Community Wishlist Survey 2019/Editing/Tool for easy user buttons

Add links
From Meta, a Wikimedia project coordination wiki

Tool for easy user buttons

  • Problem: Users can make their own buttons for better editing, which insert to edit area some templates, parts of code or patterns.

    This can be done by editing user javascript page. But majority of users is not skilled enough to make these buttons, only some of them copy it from other users, but when some problem occurs, they are not able to repair it.

  • Who would benefit: Editors using wikitext editor.
  • Proposed solution: Make some extension, where every user can easily make his own buttons.

    Tool can be based on User:Krinkle/Scripts/InsertWikiEditorButton.js. There will be table in the special:preferences

active name text before cusrsor text after cursor picture tooltip
X coord {{Coord|lat |lon|}} Coordinates
X hello Hello world insert hello world
O speedy {{Delete}} nominates for deletion
Values from table will be copied to script (with escaping problematic characters) by tool and user can easily make another buttons without care about script changes or about malicious script.
  • More comments: This extension will create user javascript on active wiki or can create global script on meta.
  • Phabricator tickets: T136152

Discussion

Arkanosis, Trizek, doesn't frwiki have something similar to this? I seem to recall that being touted as an advantage there. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 20:23, 2 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Whatamidoing (WMF): no, the only things we have are:
  • a large collection of gadgets, each providing buttons around a common theme (references, patrolling…);
  • a framework which is not mediawiki.toolbar but which provides the exact same features except it doesn't break everytime a non-backward compatible change is made in core, and that people can use in their own user scripts to add custom buttons.
Maintenance of the local code has been a nightmare for years for the few of us who work on it — a double nightmare actually, as we have to support both mediawiki.toolbar, the local framework and the mix thereof. Hopefully, with mediawiki.toolbar being retired, we'll be able to make both APIs use the same backend.
I think JAn's idea is quite good, given maintenance is a nightmare because of user scripts, not because of core or gadgets. If people had a way to setup their buttons without having to write code that breaks every few months, not only would they be happier, but maintainers like us would be too.
Best regards — Arkanosis ✉ 12:47, 3 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I agree with that maintenance need. Thank you for that proposal, JAn Dudík. I'm really looking forward an easy way to add buttons, no matter what's the editor. Trizek from FR 11:33, 5 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Voting

Retrieved from "https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Community_Wishlist_Survey_2019/Editing/Tool_for_easy_user_buttons&oldid=18675540"