Wikipedia:User page design guide/Scripts

Adding scripts to your account
You may have more than one user page. Additional pages in your user space are called "sub pages". They are named after your main user page, followed by a forward slash, followed by the subpage name. Like this: "User:The Transhumanist/Virtual classroom".

One subpage name in particular is reserved to be an active page checked by Mediawiki (the name of the software program which runs Wikipedia). That subpage, called "vector.js", is used to customize your user account.

"JS" stands for JavaScript. You can customize your Wikipedia account using JavaScript scripts. Whenever you log on, the MediaWiki software automatically accesses and runs any scripts found on your vector.js page (if you have one that is).

If you use Firefox, and you would like to upgrade your Wikipedia user account with a useful collection of scripts, add this into [ your .js page]:  After saving the page, press.

Doing so will add the following programs or changes to your account:
 * Watchlist sorter - Sorts your watchlist by namespace, and also adds spaces for readability.
 * Lupin's Anti-vandal tool - A watchdog tool which adds the following 4 items to your toolbox menu in the sidebar on the left side of your screen:
 * Filter recent changes, a link to User:Lupin/Filter recent changes,
 * All recent changes, a link to User:Lupin/All recent changes,
 * Recent IP edits, a link to User:Lupin/Recent IP edits and
 * Monitor my watchlist, a link to User:Lupin/Monitor my watchlist.
 * When you visit these pages, a live, scrolling feed will begin. When filtering recent changes, only edits matching common vandalisms are listed (you can see this list at User:Lupin/badwords). If you select "All recent changes" then (nearly) every edit is listed, and if you click "Recent IP edits" then only edits by so-called anonymous IP editors are listed. "Monitor my watchlist" shows changes to your watched articles as they happen.


 * To check the contents of the entry, click on "show details". To hide that entry, click "hide details".

Some more suggested tools
The following tools can also be inserted into your vector.js
 * Extra Edit Buttons. This tool is an expansion of the tools you use during the edit function, and greatly improves editing capability.
 * To use, please see his script page
 * View Source - This tool adds a "view source" button next to the "edit this page" tab which is ideal for playing around with code, but not being able to accidentally save the changes
 * To use, do

Many scripts are now made available as "gadgets"
Many scripts can be added to your account from, such as:


 * wikEd - replaces your edit window, and adds lots of editing features, like search and replace, local show changes and preview (i.e., they bypass the server), etc. I've been using it for about a week, and have found its search/replace features very useful.  There are some annoying bugs, but the script places a convenient activation/deactivation button at the top of your userpage, so you can switch back and forth between using it and the default edit window.  I prefer to use WikEd for search and replace operations, but I still rely on Firefox's default edit window for cutting and pasting (WikEd's bugs make cutting and pasting difficult).
 * Navigational Popups - This turns your mouse pointer into a crystal ball: whenever you hover the mouse over an internal link, a box will popup giving you a peek into that page (showing the topmost part of that page). And this function is recursive, in that you can do it again to a link inside the box, and inside the next box that pops from inside that box, and so on.  There is also a powerful menu provided of things you can do to the page in the popup.

These can still be added to your account the old-fashioned way on your vector.js page, but installing them in My preferences takes just checking a box for each.

