summery VE
← Older revision
Revision as of 14:43, 28 September 2015
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=== Easier installation, extension management and a better upgrade process ===
=== Easier installation, extension management and a better upgrade process ===
Most users want improvements in the extension management (10 mentions in the survey), installation (6) and upgrade (11). Appropriate extensions should be easier to find, install and customized. Today's organization on MediWiki.org falls in many respects behind the standards in other Open Source projects (for instance find the most popular extensions). Although the installation of extensions is not difficult, systems like WordPress show that fast installations by click or auto update functionalities are expected.
Most users want improvements in the extension management (10 mentions in the survey), installation (6) and upgrade (11). Appropriate extensions should be easier to find, install and customized. Today's organization on MediWiki.org falls in many respects behind the standards in other Open Source projects (for instance find the most popular extensions). Although the installation of extensions is not difficult, systems like WordPress show that fast installations by click or auto update functionalities are expected.
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Making upgrades are still problematic, sudden technological changes make it difficult for the developer communities and users to keep their MediaWiki and
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Making upgrades is still problematic, sudden technological changes make it difficult for the developer communities and users to keep their MediaWiki and
extensions of third party users current.
extensions of third party users current.
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* Be able to pre-select extensions to download together in one bundle/tarball.
* Be able to pre-select extensions to download together in one bundle/tarball.
* [[Extension:Semantic MediaWiki|SMW documentation]], power it by an SMW instance: show showcase of updated [http://smw.referata.com/wiki/Main_Page smw.referata.com]
* [[Extension:Semantic MediaWiki|SMW documentation]], power it by an SMW instance: show showcase of updated [http://smw.referata.com/wiki/Main_Page smw.referata.com]
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* Installing extension as easy as in wordpress
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* Installing extension as easy as in wordpress
(Autoupdater)
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* Extension management and configuration from a webbased interface
* SMW: Extension repository: Drupal/Wordpress: browse for plugins/extension, click on “install” or “upgrade”
* SMW: Extension repository: Drupal/Wordpress: browse for plugins/extension, click on “install” or “upgrade”
*# precondition: extensions moved to composer? requires detailed analysis
*# precondition: extensions moved to composer? requires detailed analysis
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* Don't include developer cruft.
* Don't include developer cruft.
* Packaging consistency - don't have sometimes download tarball and other times download from Git.
* Packaging consistency - don't have sometimes download tarball and other times download from Git.
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* Getting rid of external services (e.g. nodejs for VE)
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=== Editing und VisualEditor ===
=== Editing und VisualEditor ===
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The development of VisualEditors (VE) concerns users outside of WMF. Users and companies have been waiting for a native solution for years: The usage habits have changed rapidly and MediaWiki lost attractivness. In other words, MediaWiki is not competitive without an VE compared with other products such as Confluence.
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The problem has been recognized by WMF and a development process has been initiated. The polls show large support for the VisualEditor development. Even there are still problems. Seventeen answers in the MediaWiki Users Survey 2015 address this issue. External users have considerable difficulties to use the tool. There are technical barriers (e.g. Parsoid) and interfaces missing. Most wanted is a better stability.
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* VisualEditor "bulletproof"
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* VisualEditor stable and working in an LTS or stable build.
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=== Skins ===
=== Skins ===
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Creating new skins and replacing the background should be easier for end-users.
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=== Access Controls and Rights Management ===
=== Access Controls and Rights Management ===
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'''Rights Management'''
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* Access Control List, compare [[m:Grants:IdeaLab/A place to work together|Grants:IdeaLab/A place to work together]]
* Access Control List, compare [[m:Grants:IdeaLab/A place to work together|Grants:IdeaLab/A place to work together]]
* [[Third-party MediaWiki users discussion/Summary#Fine-grained access control|Fine-grained access control]]<ref name="tp2013" />
* [[Third-party MediaWiki users discussion/Summary#Fine-grained access control|Fine-grained access control]]<ref name="tp2013" />
* [[Extension:Access Control List|HaloACL]] testing, documentation and avoiding patching in future. How to get MediaWiki.org to keep things in core that we need for HaloACL. New HaloACL [https://github.com/HaloACL/HaloACL1.8 GitRepository]
* [[Extension:Access Control List|HaloACL]] testing, documentation and avoiding patching in future. How to get MediaWiki.org to keep things in core that we need for HaloACL. New HaloACL [https://github.com/HaloACL/HaloACL1.8 GitRepository]
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* Better spam protection
* Include a way to moderate/sandbox new users as an anti-spam measure, or have a way to approve genuine new users. For example a slimmed down [[mw:Extension:ConfirmAccount]], where it only asks "Hello, please tell us briefly about yourself and why you'd like to edit this wiki?". Currently any new non-WMF wiki is unexpectedly left open to spambots.<ref>Comes up regularly on Mediawiki-l.</ref><ref>Stack Overflow:[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6748633/how-to-prevent-mediawiki-spam How to prevent mediawiki spam]</ref><ref>Stack Overflow:[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16362505/how-to-make-mediawiki-account-registrations-only-allow-unique-emails How to make Mediawiki account registrations only allow unique emails?]</ref><ref>Stack Overflow:[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13874527/preventing-spammers-from-creating-account-in-media-wiki Mediawiki Moderation]</ref><ref>Stack Overflow:[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4505210/mediawiki-rollback-bot-mass-undo-troll-actions/18357006#18357006 Mediawiki rollback bot (Mass undo troll actions!)]</ref><ref>Stack Overflow:[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20862728/reliably-detecting-phantomjs-based-spam-bots Reliably detecting PhantomJS-based spam bots]</ref><ref>Stack Overflow:[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7815321/making-registration-for-media-wiki-require-admin-approval Making registration for media wiki require admin approval?]</ref><ref>Stack Overflow:[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26831047/mediawiki-database-recovery Mediawiki database recovery]</ref>
* Include a way to moderate/sandbox new users as an anti-spam measure, or have a way to approve genuine new users. For example a slimmed down [[mw:Extension:ConfirmAccount]], where it only asks "Hello, please tell us briefly about yourself and why you'd like to edit this wiki?". Currently any new non-WMF wiki is unexpectedly left open to spambots.<ref>Comes up regularly on Mediawiki-l.</ref><ref>Stack Overflow:[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6748633/how-to-prevent-mediawiki-spam How to prevent mediawiki spam]</ref><ref>Stack Overflow:[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16362505/how-to-make-mediawiki-account-registrations-only-allow-unique-emails How to make Mediawiki account registrations only allow unique emails?]</ref><ref>Stack Overflow:[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13874527/preventing-spammers-from-creating-account-in-media-wiki Mediawiki Moderation]</ref><ref>Stack Overflow:[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4505210/mediawiki-rollback-bot-mass-undo-troll-actions/18357006#18357006 Mediawiki rollback bot (Mass undo troll actions!)]</ref><ref>Stack Overflow:[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20862728/reliably-detecting-phantomjs-based-spam-bots Reliably detecting PhantomJS-based spam bots]</ref><ref>Stack Overflow:[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7815321/making-registration-for-media-wiki-require-admin-approval Making registration for media wiki require admin approval?]</ref><ref>Stack Overflow:[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26831047/mediawiki-database-recovery Mediawiki database recovery]</ref>
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=== Template Management ===
=== Template Management ===
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|'''Template
management''
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Templates
provide a lot to a wiki. However most non-WMF wikis make very little if any use of templates. The user wants a wiki they can install and then just get on with using. Templates are unwanted extra work. Having to learn how to write and debug templates, Lua, etc. to make use of them is too much to ask for – that
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s not what the end user wants to be doing. Templates transcluding templates is confusing, and using style sheets.
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Templates provide a lot to a wiki. However most non-WMF wikis make very little if any use of templates. The user wants a wiki they can install and then just get on with using. Templates are unwanted extra work. Having to learn how to write and debug templates, Lua, etc. to make use of them is too much to ask for – that's not what the end user wants to be doing. Templates transcluding templates is confusing, and using style sheets.
Sometimes to get around this non-WMF wikis export templates from (English) Wikipedia and then their users wonder why bits of Wikipedia (admin categories, redlinks, context, logos etc.) are appearing in the other wiki. Also these imported pages may be without attribution, especially if the export included all the other transcluded pages. There is no single interface to manage all the imported pages. Wikipedia doesn't use latest stable as most non-WMF wikis are advised to do, so things break. Wikipedia has some very complicated templates, using many sub-elements which also need to be included or things won't work quite as expected.
Sometimes to get around this non-WMF wikis export templates from (English) Wikipedia and then their users wonder why bits of Wikipedia (admin categories, redlinks, context, logos etc.) are appearing in the other wiki. Also these imported pages may be without attribution, especially if the export included all the other transcluded pages. There is no single interface to manage all the imported pages. Wikipedia doesn't use latest stable as most non-WMF wikis are advised to do, so things break. Wikipedia has some very complicated templates, using many sub-elements which also need to be included or things won't work quite as expected.
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* A [[MediaWiki Cooperation/Tasks/Feature wishlist/Template bundling|repository for templates]] and dependencies, e.g. Scribunto modules, Lua modules, JavaScript, CSS, etc. Otherwise non-WMF wikis have to export/import and debug, these from wikipedia. Making a mess of the wiki with unwanted Wikipedia specific bits.<ref name="bug50329">[https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=50329 Bug 50329]</ref><ref name="bug54221">[https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=54221 Bug 54221]</ref><ref name="bug64475">[https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=64475 Bug 64475]</ref><ref name="bug4547">[https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=4547 Bug 4547]</ref><ref name="bug56388">[https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56388 Bug 56388]</ref><ref name="bug56388">https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56388]</ref><ref name="bug39610">[https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39610 Bug 39610]</ref><ref>[[meta:Requests_for_comment/Global_bits_and_pieces|Requests for comment/Global bits and pieces]]</ref><ref>[[Requests_for_comment/Shadow_namespaces|Requests for comment/Shadow namespaces]]</ref><ref>[[meta:Global-Wiki|Global-Wiki]]</ref><ref>[[User:Peter17/Reasonably_efficient_interwiki_transclusion|User:Peter17/Reasonably efficient interwiki transclusion]]</ref><ref>Global templates and Lua modules is also an aim of [[Project:MediaWiki Farmers user group|Project:MediaWiki Farmers user group]]</ref> Will the wikis using this repository then be part of a wiki-farm? Alternatively just include a good range of templates with the MediaWiki software.
* A [[MediaWiki Cooperation/Tasks/Feature wishlist/Template bundling|repository for templates]] and dependencies, e.g. Scribunto modules, Lua modules, JavaScript, CSS, etc. Otherwise non-WMF wikis have to export/import and debug, these from wikipedia. Making a mess of the wiki with unwanted Wikipedia specific bits.<ref name="bug50329">[https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=50329 Bug 50329]</ref><ref name="bug54221">[https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=54221 Bug 54221]</ref><ref name="bug64475">[https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=64475 Bug 64475]</ref><ref name="bug4547">[https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=4547 Bug 4547]</ref><ref name="bug56388">[https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56388 Bug 56388]</ref><ref name="bug56388">https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56388]</ref><ref name="bug39610">[https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39610 Bug 39610]</ref><ref>[[meta:Requests_for_comment/Global_bits_and_pieces|Requests for comment/Global bits and pieces]]</ref><ref>[[Requests_for_comment/Shadow_namespaces|Requests for comment/Shadow namespaces]]</ref><ref>[[meta:Global-Wiki|Global-Wiki]]</ref><ref>[[User:Peter17/Reasonably_efficient_interwiki_transclusion|User:Peter17/Reasonably efficient interwiki transclusion]]</ref><ref>Global templates and Lua modules is also an aim of [[Project:MediaWiki Farmers user group|Project:MediaWiki Farmers user group]]</ref> Will the wikis using this repository then be part of a wiki-farm? Alternatively just include a good range of templates with the MediaWiki software.
* Templates on WMF sites themselves differ between sites
* Templates on WMF sites themselves differ between sites
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|Specific ideas for extensions
|Specific ideas for extensions
|Admin tools
|Admin tools
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* Standard admin functions as part of the MediaWiki core (rename / merge users / spam stuff)
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Tools like, for example:
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* Allow categories to be renamed and deleted with single, simple operations.
Tools like, for example:
* For backing up and restoring
* For backing up and restoring
* [[w:Wikipedia:AutoWikiBrowser|AutoWikiBrowser]], already available
* [[w:Wikipedia:AutoWikiBrowser|AutoWikiBrowser]], already available