Wikipedia talk:Tip of the day/Archive 11

Alert: January 27 tip is in error
In the January 27 tip, the peer reviewer doesn't appear to be a gadget anymore.

That means that the script User:AndyZ/peerreviewer will need to loaded by the user, or he can use the link provided at the end of the tip to access an online version (which doesn't have all the functionality of the script).

The tip needs to be revised.

Just a heads up. The Transhumanist 03:07, 7 January 2016 (UTC)
 * It's still in the MoreMenu gadget which has a working link to it. The tip correctly describes how to access the tool with the gadget. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:51, 7 January 2016 (UTC)
 * I'm not seeing it. Following the instructions, I hover on Page, then hover on Tools, and there is no Peer reviewer in the drop down menu. All I see is:
 * Check external links
 * Check redirects
 * Copyright vio detector
 * Disambiguate links
 * Transclusion count
 * View history
 * Not sure what is going on. The Transhumanist 00:18, 8 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Some options are namespace dependent. On articles and some other namespaces there is also "Peer reviewer" under Tools. The tip calls it "article peer-reviewer" and I think few people will try to use it on talk pages so I'm not sure it needs to be mentioned in the tip. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:25, 8 January 2016 (UTC)
 * ✅ Okay, I see it when at an article page.  I'll adjust the wording to account for this. Thank you! The Transhumanist 00:29, 8 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Regarding [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Tip_of_the_day/January_27&diff=698749805&oldid=696994012], it's also in the User and Draft namespaces. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:41, 8 January 2016 (UTC)

(February 17) – Show page in mobile view while browsing the desktop site – Done
✅

Tip would replace redundant tip: Tip of the day/February 17 – How to plant a CategoryTree!

Show page in mobile view while browsing the desktop site

Mobile view sidebar from the desktop



This gadget option (for Vector skin) shows the desktop page in a mobile view sidebar while browsing the desktop site.

Enable this mobile view in your Gadgets section of your Preferences. Check on the box for: Mobile sidebar preview – Show page in mobile view while browsing the desktop site, then scroll to bottom of page and save your changes.

There is a Smartphone shaped icon located in the top bar of tabs. Press the Smartphone icon to toggle the mobile view on and off. The expanded screenshot here is highlighted with a red box and arrow for illustrative purposes.

You can also turn off the mobile view by pressing the white-X in the black button at the bottom of the Smartphone frame. The Smartphone frame includes its own scrollbar independent of the Desktop scrollbar.

Read more: Gadget

Cheers! 10:51, 11 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Discuss –
 * Note: Moved February 16 to February 17. Need to run tips for Feb. 14, 15 & 16 together.  JoeHebda   (talk)  20:21, 21 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Made changes to this tip to clarify. Question: can the red circle & red arrow in the screenshot be made larger so as to be visible without clicking the screenshot? Thanks for this tip, very helpful. Cheers! JoeHebda   (talk)  13:26, 10 February 2016 (UTC)


 * I uploaded a new image to the Commons with a larger arrow and linked it to this tip proposal. Please discuss. Cheers!  23:09, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

* Testing
 * and I tested this tip & it does not work for me. I'm using Modern skin with Chromodo browser. Wondering if there are additional Preference settings needed?  JoeHebda   (talk)  13:47, 10 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Did you your Preferences page? Also, purge the page you are viewing. Did you try it on an article page? If so, try creating a new Phabricator ticket. Be sure to bookmark your Phabricator ticket so you can get right back to it. When you login in to Phabricator, ignore the fill-in-the-blanks login, and go down to the MediWiki login with the Flowered button. Be sure to birddog the page and to birddog your email so you can reply quickly to any questions the Phab team has for you. Cheers! PS: Try using your default web browser to and see if that makes a difference.   21:42, 10 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Do not see any Purge option on Preference page, however I did logout, & shutdown Win7 pc; then ran test on Linux machine with Firefox browser & still not seeing the mobile view icon. Sorry, I don't know anything (never used) Phabricator. Is that like Village Pump Technical? At VPT archives, search for mobile view I did see mention that sometimes that feature may be gone/missing for 2 or 3 days or more before being fixed. My concern now is whether additional editors are having this same issue? Also, should we even go-live with this given not working? Regards, JoeHebda   (talk)  21:56, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

Hi. Phabricator is where they actually build and fix things.

Probably the easiest thing is for you to add a purge tab to your pages per this from WP:Purge:


 * Gadgets
 * There are also two gadgets that can add a purge tab or link to every page. These may be found in the Gadgets section of your Wikipedia Preferences, under "Appearance": (1) "" and (2) "". The "purge" option of (1) is one of the options in the drop-down menu to the left of the Search box in Vector skin, but a tab in MonoBook skin.

To change the text shown on the purge tab added by the preference "", add the following to your common.js file (or create the file using it): The  in the third line sets the text shown on the tab to the lowercase letter p. Change this to whatever you prefer (,  , etc).

The show page in mobile/desktop gadget works for me every time.

Cheers! 22:10, 10 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Hi Now have Purge showing on toolbar per above instructions. Had to create the common.js, copy & paste from example; logout; completely shutdown browser & startup again. When in Preferences, no Purge option shows. Still not seeing mobile view icon on toolbar....  JoeHebda   (talk)  22:35, 10 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Hi . The extra .js cruft is just to change the label name of the Purge button (optional) and does not affect the function of the Purge button. I would suggest "creating a new task" at Phabricator. Clicking that flowered WikieMedia button near the bottom of the logon page should log you on with your Wikipedia credentials. Cheers!  22:44, 10 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Hi . When you create a Phabricator task and get a task number (in the format of T12345) you can post a template here in this format to track the task: (with the 4 curly braces).


 * Be sure to put it on a brand new line or it will corrupt its view. Cheers!  22:53, 10 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Created TaskManiphest T126553 there & bookmarked as you mentioned. Thanks. Regards, JoeHebda   (talk)  22:59, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

and

* Discussion points:


 * 1) On the screenshot, right side, within the iphone window, upper left corner, there is a "TW" showing. Is that for Twinkle? And is that needed to make Mobile sidebar preview work?
 * 2) In my reading various pages, I wound up over at, and had to change my Preferences because it was set to Vector vs. Modern skin. Are there any patches for Custom CSS or Custom Javascript that need to be included to fix Mobile sidebar preview?
 * 3) For Gadgets, I noticed that Mobile sidebar preview is listed under section Testing and development, so does that mean it has not yet been officially deployed? At MediWiki – Gedgets, there is not a "Testing and development" section.
 * 4) Are there any special tweakings needed to activate Mobile sidebar preview? Browser or Windows system?
 * 5) Are there additional editors with this problem of Mobile sidebar preview icon missing?
 * 6) Should this tip be moved forward into March (or TBD – date to be determined)?
 * 7) An alternate tip idea for February 17 might be What is Phabricator?

Looking forward to a solution. And BTW, when I searched for WP:Phabricator it redirects to Bug reports and feature requests. Learning something new every day. Regards, JoeHebda   (talk)  13:15, 11 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Hi.
 * That TW is actually on my computer screen behind the iPhone. The iPhone acts like Windows Aero in that things behind the iPhone border show through. The search box is on my screen too and shows through the iPhone border. That way the iPhone border does not block anything useful on my screen. The iPhone pushes everything else off to the side. The funny thing is the iPhone can be enabled on a SmartPhone too if you have the Desktop view enabled when you're on a SmartPhone. Weird.
 * I enabled Mobile sidebar preview in Gadgets so it should work across all skins. I do run the Vector skin.
 * There is a Testing and development section listed here.
 * The only tweak I made was to  the page.
 * I have not heard of any problems with this Gadget.
 * I think we should roll it out so more editors can help in Testing and developing it.
 * What is Phabricator is a great idea for a tip. Go ahead and take the slot if you want to.


 * The best way I have have found to get to Phabricator without having to login again is to bookmark a Task and go right to that, or click on a previous task with a task tracker widget. Paging . Cheers!  14:03, 11 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Hi Success! Well, sort of; it works for me with Vector skin, but not for Modern skin.  JoeHebda   (talk)  14:57, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

* Phabricator


 * Hi . I am sure the folks at Phabricator would apprecitate a bug report on that. The scroll bar and clickable links on that thing are trippy! Cheers!  15:07, 11 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Hi Only works with Vector skin. At Pref-Appearance-Skins, I did Preview on all of them & fails on all except Vector. Will attempt Phabricator report...I have to leave in 10 & gone for a while, so wish me luck! ;-)  JoeHebda   (talk)  15:19, 11 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Greetings At the Phabricator task T126553 there is an update describing the error they found, and the user who wrote the javascript. This is way beyond me so should this be taken to WP:VPT?  JoeHebda   (talk)  20:17, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

and At the top of this section, I added a suggested shorter tip title:

Mobile view sidebar from the desktop

In addition, if this js error is not fixed by Feb. 17, I think the tip should include something like "The Mobile view sidebar option is known to work with Vector skin only. Report any error to ......... ."

JoeHebda  (talk)  20:31, 11 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Hi . I experimented previously with a shorter tip-title but then went back to the full name of the Gadget since the shorter tip-title name left me short on knowing what the Gadget does.

* Javascript error


 * Yes, Phab is saying we have to pursue with WP:VPT and/or with Brion, the co-developer. I left a message on Brion's page and pinged him on his (WMF) account too. If you file a trouble report with VPT be sure to hang the Phabtracker template on it so they can see what we have tried so far and so they can see the error code that the Phab team found. I tried the Modern skin to no avail too. I know how to get to the Developer Console to see the error code but I could not find the error in the list of errors in the Console. Do a Google search to see how to view the Developer Console in Chromodo. Cheers!  21:36, 11 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Hi To get to console, I just  anywhere (usually under open left column) and choose Inspect element. It brings up inspector menu bar & one choice is Console. Beyond that, all of this is 100-percent out of my field of knowledge. Regards,  JoeHebda   (talk)  21:52, 11 February 2016 (UTC)


 * I did a ce on tip above, adding a lead sentence to clarify shorter tip title. Hope this helps. JoeHebda   (talk)  22:04, 11 February 2016 (UTC)


 * For this tip, I hilighted parts of discussion above prior to reporting at VPT (which I will do next). JoeHebda   (talk)  13:31, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

* Village pump – Technical

Reported at Village pump (technical). JoeHebda  (talk)  13:51, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

* User scripts

Posted a message at Wikipedia talk:User scripts pointing to VPT for details. There are over 400 watchers & hoping to find a script expert who can update to work with all skins. JoeHebda  (talk)  19:56, 15 February 2016 (UTC)
 * ✅ Updated TOTD Chrono(sched.queue), Alpha list, Tips library. JoeHebda   (talk)  22:29, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

Talk pages are not subject to MoS suggestions
Hi I want to get a few things out of the way before I post my next tip


 * 1) MoS is a guideline, not a policy; even policy is trumped by the 5-pillars.
 * 2) Talk pages are NOT subject to MoS.
 * 3) Talk pages allow subpages; MoS for articles does not.
 * 4) Talk pages allow threading; MoS for articles does not.
 * 5) Talk pages allow hiding of text; MoS for articles does not.
 * 6) Talk pages allow links in section titles; MoS for articles does not.
 * 7) Section headings should not be modified because it can break incoming links; if modified, provide an  link.
 * 8) Etc.

For starters, I feel it would be helpful to make the section title for tip-ideas on this talk page to match verbatim the way the tip will be entered into the tip library, including a link; no need to reinvent the wheel.

Cheers! 01:01, 17 February 2016 (UTC)


 * That's a lot for one tip. Perhaps drop 1, 7, and 8, and make it about talk pages only. The Transhumanist 22:13, 17 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Hi . It is not a tip—‌it was intended to be an in-house message. But, I guess it could be smoothed in to be a tip! Cheers!  22:45, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

WMF API "improvements" and VisualEditor proposal
Hover your mouse on the contributions link in your links ribbon and you will see one of the new changes on the server. Then click on the link. There are other such changes around or coming. We will have to adapt the tips to these changes.

I also noted changes to the Page → Analysis → Traffic Report if you have More tools enabled in Preferences. I hear the updated WMF API has the potential to bring us some new analysis tools as well and that many of the legacy tools we are used to will be retired and replaced by new tools.

Also, going forward I would propose that we devote most of our efforts to filling in the remaining tip date holes with tips slanted toward those editors using the VisualEditor. Cheers! 23:20, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

Tip idea (draft)
(draft) Please pile on:

Using subpage talk pages as scratchpads

When creating a new article in your user namespace, create an article subpage first, and then use the subpage to craft your article in, and use the talk page of the subpage as a scratchpad to list all your notes and references to build out the article with. Using the subpage talk page is also a good place to centralize any discussion regarding the build out. You can link to the subpage from your main user page, and you can bookmark it.

To create a subpage, simply put a forward slash ( / ) after your user space name in the long URL in your browser, add the desired article name, and hit the Enter key. At the next window click on the link to start a new page. Save your changes. Click on the talk page tab to create that page.

Credit to: for this great idea. Cheers! 21:51, 12 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Comments:
 * This is really the way to do it if you like to move your drafts out to mainspace rather than copy-paste the completed draft, since the early revisions of a userspace draft look kind of dumb if it gets filled with lots of notes to self, assorted references that ultimately go unused, and the like. An example where I've done this is User:Mendaliv/surplus-lines insurance (which I swear I'll finish and move into mainspace someday). —/M endaliv /2¢/Δ's/ 22:30, 12 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Support. This is a great idea! The early revisions of one of my drafts went through a stage where it looked very unprofessional. (]) I'd like to avoid that problem. Chickadee46 (talk&#124;contribs) 21:40, 21 June 2016 (UTC)

Archiving the tips marked as done
Archiving tips marked as done to reduce talk page clutter. Cheers! 06:46, 13 April 2016 (UTC)

Updated TOTD: Janary 18
Greetings, While reading at Teahouse, I responded with a wikilink to [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3AListUsers&username=aaaa&group=&limit=50 Users] Search box for users by name or official capacity. For January 18th TOTD How to easily recall a username, I added this same wikilink to the list. Regards, — JoeHebda • (talk) 18:31, 15 April 2016 (UTC)

Updated 3 signature-related Tips
Greetings, While responding to a WP:TH (Teahouse) question, I found Signature tutorial page. So I added a wikilink for this tutorial to the Read more section of these tips: Cheers! — JoeHebda • (talk) 23:37, 27 April 2016 (UTC)
 * 1) Tip of the day/June 30 Custom signatures
 * 2) Tip of the day/November 6 Advanced signatures
 * 3) Tip of the day/December 5 How to customize your signature


 * Hi, and . A while back I was going to conjoin those three tips but there was no urgency so I tabled it. I did however create a sandbox for us to work on it here.


 * I listed the three tips as they existed back then, and then created a monster hybrid version of all three. The hybrid version is at the bottom and needs a good trim.


 * So, Joe, you could add that link to the hybrid version, do some editing, The Transhumanist can join in, as will I, and when we have a hybrid version we can retire the other three versions. Cheers!  17:40, 6 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Hey, and  At the Checkingfax Sandbox above, I propose another option. I really like the numbered list of three signature methods. Just because of the sheer size of this tip, I think it's more practical to divide in half & present on two days in sequence. Please see that example & discussion   and add your thoughts. — JoeHebda • (talk) 21:10, 6 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Support –  and . Cheers!   00:38, 8 May 2016 (UTC)

Proposed tip: How to use Wikipedia offline: xowa
How to use Wikipedia Offline: xowa There is a way to have Wikipedia loaded on your computer so that you can view it when you don't have access to the Internet. It's called xowa, and it's compatible with Microsoft Windows, OSX, Linux and Android.

xowa allows users to download and import their own copy of Wikipedia using official database dumps, or by special hosted database files specifically created for use within Xowa. The application is designed to accurately display Wikipedia content through its own built-in browser, or by an internal hosted web server which allows users to access content using a browser of their own choice.

xowa can load and display multiple wikis. It is not limited to just Wikipedia.

For instructions on how to download and install it, see the official xowa webpage.

Read more: FAQ/Forking Database download MediaWiki

I just loaded the thing. It works great. I hope you like the tip. I copied most of it from the article. The Transhumanist 20:44, 27 July 2016 (UTC)

* Discussion:

Greetings Interesting. About the only suggestion would be to add a "Read more:" to Size of Wikipedia to give readers an idea of how large a download. I am on a very slow (1Mb) DSL "internet-lite" connection. I would think the download would take weeks (impossible) to complete. BTW until Aug.1 I will have very limited internet access. Regards, — JoeHebda • (talk) 20:03, 28 July 2016 (UTC)


 * At one megabyte per second, it takes about 3 hours. My connection was a little less than 300Kb per second, and the download took about 12 hours, plus an hour and a half for the software to finish the install.  Was worth it though. The Transhumanist 20:32, 28 July 2016 (UTC)


 * Hi Wondering if the above "Ref" can be fixed or changed so it does not appear at the bottom of this talk page? Cheers! — JoeHebda • (talk) 21:03, 2 August 2016 (UTC)
 * removed ✅ The Transhumanist 22:16, 2 August 2016 (UTC)


 * What duplicate tip in the scheduling queue do you think this one should replace? The Transhumanist 19:03, 9 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Looks like September 5 would be a good one, unless you have a diferent date in mind. — JoeHebda • (talk) 20:09, 9 August 2016 (UTC)


 * ✅ - tip in place for September 5. Also added it to the chrono list, the alpha list, and the tip library page. Did I miss anything? The Transhumanist 18:11, 13 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks. For the last step, I updated the September maintenance section (above on this talk page) for the new Sept. 5 tip. Cheers! — JoeHebda • (talk) 20:04, 13 August 2016 (UTC)

Problem with Tip of the Day:Books
The Books page contains a message that begins: "WARNING: The Book Creator software has been crippled since it was rebuilt in 2014, the management process is inactive, and no fixes are in sight." Perhaps the Tip of the Day needs to be replaced -- or at least modified to show that the book operation is problematic. Eddie Blick (talk) 01:19, 29 July 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks (Eddie Blick) for reporting this. For now, I have ce the July 29 Tip of the day. You might need to Purge to see the updated tip. Cheers! — JoeHebda • (talk) 19:12, 29 July 2016 (UTC)


 * Hi ! Thanks for taking care of that. Eddie Blick (talk) 19:32, 29 July 2016 (UTC)

TIP - IRC channel
Need help with editing Wikipedia? Well, did you know that we have an IRC channel to help you with editing? , connect today! Don't want to go on IRC? Then come over toThe Teahouse today.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Zppix (talk • contribs) 16:36, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

Thankyou for contributing above tip. I did take the liberty of adding IRC channel to the section title. When I checked at Tips library, I see that for Tip of the day/February 5 the topic is Getting real-time help via IRC (Internet Relay Chat). I have not used chat & have to admit I know very little about IRC. Regards, — JoeHebda • (talk) 00:06, 26 August 2016 (UTC)