Last modified: 2014-02-28 23:53:36 UTC
On the English Wikipedia, I'd like to be able to use the VisualEditor on any namespace, but especially the project namespace. Given that VisualEditor is opt-in and already regularly breaks pages anyway, I don't think lifting the arbitrary namespace restriction on wikis where VisualEditor is opt-in (such as the English Wikipedia) will be problematic. Submitted for consideration. CC'ing James and Roan.
Three things: 1 - If VE is OK to edit a namespace (and, in general, it's probably fine for any that aren't signed, Template: or MediaWiki:) then we should just make that config change and not vary it per wiki. Make a distinct bug for that? 2 - Project: is frequently signed, especially on enwiki, so I think giving a VE editor in this context would be confusing and actively wrong. There is no VE tool for signing comments, nor for creating the definition lists which are (ab)used so very widely for MediaWiki discussions right now. The intent has always been that signed content would be covered by Flow, and I think trying to build tools now for a few months' usage would be a diversion from the main task of improving VisualEditor. 3 - I think that this would end up being a rather broken user experience when a wiki switched from opt-in to opt-out, and all the pages that you used to be able to edit with VE suddenly vanish in a cloud of WT-only smoke, without any explanation or obvious cause. Consequently, minded to WONTFIX, but am open to suggestions
Let's take a step back here. Here's my use-case: I don't edit articles very much, but I still want to be able to test VisualEditor when I do occasionally edit non-articles. Today I came across [[Wikipedia:Meetup/DC]] and wanted to use VisualEditor to edit it. I wasn't able to. :-( You bring up a good point about user signatures, but many project-space pages are informational in nature, not discussion-oriented. Perhaps there's some way to programmatically detect whether a page is a discussion page? Or perhaps we can remove the hard restriction on VisualEditor editing? For example, if I try to navigate to <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Meetup/DC&veaction=edit> directly, VisualEditor won't load. We could remove the hard restriction and leave in place the soft restriction (not exposing the user interface tab). This would allow people like me to just hack in an extra tab. Dirty, but probably fine for now.
(In reply to comment #1) > If VE is OK to edit a namespace (and, in general, it's probably fine for > any that aren't signed, Template: or MediaWiki:) then we should just make > that config change and not vary it per wiki. Make a distinct bug for that? I vaguely understand what you're saying here, but I think it would be best if you filed the bug.
This is not a site request but a VisualEditor enhancement. The check in [1] needs to be moved somewhere else (one of the hooks in VisualEditor.hooks.php?). [1] https://git.wikimedia.org/blob/mediawiki%2Fextensions%2FVisualEditor.git/a531b396981042da09280df2ea5dceb6be3fa106/ApiVisualEditor.php#L218
(In reply to comment #3) > (In reply to comment #1) > > If VE is OK to edit a namespace (and, in general, it's probably fine for > > any that aren't signed, Template: or MediaWiki:) then we should just make > > that config change and not vary it per wiki. Make a distinct bug for that? > > I vaguely understand what you're saying here, but I think it would be best if > you filed the bug. Sure - bug 55968 filed.
