User:GhostInTheMachine/TalkHelper

Purpose
This family of scripts aims to help when reading a long talk page.

The scripts do not alter any article but they highlight talk posts so that they are easier to identify.

Prerequisites
All versions of the script require the CommentsInLocalTime gadget to be enabled.


 * 1) Go to the gadgets tab of your preferences
 * 2) Enable "Change UTC-based times and dates, such as those used in signatures, to be relative to local time"
 * 3) Save

Version 1
The script hunts for timestamps previously found by the CommentsInLocalTime gadget and selects any that are for yesterday and today.

It then adds a background colour and a border around each of the posts.

If any posts were found, the script will:
 * add a menu button showing the count - clicking the menu item will scroll to the first post

See TalkHelper1

Version 2
This version behaves as version 1 but will also:
 * build a table of contents for the posts, sorted into time order, and add this table to the left-hand sidebar.
 * to provide space in the sidebar, the script also alters the existing sidebar menus so that they can be collapsed.

See TalkHelper2

Version 3
The next version is currently in progress and is evolving.

Installing
Add the following line to your common.js file if you want the latest version of the script

Add the following line to your common.js file if you specifically want version 1 or version 2

Alternatives
Since they were created in 2004, talk pages have been edited in the same way as any other page.

There is currently a WMF project to improve talk page editing, but that project does not seem to address the readability of talk pages.