This should probably be sent to this list as well. I'll also include
it in the next tech newsletter unless someone beats me to it :)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Fabrice Florin <fflorin(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 12:32 AM
Subject: [Commons-l] Beta Features and Media Viewer Launch Worldwide
To: Wikimedia Foundation Multimedia Team
<multimedia(a)lists.wikimedia.org>rg>, Wikimedia Commons Discussion List
<commons-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Hi folks,
We're happy to let you know that the first version of Beta Features
(1) has now been deployed worldwide on all wikis.
Beta Features is a new program that lets you test new features on
Wikipedia and other Wikimedia sites before they are released widely.
Think of it as a digital laboratory where community members can
preview upcoming changes and help designers and engineers make
improvements based on their feedback.
This first worldwide release includes these features:
* Media Viewer — view images in large size (2) (7)
* Typography Refresh — make text more readable (3)
* Near this page — see what other pages are nearby (4)
* VisualEditor Opt-in — edit pages without having to learn wiki code
(5 - see below)
* VisualEditor Formulæ — edit algebra or equations on your pages (6 -
see below)
(Note that Visual Editor Opt-in is only on a couple hundred sites
where it was already available, but not enabled by default.)
We invite you to test these new features on your sites and let us know
what you think. You can share your feedback about this Beta Features
program on its discussion page (8) -- or about individual features on
their respective discussion pages (see links 2-6 below). And if you
find any technical bugs, please report them on Bugzilla (9).
We also invite you to join tomorrow's office hours IRC chat, this
Friday, 22 November, 2013 at 18:00 UTC. (10)
Many thanks to all the community and team members who made this
program possible! We hope it can help us improve Wikipedia together
and provide a better experience for all our users around the world.
Enjoy,
Fabrice -- on behalf of the Multimedia, Visual Editor and Design teams
(1) About Beta Features:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/About_Media_Viewer
(2) About Media Viewer v0.1:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/About_Media_Viewer
(3) About Typography Refresh:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Typography_Update
(4) About Nearby Pages:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Beta_Features/Nearby_Pages
(5) About Visual Editor Opt-in:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor/Beta_Features/General
(6) About VisualEditor Formulæ:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor/Beta_Features/Formulae
(7) Media Viewer - New Version 0.2:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Lightbox_demo
(This new version displays larger images, for a more immersive
experience. It is now on
MediaWiki.org only and will be released to
all wikis in early December.)
(8) Discuss Beta Features:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:About_Beta_Features
(9) Report a Bug:
https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=MediaWiki%20extensions…
(10) Office hours IRC chat - Friday, 22 November at 18:00 UTC:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours#Upcoming_office_hours
P.S.: If any community member would like to hide the 'Beta' link in
their personal menu, they can easily remove it by going to their
personal style page [[Special:MyPage/common.css]] and pasting in this
CSS rule on a line by itself: "#pt-betafeatures { display: none; }"
(do not include the quotes).