Brion Vibber wrote:
Tim Starling wrote:
Hard-coded special page names in messages should be changed simultaneously when the special page names themselves are changed. Special page names are language-dependent, not site-dependent, so there should be no need for a {{SPECIALNAME:xxx}} function.
Tim, can you clarify what you mean here?
If special page names are dependent on the content language, then messages absolutely must *not* hardcode the *localized* special page names or you'll get broken links when using a non-default UI language.
As with namespaces in links, a message should either use the canonical form (which will always work) or a magic variable which will be replaced with the proper localized form.
Sorry, yes, I should clarify. What I *meant* to say was exactly what you said, or at least I would have done, had I thought of it. Plus what Domas said. We can add a parser function, but encourage use of the redirects, since they will likely be faster.
Note that the sidebar already has some special-case code to display the local default name, if an alias was specified. All the links generated by the skin will display the local default, this is only an issue for hard-coded special page links in messages.
-- Tim Starling