Wikitech-l January 2024

wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org

36 participants
35 discussions

phabricator.wikimedia.org downtime, Saturday 2024-01-20 @ 12:00 PST / 20:00 UTC
by Brennen Bearnes 16 Jan '24

16 Jan '24

Hi all, We'll be upgrading[0] phabricator.wikimedia.org this coming Saturday, starting at noon PST. This involves re-imaging a machine, so some downtime is expected, although we'll do our best to keep it at a minimum. As usual, operations will be conducted on libera.chat's #wikimedia-operations. [0]. https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T334519 -- Brennen Bearnes Release Engineering Wikimedia Foundation

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Suggestions to better maintain WMF portal pages
by psnbaotg 12 Jan '24

12 Jan '24

As some of you may know, the Wikimedia portal pages (https://github.com/wikimedia/wikimedia-portals) are virtually unmaintained, rely on unmaintained external tools, and use old-school coding styles (like concatenating JavaScript files). I feel like we'd better give it a complete overhaul (https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T311361). In my humble opinion, the best toolkit replacement I can think of is using Vue and Vite, with some kind of static site generation (SSG) tools. Vue and Vite are both used by Codex, and allow us to write code like we are in 2024. What do you think of this? Any input is welcome. Sincerely, Diskdance

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API issue
by ovskmendov＠proton.me 10 Jan '24

10 Jan '24

Whenever I access the API, I get "Wikimedia Error: Our servers are currently under maintenance or experiencing a technical problem." Sometimes if I wait a bit, I'll get a few good requests, but it will shortly go back to the previous message. My code was working just fine a few days ago and I didn't change anything. Sent with [Proton Mail](https://proton.me/) secure email.

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Talk to the Search Platform / Query Service Team—January 10, 2024
by Guillaume Lederrey 10 Jan '24

10 Jan '24

Hello all! The Search Platform Team usually holds an open meeting on the first Wednesday of each month. Come talk to us about anything related to Wikimedia search, Wikidata Query Service (WDQS), Wikimedia Commons Query Service (WCQS), etc.! Feel free to add your items to the Etherpad Agenda for the next meeting. Details for our next meeting: Date: Wednesday, January 10, 2024 Time: 16:00-17:00 UTC / 08:00 PST / 11:00 EST / 17:00 CET Etherpad: https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/Search_Platform_Office_Hours Google Meet link: https://meet.google.com/vgj-bbeb-uyi Join by phone: https://tel.meet/vgj-bbeb-uyi?pin=8118110806927 Have fun and see you soon! Guillaume -- *Guillaume Lederrey* (he/him) Engineering Manager Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

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Gallery image size defaults
by Peter.Ingraham＠gmail.com 10 Jan '24

10 Jan '24

Hello all, I'd like to talk about the default gallery settings, and the technical feasibility of updating them. By default in MediaWiki, they are 120 pixel height, 120 pixel width: * https://github.com/wikimedia/mediawiki/blob/master/includes/SetupDynamicCon… * https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:$wgGalleryOptions This is, in retrospect, too small. It's fine for something like a gallery of simple images that display well at low resolutions like flags, but it's woefully undersized for the far more common case of detailed artwork, photographs, screenshots, etc. Many other user-facing websites have adopted to show larger pictures when possible, backed by consumer studies. Other wikis often increase the default gallery size. 200x200 would be a better default (or possibly even larger!). What would be required to merge a change of this? Ideally for all WMF projects on MediaWiki, or all Wikipedias, but the English language edition of Wikipedia would also work. There's an old Phabricator ticket filed in 2012 (!) asking for permission to increase the Hebrew Wikipedia default gallery size: * https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T43712 And judging by the file currently used, it seems Swedish Wikipedia already has a larger size: * https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/plugins/gitiles/operations/mediawiki-config/… However, I was warned that it's possible the default image thumbnailer might need to be updated to create thumbnails at whatever the new default is. There's a 2013 comment in the above Phabricator thread saying that different language editions shouldn't use different thumbnail sizes to prevent needlessly creating tons of files. That said, this ship has already sailed - tons of galleries already custom-set larger sizes, and Module:Gallery on English Wikipedia even tries to use 180x180 as the default for when people use a template to create a Gallery. More generally, what are the sizes of thumbnails already created by default? If there's truly a desire to not create a new default image size, fine, let's set the gallery default to some value that's already being created (say, 220x220?). That won't cause any additional load, then. It might even reduce load, since fewer editors will feel the need to adjust gallery sizes upward manually to random bespoke sizes. I'd like to get this change eventually merged in. If there's anything else stopping just changing the above setting to a larger default, or stakeholders who'd need to be convinced, would be happy to hear feedback. (Context: We had a hacking night at the NYC Wikimedia chapter, and this list was recommended as a good place to take the temperature of this proposal. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/NYC/Hacking_Night_January_20… .) -SnowFire

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Reusing references: Can we look over your shoulder?
by Thereza Mengs 10 Jan '24

10 Jan '24

Apologies for writing in English. The Technical Wishes team at Wikimedia Deutschland is planning to make reusing references easier <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WMDE_Technical_Wishes/Reusing_references>. For our research, we are looking for wiki contributors willing to show us how they are interacting with references. - The format will be a 1-hour video call, where you would share your screen. More information can be found here <https://wikimedia.sslsurvey.de/User-research-into-Reusing-References-Sign-u…>: - Interviews can be conducted in English, German or Dutch. - Compensation is available <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/WMDE_Engineering/Participate_in_UX_Activitie…>: - Sessions will be held in January and February. - Sign up if you are interested <https://wikimedia.sslsurvey.de/User-research-into-Reusing-References-Sign-u…>: - Please note that we probably won’t be able to have sessions with everyone who is interested. Our UX researcher will try to create a good balance of wiki contributors, e.g. in terms of wiki experience, tech experience, editing preferences, gender, disability and more. If you’re a fit, she will reach out to you to schedule an appointment. We’re looking forward to seeing you, Thereza for Wikimedia Deutschland’s Technical Wishes -- Thereza Mengs Werkstudentin Community-Kommunikation Technische Wünsche Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23–24 | 10963 Berlin Tel. +49 (0)30-577 11 62-0https://wikimedia.de Bleiben Sie auf dem neuesten Stand! Aktuelle Nachrichten und spannende Geschichten rund um Wikimedia, Wikipedia und Freies Wissen im Newsletter: Zur Anmeldung <https://www.wikimedia.de/newsletter/>. Unsere Vision ist eine Welt, in der alle Menschen am Wissen der Menschheit teilhaben, es nutzen und mehren können. Helfen Sie uns dabei!https://spenden.wikimedia.de Wikimedia Deutschland — Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e. V. Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Charlottenburg, VR 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/029/42207. Geschäftsführende Vorstände: Franziska Heine, Dr. Christian Humborg.

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AI phabricator profile
by Martin Domdey 09 Jan '24

09 Jan '24

Hi, how is it possible, that an AI knows about my Phabricator real name user profile? Have AI access to WMF phabricator user profiles? Is this a security issue? Kind regards Doc Taxon ...

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"Known languages" or similar?
by Strainu 08 Jan '24

08 Jan '24

Hi folks, I'm trying to add a "translate" link to [[:ro:Template:Ill-wd]] (which indicates a subject by it's wikidata id) and I need to determine the original language. Is there a way to determine if the current user prefers/knows some languages except the wiki's own language? I know I can use the interface language, but for the vast majority of users that's identical to the content language. I vaguely remember that Content Translation asked be at some point about what languages it should use to provide suggestions, but I can't find that setting now. Does it still exist and is it available somehow from outside CX? Are there any other data sources I can use (and which don't ruin caching, either)? Thanks, Strainu

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{REMINDER} Register and Apply for Scholarships for the 2024 Wikimedia Hackathon!
by Onyinyechi Onifade 05 Jan '24

05 Jan '24

Hey Everyone, We hope this message finds you in great spirits and excitement for the upcoming Hackathon! 🚀 Time is ticking, and we don't want you to miss out on this incredible opportunity to be part of a collaborative and innovative event. To-Do: 1. *Register: *Secure your spot by completing the registration form [Hackathon Registration Link <https://pretix.eu/wikimedia/wmhackathon2024/>]. Remember the registration portal will remain accessible until we hit our venue's capacity, which is approximately set at 220 participants. 2. *Scholarship Application:*We are committed to nurturing a diverse and inclusive community. As part of this commitment, we offer scholarships that cover travel and accommodation expenses for a selected group of technical contributors. [To apply: Scholarship Application Link <https://pretix.eu/wikimedia/wmhackathon2024/>]. Remember, the deadline for scholarship applications is *January 5th, 2024*. If you have any questions or need assistance, our team is here to help. Feel free to reach out to hackathon(a)wikimedia.org for support. Best regards, -- *Onyinyechi Onifade * Technical Community Program Manager Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

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Wikimedia developer satisfaction survey, December 2023
by Tyler Cipriani 05 Jan '24

05 Jan '24

Hello! Please take the December 2023 Developer Satisfaction Survey! Link: <https://wikimediafoundation.limesurvey.net/484133> https://wikimediafoundation.limesurvey.net/796964 The survey is open until Fri, 5 January 2024—four weeks from today. ____ This survey is for members of the Wikimedia developer community and covers the following topics: - Wikimedia Cloud Services - Development and testing environments - Phabricator - Code review - Continuous Integration - Deployment - Code quality - Technical documentation - Developer research needs Please take the survey if you play a role in developing software for the Wikimedia ecosystem and would like to share your opinions on any of the topics listed above. We’re soliciting your feedback to: - Measure developer satisfaction, and - determine where to invest resources in the future We will anonymize, explore, and report the data we gather on mediawiki.org. View previous years' survey results: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Developer_Satisfaction_Survey Privacy statement: This survey will be conducted via a third-party service, which may subject it to additional terms. For more information on privacy and data-handling, see the privacy statement. <https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal:December_2023_Developer_Satisfa…> Thank you! Tyler Cipriani (he/him) Engineering Manager, Release Engineering Wikimedia Foundation

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Wikitech-l January 2024