Last modified: 2014-09-25 21:48:14 UTC
i'd like to see links to documentation on extension writing in the beta tab somewhere in big fat banner at the bottom "want to add your beta feature? _learn more_ & _get involved_, or _request an idea_"
I'm not sure… putting things here feels way too prominent a place for a message which will only be acted on by a few dozen people at most in a year.
I don’t think it would be a good idea because the ratio "concerned people / unconcerned people" will be very low, and I don’t think it is a good idea to add noise to the interface. If a (PHP) developer is interested by this BetaFeatures extension, s/he has to go to Special:Version, search the BetaFeatures extension (same name as the tab), follow the link to MediaWiki.org and read the doc there. Or alternatively follow the "Developers" link on the bottom of each Wikimedia wiki and search BetaFeatures there. I find it reasonable for a developer interested in contributing to MediaWiki. Anyway such a link can be added on any wiki by customising the system message "betafeatures-section-desc".
What about something in between: In the first paragraph, add a link to [[mw:Beta_Features]] (all the better if we can use Special:MyLanguage or a way to link to the translation currently used by the user: "Here are some <link>new features</link> we're considering for MediaWiki." It is reasonable to think that a percentage of users landing in this Preferences page will be interested in knowing more about Beta Features altogether. In [[mw:Beta_Features]] there is a section "Creating Your Own" for the percentage of the percentage that might think of proposing a beta feature one day.
(In reply to Quim Gil from comment #3) > What about something in between: > > In the first paragraph, add a link to [[mw:Beta_Features]] (all the better > if we can use Special:MyLanguage or a way to link to the translation > currently used by the user: > > "Here are some <link>new features</link> we're considering for MediaWiki." > > It is reasonable to think that a percentage of users landing in this > Preferences page will be interested in knowing more about Beta Features > altogether. In [[mw:Beta_Features]] there is a section "Creating Your Own" > for the percentage of the percentage that might think of proposing a beta > feature one day. Sure, but most wikis will immediately turn that link into a local discussion of software change, which though valuable will almost never contain the language pushing for people to go to WMF's MediaWiki.org site for this. I concur with Seb35. The ratio of burden to impact is too far out of alignment. Closing.
