Wikipedia talk:Shortdesc helper/Archive 1

Initial testing

 * I am testing, so far looks good. Kudos.
 * It works better for me with background color. &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter (Southwood) (talk): 18:08, 1 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Good! Thanks, yeah I've been using it quite a bit and surprisingly it hasn't bugged out/done anything wonky despite my (mediocre if you're very very generous) javascript skills Galobtter (pingó mió) 18:12, 1 May 2018 (UTC)

Other wikipedias

 * How can I use this in other wikipedias?Adithyak1997 (talk) 03:10, 12 September 2018 (UTC)
 * , per JJMC89's answer here there's no point in porting over the script unless the magic word is enabled. Galobtter (pingó mió) 04:24, 12 September 2018 (UTC)

Screenshot of how the script should display
It might be useful to add a screenshot of how a page should display with the script running, to see if it is working as planned. Cheers, &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter (Southwood) (talk): 04:31, 30 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Good idea! Done. Galobtter (pingó mió) 10:20, 6 January 2019 (UTC)

Bigger edit window
Hi Galobtter, Is there a way to make the edit window bigger? I often drag and drop text from the lead and then edit to condense, but with the current size window I have no preview of the whole text, so have to either scroll backwards and forwards while trying to remember what is there, or save and re-edit. This happens often enough that a larger window would really help. I don't know if this is a general issue, so would be fine with a local fix or general fix. Cheers, &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 08:47, 6 January 2019 (UTC)
 * , ✅, see User:Galobtter/Shortdesc helper (add  to User:Pbsouthwood/common.js). However this doesn't make the input box multiline and so if you need it to be even larger please let me know. Galobtter (pingó mió) 09:23, 6 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Easy when you know how, it seems. Cheers, &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 10:10, 6 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Great improvement. This should be big enough for most cases. &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 11:43, 6 January 2019 (UTC)

Bug report
Could you make the script detect if the page is editable by the user ? As it stands now, it is broken on full protected pages in Mainspace. Additionally, could you add a notification specifying if the short descriptions are auto-generated ?

I really like the script and use it frequently. It's very handy and probably the only one which allows editing of the short description. << FR 15:54, 20 January 2019 (UTC)
 * The second was done a few days before your comment, the first is on the todo list. Galobtter (pingó mió) 17:02, 22 January 2019 (UTC)
 * You could use mw.config#wgIsProbablyEditable to check if the page is likely editable - Evad37 &#91;talk] 05:00, 24 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I'll use that. Galobtter (pingó mió) 05:09, 24 January 2019 (UTC)
 * , ✅ Galobtter (pingó mió) 08:36, 24 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Great :) << FR (mobileUndo) 09:21, 24 January 2019 (UTC)

Typo
Hi, please change "overrided" to "overridden" for the popup's. Thanks for creating such a useful script! —  Newslinger  talk   11:54, 24 January 2019 (UTC)
 * , ✅, I apparently English bad. Galobtter (pingó mió) 11:56, 24 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Sorry to nitpick, but there are 2 of the letter "d" in "overridden". Face-smile.svg —  Newslinger  talk   12:02, 24 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Ugh,, . Galobtter (pingó mió) 12:06, 24 January 2019 (UTC)

Editing auto-generated short descriptions
Short descriptions generated from infoboxes are currently almost 90% of the total. In the Helper display, these descriptions are now followed by a, which when clicked tells you "This description cannot be edited..." A further click takes you here, which explains the auto-generation but does not help if you think the auto-generated description needs changing. It can of course be overwritten using a template, but the editor is not told this. Now as we've found in the recent past, we cannot always rely on the auto-generation to produce optimum results, and there needs to be provision for editors to make handcrafted improvements to these descriptions with reasonable ease. I'd suggest that making this type of description editable through the Helper script should be a priority for development Bhunacat10 (talk),  16:39, 22 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Allowing overriding of automatically generated short description is definitely up in the todo list, probably the next thing I'll be working on in regards to the script. Galobtter (pingó mió) 17:04, 22 January 2019 (UTC)
 * , ✅ Galobtter (pingó mió) 08:36, 24 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Good stuff Galobtter! Just one more niggle: use of the shortcut appends   to the displayed SD even when no infobox exists. As SHD is a mere redirect to, shouldn't it result in the same display? Bhunacat10  (talk),  13:42, 24 January 2019 (UTC)
 * The script does not recognize shortcuts; it only recognizes if short description is in the wikitext; the shortcut only has 20 transclusions so I don't think it matters too much. Galobtter (pingó mió) 13:58, 24 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Good additional reason to deprecate shortcuts fo . They are not really useful and cause complications. Cheers, &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 17:35, 24 January 2019 (UTC)
 * I can promise you there will be no more transclusions of any of these templates from this editor Bhunacat10 (talk),  18:32, 24 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks, these things happen. It was not obvious that this would be a problem because it is after all a very common thing to do, but I have now tagged all 5 of the existing redirects/shortcuts for deletion and added a warning on the template documentation. Thanks for bringing this problem to our attention. I think that disallowing redirects is the best long-term solution, otherwise will be running after them all the time trying to patch the damage. Cheers, &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 19:10, 24 January 2019 (UTC)

Usage on redirects
Is there any way the script can be fixed so it doesn't break redirects, like was done at, , and ? jd22292 (Jalen D. Folf) (talk &bull;&#32;contribs) 01:18, 7 November 2018 (UTC)
 * I've been meaning to fix that but haven't got around to that, largely because redirects aren't really the target group for short descriptions. Galobtter (pingó mió) 05:27, 7 November 2018 (UTC)
 * , consequently:
 * and, you need to replace  with
 * And Pbsouthwood, to add descriptions to redirects you need to add the code  to your common.js. Galobtter (pingó mió) 09:42, 29 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Many thanks, and for paying that level of attention to us humble users. I'm a new user of the script, and a great fan already!SeoR (talk) 11:25, 29 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks, Have added code. So far big window working well, I will report back when I have used it on redirects. Cheers, &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 11:46, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

Lost the long edit window
Hi. The js to increase edit window size seems to have stopped working. Should I be going over to the gadget? Will the window size work there? Cheers, &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 08:26, 5 February 2019 (UTC)
 * , strange, because when I tested now the option worked both importing the script and using the gadget, so that's a headscratcher. You should definitely be switching over to the gadget, and the option should work there (at-least as well as it works when using importScript, because that just loads the gadget code); let me know if after switching to the gadget it still doesn't work, and if so see if you can copy what is in the JS console as described in WP:JSERROR. Galobtter (pingó mió) 08:54, 5 February 2019 (UTC)
 * I deleted the import script and enabled the gadget, and there appears to be a conflict with another script. It now overwrites the wikidata description. Cheers &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 11:37, 5 February 2019 (UTC)
 * , one thing, you still need to keep the options in your common.js:
 * Regarding the conflict, do you know what that other script is or could you screenshot what you are seeing? I can't see any other gadget in preferences or script in your js files that would cause such a conflict. Galobtter (pingó mió) 12:50, 5 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Regarding the conflict, do you know what that other script is or could you screenshot what you are seeing? I can't see any other gadget in preferences or script in your js files that would cause such a conflict. Galobtter (pingó mió) 12:50, 5 February 2019 (UTC)


 * See screenshots to right.
 * I don't have any ideas for what might be causing a conflict. What you see is what is there in the js files.
 * I will put the options back, just thought it might be better with a cleaner start in case of problems.
 * There is no overwriting on Wikipedia namespace. Cheers, &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 13:32, 5 February 2019 (UTC)

, Ok, I see what I was missing is that you were loading some scripts in m:User:Pbsouthwood/Global.js so that gives me enough information to see about solving this - but a question, is your original issue regarding the edit window size solved with the gadget? If it is not, I'm actually working on changing how settings work, so that will likely resolve any issues like this in a week or two - so for now you can just use and that should resolve the issue. Galobtter (pingó mió) 18:04, 5 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Edit window still short, and I find no page at m:User:Pbsouthwood/Global.js, so a bit confused. Will try your suggestion and report back. Cheers, &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 18:27, 5 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Oops, I meant m:User:Pbsouthwood/global.js. Galobtter (pingó mió) 18:36, 5 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Tried suggested js. Edit window still short, and now there are two rows of gadget display. top row is legible, bottom row is overlaid by same text as before. Very odd. Gadget still seems to work where not overwritten, but overwritten version links are dead. It seems that the Wikidata information is written on top of the gadget, as the Wikidata link works.
 * No overlay in portal namespace, just two gadget displays. Both seem to work&middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 19:06, 5 February 2019 (UTC)
 * , You should disable the gadget in preferences, since it is loaded in the code I gave you. Galobtter (pingó mió) 19:11, 5 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Of course. Obvious once you see it.
 * Looked at m:User:Pbsouthwood/global.js. Suspect d:User:Yair rand/WikidataInfo.js is the problem. Didn't we have a problem with this before? &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 19:17, 5 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes, I figured out it was d:User:Yair rand/WikidataInfo.js - hence my comment about having enough information :) Galobtter (pingó mió) 19:31, 5 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Another bit of information that may be useful: The short edit window problem may be associated with the browser. On desktop I use Firefox and have a short window, but on laptop where I use Chrome the window is long. &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 07:17, 6 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Chrome on the desktop also works fine with the long window. &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 07:51, 6 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Definitely useful, I really should be testing the script on more than just chrome. Galobtter (pingó mió) 15:36, 6 February 2019 (UTC)

Multiple descriptions
Hello. I see that a few articles such as Showbiz (album) have multiple short descriptions, one coming via a template. This also happens where the helper hasn't been deployed, and results from inappropriate use of tools rather than any fault in the software, but perhaps the helper can help mitigate it. Thanks, Certes (talk) 12:45, 3 March 2019 (UTC)

Template being added at incorrect position for AfD articles
It appears to me Shortdesc helper is adding Template:short description at the incorrect place in an article undergoing an AfD discussion, i.e. above the AfD entry. . There is probably only a small number of articles this will affect ... unfortunately several of mine. Thankyou.Djm-leighpark (talk) 08:47, 20 March 2019 (UTC)

using shortdesc helper when the infobox has an invalid parameter causes error to be published in red on page
When the infobox has an invalid parameter, then I use the shortdesc helper, then I save the page... An incorrect thing happens - the infobox invalid parameter error/s show on the saved / published page. These errors normally only show in Preview mode but when I save a page using shortdesc helper the error messages re: invalid parameters show prominently in red on the published page. This happened here but I removed the invalid "|price =.." parameter ... In a way it's good but I just wanted to mention it. --The Eloquent Peasant (talk) 19:24, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
 * , This is Village pump (technical); nothing to do with Shortdesc helper. Galobtter (pingó mió) 07:36, 17 April 2019 (UTC)

Dates in bio articles
Greetings, Wondering about short description for 2 articles: El Greco (with dates) and Gilbert Foliot not able to get dates to display. Why are dates not shown on Foliot article? Should dates be even included? JoeHebda (talk) 18:14, 22 April 2019 (UTC)
 * The dates aren't displaying because I removed your addition - there was already a short description there... there is no need for a duplicate short description. Ealdgyth - Talk 18:15, 22 April 2019 (UTC)

Interference with Advisor.js
When I enable 'Shortdesk helper' (via the Preferences/Gadgets list), the User:PC-XT/Advisor.js script consistently no longer functions. As soon as I disable 'Shortdesc helper' and reload an edit page, Advisor again works. Any help so I can use both? I am using the Vector skin. —ADavidB 02:14, 7 May 2019 (UTC)
 * , I installed advisor and it seems to be working fine for me (with Shortdesc helper); Shortdesc helper only loads when viewing a page (not when editing a page), so I don't see how the scripts could be interfering with each other. Galobtter (pingó mió) 05:47, 7 May 2019 (UTC)

3.3.0 update
Shortdesc helper now has a fancy GUI for settings, so the old method of settings won't do anything; you can remove that from your common.js, and configure things as shown on the right. Galobtter (pingó mió) 09:08, 8 May 2019 (UTC)

, both issues (regarding long windows not working in Firefox and incompatibility with Yair Rand's script) in User talk:Galobtter/Shortdesc helper should be fixed, so you should be able to use the gadget now (and be able to remove all the stuff from your common.js.) Galobtter (pingó mió) 09:08, 8 May 2019 (UTC)


 * Thanks. Looking very good now. MichaelMaggs (talk) 11:04, 8 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Seems to do what it says on the box. Nice work. &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 14:41, 8 May 2019 (UTC)

Bug report
On Harrying of the North the gadget acts as if the short description was auto-generated, but it was actually manually added, only it's at the bottom of the article, right above DEFAULTSORT.  Daß &thinsp;  Wölf  17:19, 9 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Galobtter (pingó mió) 16:48, 11 May 2019 (UTC)

"Edit and Import" label
Shouldn't this button instead be labelled "Import and edit", since that's the order in which the actions occur? —Hugh (talk) 02:26, 28 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Well, it is supposed to be short for along the lines of "Edit the Wikidata description before Importing it to Wikipedia". Galobtter (pingó mió) 07:33, 28 May 2019 (UTC)

Interface-protected edit request on 10 June 2019
Please change

to

It is breaking edit summaries (example). Eman 235 / talk  01:34, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
 * thanks for catching that. Pinging if they are online --DannyS712 (talk) 01:46, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
 * , ✅, I spotted that, but apparently I forgot to update the version here with the version on my dev environment before going to bed. Galobtter (pingó mió) 06:10, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Ckb wikipedia
If you are still interested on using Shortdesc helper there, I've made Shortdesc helper work on other wikis - see instructions at User:Galobtter/Shortdesc_helper. Galobtter (pingó mió) 11:19, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Of course! This gadget is very important to our Wikipedia. Now, i did the instruction, but after i did it, the gadget would disappeared in Preferences > Gadgets. Please look ckb:بەکارھێنەر:ئارام بکر/پێڕستی پەڕەکانی میدیاویکی to see all of gadget pages at ckbwiki. (I highlighted all pages with yellow to find them soon). What is wrong?! --ئارام بکر (talk) 13:54, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
 * , I made a slight mistake in the gadgets-definition I told you to copy. Please copy the updated one at User:Galobtter/Shortdesc_helper. Galobtter (pingó mió) 14:13, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Nice! But only i see Add and Edit links! Where are Wikidata • Import • Edit and import links? -ئارام بکر (talk) 14:39, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
 * , As explained in the VPT thread, Village_pump_(technical)/Archive_174, wikis other than enwiki don't have the  magic word. Since there is no local description, importing description from Wikidata cannot be done. But this is not necessary, as the Wikidata description can be edited or added directly. Galobtter (pingó mió) 16:50, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Thank you a lot for your instructions and your gadget to ckbwiki! --ئارام بکر (talk) 17:37, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Export to wikidata?
Hi was just trying out the script via the Gadget. When there is no short description here OR on wikidata - what do you think about including at option to upload the data to wikidata? (Sure, it's not an English Wikipedia thing - but may be globally helpful?) — xaosflux  Talk 14:42, 31 January 2019 (UTC)
 * , Not a bad idea, it could automatically add the description to wikidata while adding it locally - no harm - but I don't know how much english-language descriptions are useful globally (i.e outside of the english wikipedia - that being one of the rationales for moving the descriptions locally). I'll look into it. Galobtter (pingó mió) 14:54, 31 January 2019 (UTC)
 * I came here about the same thing. I think it would be great if the script could change/add the Wikidata description at the same time since those are still useful for those checking Wikidata items. Regards So  Why  13:36, 4 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Investigated, this looks pretty doable, will be done soon (after it looks going well as a gadget) - and incidentally, as explained at the revised User:Galobtter/Shortdesc helper you'd now actually want to remove the script from your common.js and instead install it as a gadget. Galobtter (pingó mió)
 * Will do, thanks! Regards So  Why  16:25, 4 February 2019 (UTC)
 * , ✅ finally. By default a description is added to Wikidata when adding a description and no description exists anywhere (should be safe to do so as default I think, as Wikidata would like some description better than no description), but there are also options to always update the Wikidata description to match the enwiki description, or to never edit Wikidata. Galobtter (pingó mió) 16:24, 9 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Nice. However, wouldn't it be better if you could choose to save to Wikidata on a case-by-case basis? Sometimes the description should be updated to match en-wiki's but not all the time, so it would be useful if there was a link next to "edit" to save it to Wikidata. Also for already existing short descriptions. Regards So  Why  17:44, 9 June 2019 (UTC)
 * , I've added an option to add an "export" button, which will export the local description to Wikidata. Galobtter (pingó mió) 09:10, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Bug report
I have found sometimes when I accidentally click the Shortdesc helper twice, it create a second short description line, and if I see it, I will manually delete it. --rogerd (talk) 22:49, 2 July 2019 (UTC)
 * In theory, the buttons should disable themselves right after you click on them -, were you clicking the import button? If not, it would be helpful to know what exact buttons you clicked to get a duplicate short description. Thanks. Galobtter (pingó mió) 11:01, 5 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes, it was the import button, and so maybe this isn't a "bug", just the server responding slowly --rogerd (talk) 17:33, 5 July 2019 (UTC)

Edit summary
It seems the edit summary is generated automatically which is fine, but is there no opportunity to amend that, for instance to include an explanation of why one has made an edit? Cheers, Captainllama (talk) 20:00, 23 June 2019 (UTC)
 * I have thought about adding a way to modify the edit summary, but the issue is that for one I think it is rare enough to need to add an edit summary that one may as well just directly edit the wikitext, and there doesn't seem to be a nice way to do it. Having a summary box would be pretty obtrusive IMO, and a popup asking for a summary on every save would be annoying. Galobtter (pingó mió) 15:45, 2 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Ok thanks. I agree being forced to fill or dismiss a popup every time would be annoying. I was only really thinking of the opportunity to summon it if required but I can see that's tricky. The particular issue I had I addressed on the editors talk page so that brings us all closer anyway!
 * Another thing: I used to have the the gear-wheel button to open the settings window, now it's gone? Captainllama (talk) 01:27, 6 July 2019 (UTC)

Feature request: document old (non-local) description
This is a very handy tool. However, there's one situation I've noticed that I think may lead to some confusion; adding more information to the edit summary would help.

In the case where an editor uses the gadget to create a new local description, there is no record of what the old, non-local, description was. Adding this would help other editors understand the context of the edit in the future.

A recent example: I just encountered a page where the Wikidata shortdesc was something like "Disambiguation page"; the page had been changed from a disambiguation page a year before, so I changed the description to the more up-to-date "A list of lists".

The auto-generated summary for this edit was:


 * Adding local short description: "A list of lists"

That's accurate, but incomplete. Another editor may wonder why I chose to add that not-incredibly-insightful description; they'd have a better picture if the summary included that info. Perhaps:


 * Adding local short description: "A list of lists", overriding Wikidata description "Disambiguation page"

Would this addition be possible/worthwhile? --NapoliRoma (talk) 19:30, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
 * , Good idea! ✅ Galobtter (pingó mió) 21:56, 21 September 2019 (UTC)

Disable for disambiguation pages?
Might the tool be able to recognize disambiguation pages which have short descriptions built into that template? Seems unnecessary to have people adding what it already there. older ≠ wiser 10:31, 9 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Hear, hear! It was decided last year (here's one discussion that I remember) that there's no need for individual short descriptions, but I sometimes see people adding them and I'm sure I'll continue to see that happen until the tools they use start preventing it. – Uanfala (talk) 13:01, 18 September 2019 (UTC)
 * ✅, at least for Template:Disambiguation. Let me know if there are any issues. Galobtter (pingó mió) 22:01, 21 September 2019 (UTC)

Capitalization at Wikidata
, could you take a look at this? https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/User_talk:Sandstein#Descriptions. Thanks,  Sandstein   16:27, 18 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Hmm, this is a pretty tricky issue, because automatic de-capitalization would lead to instances of adding "greek village" etc which wouldn't be great either. This I think is really an issue for the Wikidata community to decide (trade off between wrongly capitalized descriptions and having less descriptions), but do maybe from User_talk:Galobtter/Shortdesc_helper have thoughts on this? Maybe it might be better to make adding to Wikidata not the default. Galobtter (pingó mió) 22:16, 21 September 2019 (UTC)
 * did the editor on wikidata "complaining" point to some specific wikidata diffs we can see? — xaosflux  Talk 22:31, 21 September 2019 (UTC)
 * From Sandstein's wikidata contributions there's and  which I assume are problematically capitalized from the Wikidata point of view. Galobtter (pingó mió) 23:29, 21 September 2019 (UTC)
 * I haven't used this much - I'm assuming this is mostly coming from a page with no description here or on wikidata, that someone adds. For example the new page Register of Professional Archaeologists - prompts for a description, which will also go to wikidata - and it will go with however people type it in, right? The example text in that box is "Short description", perhaps changing the example text will encourage "better" entries?  "short description" for one, and maybe an onhover tip with more on capitalization expectations? —  xaosflux  Talk 03:08, 22 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Maybe the script could alert users with a message generated dynamically if they start a short description with a capital letter? Regards So  Why  10:27, 22 September 2019 (UTC)
 * I don't think that we should necessarily follow Wikidata conventions for our purposes. Short descriptions are intended to be displayed on separate lines alongside search results, and for that purpose, initial capitalization is more appropriate. But Wikidata should be able to centrally turn off data import from Wikipedia if they don't like what they get.  Sandstein   09:56, 23 September 2019 (UTC)

Interface-protected edit request on 8 December 2019
Given that this page was moved out of user space, please


 * Line 49: Update  to link directly to Shortdesc helper (replace   with  )
 * Line 87: Update  to link directly to Shortdesc helper (replace   with  )
 * Line 172: Update the user agent (replace  with   or similar)

Additionally, on line 83 in, please remove the zero-width space between the "r" and "t" in

Thanks, --DannyS712 (talk) 07:22, 8 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks for catching me forgetting to update the script! Updated it (the zero-width space is deliberate to prevent a spurious short description for the script page). The regex in https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/source/tool-xtools/browse/master/config/semi_automated.yml would need updating too I suppose. Galobtter (pingó mió) 08:30, 8 December 2019 (UTC)
 * you can just apply a nowiki tag around the script... DannyS712 (talk) 08:31, 8 December 2019 (UTC)
 * I think I thought that looked ugly for some reason, fixed to use that since it is the better way. Galobtter (pingó mió) 08:34, 8 December 2019 (UTC)
 * I think you also need a closing tag - its categorized as having a short description DannyS712 (talk) 08:37, 8 December 2019 (UTC)
 * ✅, thanks Galobtter (pingó mió) 08:39, 8 December 2019 (UTC)

A way to block this?
I just noticed that this tool has been used, and reverted, from a single page in the Wikipedia: namespace multiple times. Is there a way to block this tool on individual pages? Or maybe a way to stop people from adding the patently useless "description" of "Wikimedia project page", which literally means nothing more than "Hey, this page is in the Wikipedia: namespace"? WhatamIdoing (talk) 00:33, 27 July 2019 (UTC)


 * User:Galobtter, does this script respect nobots? WhatamIdoing (talk) 03:31, 1 August 2019 (UTC)
 * , not a bot, so no (every editor is responsible for edits they make with the script). I think the best way to solve the issue on that page (what page are you referring to btw?) is by adding a good short description, which'll prevent people from importing that bad short description. I would agree that "Wikimedia project page" is pretty useless. Will think about disabling the import button if the Wikidata description is not useful, although I note that the useless Wikidata description is still used if there is no local description. Galobtter (pingó mió) 04:27, 1 August 2019 (UTC)
 * This instance was External links. The fact that none of the editors using this script attempted to supply a decent description says something about how little attention the users of your script are paying.  I suggest putting both "Wikimedia project page" and "Wikimedia subject-area collaboration" on the ban list.  There are probably several other phrases that are similarly generic.
 * Beyond that, what do you think should be done, when the regular editors at a given page actually don't want to have the Wikidata description overridden? WhatamIdoing (talk) 05:03, 1 August 2019 (UTC)
 * I don't see the harm in overriding the Wikidata description, though, and it at least brings the description in locally so it can't be as easily vandalized - whether the short description is reverted out or not, the useless "Wikimedia project page" is still currently used. So I don't see the value in reverting the importing of the "Wikimedia project page". The issue seems more with Wikidata users blindly adding a million "Wikimedia project page" descriptions rather than with the users of the script. The use of Wikidata descriptions is supposed to be eventually stopped, so those regular editors should add the highest-quality local description they can (or  if they think the page should have no description). Galobtter (pingó mió) 05:46, 1 August 2019 (UTC)
 * It's my impression that it's easier to vandalize things here. Think about it:  To vandalize Wikidata, you have to know how to find it, and most people don't.  And then you have to figure out that editing interface, which most people can't.  Here, the edit button is at the top of every page, and thousands of people find it every day.
 * Instead, I think the difference is that we have more faith that we'll spot the vandalism sooner. I don't know whether this is true in reality.  We all know about infamous instances of vandalism that wasn't reverted for many years – I once cleaned up one that was only spotted because the vandalized sentence was plagiarized into a peer-reviewed scientific journal article.  But it is true that we believe ourselves to be more effective at it.
 * So it appears that there is currently no mechanism for "don't clutter up this page with this WikiProject's template". Could we please have one?  Maybe a sort of blacklist?  Or make the nobots system work, even though it's not a bot?  Checking for the presence of the nobots template might be more efficient than checking a separate page.  WhatamIdoing (talk) 15:48, 1 August 2019 (UTC)
 * Galobtter, how does the script decide that this template should be added? If the template is present but commented out, will that stop people from bothering the page?  WhatamIdoing (talk) 22:45, 7 August 2019 (UTC)
 * No, the template has to be actually transcluded. If the reason you don't want to put a good short description at the top (which as I mentioned in my first comment, would solve the issue), is a general objection to local short descriptions, then that isn't really Shortdesc helper's issue. Galobtter (pingó mió) 06:20, 9 August 2019 (UTC)
 * It’s unfortunate that the English Wikipedia community is doing on Wikipedia what it wants without looking at the rest of the Wikimedia project members.·Carn· !? 16:43, 23 April 2020 (UTC)

Lower case to upper case
I've just add a short description to 1986 Eisenhower Trophy. The Shortdesc helper said "Missing article description (Add)", I typed "team golf tournament" and "save" but found that the description reads "Team golf tournament". I've been told that it shouldn't have an upper case t, so I'm left a little confused. Nigej (talk) 18:10, 8 May 2020 (UTC)
 * , The script does automatically upper case the first letter of the short description when it is added. While the standard for Wikidata short descriptions is to have the first letter be lowercase we've decided on having the first letter upper cased (see Short description). Galobtter (pingó mió) 01:22, 9 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't follow, why automatic conversion and why not let users enter capital letters only when necessary? Or, if formatting of Wikidata descriptions and Wikipedia short descriptions are simply not compatible to one another, then why this tool is used to edit Wikidata at all? Now this tool seems to a major source of badly formatted descriptions on Wikidata. 2001:7D0:81F7:B580:D0B5:7515:FF9B:D4DC (talk) 07:12, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

New Shortdesc where one does not exist at present
What is the best practice for creating a brand new Shortdesc where one does not exist at present? Would the first step be to create a Wikidata description value? Or would best practice be to use Short description on the article lacking a Shortdesc? Thanks. --User:Ceyockey ( talk to me ) 01:17, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
 * , when you add a short description for the first time here, it automatically exports to Wikidata. Cheers, &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 00:23, 22 June 2020 (UTC)

Capitalization for export feature
I just discovered the export feature (I wish I'd found it sooner, since most of the tweaks I've made to short descriptions belong on Wikidata, too), but when I tried it out a bit, I promptly got (politely) yelled at over at Wikidata for violating wikidata:Help:Description. It seems the importer adds capitalization but the exporter doesn't remove it for non-proper nouns. Could this be fixed? &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 00:22, 22 June 2020 (UTC)
 * It could be fixed if we had an algorithmic way of determining which words are proper nouns, and if we had a complete list of proper nouns that do not begin with a capital (e.g. eBay; note that 3,813 articles have the template Lowercase title). If anybody has a solution to those issues, I'd be very interested in hearing about it. --RexxS (talk) 20:03, 7 July 2020 (UTC)
 * People keep mentioning an export to Wikidata feature. Where is that documented, and how do I access it? Must be missing something. Specifically, if I edit a short description here, how can I export that to WD? MichaelMaggs (talk) 15:58, 9 July 2020 (UTC)
 * The "Export" link that appears after short descriptions defined locally will let you copy that local description over to Wikidata in one click. Nathan2055talk - contribs 21:29, 9 July 2020 (UTC)
 * you may have to edit a short description first to access the 'cog-wheel' that opens 'Settings'. Once there, you can tick the option for "add an export link". HTH --RexxS (talk) 12:17, 10 July 2020 (UTC)
 * you may have to edit a short description first to access the 'cog-wheel' that opens 'Settings'. Once there, you can tick the option for "add an export link". HTH --RexxS (talk) 12:17, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

Misuses of the gadget
I've noticed this gadget is being misused by good faith editors to "override" the same exact short description an infobox template created. This is very unhelpful and even a bit harmful, as that means that any update to the logic of the infobox will not change the page now. This gadget should check if the template "overridden" is same exact one from the infobox (and not from wikidata) and if it is, then not preform any change. --Gonnym (talk) 16:43, 6 August 2020 (UTC)

Option to show both local and Wikidata short descriptions?
Is there an option to show both the local and Wikidata short descriptions at the same time? I looked in the settings, but I didn't see a setting to enable this dual view. I have two use cases in mind: The Edit/Import/Override/Export links should be shown next to each short description, depending on what options are correct given the presence or absence of local and Wikidata descriptions. – Jonesey95 (talk) 23:43, 6 August 2020 (UTC)
 * 1) At Afonso VI of Portugal and Afonso I of Portugal, for example, the articles are in the new . In order to determine whether the local short description is better than the one at Wikidata, I believe that I have to open a separate tab to see the Wikidata description, then copy/paste to import or export the better one.
 * 2) After Wikidata descriptions are no longer displayed by default on Wikipedia, it will be helpful to still be able to see them with this Helper tool so that we can continue importing short descriptions rather than generating them from scratch.
 * , I added an option to always show the Wikidata description. Galobtter (pingó mió) 01:23, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

Advice needed on using AWB to import short descriptions from Wikidata
Please see this discussion, where an editor is hoping to use AWB to import some short descriptions from Wikidata. Any useful advice is appreciated. – Jonesey95 (talk) 16:48, 9 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Always meant to add semi-automated AWB like functionality to the helper but don't have the time. Galobtter (pingó mió) 01:27, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

SD missing on new article
London Interdisciplinary School has a locally-defined SD, but I don't see anything. The helper doesn't say "missing". No problems noticed recently with any other article. This article was just created (move from Draft), but I wouldn't think that should be an issue. MB 01:38, 18 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Perspective (short film) is another new article. MB 18:08, 18 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I'm seeing this at The Voice of Poland (season 11) as well. It appears that the local short description is not shown by the helper when there is no Wikidata item matching the article. Pinging . – Jonesey95 (talk) 16:06, 19 October 2020 (UTC)
 * That one doesn't have a local SD. But the issue is the same, you can't use the tool to add or edit one. MB 17:37, 19 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Silly me; I added one just now, and the helper does not display it. – Jonesey95 (talk) 18:49, 19 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Also, Perspective (short film) shows the SD now via the helper. The Wikidata item was created about 19 hours ago. – Jonesey95 (talk) 18:50, 19 October 2020 (UTC)
 * , bug . Galobtter (pingó mió) 19:02, 19 October 2020 (UTC)

Shortdesc helper no longer showing Wikidata SD
The helper tool, at least for me, no longer shows the Wikidata short description. At Yoko Ono, for example, I see "Missing article description (Add)" instead of "Japanese multimedia artist, author, and peace activist", the Wikidata description.

Can the tool be modified to continue showing the Wikidata SD for ease of importing? – Jonesey95 (talk) 00:39, 14 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I also experience the same issue. There are still lots of articles needing short descriptions, so importing would make the job easier. Hanif Al Husaini (talk) 00:43, 14 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Yep they've also modified the description API so that it no longer returns wikidata descriptions if a local one isn't present. I've fixed the shortdescs-in-category script. Shortdesc helper would need to be fixed too (cc ). – SD0001  (talk) 05:58, 14 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Looks like this is because they've finally stopped showing Wikidata descriptions here, which is nice to see! I can definitely do that; should be able to do it in the next few days. (Thanks for the ping SD0001.) Galobtter (pingó mió) 19:07, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

It is dumb of the WMF for changing the API without warning us that the API would change and break scripts. Had we known we would have been able to fix the script but instead the WMF with dumb employees decided to change API without warning us🌸 1.Ayana 🌸 (talk) 22:12, 14 October 2020 (UTC)
 * We have had "warning" for many months, since we asked for the change and they were working on it, but there was no notice that it would happen this week. It is strange that there appeared to be no action on any of the related phab tickets (that I saw, at least), no notice in the tech news, and it appears to have changed on a Tuesday instead of the usual Thursday/Friday update window. I could be wrong about any of these things, though, since it is harder to notice something subtle like this change. – Jonesey95 (talk) 00:59, 15 October 2020 (UTC)
 * , In their defence, the description API had always been marked as internal ("This module is internal or unstable. Its operation may change without notice"). Tbh, I'd have preferred if the API functionality had been left as is, as tools now need to query two APIs to get the description. – SD0001  (talk) 11:43, 15 October 2020 (UTC)
 * . Let me know if there are any bugs. There's also now an option to always show the Wikidata description or to never show it (which should make the description show faster). Galobtter (pingó mió) 01:36, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

In mobile view, short descriptions are still not shownn, neither for the three suggested related articles at the bottom of a page, nor for the Wikipedia internal search engine. I couldn't find any option to fix it in the mobile settings.-- Maxeto0910 (talk) 17:13, 23 October 2020 (UTC)
 * When I go to Foobar in mobile view (on Firefox for Mac OS) and scroll to the bottom, I see "Metasyntactic variable" as the first of three suggested links; it shows the short description ("Placeholder term..."). When I go to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foobar and click in the search box and type "x" (without quotes, and without pressing Return), I see a list of suggested articles starting with "X". Each one shows a short description below the article name. So those things are working for me. Let us know what mobile browser or app you are using. – Jonesey95 (talk) 17:56, 23 October 2020 (UTC)

I use Google Chrome on Android. I can only see local short descriptions, not those made in Wikidata.-- Maxeto0910 (talk) 18:41, 23 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes. That means the system is working as designed. I'm pretty sure that the short description helper gadget, for which this is the talk page, works only on the desktop view. If you want a specific article to show a short description, you can add it to the top of the article using the short description template. If you link to an article, I'll be happy to help. – Jonesey95 (talk) 21:15, 23 October 2020 (UTC)

Does not always capitalise?
In this edit, the description was not de capitalised for some reason. 𝟙𝟤𝟯𝟺𝐪𝑤𝒆𝓇𝟷𝟮𝟥𝟜𝓺𝔴𝕖𝖗𝟰 (𝗍𝗮𝘭𝙠) 11:44, 25 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Only on first addition of description since there may be a legitimate reason to have the first letter be lowercase Galobtter (pingó mió) 22:05, 28 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Could you please give me an example? 𝟙𝟤𝟯𝟺𝐪𝑤𝒆𝓇𝟷𝟮𝟥𝟜𝓺𝔴𝕖𝖗𝟰 (𝗍𝗮𝘭𝙠) 22:08, 28 October 2020 (UTC)
 * iOS SDK, Metal (API), many more. – Jonesey95 (talk) 22:55, 28 October 2020 (UTC)

Leading space in the template
I have seen (and fixed) articles where the SD template has a leading space (or two) $(${ short description.... The gadget does not recognise this as a SD template and so sometimes a second SD has been added via the gadget. Please alter the gadget to cope with the space and maybe cope with a duplicate template. — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 15:14, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
 * It looks like you fixed them all. A search on  gives 0 results in articles. Leaving them to be cleaned up manually from a search gives the Wikignomes something to do  --RexxS (talk) 18:39, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Oh well - I guess that makes it official — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 18:59, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
 * ✅. Galobtter (pingó mió) 05:35, 7 February 2021 (UTC)
 * ✅. Galobtter (pingó mió) 05:35, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

endashes v/ hyphens
Please adjust so that it gives us endashes for date spans. E.g., "(1800–1850)" for YOB–YOD. This is required per MOS:DASH. Thanks. – S. Rich (talk) 19:15, 1 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Those hyphens and dashes are added manually by editors, not automatically by the template. I suppose the template could try to convert a subset of hyphens to dashes, but there would be many false positives. – Jonesey95 (talk) 20:58, 1 January 2021 (UTC)
 * +1. One user at Wikidata is being unresponsive about this, see d:Wikidata:Edit groups/QSv2/40147. 𝟙𝟤𝟯𝟺𝐪𝑤𝒆𝓇𝟷𝟮𝟥𝟜𝓺𝔴𝕖𝖗𝟰 (𝗍𝗮𝘭𝙠) 21:58, 1 January 2021 (UTC)
 * This problem occurs almost entirely within YOB–YOD. Where an editor enters the pattern dddd-dddd that could be automatically be changed to dddd–dddd with very few errors. It would be worth doing, as somebody will no doubt want to correct that sooner or later anyway, at the cost of yet another edit. MichaelMaggs (talk) 17:38, 6 February 2021 (UTC) will
 * ✅ Galobtter (pingó mió) 05:35, 7 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Great, thank you. MichaelMaggs (talk) 16:49, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

None
re WP:SDNONE — Please could the gadget accept as a valid not-a-description. i.e. If the description = none (case insensitive) then do not treat this as missing a local short description. — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 20:13, 7 February 2021 (UTC)
 * The SD helper is accepting a description of "none", but then indicates that the SD has not been set at all, but should still be imported from WikiData — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 20:36, 23 February 2021 (UTC)
 * , Sorry, been really busy and haven't had to fix this yet. Will fix this weekend. Galobtter (pingó mió) 19:03, 26 February 2021 (UTC)
 * , Galobtter (pingó mió) 02:24, 28 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks, but ... See Glossary of the COVID-19 pandemic — I just set the SD as "none" — the helper now shows this as not having a SD and would I like to import one — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 14:47, 28 February 2021 (UTC)
 * , made it handle differently cased none Galobtter (pingó mió) 01:58, 1 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Nice one. Thanks — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 20:22, 1 March 2021 (UTC)

Bad edit summaries
As I mentioned here, an edit summary such as this is not appropriate - first off, it's implying that the user is making no change, and second off it's not actually saying what the user is doing (which in this case, "checking the bot is accurate"). I honestly don't think we should be spending time and tens of thousands of edits checking the bot (or rather, showing that we've checked the bot) but at the very least the edit summary should indicate that the short description itself has not been changed. Changing short description from "Guyanese poet" to "Guyanese poet" is nonsense. Primefac (talk) 16:09, 1 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I guess I didn't foresee that shortdesc helper would be used for checking bot descriptions (that's not its main purpose) which would be the case where no change to the description could result in an edit. I suppose I could add some functionality for that but I think using AWB is probably more suited to checking bot descriptions (if that needs to be done which like you I don't know if it should be). Galobtter (pingó mió) 21:02, 1 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I would say that if the shortdesc isn't changed, then the edit shouldn't go through. That's probably the easiest way to go about it. I do agree about AWB being useful in this instance. Primefac (talk) 21:06, 1 March 2021 (UTC)
 * ✅ Galobtter (pingó mió) 00:28, 7 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Cheers, ta. Primefac (talk) 00:33, 7 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I guess that wasn't the most thought thru feature. We could remove the category to stop people wasting time on checks. I've removed it from the documentation at least. --Trialpears (talk) 08:55, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * @Trialpears I think this (including your change) is best discussed on the template's talk page, not here. 𝟙𝟤𝟯𝟺𝐪𝑤𝒆𝓇𝟷𝟮𝟥𝟜𝓺𝔴𝕖𝖗𝟰 (𝗍𝗮𝘭𝙠) 21:26, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I should. Something just got in the way this morning. Thanks for the reminder! Can't imagine anyone cares about the documentation removal though and if they do they can just revert. --Trialpears (talk) 21:46, 3 April 2021 (UTC)

Wiki*edia List Article
Per Wikipedia talk:Short description, Wikimedia list article and Wikipedia list article should both be treated as none. It should be a quite simple change, just update the logic when setting isNone. --Trialpears (talk) 09:00, 3 April 2021 (UTC)


 * Pause a moment — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 18:58, 3 April 2021 (UTC)


 * It seems the current status is this: see List of sovereign states, which has  locally. SDHelper right now shows the default import display.
 * It should say "none", instead of encouraging an import. Perhaps we should also have SDHelper stop suggesting importing "Wikimedia list article", if that is what is available on Wikidata for an article without a local SD. — Goszei (talk) 19:17, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
 * This is due to the recent incorrect change in the Short description template — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 19:32, 3 April 2021 (UTC)

I implemented the extra check for isNone and it seems to be working exactly as expected. Could some interface admin copy User:Trialpears/Gadget-Shortdesc-helper.js to MediaWiki:Gadget-Shortdesc-helper.js? Courtesy ping to who haven't been active the past two weeks. --Trialpears (talk) 19:34, 4 April 2021 (UTC)


 * Please can we hold off on any changes, pending further and wider discussion — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 21:47, 4 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Is it consensus or technical implementation you are concerned about? Are you concerned about this edit specifically or the edit to short description, or that both of them weren't coordinated? --Trialpears (talk) 21:58, 4 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I think I'll implement a more robust solution of treating a description as "none" if there is a short description in the wikitext but not from the API. I think I'll also make shortdesc helper block importing of "Wikimedia list article" in general.


 * But I feel like it'd be much better to have a bot replace Wikimedia list article with none, rather than have the template opaquely do so (in a way that could be confusing to people editing). Galobtter (pingó mió) 01:45, 5 April 2021 (UTC)
 * We have a long-established plan to use a bot to replace Wiki(m/p)edia list article with none, so it would be best to stay with that plan. — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 12:42, 5 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I don't have any problems with that plan, but I have not seen the discussion where that consensus came about. The template update suggestion (which I feel is simpler and will take care of future additions automatically) did gather considerable support without opposition at Wikipedia talk:Short description. If no such consensus exist I think starting a discussion (and pinging participants from the earlier discussion) is the best path forward. I will not make any edits right now as the path forward is a bit muddy after this other implementation suggestion was raised. --Trialpears (talk) 13:39, 5 April 2021 (UTC)

I suggest that this discussion be continued at Wikipedia talk:Short description. Once a consensus is reached on what needs to be done, come back here to discuss its implementation in Shortdesc helper. MichaelMaggs (talk) 18:11, 5 April 2021 (UTC)

Incorrect edit summary when "none" is changed
When a short description with the text "none" is manually changed, the gadget generates an incorrect edit summary: see here. It should specify that the change is from "none". MichaelMaggs (talk) 10:07, 13 April 2021 (UTC)
 * pinging, as requested at the top of the page. MichaelMaggs (talk) 21:27, 14 April 2021 (UTC)

Idea: provide subtle cue when descriptions go over the length limit
As I mentioned above, I'm continuing to struggle with getting reverted when shortening massively overlong short descriptions. One thing that I think would help, at least for those who add short descriptions using this tool, would be to build in some subtle pushes toward obeying the WP:SDFORMAT guidelines. Namely: &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 20:49, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
 * When the length goes over 40 characters, the character counter could turn orange rather than gray, and when it goes over ~75 characters, it could turn red and bold.
 * If importing a short description from Wikidata that is longer than ~75 characters, there could be a popup "are you sure you don't want to shorten this" message.
 * When someone modifies an edit summary that is far above 40 characters in a way that brings it subtantially closer to the target, the edit summary could be automatically adjusted. We'd want to be careful not to put words in anyone's mouth, but a neutral note just mentioning the target could help.
 * I agree that this would be very useful. Many editors simply don't recognise the need to keep the SD brief. Indeed, unless they take the trouble to read the guidance pages why should they think it's a problem simply to accept the 100 character Wikidata description that's begging to be accepted with just one click? But this is pretty important: look closely at the screenshots of SDs in use on WP:Short descriptions and notice where the text gets chopped off - very soon after 30 characters in one case and soon after 40 characters in another. In addition to the suggestion above I'd also like all characters of the Wikidata text in excess of 40 to be shown in orange, even before the user opens the field for editing. MichaelMaggs (talk) 21:23, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
 * pinging, as requested at the top of the page. MichaelMaggs (talk) 21:28, 14 April 2021 (UTC)

Bug with description containing "$1"
I tried changing an existing short description by replacing it with a new description beginning with "$10 billion", and discovered that created a mangled entry. Further experimentation ahowed this is triggered by the two characters "$1" appearing anywhere in the new description.--NapoliRoma (talk) 06:12, 29 April 2021 (UTC)


 * That's because "$1" is the syntax used for backreferences in regex replacement strings. The gadget apparently matched the original shortdesc and inserted it where the "$1" was. (For reference, here is the edit being referred to) Ionmars10 (talk) 12:05, 29 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I figured that was the case, but also figured the person who would be fixing this would figure that was the case :-)--NapoliRoma (talk) 14:48, 29 April 2021 (UTC)

Autofocus on input box
Not sure if this has been suggested before, but... would it be possible to have the gadget autofocus on the text box when I click on "Add" or "Edit", so I can start typing right away without having to click on the box first? I thought line 793 of MediaWiki:Gadget-Shortdesc-helper.js already enabled that, but I'm just taking a guess. Victor Lopes Fala! • C 16:49, 3 May 2021 (UTC)
 * , where would the focus go? At the end of any existing text? At the beginning? With the text selected so that it's overwritten as as soon as you start typing? There's no one correct answer. MichaelMaggs (talk) 17:08, 3 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Getting there with results in the whole text being selected; seems to be a reasonable option. Would it cause too much disagreement to have this implemented?  Victor Lopes  Fala! • C 17:47, 3 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Don't see how it would be an improvement, to be honest, in the majority of cases where there is already text in the box that needs to be edited rather than replaced entirely. Maybe OK in those cases where there is no initial text (no Wikipedia or Wikidata short description). MichaelMaggs (talk) 07:49, 4 May 2021 (UTC)
 * So I guess we could at least have autofocus for the "Add" button, if technically possible. Victor Lopes  Fala! • C 00:57, 5 May 2021 (UTC)
 * At the end would be my preference. You could then just navigate with (ctrl+)arrow keys, and use (ctrl+)backspace to fix parts of the description (many devices don't have a delete key, and they would need to navigate and then use backspace if the focus was to go at the beginning). User:1234qwer1234qwer4 (talk)  10:05, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

Upper case "S" in Short description
, when utilizing the gadget, it adds the template short description (notice the small "s"), instead of an upper case "S"... ie: Short description. I've noticed AWBers (see this example) changing it, and was wondering if the gadget could be changed to emulate what the Short description template does? Thanks! —  W ILD S TAR  talk 23:50, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
 * As far as the software is concerned, there is absolutely no difference between short description and Short description – or between any two page titles that differ in their initial capitalisation. If the AWBers want to change the initial capitalisation of templates to upper case for reasons of consistency, or aesthetic sensibility, or plain obsessive compulsion, that's fine. But there's really no reason for any gadget to do the same. --RexxS (talk) 00:52, 20 December 2020 (UTC)
 * This might just be a genfix; they are enabled by default. 𝟙𝟤𝟯𝟺𝐪𝑤𝒆𝓇𝟷𝟮𝟥𝟜𝓺𝔴𝕖𝖗𝟰 (𝗍𝗮𝘭𝙠) 10:19, 20 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks for arguing the merits of the request... "consistency" and "aesthetics". Cheers! —  W ILD S TAR  talk  16:24, 20 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Is it part of gen fixes to capitalize such templates? If it is I'll change it to reduce churn, but if it isn't changing it would cause more churn in capitalization. Galobtter (pingó mió) 01:49, 21 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Is it part of gen fixes to capitalize such templates? If it is I'll change it to reduce churn, but if it isn't changing it would cause more churn in capitalization. Galobtter (pingó mió) 01:49, 21 December 2020 (UTC)


 * AWB with genfixes turned on, changes the template name to upper case S. Any edit with the gadget changes the template name to lower case s. It would be kinder all round if AWB and the SD helper gadget would both preserve the case of the template name OR agree to both use a specific case. — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 16:40, 4 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I think it would actually be enough if the gadget preserved the case, I think. Just catch the spelling with a regex. 𝟙𝟤𝟯𝟺𝐪𝑤𝒆𝓇𝟷𝟮𝟥𝟜𝓺𝔴𝕖𝖗𝟰 (𝗍𝗮𝘭𝙠) 16:50, 4 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I've noticed bots and manual editors changing s- to S- quite frequently. Although in practical terms there is no difference, it reduces confusion and editing churn if one version is preferred by all tools. As the official Short description page uses the capital S, including in its usage section, I'd like to see this gadget standardising to that. MichaelMaggs (talk)


 * I've changed it to capital S. Galobtter (pingó mió) 05:34, 7 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Great, thank you. MichaelMaggs (talk) 16:48, 7 February 2021 (UTC)
 * , thank you! :)   —  W ILD S TAR  talk  15:21, 13 June 2021 (UTC)

Shirtdesc helper ans Wikidata
Today I saw the following edit summary in my watchlist:
 * Adding local short description: "Words that can refer to objects or people whose names are temporarily forgotten, irrelevant, or unknown", overriding Wikidata description "words that can refer to objects or people whose names are temporarily forgotten, irrelevant, or unknown" (Shortdesc helper)

Which is rather stupid, what do you think?

Shoulddn't the Helper import the ShortDesc from Wikidata and show it to the editor, possibly allowing the wikipedian to edit the wikidata entry? Lembit Staan (talk) 21:31, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
 * It does exactly that if you click the import and edit button. The edit summary generated just doesn't make it that clear what it does. --Trialpears (talk) 21:39, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
 * The above change resulted from just a simple import. The Helper imported the description and changed the case of the first letter. Wikidata uses descriptions that start with a lower case, but Short Descriptions start with an upper case — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 21:49, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Ok. What was the point of copying shortdesc from WIkidata verbatim? Isn't there a way wididata entry visible already? ? Lembit Staan (talk) 22:03, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Each Wikipedia may chose to display the Wikidata value if there is no local Short description. This Wikipedia has chosen to not take the description from Wikidata and only use the Short description set in the article itself – either directly by the Short description template or indirectly via an infobox. If an article has no local Short description, the Helper offers the choice to type a new one or to import the description from Wikidata. In many cases an imported description does need to be further edited. However, sometimes editors perform only the import and fail to further edit the description — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 08:43, 27 June 2021 (UTC)
 * That's an example of an overly-long Wikidata text field that ought to have been amended rather than being imported into Wikipedia without change. Short descriptions here should normally be no longer that 40 characters - see WP:SDSHORT (and the rest of that page for more information)  MichaelMaggs (talk) 10:08, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

Adding custom edit summaries
It would be nice to have an option to add custom edit summaries while using this tool. I fairly often get reverted when replacing a massively long Wikidata description with a shorter one here, and being able to explain why I'm doing it might help. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 14:54, 28 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Agreed. That would be very useful. MichaelMaggs (talk) 17:26, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I'll see if I have the time to implement this. It's a bit complicated and requires some thought on how to do it without it being obtrusive for most edits that don't need a summary. Galobtter (pingó mió) 05:37, 7 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Galobtter, this idea would be of real use, if you can find time to implement it. Now that more and more uses of the gadget are to edit rather than add short descriptions, it would be good practice to be able to explain to other editors the reason for the change. I'd probably set myself up a keyboard shortcut such as "Edit text to comply with WP:SDCONTENT and WP:SDFORMAT" MichaelMaggs (talk) 11:12, 8 May 2021 (UTC)
 * , good point. I just encountered the same issue yet again, and it's going to continue happening until there's a way to explain in the summary why we're shortening. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 19:54, 14 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Aaaannnddd yet again at sea level rise. &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 23:39, 11 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Another. there is a massive amount of editor effort being wasted because good-faith editors who don't know about SDFORMAT are reverting and triggering the BRD process. This really needs to be fixed. If you don't anticipate being able to get to it, please let us know and we can hopefully find someone else to help. &#123;{u&#124;  Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 18:46, 27 July 2021 (UTC)
 * , I second this suggestion. See for a use case User talk:Sandstein.  Sandstein   08:30, 16 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Comment. Even just an option to add a link to WP:SDCONTENT in the edit summary would do wonders to explain/spread awareness about the true purpose of SD's. Custom edit summaries would be a bonus. — Goszei (talk) 02:01, 20 July 2021 (UTC)

IMO the need for an edit summary box is becoming more and more acute. I suspect that Galobtter may have other things going on as he has barely edited Wikipedia in any capacity since April. That being the case, I wonder whether another tool editor would be good enough to take this on? Trialpears, you came to mind first, as I know how very kind and helpful (and busy ...) you are ;) Any chance of it, please? I've no idea how it would be implemented, but the easiest UI might simply be to display an edit summary box immediately beneath the existing text field that appears at the point of editing. MichaelMaggs (talk) 10:20, 29 August 2021 (UTC)


 * Sadly I'm neither a scripts person or someone with much time for Wikipedia right now. I fully agree that this should be a feature and would love to see it implemented. The nice folks at WP:SCRIPTREQ can probably help, but I'm unsure what the attitude is with regards to changes to existing scripts there. --Trialpears (talk) 23:39, 29 August 2021 (UTC)

Where does this gadget save its custom user settings?
I made a change to my shortdesc helper settings, and I noticed it didn't modify any files in my userspace. Where does this gadget save its user settings? Is it something not persistent like a cookie? Thanks. – Novem Linguae (talk) 09:38, 29 August 2021 (UTC)
 * The settings are stored in your account's Preferences — as mw.user.options.values["userjs-Shortdesc-helper"]. Many of the preferences are displayed and can be changed via Special:Preferences (e.g. mw.user.options.values["wllimit"] is your watch list limit), but the system allows other preferences to be set and used by gadgets or other parts of the system. Using a cookie for options is possible, but they would then not be shared between browsers or onto another device — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 13:51, 1 September 2021 (UTC)

Bug: previous SD not recognized
.  Sandstein  20:42, 11 July 2021 (UTC)
 * What are you attempting to report here? Please be a bit more verbose. – Jonesey95 (talk) 15:50, 12 July 2021 (UTC)
 * It's clear from the diff:  was already present but was undetected. Must be due to the unusual number of spaces before the pipe. –  SD0001  (talk) 16:15, 5 September 2021 (UTC)
 * I put the code from that page into User:Jonesey95/sandbox, and the SD helper shows "Scarlett" as the short description. What do you mean by "undetected"? – Jonesey95 (talk) 17:47, 5 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Yes but editing it causes a new shortdesc to be added, instead of the existing one being updated. – SD0001  (talk) 18:20, 5 September 2021 (UTC)


 * The SD helper gadget is replacing the existing description by searching for /\{\{\s*[Ss]hort description\ which allows for a leading space, but not a trailing space in the template name. Should the regex at line 155 be /\{\{\s*[Ss]hort description\s*\ or even something like /\{\{\s*[Ss]hort description\s*\? — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 20:56, 5 September 2021 (UTC)

Display both manual and auto SDs
Is it possible to show both the manual SD and the auto SD that the page would have if not for the manual override? I’m not sure if this is a reasonable request technically or conceptually, but I feel it would help with both checking that new auto SDs are functioning ok, as well as for editors to consider a change from the manual SD (many auto SDs have matured a lot since most manual SDs have been written). <span style="font-family: Avenir, Tenorite, Verdana, sans-serif;">— HTGS (talk) 01:52, 31 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Technically this can be done by removing the manual SD from the page text, and parsing it using the API with action=parse&prop=properties. – SD0001  (talk) 16:34, 5 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I just now saw this. I already have this functionality, which lets me, e.g., see both SDs at Short description. Look at the last two bits of my CSS, which is what does the magic. I do not remember whence I stole this, but I seem to remember changing the color from whatever it originally used. &mdash; JohnFromPinckney (talk / edits) 07:09, 27 October 2021 (UTC)

Feature request: Descriptive edit summary for "none"
I propose that if a SD "none" is added, the following or similar edit summary is added: "Changing short description from "foo" to none because the title is sufficiently descriptive that no explanation of the article scope is needed (WP:SDNONE)." And maybe also add a similar inline comment in the wikicode. I've had one or two talk page messages like this because editors don't understand what "none" means.  Sandstein  19:39, 5 November 2021 (UTC)

This page has deliberately no description
On pages with none, I see the text This page has deliberately no description. Shouldn't it be This page deliberately has no description? –&#8239;Joe (talk) 11:48, 6 December 2021 (UTC)
 * , yes! It's unfortunate that only those who have the gadget installed actually see the message.  After adding None here, it was "deliberately" (pun intended) reverted.  :-)   —  W ILD S TAR  TALK  18:37, 29 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Or this page has—deliberately—no description, I suppose... . –&#8239;Joe (talk) 20:40, 29 December 2021 (UTC)
 * The first suggestion sounds better to me (This page deliberately has no description). <b style="color:#034503">MB</b> 21:15, 29 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Yes that was a joke. –&#8239;Joe (talk) 11:27, 30 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I'd suggest This page intentionally has no description. Note that since it is a complete sentence, it should include terminal punctuation.--NapoliRoma (talk) 23:17, 29 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Will fix Galobtter (pingó mió) 05:48, 1 January 2022 (UTC)

Reloading
@Galobtter: Sometimes this gadget reloads the page unnecessarily, for example when exporting the short description. It'd also be nice if it didn't reload the page after editing or adding the short description - it could just update the short description displayed. &#8213; Qwerfjkl  talk  21:32, 13 January 2022 (UTC)

Interface-protected edit request on 20 January 2022
Change: 'This page has deliberately no description.'

To: 'This page intentionally has no description.'

Per: this discussion. Thanks. – Jonesey95 (talk) 04:11, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
 * ✅. Writ Keeper &#9863;&#9812; 16:34, 20 January 2022 (UTC)

Option to Disable Automatic Capitalization
Hello! I have briefly read through the capitalization discussion here and on Wikipedia talk:Short description, and refreshed myself on the standards between Wikipedia and Wikidata. Seeing as exceptions occur, should there perhaps be an option to disable automatic capitalization locally (even if enabled by default)? I just encountered this issue when adding a short description beginning with the word "blog," which should be lowercase when beginning a phrase, just as vlog, iPhone, macOS, c., etc. would be. Top5a (talk) 20:10, 22 February 2022 (UTC)
 * I don't think this would be a good idea. "Blog" should be capitalized when it is the first word of a short description, and you are not the only person who would mistakenly think that a given word should be an exception. In Short description/lowercasecheck, the only exceptions we have needed to add so far are c., gTLD, iMac, iOS, iPad, iPhone, iTunes, macOS, none, pH, and pH-dependent. That short list suffices for millions of articles with short descriptions. Editors can override the default capitalization with a second edit very easily. Adding an option for editors to override the default capitalization with this tool would just add more articles to  unnecessarily, and cause editors to have to do additional cleanup work. – Jonesey95 (talk) 20:26, 22 February 2022 (UTC)
 * OK -- thank you for the information! Top5a (talk) 20:41, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

Show missing description on drafts
@Galobtter: Hello! I think it would be a good idea to show the "missing article description" on drafts, so that a short description can be easily added to them. This would change 's namespace check on line 1102 from   to. What do you think? Tol (talk &#124; contribs) @ 19:55, 5 January 2022 (UTC)

Not working on draft pages
Shortdesc helper does not seem to be available on draft pages without a short description, so have to add them manually. Drafts are intended for mainspace, so should get a short description, and when checking through the categories, it is useful to set the sd viewer to show sds &middot; &middot; &middot; Peter Southwood (talk): 08:08, 17 March 2022 (UTC)


 * @Pbsouthwood: I already requested this in § Show missing description on drafts above, so I'll combine these sections. Because it's been more than two months without a reply, I'll make an edit request to implement this change. Tol  (talk &#124; contribs) @ 22:22, 18 March 2022 (UTC)

2022-03-18 edit request
Please change  (currently on line 1101) as follows.

From:

To:

This implements the change discussed above (prompting to add a shortdesc on drafts), and also improves the logic of the redirect checking that follows. Tol (talk &#124; contribs) @ 22:30, 18 March 2022 (UTC)
 * ✅ this is live, please ping if any issues. —  xaosflux  Talk 10:37, 24 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks! Tol  (talk &#124; contribs) @ 14:51, 24 March 2022 (UTC)

Option for Colorization if Mismatch between Page and Wikidata
I current have the setting checked for always show Wikidata description, such that I can visually compare a page to its Wikidata description without having to check the maintenance category for a match.

Is there a way to add an option/flag to colorize the description in case of mismatch, such as how pink is used if there does not exist a corresponding entry on Wikidata? Thanks! Top5a (talk) 09:26, 9 April 2022 (UTC)

Force (suggest?) first letter to lowercase when exporting to Wikidata project
I have had several reverts occur on Wikidata on account of conflicting policies between Wikidata and English Wikipedia on the topic of first letter capitalization. As Wikidata policy is to have descriptions begin with lowercase in general (cf. WikiData:Help:Description), it seems as though this tool should force a lowercase first character when exporting to Wikidata, along with the already extant forced capitalization for the corresponding English Wikipedia short description. Now, for proper nouns, it should not be forced, so perhaps instead there should be a popup or separate entry box for Wikidata export within the tool, such that the user could set the proper capitalization prior to export. On a side note, Category:Short_description_matches_Wikidata is case-insensitive already, so no changes are required there. Thanks! Top5a (talk) 18:22, 9 April 2022 (UTC)
 * You could change MediaWiki:Gadget-Shortdesc-helper.js, or something around there - I think confirmation would be great (and for when it lower-cases the short description when adding a new one to Wikipedia and Wikidata). As I found recently, lowercase-first words are far less common than uppercase-first words. &#8213; Qwerfjkl  talk  20:27, 9 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Hi! OK, what I am thinking is that when a user clicks to Export, if Wikidata is the selected adapter, a popup will occur with an editable textbox pre-populated with the string, but with the first character automatically changed to lowercase.  There will be text over this textbox that states to confirm the Export to Wikidata, pleasure ensure that only proper noun capitalization is used (with a reference link to WikiData:Help:Description#Capitalization).  Then, an Export and Cancel button are at the bottom.  Does this sound reasonable?  I have not performed Lua programming before on Wikipedia, and am a neophyte on Wikipedia and Wikidata, but it does not sound difficult for me or the maintainer to do.  If I do this, do I then ping the maintainer (I believe it is @Galobtter) with a pull request?  Thanks! Top5a (talk) 02:10, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

Auto short descriptions with a value of "none"
Hi, I believe the helper could be improved when it comes to auto short descriptions from templates, typically infoboxes. It seems that when they are set to "none", the short desc helper does not display the handy message "This page intentionally has no description." on the constituent pages where the template is used; it displays the same text encouraging a user to add/import a description. This is a surprising result, given that setting it to anything else shows that the description is automatically generated and would need to be overridden to be changed.

I think having that message appear would be helpful so we can (1) show that whole swaths of articles should not have short descriptions and (2) do so without having to add to every one of the pages in the group.

As an example, Infobox Olympic event defaults its short desc to "none". Basque pelota at the 1900 Summer Olympics encourages me to add a short description, whereas Archery at the 1904 Summer Olympics shows the "intentionally blank" message after I manually placed. Thrakkx (talk) 16:38, 23 February 2022 (UTC)
 * The problem, of course, is that the page itself really does not have a Short description and so it is "correct" to offer the Wikidata description — just as for any page where nothing has been set. It would help if the SD helper could detect that the page would have the SD set (to none or otherwise) by a template, but that would involve an additional API call to check the evaluated output of the page as well as a check of the page source — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 20:23, 23 February 2022 (UTC)
 * I see, so this would not be a practical improvement? Thrakkx (talk) 21:44, 23 February 2022 (UTC)
 * Yeah I think checking the evaluated output would be a bit much, I suppose it'd be nice if having a none description outputted a invisible marker in the page source which would solve all these kinds of issues. Galobtter (pingó mió) 06:33, 30 April 2022 (UTC)

Bug report: helper should preserve 1= when present
See this edit, in which the SD helper gadget deleted 1, breaking the short description. – Jonesey95 (talk) 19:49, 12 February 2022 (UTC)
 * Pinging . Let me know if you want this reported in some other way. – Jonesey95 (talk) 06:20, 16 February 2022 (UTC)
 * @Jonesey95 I'll fix it so that it automatically adds 1= if there's an = in the description, which I think should properly fix the issue. Galobtter (pingó mió) 20:14, 30 April 2022 (UTC)

Space after the template name
Please could the gadget allow for and fix stray spaces after the template name. See archived talk at Wikipedia_talk:Shortdesc_helper/Archive_1. Editing a SD in these cases will add a second template leaving the "bad" one in place — GhostInTheMachine talk to me 09:45, 9 March 2022 (UTC)


 * @GhostInTheMachine Will fix. Galobtter (pingó mió) 05:20, 2 May 2022 (UTC)

Additional dash to enDash conversion request
, would it be feasible to include a "dash to enDash" conversion for variations of dates similar to (65–8 BC) as seen here? There aren't many like that, but they can easily be missed, and perhaps worthy of a few lines of code. See nuances in calendars per MOS:OSNS. Thanks! —  W ILD S TAR  talk 12:10, 7 November 2021 (UTC)


 * @WildStar There's already code for it but it's currently only for two four digit years. I assume there won't be any cases where someone wants a hyphen between two numbers in a short description, so I'll make it apply to all number-dash-number forms. Galobtter (pingó mió) 05:17, 3 May 2022 (UTC)
 * , Thank you! —  W ILD S TAR  TALK  16:08, 5 May 2022 (UTC)

Year duplication
WP:SDCONTENT says "avoid duplicating information that is already in the title" but user of Shortdesc helper frequently add the year to article short descriptions that already include the year in the page name. Please improve the script so that users do not do this. -- 109.78.203.13 (talk) 06:40, 6 May 2022 (UTC)


 * I think that restricting the actual terms that editors use when drafting their SD is outside the scope of a helper app. Repeating the year isn't best practice, but unless it unnecessarily takes the SD over 40 characters it's not actively harmful. MichaelMaggs (talk) 07:39, 6 May 2022 (UTC)
 * I did not say restrict. I would hope that the developer of this script would be able to take the article title text/pagename, tokenize it into words, then check that none of those words are repeated in the description, and gently warn editors to try and avoid unnecessary repetition. -- 109.78.203.13 (talk) 18:16, 6 May 2022 (UTC)

Capitalization for export feature (continued)
See Wikipedia_talk:Shortdesc_helper/Archive_1 for context. I'm getting yelled at too. An automated fix is probably not possible so the tool needs to allow the description to be manually edited as part of the export process.

Alternatively we can adopt the Wikidata policy and perform the capitalization in the code that renders the SD ~Kvng (talk) 13:59, 16 May 2022 (UTC)


 * I suppose the Wikidata policy does have an advantage in that it is easier to uppercase a short description than lowercase it (only a few things actually need to be lowercase per Template:Short description/lowercasecheck). Maybe a popup upon export asking if the description should be lowercased. Galobtter (pingó mió) 04:54, 17 May 2022 (UTC)

Appears to pull incorrect description at times?
Just a note to self during debugging, need to investigate pages such as Shanghai maglev train for why the short description is being pulled from a  tag, rather than from Short description.

To anyone else reading, if I make changes to my own scripting edits for this gadget (cf. the last three section topics here), is there a way to submit a pull request on Wikipedia? I am not sure how that works. If not, no problem. Thanks! Top5a (talk) 19:25, 21 April 2022 (UTC)
 * @Top5a, you could write an edit request - click "view source" on the code and there should be a button to do so. If it's a non-controversial change, any interface admin could do it. <span id="Qwerfjkl:1650569375029:Wikipedia_talkFTTCLNShortdesc_helper" class="FTTCmt"> Qwerfjkl talk  19:29, 21 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Great! Thank you so much!  Appreciate your helpful and prompt replies here, @Qwerfjkl!  Have a good day!  Top5a (talk) 20:02, 21 April 2022 (UTC)
 * with this edit to the sidebar. Nearly all infoboxes and sidebars should use noreplace. – Jonesey95 (talk) 22:49, 21 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Hello, again, @Jonesey95! Thank you!  Hmm.. so, this tool should still have not pulled that replacement, right?  Or at least indicated a conflict to the user?  Top5a (talk) 00:02, 22 April 2022 (UTC)
 * The tool, and the short descriptions in that article, were working as designed. The "noreplace" option exists because in the developers' infinite wisdom, they decided that the last short description to appear in the article's wikicode is chosen by the Wikimedia software as the page's SD, but in our infinite wisdom as English Wikipedia volunteer editors, we chose to place our manual SDs at the top of each article. See WP:SDPLACE for details. – Jonesey95 (talk) 02:58, 22 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Gotcha -- thank you for that info! Well, even though Wikipedia and Wikidata are opposed on quite a few things wrt short descriptions, it just leads to a few areas in which the tool could use a few updates (seeing as the tool bridges the two projects), which I will probably add and test for fun (different colouring depending on mismatch, capitalization differentiation between the two, conflict between multi-short desc listings within an article 1st vs last, etc.).  This way, users of the tool on Wikipedia will not accidentally break Wikidata (e.g. Wikipedia breaking Wikidata during export, and vice versa during import), and will be aware of conflicts such as that (perhaps with even some tooltips within the tool itself).  Top5a (talk) 04:19, 22 April 2022 (UTC)
 * If you're tinkering, I would find it useful if the tool would show both the infobox-generated SD and the Wikidata SD, and let me choose whether to Override the infobox-generated SD with a manual SD or Import / Import and Edit the Wikidata SD. Right now, the tool lets me do only the former if there is an infobox-generated SD (and doesn't show the Wikidata SD). Often, the Wikidata SD is better than the infobox-generated SD, but I can't see it with the tool, so it is not easy to import. Let me know if you need a clearer explanation. – Jonesey95 (talk) 05:22, 22 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Noted! I will add that, as well.  This will be my first time working on a Module here (the next thing I want to fix has to do with a template problem between coordinate templates between English Wikipedia and Wikidata, wherein a Wikidata bot changed their schema and broke the template on English Wikipedia, and Wikidata does not wish to revert the mangling). Top5a (talk) 05:31, 22 April 2022 (UTC)
 * I have reviewed WP:SDPLACE, and will probably start experimenting when I get some free time soon. I will be working through my item list one by one, as well as your suggestion, which I think is great.  By the way, I do have one more question:  after this is done, should there perhaps be some talk of creating a bot and/or maintenance category for templates that include short descriptions without  ?
 * I am looking at this page Category:Templates with short description, though I am unsure as to how to view the Lua which generates that category. Is there some link in the sidebar to view the module code that I am missing? Top5a (talk) 19:48, 22 April 2022 (UTC)
 * todo: extend length of box — Preceding unsigned comment added by Top5a (talk • contribs) 10:10, 26 April 2022 (UTC)
 * todo: Manual mode check in options, which replaces the standard single box at the top with there are two boxes when using shortdesc helper.  Longer than original box.  One on top, one on the bottom.  Top one is for Wikipedia, prepopulated.  Bottom one is for Wikidata, prepopulated.  Arrows between the two to "move" description from one into the other.  When going from Wikipedia to Wikidata, first letter is automatically de-capitalized (or set via a checkbox switch, but may be overridden).  No automagic capitalization or decapitalization on submit.  When going from Wikidata to Wikipedia, auto-capitalization.  Text next to the buttons between the boxes, that is green for "Matches" live updating when boxes match with case-insensitive first letter.  Orange or Red for "Does not match" when boxes do not match, with case-insensitive first letter.
 * This way, the user can easily verify or edit the descriptions for both Wikipedia and Wikidata within one place, and has the additional auto-verify on if it matches prior to submit. When the user clicks submit/publish, both edits are simultaneously published automagically.  Top5a (talk) 04:06, 1 May 2022 (UTC)
 * @Jonesey95 Not ideal, but there's a setting to always "Show the Wikidata description" which I think would help. I suppose the wikidata description could be shown automatically if short description is infobox generated. Galobtter (pingó mió) 20:11, 30 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Hello, @Galobtter! Apologizes for gunking up the Talk page here (realize you were on a wikibreak).  Really like your gadget, and had just been writing down some improvements or suggestions I thought might be helpful (as well as being a method for me to get my feet wet more with Lua on Wikipedia).  There are a few areas of disconnect with tooling not matching on account of differing consensuses between Wikipedia and Wikidata, at which I have been examining closely (namely Short Descriptions and Coordinate locations).  Have been quite busy as of late, so I have not been able to work on them.  Cheers!  Top5a (talk) 00:06, 1 May 2022 (UTC)
 * todo: add option to disable auto Watchlist/watcher  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Top5a (talk • contribs) 06:32, 20 May 2022 (UTC)

Highlight character count that exceeds the recommended limit
WP:SDESC says that the character count of short descriptions should not exceed 40 characters. The short description gadget helpfully includes a character counter but it doesn't tell me what the limit is and I often forget. It would be great if the count of characters was highlighted when it exceeded 40, perhaps initially yellow or orange for 4050 characters and then red for more than 50. I haven't read the code deeply but I think this could be accomplished by adding another line here that conditionally calls  with a   element that applies the desired styling. Ruбlov (talk • contribs) 18:57, 5 May 2022 (UTC)


 * This was suggested a while ago and is implemented my development version (to be deployed soon). Good to see another person wants this :) The earlier suggestion was orange after 40 and red after 75. Galobtter (pingó mió) 19:01, 5 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Thank you, this will be helpful. Ruбlov (talk • contribs) 19:11, 5 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Colour coding is a great idea, but those character limits are way out. Green / orange / red will be understood as good / not too bad / too long. But the consensus position at WP:SDSHORT is " (bold in original). The cases where over 40 is necessary really are exceptional (around 1 in 100 in my experience) and are context-dependent. We shouldn't be normalising the vast majority of over-40 SDs by coding them orange = "not too bad". Not every time of course, but almost always, draft SDs that exceed 40 need the editor to think harder for a minute or two, rather than hitting the save button.
 * Better would be green up to 40; red over 40. That will give a clear push to editors who don't know about WP:SDSHORT to re-write rather than to save, while experienced editors who are thoughtfully making use of the over 40 exception can save anyway. MichaelMaggs (talk) 10:48, 6 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Red over 40 would be quite common in practice though, and could lead to people just ignoring the change in color. Galobtter (pingó mió) 22:22, 28 May 2022 (UTC)
 * There should be no color up to 40, and then an intermediate "caution" color (meeting accessibility guidance, of course) between 40 and "long enough to trigger the long short description category". Red (also accessible, of course) should match the current limit set for, currently 100 characters (see discussion elsewhere about lowering that limit). – Jonesey95 (talk) 22:59, 28 May 2022 (UTC)

v3.5.0 update (edit summary box!)
Hi all, long-awaited update to Shortdesc helper. Changes include, with pings to requesters:

And last but most important, an edit summary box! (lots of people mentioned above, and, ). Hopefully this doesn't break how shortdesc helper looks for you - let me know if it does since there was some significant under the hood changes to the styling (and I don't understand CSS that well tbh). People with a non-default "input width" setting might need to change it since it works slightly different now. Galobtter (pingó mió) 23:34, 28 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Insert "1=" when required.
 * Better edit summaries when dealing with "none" descriptions.
 * Hyphen to dash for all number ranges.
 * Autofocus on edit
 * Highlighting when the description is too long (currently orange-red for >40, bold red for >100, can discuss tweaking this).
 * I love it! Nice work, . I've been wanting an edit summary box for a while, as I sometimes get reverted when people don't understand the reason for my changes. – Jonesey95 (talk) 23:53, 28 May 2022 (UTC)
 * So excited to see! Thanks, @Galobtter! &#123;{u&#124; Sdkb  }&#125;  talk 00:11, 29 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Now that I think about it, the custom edit summary should probably be appending to the automatically generated one rather than replacing it... Galobtter (pingó mió) 02:26, 29 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Wonderful, thanks @Galobtter! MichaelMaggs (talk) 16:05, 30 May 2022 (UTC)

Introducing tool in other Wikis
Hello, I wanted to ask if this tools is available in other Wikis and if not can it be introduced to other Wikis for utilization. DownTownRich (talk) 20:16, 3 June 2022 (UTC)


 * See Shortdesc_helper, but all other wikis use Wikidata for their short descriptions so it's not as useful (I think someone wrote a script just for Wikidata descriptions that's more useful in that case). Galobtter (pingó mió) 01:13, 6 June 2022 (UTC)

SD of none may not work with gadget when assigned by an infobox
Please see this discussion. – Jonesey95 (talk) 16:54, 19 June 2022 (UTC)