New subject: DynamicPageList and DynamicPageList2 -- A comparison

11 Nov 2006

The typical Wikinewsie is aware of DynamicPageList -- the MediaWiki plugin
coded specifically for Wikinews. Since its inception, it has made the day of
Wikinewsies, as well as the day of other wiki users, such as the people at
Uncyclopedia (who particularly use it for their parody UnNews). However,
there were very useful features of DynamicPageList that were not featured,
which is a shame. To counter that, DynamicPageList2 was developed to address
certain issues as well as to make even better lists.

Some of the differences outlined include:

-- DynamicPageLists begin with <DynamicPageList>, feature a series of
parameters, then end with </DynamicPageList>. DPL2 lists begin with <DPL>,
feature parameters, then end with </DPL>. For that reason, both DPL and DPL2
can be used simultaneously.

-- DPL allowed you to combine category parameters and notcategory
parameters, similar to listing categories with the boolean operators AND and
NOT. DPL2 allows you to list "OR" with a vertical pipe. For example,

category=Africa|Europe
category=Politics and conflicts

lists articles that have either the Africa category or the Europe category,
and within that features the Politics and Conflicts category.

-- If you put nothing after the category parameter, then uncategorized pages
will be listed. On that note, if you put down

category=|Africa

then you will get a list featuring both uncategorized articles and articles
categorized in Africa.

-- DPL2 allows the use of "magic words" (such as {{PAGENAME}}) between the
DPL tags.

-- DPL2 features the new "notnamespace" parameter

-- DPL2 features the new "linksto" parameter which will list the pages that
link to a specific article.

-- DPL features two ordering methods (parameter "ordermethod"): categoryadd
(based on the most recent addition to the first category mentioned) and
lastedit (when the most recent edit is made). DPL2 adds onto that with
counter (sort by popularity), and firstedit.

-- With DPL, you can opt to "suppress errors". DPL2 expands that to a
four-tired debug mode:

   - *0* — silent mode, shows nothing
   - *1* — quiet mode, shows (fatal) errors
   - *2* — default mode, like 1 + shows warnings; — *(default)*
   - *3* — verbose mode, like 2 + shows SQL query.

--DPL2 adds a new parameter, minoredits, which you can choose "include"
(default) or "exclude". That way, if your DPL2 list specifies to order by
lastedit, and you have set minoredits to "exclude," then minor edits won't
be considered when ordering the pages.

-- DPL2 permits for a "counter" that can show the amount of hits an article
has received.

-- DPL2 features a parameter that allows you to list the username of the
editor who made the first edit, or the last edit, minor edits inclusive or
otherwise, depending on what the ordermethod is set as.

DPL2 may be filled with many new features and improvements, but is it right
for Wikinews?