User talk:Benzband/Archives/March 2014

Hey, you...that guy!
Yeah, I'm back, hat in hand, wondering if you can use your Template-y expertise to give me a hand with Portal:Canada. (I think this is where the format is. Essentially, I'd like to have a  parameter, similar to the   parameter that already exists...or you can propose that I have an inappropriate relationship with my mother and stop bothering you. Both are totally cool. Achowat (talk) 19:16, 9 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Hi! I have done so (diff). The new goodarticle parameter works like the featuredarticle parameter. benzband  ( talk ) 13:31, 10 March 2014 (UTC)
 * There is not a Barnstar I can give you, a compliment I can offer, a reward I could send, or a beer I could buy you that would do justice to the thanks I have for you and your existence. Achowat (talk) 17:46, 10 March 2014 (UTC)
 * So, another quick thing. The comment "Is there any way to center the contents of the "Related Wikiprojects" and "Selected wikiproject" sections? On wider screens, there's a ton of white space on one side (right side for related, left side for selected) in those boxes." You have any idea what that means or, more accurately, a simple way to fix it? Achowat (talk) 19:05, 11 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Sure! No problem. I've started looking into it but I've got to go now so I'll get to it as soon as I get back to my computer. benzband  ( talk ) 21:17, 11 March 2014 (UTC)
 * , does it look alright now? I've centered the list of "related wikiprojects" and each "selected wikiproject". I also boldly updated (diff) the maximum number of selected wikiprojects to 6 as there are 6 subpages; if that's okay (otherwise revert it). benzband  ( talk ) 00:19, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Alright, so final thing I think you might be able to help with. A user had commented that the "Selected pictures" were too small, so I increased them all to 300px, but because some of them are wider than others, a good number of them are too big for the box that encases them. Is there any easy way to fix this issue? Achowat (talk) 02:36, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
 * I have added a scrollbar which appears if the image is too large for the box, but unfortunately that means the large images aren't visible in their entirety all at once. What do you think? benzband  ( talk ) 21:07, 14 March 2014 (UTC)
 * I mean, you'd know better than I would. If that's the most elegant solution, that's what we'll go with. Achowat (talk)

Please Monitor me
Someone saw me type my password. So if i act strangely, Block Me For a week, or until I give the buzzword: Potato Titus  Fox  In Peril 14:41, 14 March 2014 (UTC)  — Preceding unsigned comment added by TitusfoxInPeril (talk • contribs)
 * Is your account compromised? Which one? Have you tried accessing it and changing the password? I cannot actually perform blocks though as that task requires administrator permissions.
 * If you haven't already, please do check out the page User account security and Personal security practices for some tips/links; also if you want to have a secure "buzzword", you could consider creating a committed identity. Additionally, if "TitusfoxInPeril" is an alternative account used for security purposes (for editing while on a public computer for instance) I'd recommend identifying it as such at User:TitusfoxInPeril, say with the Publicuser template or something similar. benzband  ( talk ) 21:03, 14 March 2014 (UTC)

AN/I discussion regarding Providence (religious movement)
You are invited to join the discussion at Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive833. Sam Sailor Sing 11:06, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

VisualEditor newsletter—March 2014
Since the last newsletter, the VisualEditor team has mostly worked on changes to the template and image dialogs.

The biggest change in the last few weeks was the redesign of the template dialog. The template dialog now opens in a simplified mode that lists parameters and their descriptions. (The complex multi-item transclusion mode can be reached by clicking on "Show options" from inside the simplified template dialog.) Template parameters now have a bigger, auto-sizing input box for easier editing. With today's update, searching for template parameters will become case-insensitive, and required template parameters will display an asterisk (*) next to their edit boxes. In addition to making it quicker and easier to see everything when you edit typical templates, this work was necessary to prepare for the forthcoming simplified citation dialog. The main priority in the coming weeks is building this new citation dialog, with the ultimate goal of providing autofill features for ISBNs, URLs, DOIs and other quick-fills. This will add a new button on the toolbar, with the citation templates available picked by each wiki's community. Concept drawings can be seen at VisualEditor/Design/Reference Dialog. Please share your ideas about making referencing quick and easy with the designers.


 * The link tool now tells you when you're linking to a disambiguation or redirect page. Pages that exist, but are not indexed by the search engine, are treated like non-existent pages.
 * Wikitext warnings will now hide when you remove wikitext from the paragraph you are editing.
 * The character inserter tool in the "Insert" menu has been slightly redesigned, to introduce larger buttons. Your suggestions for more significant changes to the special character inserter are still wanted.
 * The page options menu (three bars, next to the Cancel button) has expanded. You can create and edit redirect pages, set page options like ,   and   , and more.  New keyboard shortcuts are listed there, and include undoing the last action, clearing formatting, and showing the shortcut help window.  If you switch from VisualEditor to wikitext editing, your edit will now be tagged.
 * It is easier to edit images. There are more options and they are explained better.  If you add new images to pages, they will also be default size.  You can now set image sizes to the default, if another size was previously specified. Full support for upright sizing systems, which more readily adapt image sizes to the reader's screen size, is planned.
 * VisualEditor adds fake blank lines so you can put your cursor there. These "slugs" are now smaller than normal blank lines, and are animated to be different from actual blank lines.
 * You can use the Ctrl or Command shortcuts to open the save window, and you can preview your edit summary when checking your changes in the save window.
 * After community requests, VisualEditor has been deployed to the Interlingual Occidental Wikipedia, the Portuguese Wikibooks, and the French Wikiversity.
 * Any community can ask for custom icons for their language in the character formatting menu (bold, italic, etc.) by making a request on Bugzilla or by contacting Product Manager James Forrester.

The developers apologize for a regression bug with the deployment on 6 March 2014, which caused the incorrect removal of  size definitions on a handful of pages on the English Wikipedia, among others. The root cause was fixed, and the broken pages were fixed soon after.

Looking ahead: Several template dialogs will become more compact. Looking further out, the developers are also working on support for viewing and editing hidden HTML comments. You will be able to see the Table of Contents change live as you edit the page, rather than it being hidden. In-line language setting may be offered to a few Wikipedias soon.

If you have questions or suggestions for future improvements, or if you encounter problems, please let everyone know by posting a note at VisualEditor/Feedback or by joining the office hours on 19 April 2014 at 2000 UTC. Thank you! MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:44, 20 March 2014 (UTC)

I need help!
Hey, Benzband. I you have an aqua blue background on your user page. I want that on my user page but I can't. I want it in black but it's so hard even though the user has to do it by itself. I asked User:Widr, but he doesn't know how to do that. So can you help me do it? Wayoyo (talk) 19:53, 30 March 2014 (UTC)


 * Hi Wayoyo. If you simply wish to add a black background, then try placing  at the top of the page, and   at the bottom. However if this isn't quite what you were looking for, try being more detailed in your description (for instance you may want a margin, a border, etc) and I'll see what I can suggest to get the job done! Cheers,  benzband  ( talk ) 20:28, 30 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Now that's what I was looking for. Thanks for the advice man! Wayoyo (talk) 19:04, 31 March 2014 (UTC)
 * You're welcome! benzband  ( talk ) 20:21, 31 March 2014 (UTC)