Hi,
The latest technical newsletter is now available at <
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2017/39>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.
———————————————————————————
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/2017/39> are
available.
*Recent changes*
- Wikitext syntax highlighting
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Syntax_highlighting> is a beta feature
on Wikimedia wikis with text written from left to right. This beta feature
is based on CodeMirror
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Extension:CodeMirror>.
You can now search through the entire article with CTRL+F or cmd+F when
you edit. Before it just searched through a part of the article. The
developers are also fixing a couple of other bugs. [1]
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Tech/Wikitext_editor_syntax_highlighting#Status_Updates>
[2] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T95104>
- Administrators on wikis that use Structured Discussions as a beta
feature or by default
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Structured_Discussions/Request_Structured_Discussions_on_a_page/Beta_feature>
can
now create and move
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Structured_Discussions/Activation#ActivationBySysops>
Structured
Discussions boards. Structured Discussions was previously called Flow.
[3] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T175934>
*Changes later this week*
- You now get a notification
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Login_notifications>
when
someone tries to log in to your account and fails. If they try from a
device or IP address that have logged in to your account before you will be
notified after five failed attempts. For security reasons you will soon get
an email by default when someone tries to log in to your account and when
someone logs in to your account from a new device or IP address. This can
be turned off in your preferences. [4]
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T174263>
- Users with extremely old browsers (for example Netscape 2–4, released
from 1995–1997) which do not support Unicode will no longer be able to
edit. They should try to install a new browser. [5]
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T67297>
- [image: Octicons-sync.svg] The new version
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.31/wmf.1> of MediaWiki will
be on test wikis and
MediaWiki.org from 26 September. It will be on
non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 27 September. It will be on
all wikis from 28 September (calendar
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.30/Roadmap>).
*Meetings*
- [image: Octicons-tools.svg] You can join the technical advice meeting
on IRC. During the meeting, volunteer developers can ask for advice. The
meeting will be on 27 September at 15:00 (UTC)
<http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?hour=15&min=00&sec=0&day=27&month=09&year=2017>.
See how to join
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Technical_Advice_IRC_Meeting>.
*Future changes*
- The Wikimedia Foundation Readers department
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Readers> has proposed changing the
mobile website. You can read more on
mediawiki.org
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading/Web/Projects/NewMobileWebsite#Proposal>.
This would be a big change.
- You can't use OCG
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Offline_content_generator> to create
PDFs after 1 October. This is because of technical problems. You can still
create PDFs. Tech News 2017/37
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2017/37> said
the function to create PDFs from books would still work. It is now clear it
will not work for the next few months. The developers are working on fixing
this. You can read more on
mediawiki.org
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Reading/Web/PDF_Functionality>
.