Mobile Web
MobileFrontend is a MediaWiki extension providing a mobile web front-end to MediaWiki sites including Wikipedia. It was developed to replace Wikimedia's Ruby-based mobile gateway. It is a mobile engineering project.
| Group: | Mobile |
| Start: | 2011 |
| End: | ? |
| Team: | Mobile_web/Team |
| Management: | Tomasz Finc |
| Status: | See updates |
Contents
About[edit | edit source]
The mobile interface of a Wikimedia project can be reached by visiting langcode.m.X.org (where X is the name of a Wikimedia project)
For instance:
Alternatively, any user going to a domain without .m will automatically be redirected to the mobile interface.
When a user loads one of the above urls the'll be presented with a screen layout that is appropriate for their device. Articles will be automatically reformatted but the home page will not. In order for a homepage to be mobile friendly it has to be configured with the appropriate selectors.
Beta/Alpha Features[edit | edit source]
To see additional features of the mobile site that are not 100% production ready, you can opt in to the beta or alpha ('here be dragons') modes of the site. If you opt in, be aware that there is a higher likelihood of experiencing bugs or other weird issues than when you use the stable version of the site. Features in the beta version of the site are generally more stable and polished than those in the alpha. So, consider yourself warned! Let us know what you think on the mobile feedback page.
To opt in, tap on the hamburger icon next to the search bar to open the navigation menu. Tap 'Settings'. Then, tap the toggle next to 'Beta' from 'off' to 'on'. Note that you can only enter the alpha if you're already opted into the beta.
Also see Release history for features that are available in alpha/beta mode.
Get involved[edit | edit source]
Install it on your own wiki[edit | edit source]
Other users help make this product generic and ensure quality. Visit the extension page for information on how to do this.
Install Nearby[edit | edit source]
MobileFrontend provides the Special:Nearby page with a little configuration. To get this to work a few optional steps are required:
- Install GeoData
- Run update.php
- in LocalSettings.php add $wgMFNearby = true
- Add data to your articles to one or more pages
{{#coordinates:37.786971|-122.399677|primary}}see the documentation for GeoData for syntax details
Alternatively you can use an alien MediaWiki instance for Nearby with the following 2 lines in your LocalSettings. The nearby endpoint will be used to find related content to a given location.
$wgMFNearbyEndpoint = 'http://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/api.php'; $wgMFNearby = true;
Talk[edit | edit source]
- Come join us in irc.freenode.org #wikimedia-mobile and get involved and talk about our current projects
- Start a conversation around one of the existing feature requests or suggest a new one.
- Use the beta version of the mobile site and get involved with development of features, giving the extension feedback and reporting bugs.
- Install this Chrome extension and force yourself to always use mobile on desktop and help us identify things that need mobilizing
Translate[edit | edit source]
- Join the team of translators on translatewiki and help translate the extension. No coding skills necessary!
Design[edit | edit source]
Buggy Transitions, errors or strange ux? Leave us a note on this page. Before commenting bear in mind how best to give design feedback.
Find out more about how we work with designers and how you can get involved here.
Code[edit | edit source]
- Try out the code on github or gerrit!
- Fix a bug
- Fix a bug in beta
Features and design[edit | edit source]
Find out more about our current features and stay up to date with our design work on the Mobile web projects page.
QA[edit | edit source]
Help us write automation tests to keep things working smoothly!
- Mobile Web/Selenium tests
- Mobile Web/Automation CheatSheet - some tips on writing automation tests.
Communications[edit | edit source]
- Notifications launch on mobile, Wikimedia blog, August 30th 2013
- Edit Wikipedia on the go, Wikimedia blog, July 25th 2013
- Go on a Wikipedia scavenger hunt with Wikipedia Nearby, Wikimedia blog, May 2013
- Help illustrate Wikipedia: uploads now live on mobile web, Wikimedia blog, March 28th 2013
- Call for testers on our new Mobile gateway prototype, Wikimedia blog, June 10th, 2011.
Meet the team[edit | edit source]
Help the Wikimedia mobile engineering team as a volunteer member. This team builds the mobile web and mobile app experience.
