Team Fortress Wiki:Technical requests

Summary of requests: software enhancements

Minor extensions

• CategoryTree: Ajax-based category navigation. The recent update has brought a lot of new articles in multiple languages, complicating navigation further. This should assist in organising our content better.
• CharInsert: enables the inserting of special characters or other predefined code using JS. At the moment we are using a method that requires only a JS script, however, the extension offers improved features and enables character insertion on upload pages as well.
• GroupPermissions will remove reliance on Valve to modify user group permissions. A couple of changes to user group rights are wanted but will require experimentation, this will allow us to do so without constant requests.
• Syntax Highlighting will allow WebAPI/Examples to be more easily readable as the page grows and more requests are added to the API.
• RandomSelection: adds <choose> and <option> tags to randomly generate content. To be used for the "Did you know..." section on the main page.

Configuration

• Interwiki table additions for some of our 'sister' wikis: the VDC, L4D Wikia and the Combine OverWiki.
• Namespace aliases for the "Team Fortress Wiki:" namespace: "TF", "TFW" or "Wiki". Some project pages have quite large names that can be hard to remember or type out, so adding the ability to link to them with greater ease will prove to be useful.
• Increasing the file size limit to 5MB: some ultra high-res images cannot be uploaded without compromising file quality.
• "Guide:" namespace, an area where we can give individual editors more freedom to write how-tos and other less encyclopedic content for the wiki.

Long-term proposals

• Access to data from the game's localization files would allow us to display achievement text, item names and other text in multiple languages with ease. However, at this point in time, we do not have a method to achieve this. Thus we would value your insight into whether it is technically feasible, and if so, the best means to go about it.
• MediaWiki 1.16: the latest stable release of MediaWiki includes several enhancements and brings the new Vector skin, refreshing the look of the site overall. UsabilityInitiative extension improves on some aspects of the skin and introduces a new editing interface, which we should be able to expand on.

Older

All previous requests

Unreviewed Semantic MediaWiki Semantic MediaWiki (on MediaWiki.org) is an elaborate but well known, documented and supported extension that will allow us to have a central location for weapon damage values (and other stats). Defining a property and value for weapon base damage, such as [[ammo loaded::6]] for the Scattergun, will allow us to query that value on other pages. This will primarily increase the accuracy of such values and remove the need to update the values on multiple pages when patches hit, and secondarily assist in outside websites in parsing the information contained in the wiki. In approaching the issue of increasing our data accuracy, this seemed like the best solution rather than using some sort of template/pseudo-namespace or the like to serve as a central space for these values. -- Pilk (talk) 09:05, 11 August 2010 (UTC) Interwiki table addition It would come in handy to have the Valve Developer Community wiki added to the interwiki table, perhaps as vdc:. It would be particularly helpful to the expansion of TF2 mapping articles. seb26 [talk] 07:16, 26 August 2010 (UTC) It may also be useful to add interwiki links for the other wikis in the VWN, such as the L4D Wikia and the Combine OverWiki. seb26 [talk] 20:45, 5 September 2010 (UTC) Upgrade to MediaWiki version 1.16.0 Could we update to MediaWiki version 1.16.0, please? It contains a number of fixes and also, the new Vector skin which should help with usability. Thanks.  – Smashman (talk) 12:13, 31 August 2010 (UTC) To elaborate further, the Vector skin included in this release was developed as a part of Wikimedia's Usability Initiative. As well as a new refreshed look for all pages (see Wikipedia), it also includes enhancements to the editing toolbar, assisting newer inexperienced users with editing and maintaining articles (see here for an example in further detail). We would really like to see this change implemented if it is possible. seb26 [talk] 11:17, 5 September 2010 (UTC) Group Permissions GroupPermissions will remove reliance on Valve to modify user group permissions. A couple of changes to user group rights are wanted but will require experimentation so allowing us to do it at our leisure would be the best solution. -- Pilk (talk) 10:32, 18 September 2010 (UTC) File Size Limit The current file size limit is making it difficult to get ultra high-res images on the Wiki, which means file quality generally has to be compromised to get them on the Wiki at all. It's currently set at 2 MB; if this could be increased to 5 MB, that would be incredibly helpful. -- En Ex (talk) 05:55, 13 October 2010 (UTC) Quick Search Any chance of enabling quick search? Would make finding stuff much easier. -Shine[] 21:00, 19 November 2010 (UTC) Accepted Extensions (seb26) A few suggestions regarding extensions on the wiki: The current extension we use for embedding videos seems to be out of date. EmbedVideo 1.0 embeds videos inline so we can align them in the center, unlike how the current one works (i.e. forcing you to choose left or right and adding a stupid thumbnail description below it). It also supports HD videos which is even better for videos that support it (like the Meet the Team videos). CategoryTree will most definitely come in handy in organising other language pages & categories. It's used on most Wikimedia wikis as well. seb26 (talk) 21:30, 5 August 2010 (UTC) The "newer" version of EmbedVideo is not from the same author -- it's a re-write. We tested it and found it had some issues that made it not a good replacement. --JeffLane 21:10, 10 August 2010 (UTC) The CategoryTree extension can be added. --JeffLane 21:10, 10 August 2010 (UTC) Using this extension, Page Notice, will allow us to better manage other language translation pages by automatically transcluding {{languages}} onto every page. seb26 (talk) 20:54, 6 August 2010 (UTC) Seems reasonable. We'll look into this. --JeffLane 21:10, 10 August 2010 (UTC) Update: this extension (Page Notice) may no longer necessary as we have found a way to provide better accessibility to translated articles through links placed in the sidebar. seb26 [talk] 11:19, 5 September 2010 (UTC) Rejected Below is a list of the denied technical requests. Use of WebAPI Through an extension such as External Data, we can make use of the Steam WebAPI. This will hopefully allow us to automate to a certain degree: Some basic information on items/weapons Loadout stats on items/weapons Possible crafting information items/weapons Backpack information for user pages -- Pilk (talk) 21:59, 5 August 2010 (UTC) We tested this. Unfortunately, the current version of the extension is too limited to make it at all useful for WebAPI queries. --JeffLane 21:16, 10 August 2010 (UTC) Oh. Thank you for looking into it. -- Pilk (talk) 02:09, 11 August 2010 (UTC)