Dear designers and other stakeholders,
Your input on the following please. If at all possible, please use the bug
--
https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/43960 -- for feedback.
MediaWiki has a feature that allows JavaScript to set arbitrary user
preferences starting with "userjs-". They are currently in no way exposed
in the user interface. The bug requests "Arbitrary userjs- preferences
should be shown in the GUI, with the possibility of clearing them
one-by-one".
https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/48576/ contains a patch set by Tyler
that "adds two new buttons to the reset form of Special:Preferences that
allow users to reset only registered site settings or only userjs- custom
settings. The main reset button still resets all settings as it has always
done."
We know that our preferences can be very confusing. Adding two more buttons
to "do stuff to it" could potentially increase user confusion. I have added
Brandon, Munaf and Pau to this patch set as reviewers and I added them as a
CC to the bug.
Before we are going in a direction with our Special:Preferences that may be
contrary to where (a) Wikimedia's designers want to go, or (b) could
increase user confusion, I think it is wise to gather some opinions on this
issue, and possibly the wider issue of preferences, that James Forrester[1]
at one point indicated he would be taking up as a project, but seems be
have stalled since then.
Thanks for your input!
[1]
https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/27258/ (bottom comment states "[..]
we're waiting on availability of someone in Product (possibly me) to work
out a socialisation plan for informing the community of our intent to
significantly simplify preferences."
--
Siebrand Mazeland
Product Manager Language Engineering
Wikimedia Foundation
M: +31 6 50 69 1239
Skype: siebrand
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