Hi. The latest (weekly) Tech News newsletter is below.
We have not historically[1] sent this newsletter to wikitech-l@ (instead, we send it to the quieter and more-focused wikitech-ambassadors@ list, plus via MassMessage onwiki, and to the Diff blog), but perhaps that should change? If you have thoughts on that, or related aspects, please see the last entry below which is for a short Tech News reader survey. Your input in that survey is appreciated. Much thanks, Nick / Quiddity --------------------
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/2024/27 are available.
*Recent changes*
- Over the next three weeks, dark mode will become available for all users, both logged-in and logged-out, starting with the mobile web version. This fulfils one of the top-requested community wishes https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Community_Wishlist_Survey_2023/Reading/Dark_mode, and improves low-contrast reading and usage in low-light settings. As part of these changes, dark mode will also work on User-pages and Portals. There is more information in the latest Web team update https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Reading/Web/Accessibility_for_reading/Updates#June_2024:_Typography_and_dark_mode_deployments,_new_global_preferences. [1] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T366364 - Logged-in users can now set global preferences for the text-size and dark-mode https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:GlobalPreferences#mw-prefsection-rendering-skin-skin-prefs, thanks to a combined effort across Foundation teams. This allows Wikimedians using multiple wikis to set up a consistent reading experience easily, for example by switching between light and dark mode only once for all wikis. [2] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T341278 - If you use a very old web browser some features might not work on the Wikimedia wikis. This affects Internet Explorer 11 and versions of Chrome, Firefox and Safari older than 2016. This change makes it possible to use new CSS https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q46441 features and to send less code to all readers. [3] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T288287[4] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Manual:How_to_make_a_MediaWiki_skin#Using_CSS_variables_for_supporting_different_themes_e.g._dark_mode - Wikipedia Admins can customize local wiki configuration options easily using Community Configuration https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Community_Configuration. Community Configuration was created to allow communities to customize how some features work, because each language wiki has unique needs. At the moment, admins can configure Growth features https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Growth/Feature_summary on their home wikis, in order to better recruit and retain new editors. More options will be provided in the coming months. [5] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T366458 - Editors interested in language issues that are related to Unicode standards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Unicode, can now discuss those topics at a new conversation space in MediaWiki.org https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:WMF_membership_with_Unicode_Consortium. The Wikimedia Foundation is now a member of the Unicode Consortium https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/WMF_membership_with_Unicode_Consortium, and the coordination group can collaboratively review the issues discussed and, where appropriate, bring them to the attention of the Unicode Consortium. - One new wiki has been created: a Wikipedia in Mandailing https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2891049 (w:btm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/btm:) [6] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T368038
*Problems*
- Editors can once again click on links within the visual editor's citation-preview, thanks to a bug fix by the Editing Team. [7] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T368119
*Future changes*
- Please help us to improve Tech News by *taking this short survey* https://wikimediafoundation.limesurvey.net/758713?lang=en*.* The goal is to better meet the needs of the various types of people who read Tech News. The survey will be open for 2 weeks. The survey is covered by this privacy statement https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal:Tech_News_Survey_2024_Privacy_Statement. Some translations are available.
*Tech news https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News prepared by Tech News writers https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Writers and posted by bot https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/User:MediaWiki_message_delivery • Contribute https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News#contribute • Translate https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2024/27 • Get help https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech • Give feedback https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tech/News • Subscribe or unsubscribe https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_message_delivery/Targets/Tech_ambassadors.*
------------------------- [1] Tech News is just over 11 years old! Thanks, as always, to Guillaume Paumier for starting it way back then. If you're curious about the old details, you can read his post from 2014 https://diff.wikimedia.org/2014/01/07/tech-news-fighting-technical-information-overload-for-wikimedians/.