*//apologies for cross-posting//*

Hello everyone. A feature called Reference Previews https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WMDE_Technical_Wishes/ReferencePreviews will soon be available on all wikis that are using the Popups extension, precisely on all Wikipedias and some Wikivoyages. Deployment is planned for November 21 (not on Nov 22, as announced on village pumps last week).

*What are Reference Previews?*

It’s possible that you have already seen Reference Previews, as they have been a beta feature on many wikis since 2019 and a default feature on some since 2021. Reference Previews are little popups for references. Such popups have existed on wikis as local gadgets for many years. Now there is a central solution, available globally, and consistent with the PagePreviews feature https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Page_Previews.

*How do they work?*

These popups will be visible to everyone, including readers. If you don’t want to see them, you can opt out https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WMDE_Technical_Wishes/ReferencePreviews#Opt-out_feature. If you are using the gadgets https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-gadgets Reference Tooltips or Navigation Popups, you won’t see Reference Previews unless you disable the gadget. Wikis with Reference Tooltips or Navigation Popups as a default gadget can decide to make these gadgets no longer a default, in order to show Reference Previews as a default instead.

*Reference types*

It’s worth noting that this new feature allows you to show the type of reference in the popup. This type can be specified via CSS classes https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Reference_Previews#How_to_assign_a_reference_type_to_your_reference, either individually for each reference, or – preferably – by adding the classes directly to the relevant citation templates.

*Links*

Interface texts for this feature can be translated here https://translatewiki.net/wiki/Special:Translate/ext-popups?group=ext-popups. If you’re curious, please have a look at the project page with more information https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WMDE_Technical_Wishes/ReferencePreviews (in English), or the translated help page https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Reference_Previews. Feedback is, as always, welcome on this talk page https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:WMDE_Technical_Wishes/ReferencePreviews .

With regards from Wikimedia Deutschland’s Technical Wishes team

Johanna Strodt