Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2014-03-19/Technology report

The Wikimedia engineering report for February 2014 has been published. A summarized version is also available. Major news include:


 * a call for volunteers to test the upcoming multimedia viewer;
 * improvements to VisualEditor's media and template editors;
 * the launch of the Flow discussion system on two pilot talk pages on the English Wikipedia;
 * the launch of guided tours to 31 more language versions of Wikipedia, including all of the top 10 projects by number of page views;
 * improvements to the tools and process used to deploy code to Wikimedia production sites;
 * the release of the first archive of the entire English Wikipedia with thumbnails, for offline use.

Tech News highlights
Some highlights from Tech News in the last weeks:

Recent software changes
 * You can now view smaller versions of PNG images bigger than 20 megapixels. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/117809/]
 * Article Feedback Tool was removed from the English and French Wikipedias on March 3. It will no longer be possible to add this tool to any Wikimedia wiki. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=61163]
 * It is now be possible to use CSS to style buttons in templates on all Wikimedia wikis, without needing JavaScript. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/114085/]
 * You will now be able to use a Beta option to show a shorter list of language links. That way, Universal Language Selector will only show languages that are relevant to you. You will still be able to search for other languages. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/116726/]

VisualEditor news
 * You can now change image size to default for your wiki. If you add new images to pages, they will also be default size. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=47804] [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=50379] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/114420/]
 * VisualEditor now has Arabic, Finnish and Kölsch icons for text styling. If you want icons for your language, ask in Bugzilla. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/115636/] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/115512/] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/115424/]
 * It is now easier to edit templates. Complex tools are now in the "advanced" mode. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=61822] [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=55434]
 * It is also easier to edit images. You now have more options and they are explained better. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=61059]
 * We have improved the tool to add special characters. The buttons are now larger. More changes are coming. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/116661/]
 * You can now use new keyboard shortcuts to undo the last action, clear formatting, and show the shortcut help window. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=53356] [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=52140] [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=56453]
 * Searching for template parameters in now case-insensitive. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=51673] [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/117305/]
 * Required template parameters now have an asterisk (*) next to their edit boxes. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/117327/]
 * Several template dialogs are now smaller, and their insert buttons have changed wording. [//bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=50998]

Future software changes
 * You will soon see an error message if you try to log in or register with an invalid or taken username. [//gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/#/c/117437/]
 * You can now test the first version of a tool that includes OpenStreetMap maps inside the UploadWizard. Comments are welcome.
 * You will soon be able to use the Hovercards tool as a beta feature.