User:David Condrey/bookmarknav

User:David Condrey/bookmarknav.js is a simple userscript that makes it easier to reference Wikipedia pages such as Policies, Guidelines, Wiki Syntax, Lists of Infoboxes and Maintenance Tags, etc..

The script will add 3 new menu sections to your Wikipedia user interface. The first section is within the bar that runs across the top of the page which by default has links to your userpage, talk page, sandbox, etc.. If you use the code as is, it will create links in this section for:


 * WikiProject: Articles for Improvement
 * The AFC Big Green Button which will take you to a random article currently in need of review
 * List of new pages in need of review

The second location that is added is in the navigation panel on the left side of your Wikipedia interface. This script will add a new section below the Interaction section and above the Tools section. The new section is called Quick References. By default this section will add the following links:


 * Policies
 * Guidelines
 * Main Style Guide
 * Wiki Markup Reference
 * Template Tagging
 * Cleanup Template Tags
 * List of InfoBoxes

The 3rd section is called History Tools and is added in the Navigation panel as well at the button just above the Languages section. This section adds the following links which provide valuable information when editing an article.


 * Page Logs
 * Contributors
 * User edits
 * Watchers
 * Page view stats
 * History Stats
 * History Search

Installation
To install the script I personally recommend just copying all the code and pasting it into your own common.js file which you can find by clicking here: Special:MyPage/common.js

The reason I recommend copying the code is because then you can easily edit it. It's pretty straight forward if you read the code to figure out how you can change the links to whatever your preference is, or you can even add more links, or remove some of the links that you don't think you'll find useful. I won't bother going into detail how to do this because I'm pretty sure it's straight forward and anyone can easily understand it. If you can't figure it out, let me know and I guess I'll explain in more detail.

Alternate Easy Installation
If you just want to use the code as is, without making any changes to it you can do this other method to install which is slightly easier. The first method couldn't really be much easier in my opinion.

But if you want you can, again go to your common.js file which you can find by clicking here: Special:MyPage/common.js. Select to edit the page or it may say 'Create Source' which is the same thing as if you were going to edit any normal article. Add the following line, and save it.

It might say that your trying to save an error. Don't worry, just ignore it. And dismiss any prompts. Trust me, just copy this line of code, and save it and you'll be all set.

Not working?
Browsers often times have something called 'cache' which is pretty useful most of the time. It saves pages you commonly visit into your computer so the next time you visit the same page it loads faster. But whenever there's no content or changes to the page, sometimes you might not see them right away if the page has been added to your cache because its' loading the cached content rather than whatever new content there might be.

If you don't see the new links it's probably because of your browser cache. All you have to do is reset the cache. This will be a menu option in your browser.. It will be named something like 'Clean Temporary Files', or 'Clear Cache', or 'Remove History'..

Bugs
Please report any bugs here or on this page's talk page.
 * Hi David. I've been having increasing problems with your bookmarknav links not appearing properly over the last couple of weeks. I use it mostly to provide quick links at the top of the page to the The Teahouse and my own setting for Recent Changes and Pending Edits. At first these top-of-the-page links stopped appearing on a mobile (Safari), then they disappeared when on my Userpage, leaving them only available via my Talk Page. The same situation occurs on both my Windows laptop and desktop (using Chrome and Firefox). Apart from recently deactivating and reactivating my Twinkle option in Special preferences, I've made no change to any of my settings, as far as I'm aware. The problem remains if I purge the page. Any ideas what might be the cause? For my personal settings, see User:Nick Moyes/bookmarknav.js, lines 51 to 60. Regards, Nick Moyes (talk) 00:43, 21 September 2018 (UTC)
 * resolved - I've identified and resolved the issue - it was a problem in User:Nick Moyes/common.js file which prevented the script from loading. I've moved the import script command and have functionality back. I now need to work on what Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'addPortletLink' of undefined actually means and to sort that one out! Nick Moyes (talk) 08:58, 29 September 2018 (UTC)


 * Hi, thanks for the script! Links in the top bar (AFI, etc) work great, but my sidebar is just showing the section headings (Quick Reference and History Tools) without any of the links. Originally I tried with custom settings, then used the default import just in case it was something I'd done. Clearing my cache didn't fix the problem. Rusalkii (talk) 03:43, 10 March 2021 (UTC)

Note
if you want to make modifications, add your own links, remove links, or whatever. Please don't edit my file. This is why I recommend you copy the code into your own common.js file. That way you can edit it all you want without changing mine. Thanks!