuration settings in InitialiseSettings.php determine their value.

View the generated API documentation for the gettingstartedgetpages API module on English Wikipedia. The following are examples of types of pages you request from the API:

• Get 10 random pages, related to Earth

api.php?action=query&list=gettingstartedgetpages&gsgptaskname=morelike&gsgpexcludedtitle=Earth&gsgpcount=10&format=json [try in ApiSandbox]

• Get a single random page that needs copy-editing.

api.php?action=query&list=gettingstartedgetpages&gsgptaskname=copyedit&gsgpcount=1 [try in ApiSandbox]

• Get three random pages needing copy-editing, in XML.

api.php?action=query&list=gettingstartedgetpages&gsgptaskname=copyedit&gsgpcount=3&format=xml [try in ApiSandbox]

Developer notes

Setting up the environment for automated browser testing

The extension's automated browser tests require that:

1. The $wgGettingStartedCategoriesForTaskTypes variable has been configured in InitialiseSettings.php ; and
2. The populate_categories.php maintenance script has been run.

For example, if and when the extension's nightly build starts failing because there aren't any suggestions (see https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/diffusion/EGST/browse/master/tests/browser/features/modal_on_editable_returnto.feature$10), then run the populate_categories.php maintenance script on the Beta Cluster, i.e.

ssh deployment-tin.deployment-prep.eqiad.wmflabs
foreachwikiindblist gettingstarted-with-category-suggestions.dblist extensions/GettingStarted/maintenance/populate_categories.php

See also

• List of MediaWiki messages used (English Wikipedia version)