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/2026/17 are available.
*Weekly highlight*
- After two years of development, Improved Syntax Highlighting https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror, also known as CodeMirror 6 https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Extension:CodeMirror, is to be promoted out of beta on Tuesday, April 21. It brings better code and wikitext readability, reduction in typing errors, and other benefits https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror to all users of the standard syntax highlighter. A huge thank you to volunteer Bhsd https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/p/Bhsd/ who developed many of the new features, including code folding https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror#Code_folding , autocompletion https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror#Autocompletion, and linting https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror#Linting . [1] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T259059 - A major update to the Wikipedia app for iOS is now rolling out, redesigning the interface to align with Apple's latest "Liquid Glass" visual design. Download the latest version https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wikipedia/id324715238 and explore the update.
*Updates for editors*
- Reading lists https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Readers/Reader_Experience/WE3.3.4_Reading_lists is a feature which allows readers to save articles to a list for reading later. This feature is now in beta on Arabic, French, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Chinese Wikipedias and by default for all new accounts on all Wikipedias. - An experiment which explores extending Page Previews to mobile web https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Readers/Reader_Growth/Mobile_page_previews will be launched in the week of April 20 on Arabic, English, French, Italian, Polish, and Vietnamese Wikipedias. Page Previews are pop-ups that display a thumbnail, lead paragraph, and a link to open the full article of a blue link, thereby improving content discovery. The feature is already available on desktop and in the apps. Read more about this experiment and others https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/List_of_experiments_in_Product_and_Technology#Template . - On several wikis, logged-in editors who haven't confirmed their email addresses https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Email_confirmation can now see a banner encouraging them to do so. Having the email address confirmed allows a user to restore access to the account if they lose it. Learn more https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Product_Safety_and_Integrity/Account_Security#Encouraging_users_to_confirm_their_email_addresses . [2] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T421366 - View all 15 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Recently_resolved_community_tasks. For example, an issue where editing very large wiki pages in the 2017 wikitext editor caused slow loading, preview and scrolling lag, and performance issues when selecting, cutting, or pasting content, has now been fixed. [3] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T184857
*Updates for technical contributors*
- As part of the promotion of CodeMirror https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror from a beta feature, all users will use CodeMirror https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Extension:CodeMirror instead of CodeEditor https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Extension:CodeEditor for syntax highlighting when editing JavaScript, CSS, JSON, Vue and Lua content pages. [4] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T419332 - The mirrors.wikimedia.org service for Debian and Ubuntu users will sunset and stop working on May 15. The resources for the service will be replaced with new and better options. Some users may need to switch to a different server which should take about a minute. You can read more https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org/thread/LJYRIS4WB66HIRCAO4GIDTXCMDVZRBMA/ . [5] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T416707 - The image and oldimage table will be removed from wikireplicas https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Wiki_Replicas. If your tools or queries access image or oldimage directly, please update them to use the file and filerevision table before 28 May. [6] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T28741 - Following the recent implementation of global API rate limits on unidentified traffic, the Wikimedia Foundation will continue efforts to ensure fair use of infrastructure https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/MediaWiki_Product_Insights/Responsible_Reuse by applying global limits to identified API traffic beginning the last week of April. These limits are intentionally set as high as possible to minimise impact on the community. Bots running in Toolforge/WMCS or with the bot user right on any wiki should not be affected for now. However, all developers are advised to follow updated best practices. For more information, see Wikimedia APIs/Rate limits https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_APIs/Rate_limits and Frequently Asked Questions https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_APIs/Rate_limits/FAQ . - The Attribution API https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Attribution_API is now available as a beta https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_APIs/Stability_policy. The API fetches information for crediting Wikimedia articles and media files wherever they are used. Reference documentation is available through the REST Sandbox special page available on all Wikimedia wikis (such as the REST sandbox on English Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?api=attribution.v0-beta&title=Special%3ARestSandbox). Share your feedback on the project talk page https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:Attribution_API. - There is no new MediaWiki version this week.
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