Last modified: 2014-10-15 04:02:46 UTC
http://en.wikipedia.beta.wmflabs.org/w/api.php?action=help&modules=main The updated API help looks wonderful. But it now feels a bit weird to see it looking polished main content-wise, but "missing" the MediaWiki chrome (the sidebar, personal nav, etc.). I wonder whether it would make sense to, one way or another, wrap the API help in the MediaWiki chrome.
I did consider it. But most of the MediaWiki chrome really doesn't apply here, and for caching reasons the help screen is rendered without reference to the logged-in user so people would be confused as to why api.php showed them as logged-out when they are actually logged in.
(In reply to Brad Jorsch from comment #1) > I did consider it. But most of the MediaWiki chrome really doesn't apply > here, and for caching reasons the help screen is rendered without reference > to the logged-in user so people would be confused as to why api.php showed > them as logged-out when they are actually logged in. Most of the MediaWiki chrome doesn't really apply to most pages. :-) But it's still consistent and expected across the site. I understand and appreciate that api.php is a different entry point than index.php, of course. Caching reasons is pretty vague. That isn't something we can overcome? I can't imagine requests to the help module are overwhelming on most wikis. In my view, the previous help page looked distinct enough (with a monospace font) that it didn't often come up that the site nav all disappears. Now that the page looks more put together (polished), the missing wrapper gives it page, at least slightly, the appearance of being broken (that is, missing its skin). Compare with <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_plastic_surgery?action=render>. It also seems hasty to close this bug so quickly, but whatever.
