Topic on Talk:VisualEditor/Gadgets/Add a tool

"execute it in your browser's console before VE is loaded"

You lost me right there. How do I do that?

One reason I've chosen MediaWiki is that it can be installed and maintain by a non-programmer. I can follow a PHP code cookbook and copy routines and tweak their parameters to do new things, but there are many gaps in my knowledge. They might appear elementary to you, but they're chasms for me.

Also, examples of the results might be helpful.

I'm not even sure this page is what I'm looking for. I just want to add a tool to the visual editor toolbar, so the users can insert text at the cursor point. (In this case, it will be a relatively long string of code to create expandable text). My understanding that the function would be another "tool," but is that the same thing as a "gadget"?

Hmm. Well, speaking as one strictly-non-programmer to another, here are the things that I know, and perhaps that will answer some questions:

• Nobody is entirely satisfied with this guide. We're not sure how to fix it yet, but it's not as good as we'd like.
• Generally, in MediaWiki-land, a "gadget" is a user script that has been added to MediaWiki:Gadgets-definition (so that normal users can turn it on or off in Special:Preferences). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:PleaseStand/userinfo.js is an example of one of my favorite user scripts; if you install this in your account (or as a gadget, and turn it on), then when you visit someone's userpage, it adds a note near the title that says how old the account is and whether the person is a sysop.
• I wonder whether your goal is a template, rather than a tool. Can you tell me more about what you want to achieve? Have you seen anything similar at another wiki?