Wikipedia talk:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/Early

unicode problem
hey all, having a problem with my browser seeing unicode. i'm using IE6, and on some pages with lots of unicode instead of seeing the glyph i see a little square box. anyone know how i can fix this? please keep in mind that im not allowed to download anything onto this computer because its not mine. thanks. it would also be helpfull if you left a message on my user talk page if you want to reply because i'm still having trouble finding these deep help pages. thanks. - Patrickjsanford 21:26, 14 September 2006 (UTC)


 * ding Quinobi 6 July 2005 03:14 (UTC)
 * dang Triddle July 6, 2005 04:43 (UTC)
 * dong? (didn't want to ruin the melody) But anyway, um, how has this been advertised? I would mention it on the help desk talk page, VP technical and news, Announcements, Goings-on, add it to the Community Portal, the technical mailing list, talking to other high profile techies (like ones who have their own bots, listed here). Also see Bot requests for requests and those who answer them (if there are any). And finally, see if there are any larger projects to make this a part of, kind of like how the Template:Active Wiki Fixup Projects does for cleanup projects. Whew. How's that? --Dmcdevit July 6, 2005 04:56 (UTC)
 * donk! (hrm I think my bell was cracked) Thanks for the ideas. I was wondering how I was going to get the word out and this seems like a great way. Triddle July 6, 2005 19:25 (UTC)

Member template
It seems like a good idea to create a template that members can put on their user page. I was thinking that a full width table would be nice; I know it would incorporate best into my existing user page. it seems to me the following info would be useful:


 * A bold blurb about the project and getting help
 * The current collaboration (if there is one)
 * A count of the number of cases completed

I'm curious to hear other people's ideas, especially about the content and shape of the template. Triddle 15:47, July 11, 2005 (UTC)

Source code comming up
I've got some new source code that will be released soon, definitely in time for the next database dump. It is composed of two parts and is implemented in Perl. The parts are a module that makes parsing dumps of the cur and links table very simple (a callback is invoked for each record in the dump file; a special subroutine can be used to avoid expensive memory copy operations when they are not needed; the records passed into the callback are nearly identical to a DBD $sth->fetchrow_hashref) and a new tool called wpfsck. Wpfsck is a wrapper around Parse::MediaWikiDump which multiplexes the input data and handles brokering out the data to multiple individual but simultaneously running cleanup projects. The idea is to only have to scan a dump file once, put together all the data required to do the processing from that one run, then save the results to disk. Currently wpfsck is doing a Stubsensor run and a Most wanted stubs run. Adding additional projects is simple. I'd like to make wpfsck on my machine available as a resource to the rest of the wikipedia community. This will be done by publishing the code so those who can will be able to use the framework for their own cleanup projects and taking requests for additional cleanup projects that I will run myself and incorporate into my version of wpfsck.

Wikipedia:Bot requests
This page seems to duplicate Bot requests in some ways. Though perhaps this effort will bear more fruit. In any case, there are already a number of worthy requests posted there. -- Beland 05:12, 13 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Oh, but someone mentioned that already. OK, time for a nap, Beland! -- Beland 05:14, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

Incorrect naming
Really, this should be at WikiProject Help desk. I don't mind doing the move, I just want to check first. Hiding 13:10, July 15, 2005 (UTC)
 * Not a problem here, feel free to do the move. Thanks too! Triddle 16:13, July 15, 2005 (UTC)
 * I've been thinking more and more that this should be titled Computer help desk. What do you think? Triddle 16:39, July 15, 2005 (UTC)
 * I have no idea. Um, Wikipedia software help desk?  Wikipedia technical help?  I'll hold off the move until you decide.  Is it just you?  I'd offer to help but I don't know much about computers. Hiding 21:08, July 15, 2005 (UTC)
 * Help desk and Computer help desk neither one fit the stated scope of the project IMO. Perhaps something like WikiProject_Scripts_and_bots would be more appropriate. My $0.02 worth Quinobi 23:11, 15 July 2005 (UTC)

Far East language support
I've had difficulty converting roman letters into Korean Hangul and Japanese Kana. Like 'annyong' (Korean) or 'neko' (Japanese for cat).

Unicode for Hangul is difficult. How do you get the codes onto a page?

I have written a Javascript progrom for romaji to hiragana conversion (see User:Ed Poor/kana. I'd like to make this a link for users' monobook.js page. Uncle Ed 14:35, July 18, 2005 (UTC)

Python Wikipedia Bot Framework
What, no mention to the Python Wikipedia Bot Framework? By the way, anyone want to assist me in re-programming my DYK script? --AllyUnion (talk) 05:40, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

Absent
Howdy everyone, my available time for working on the computer help desk has been reduced to nearly 0. Between school and work I can't donate the time required to make quality source code for the project. I hope to be able to contribute again in the future and I hope others can find this place and contribute as well. As a note I think the most effective way to make this project go is by organizing cleanup projects under the Computer help desk and linking to them from the active cleanup project list. This seems to bring some eyeballs to the project page and the more eyes that see the project page the better. Triddle 05:09, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

Wikipedia on PDA
Joe sent the following e-mail to the Wikipedia Help Desk.

"Hello, i am a software developer, and i am involved in a project concerning your wiki software. My partners and i have a few questions on how to use your software. it basically involves putting your wiki software onto a PDA handheld device. i downloaded the source to the software but we dont know what to do with it from there. if you could help me out on how to put and access your wikipedia software on other devices. if you need anymore info please let me know."

Anyone who could help him would be greatly appreciated. Capitalistroadster 04:32, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

Contribs question
All right, I have no idea if this is the right place to ask this, but I'll give it a shot. Here's what I want to do: I work on the Wikiproject Missing articles, where we have vast numbers of alphabetized lists to sort through. I'd like to be able to take all my contributions, sort out just the ones that have the edit summary "Created as part of the WikiProject Missing articles" and put these in alphabetical order. I'm having a lot of trouble keeping straight which lists I've been through and which I haven't, and if I could arrange my contributions this way I could tell. Is there any straightforward way to do this? It's safe to assume that, as far as scripting and coding and things like that go, I know nothing about anything. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. Chick Bowen 00:59, 19 December 2005 (UTC)


 * This is a tricky one. I think I could do the perl to make a list of edits that fit your criteria. The problem comes in how do you update that list in the future. What kind of computer and operating system are you using? That'll dictate the direction I can go for creating the software. Triddle 04:16, 19 December 2005 (UTC)
 * Thanks! I'm running Windows XP (and Firefox) on a quite outdated machine (1.7 Ghz, a pathetic 128 mb of ram), but could use my work computer or my laptop (which has 500 mb) instead.  Perhaps, if you're willing to do this, you should do whatever's easiest for you and I'll find a machine to use. Chick Bowen 05:06, 19 December 2005 (UTC)
 * Done; see Computer help desk/20051219 Chick Bowen. Please leave any further correspondence on that page. Triddle 01:43, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

Mozex set up question
Could someone help me? I installed Mozex so I can edit Wiki articles in a text editor, but now I don't know what to do. I'm looking at the Mozex preferences box, and I know I have to configure it to open a certain text editor when right click (mozex->Edit Textarea), but I don't know how to do that. The Mozex FAQ and install pages were no help to a non-computergeek such as myself. I am running Mozilla 1.7.2, Windows, and I'd like to use MSWord to edit articles. Thank you! --Fang Aili 16:27, 31 December 2005 (UTC)


 * MS Word isn't a text editor (rather it's a word-processing application, which is a very different thing) so using it would probably make a mess of your changes. Notepad.exe would be more suited to this use. You need to tell Mozex where to find notepad.exe, something like c:\windows\notepad.exe or something. I don't know where notepad.exe is on your computer (it's different in every version of Windows), so I can't give you exactly what you need to tell Mozex. &mdash; Saxifrage &#9998; 20:36, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Single article WikiReader
I'm looking for some technical assistance in producing a "single-page WikiReader", as a trial to investigate how easily this sort of thing is to get done, the article in question being Marian Rejewski. What's the best way of going about this? I've tried saving a copy of the online article and then opening it in OpenOffice; however, the article looks awful! Any tips would be appreciated. &mdash; Matt Crypto 18:57, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Problems with Internet Explorer 6.0 and Wikipedia
In the last days I started to have problems with the "user toolbar" present at top of every Wikipedia pages: in some of them, it slides to the left when I pass the mouse over it, hidding part of itself under the Wiky logo.

Is there any way to solve this issue? Thanks. --Kiam 18:14, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Request for a template
Where can I request a template that permits to create the full list of links present in every "External links" section and which helps to keep it uniform in aspect (i.e., with/without any dot at the end, with a symbol at the begin that says in which language the page is, etc...)? --Kiam 18:57, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Endless question
How do I markup a new article that nothing links to the article and that somebody who has experience in the subject of the article should take a look at it. In short any template for it except. And also if I have an article that has been changed by somebody and I am not familiar with the subject, who can I inform or just leave it like that and somebody will eventually fix it. Post reply's here, Thanks! Death2 02:38, 1 April 2006 (UTC)


 * How about expert? -- Jitse Niesen (talk) 04:53, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Sandbox
I used to see them all over the place. Now I can't find one. If you enter sandbox in Search you get nothing. The one sandbox I did happen across didn't let me use it.

Where can I find a sandbox to experiment in? KarenAnn 20:13, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Text Formatting Question
I am one of the active members of Wikipedia Urdu. I have been working on translating articles on popular topics from English to Urdu and still trying to. In addition, I am trying to make Wikipedia Urdu technically better place by translating and creating advance templates.

Now I am trying to create an Urdu template using a table. For specific lingual traditions (which are found only in Arabic and Persian based laguages like Urdu and Sindhi) I need to stretch the lines of text in cells from one end to another. It is different from justifying the text. For a demo of my requirement open MS Excel 2003. Type some text in a cell. Make sure you use spaces in your text. Let's say the text is "Mary had a little lamb." Here we've got 4 spaces. Enough for the demo! Increase the width of the cell so that it is more than the requirement of the sentence. In the alignment formating of the cell (Format > Cells... > Alignment), choose Ditributed (Indent) under Horizontal. Excel 2003 increases the word spacing to stretch the text from one end of the cell to the other. How can I acquire this effect on text with language used to design templates of Wikipedia?

Szhaider 01:24, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

editing using MS speech recognition
I have only tried using the speech recognition feature in MS XP a few times. Are their any users using it and is it recommended? ...IMHO (Talk) 08:09, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Problem with uploading files
When I try to upload a file, my internet explorer crashes out. Is this a common problem? Is there anything I can do to fix it?

Aaron 08:22, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Archive discussion
I want to know how to archive or to request that the discussion page of an article to be archived. Enrique Vargas 22:55, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

I can't stay logged in
Whenever I log into Wikipedia using either Firefox or IE, I am instantly logged out again upon visiting a subsequent page within Wikipedia. That includes waiting for the "successful login" page to timeout and redirect to the main page. Help please? My username is Torvik. -- 67.142.130.22 05:37, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
 * This has been answered at Village pump (technical). Quick answer: You use a satellite ISP, which is causing the problem. To stay logged in using wikipedia, use http://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki instead. It is the exact same, except it uses SSL. It will be slower, but you should be able to remain logged in. Shards of metal  [ Talk •  Contribs  ] 02:09, 2 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Oh man, thank you very, very much. This is excellent. Torvik 04:28, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

Project directory
Hello. The WikiProject Council has recently updated the WikiProject Council/Directory. This new directory includes a variety of categories and subcategories which will, with luck, potentially draw new members to the projects who are interested in those specific subjects. Please review the directory and make any changes to the entries for your project that you see fit. There is also a directory of portals, at User:B2T2/Portal, listing all the existing portals. Feel free to add any of them to the portals or comments section of your entries in the directory. The three columns regarding assessment, peer review, and collaboration are included in the directory for both the use of the projects themselves and for that of others. Having such departments will allow a project to more quickly and easily identify its most important articles and its articles in greatest need of improvement. If you have not already done so, please consider whether your project would benefit from having departments which deal in these matters. It is my hope that all the changes to the directory can be finished by the first of next month. Please feel free to make any changes you see fit to the entries for your project before then. If you should have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you. B2T2 13:33, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

index.php download
Whenever I click a link to create an aricle, my browser simply downloads a file called index.php to the desktop. When I open the file, it contains this:

[Process]

Type=Edit text

Engine=MediaWiki

Script= http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php

Server= http://en.wikipedia.org

Path=/w

Special namespace=Special

[File]

Extension=wiki

URL= http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=FAQfarm&action=edit&internaledit=true

I'm using FireFox 1.5.0.8 on Mac OS X 10.4.8. I get the same problem in Safari 2.0.4.

--DJ Craig 20:03, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

I have the same problem. Using Firefox 3 (Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; es-ES; rv:1.9.0.8) Gecko/2009032609 Firefox/3.0.8) on Windows XP (I've also tried IE7 and nothing changed). It doesn't happen when i'm not logged in. I've searched google for a solution to this and nothing came up. Any help will be appreciated. Tharos (talk) 21:19, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

I have the same kind of problem. Doesn't matter what wiki it is if it runs on MediaWiki software I can't make or edit new pages. Using Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.11) Gecko/2009060215 Firefox/3.0.11 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729) Doesn't work on the most recent IE either. --AM (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.218.96.71 (talk)