Despite the importance of on-wiki code (gadgets, site scripts and user
scripts) to our projects, there are no guidelines on how to write code in
skins, extensions in a way that supports these users.
The lack of guidelines historically has created unnecessary conflict
between editors and Wikimedia developers. For example, the common task of
changing a class name can cause havoc with certain gadgets that depend on
associated styles.
Another significant pain point, is now that we are tracking JavaScript
errors across our projects, broken gadgets have become more of a problem,
as they make it harder for us to find and triage errors in existing user
workflows.
I have spoken to various developers across MediaWiki extensions and it
seems pretty clear to me that a policy would be helpful for establishing
expected norms.
I've begun drafting a policy based on the discussions I've been having with
Wikimedia engineers on:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Jdlrobson/Extension:Gadget/Policy and
am inviting *Wikimedia developers who build skins or extensions, and gadget
developers* to engage in the existing talk page topics and bring up new
topics. You can also reply directly to me, either personally or publically
if you have any feedback you want me to consider.
Thanks in advance for your participation in this process.