Hi all,
it has been requested [1] that we localize "File:" in the wikitext that
MediaViewer suggests for embedding the image on a wiki page, so that for
example in the French Wikipedia the text would be [[Fichier:...]] instead
of [[File:...]].
Turns out this is problematic, since users might want to use the text on a
different wiki which has a different content language, and the namespace
name would not be recognized, while File works everywhere.
I can see three options:
1. use localized namespace name, accept that it will break when users try
to use it cross-wiki
2. use canonical (English) namespace name
3. use [[{{subst:ns:File}}:...]] which will translate into the local
namespace name when the page is saved.
1 seems like a bad option overall; 2 might go against community standards;
3 feels like a hack and makes newbies' first meeting with wikitext more
traumatic than it has to be. We are hesitating between option 2 and 3; we
would welcome comments on which one would be preferred by editors.
[1]
https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=64710