Hi,
MassMessage isn't working properly (see
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T195500 or
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T195782) so Tech News hasn't been
delivered to the wikis, but I'll post it here anyway. Feel free to spread
the news, and I'll make sure to get it out as soon as MassMessage works
again,
You can read it at <
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2018/22>gt;.
Below is the English version.
You can help write the next newsletter: whenever you see information about
Wikimedia technology that you think should be distributed more broadly, you
can add it to the next newsletter at <
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News/Next>gt;.
More information on how to contribute is available at <
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech/News#contribute>gt;. You can also contact
me directly.
As always, feedback (on- or off-list) is appreciated and encouraged.
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Latest *tech news
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News>* from the
Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes.
Not all changes will affect you. Translations
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2018/22> are
available.
*Recent changes*
- You can now use global preferences
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:GlobalPreferences>
on most wikis. This means you can set preferences for all wikis at the
same time. Before this you had to change them on each individual wiki.
Global preferences will come to the Wikipedias later this week. [1]
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T16950>[2]
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T189806#4221561>
- It is now easier for blocked mobile users to see why they were blocked.
[3] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T165535>
- Wikidata now supports lexicographical data
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikidata:Lexicographical_data>.
This helps describe words.
- There is now a checkbox on Special:ListUsers
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:ListUsers> to let you see only
users in temporary user groups. [4]
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T174313>
- Some rare invisible Unicode characters have recently been banned from
page titles. This includes soft hyphens (U+00AD) and left-to-right (U+2066)
and right-to-left (U+2067) isolate markers. Existing pages with these
characters will soon be moved by a script. [5]
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T121979>
- [image: Advanced item] There's a new Wikimedia Foundation team to
support the Wikimedia technical communities. It's called the Technical
Engagement team. Most of the team members did similar work in other teams
before this. [6]
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2018-May/090016.html>
*Problems*
- Some translatable pages are showing old translations instead of latest
ones. The cause of this issue has been fixed. We will update all pages
automatically to show the latest translations. [7]
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T195347>
*Changes later this week*
- There will be a new special page named PasswordPolicies
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:PasswordPolicies>. This page
gives information about the password rules
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Manual:$wgPasswordPolicy>
for each user group on that wiki. [8]
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T174812>
- A new way to see moved paragraphs in diffs is coming to most wikis.
This is to make it easier to find the moved paragraphs and the changes in
them. [9] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T195375>
- [image: Recurrent item] The new version
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.32/wmf.6> of MediaWiki will
be on test wikis and
MediaWiki.org from 29 May. It will be on non-Wikipedia
wikis and some Wikipedias from 30 May. It will be on all wikis from 31 May (
calendar <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.32/Roadmap>).
- [image: Advanced item] Wikis can enable Citoid
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Citoid/Enabling_Citoid_on_your_wiki>
to provide automatic reference look-up in the visual editor and the
2017 wikitext editor. This is complex. The tool will now disable itself if
the configuration isn't correct. It has warned about this in the JavaScript
console since February. Check that your wiki is configured correctly. You
can ask for help
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:Citoid/Enabling_Citoid_on_your_wiki>
if you need it. [10] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T186276>
*Meetings*
- [image: Recurrent item] You can join the next meeting with the Editing
team. During the meeting, you can tell developers which bugs you think are
the most important. The meeting will be on 29 May at 18:30 (UTC)
<https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20180529T1830>.
See how to join
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Editing_team/Weekly_triage_meetings>.
- [image: Recurrent item] [image: Advanced item] You can join the
technical advice meeting on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers
can ask for advice. The meeting will be on 30 May at 15:00 (UTC)
<https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20180530T15>.
See how to join
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Technical_Advice_IRC_Meeting>.
*Future changes*
- Content Translation
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Content_translation>
drafts
which have not been updated in over a year will be removed. This allows
other users to translate those articles. [11]
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T189088>
- A survey is collecting information on what users think about how
Wikimedia wiki pages are loaded. This information could be used in future
development. [12] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T187299>
- [image: Advanced item] Some wikis will switch to use the Remex parsing
library <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/RemexHtml>.
This is to replace Tidy
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsing/Replacing_Tidy>. It will happen
on 30 May and 13 June. Wikis with fewer than 100 linter issues in the main
namespace in all high-priority linter categories will switch. This includes
Wikidata. Tidy will probably be removed on all wikis in the first week of
July. [13]
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsing/Replacing_Tidy/FAQ#What_will_editors_need_to_do.3F>
[14] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T195263>
*Tech news
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<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Writers> and
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<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/User:MediaWiki_message_delivery>
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//Johan Jönsson
--