Wikibooks:Reading room/Technical Assistance

Welcome to the Technical Assistance reading room. Get assistance on questions related to MediaWiki markup, CSS, JavaScript, and such as they relate to Wikibooks. This is not a general-purpose technical support room.

To submit a bug notice or feature request for the MediaWiki software, visit Phabricator.

To get more information about the MediaWiki software, or to download your own copy, visit MediaWiki

There are also two IRC channels for technical help: #mediawiki^connect for issues about the software, and #mediawiki-core^connect for WMF server or configuration issues.

Edit requests on MediaWiki:Sp-contributions-footer pages and some message box pages

On MediaWiki:Sp-contributions-footer-anon and MediaWiki:Sp-contributions-footer, please change | type = system to | type = editnotice so that it can adapt to dark mode, thank you.

In addition to the above, we should also modify some of the message box subpages in which they should adapt to dark mode. For instance, the fmbox part when used on MediaWiki:Abusefilter-disallowed does not adapt to dark mode, and makes the currently white text hard to read in dark mode. Codename Noreste (discuss • contribs) 21:50, 13 April 2025 (UTC)

@Codename Noreste Just took care of the first part of the request. If you want to workshop specific changes to some of these templates, please feel free! I think an admin/IA can then implement. Cheers —Kittycataclysm (discuss • contribs) 14:32, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

Thank you for implementing my edit to the fmbox template! Could you also replace | type = system to | type = editnotice on MediaWiki:Noarticletext and MediaWiki:Noarticletext-nopermission to adapt to dark mode as well? Much appreciated. Codename Noreste (discuss • contribs) 15:18, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

Done! Cheers —Kittycataclysm (discuss • contribs) 18:10, 1 May 2025 (UTC)

@Codename Noreste: When should type=editnotice be used as opposed to type=system? JJP_Master (she/they) 16:17, 2 May 2025 (UTC)

The thing is, | type = system uses a gray system color, which can interfere with the dark mode. Codename Noreste (discuss • contribs) 17:39, 2 May 2025 (UTC)

@Codename Noreste: In that case, should I just use AWB to replace all instances of type=system in system messages with type=editnotice? JJP_Master (she/they) 18:04, 2 May 2025 (UTC)

Yes, but you should probably enable AWB's bot mode so that you don't flood the recent changes feed. Codename Noreste (discuss • contribs) 18:08, 2 May 2025 (UTC)

You have a JavaScript error at MediaWiki:Common.js/Toolbox.js#L-183

Was just passing by, saw an error, wanna report.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Go to https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Book_title&action=edit (Vector 2022 skin)
2. Open JS console
3. Witness an error jQuery.Deferred exception: $.eachAsync is not a function that points to MediaWiki:Common.js/Toolbox.js#L-183.

JWBTH (discuss • contribs) 08:16, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

@Leaderboard @JJPMaster could you investigate? Thank you!! —Kittycataclysm (discuss • contribs) 14:26, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

I'm not that familiar with JavaScript, so will leave this for JJPMaster. Leaderboard (discuss • contribs) 16:07, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

 Working JJP_Master (she/they) 16:34, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

@JWBTH, @Kittycataclysm, @Leaderboard: This should be fixed now. It looks like both this toolbox script and the special characters gadget are attempting to use a nonexistent jQuery method. After some investigation, it looks like they were trying to use a method defined in an unofficial script (this one). I have copied it over to MediaWiki:Common.js/jQueryAsync.js and imported it. JJP_Master (she/they) 17:17, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

Hi @JJPMaster and thank you. Unfortunately, while this error was fixed, a new was introduced: mw.hook(...).add(...) is not a function when editing any page, e.g. [1]. You are trying to pass jQuery, mediaWiki to the return value of

mw.hook('eachAsync.ready').add(function() {
  // ...
})

which is not a function. I suggest to remove (jQuery, mediaWiki) at all since it's not used. JWBTH (discuss • contribs) 05:50, 27 April 2025 (UTC)

Done JJP_Master (she/they) 23:53, 27 April 2025 (UTC)

Banner not adjusted for dark mode

Another bug report: I was visiting Wikibooks:Community Portal, and in dark mode I saw this:

Oh, look, @Xeverything11 already suggested an edit at MediaWiki talk:Sitenotice#Dark mode support. Their request has not been addressed in 4 months. JWBTH (discuss • contribs) 08:35, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

Done —Kittycataclysm (discuss • contribs) 14:34, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

Help:Contents cut-off on Mobile view on phone

Just a quick note that when viewing Help:Contents on a phone with minerva (the mobile skin), the page is only partially shown; text is cut-off and pinch/zoom doesn't help. Commander Keane (discuss • contribs) 11:28, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for the note! Which part is cut off? The right side? —Kittycataclysm (discuss • contribs) 14:25, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

We will be enabling the new Charts extension on your wiki soon!

(Apologies for posting in English)

Hi all! We have good news to share regarding the ongoing problem with graphs and charts affecting all wikis that use them.

As you probably know, the old Graph extension was disabled in 2023 due to security reasons. We’ve worked in these two years to find a solution that could replace the old extension, and provide a safer and better solution to users who wanted to showcase graphs and charts in their articles. We therefore developed the Charts extension, which will be replacing the old Graph extension and potentially also the EasyTimeline extension.

After successfully deploying the extension on Italian, Swedish, and Hebrew Wikipedia, as well as on MediaWiki.org, as part of a pilot phase, we are now happy to announce that we are moving forward with the next phase of deployment, which will also include your wiki.

The deployment will happen in batches, and will start from May 6. Please, consult our page on MediaWiki.org to discover when the new Charts extension will be deployed on your wiki. You can also consult the documentation about the extension on MediaWiki.org.

If you have questions, need clarifications, or just want to express your opinion about it, please refer to the project’s talk page on Mediawiki.org, or ping me directly under this thread. If you encounter issues using Charts once it gets enabled on your wiki, please report it on the talk page or at Phabricator.

Thank you in advance! -- User:Sannita (WMF) (talk) 15:07, 6 May 2025 (UTC)

Edit request to add to MediaWiki:Common.css

Please add the following CSS code (imported from enwiki). I have tested this on my custom CSS page and it does fully work on making the block entry adapt to dark mode.

/* System messages styled similarly to fmbox */
/* for .mw-warning-with-logexcerpt, behavior of this line differs between
 * the edit-protected notice and the special:Contribs for blocked users
 * The latter has specificity of 3 classes so we have to triple up here.
 */
.mw-warning-with-logexcerpt.mw-warning-with-logexcerpt.mw-warning-with-logexcerpt,
div.mw-lag-warn-high,
div.mw-cascadeprotectedwarning,
div#mw-protect-cascadeon {
	clear: both;
	margin: 0.2em 0;
	border: 1px solid #bb7070;
	background-color: var(--background-color-error-subtle, #ffdbdb);
	padding: 0.25em 0.9em;
	box-sizing: border-box;
}

/* default colors for partial block message */
/* gotta get over the hump introduced by the triple class above */
.mw-contributions-blocked-notice-partial .mw-warning-with-logexcerpt.mw-warning-with-logexcerpt {
	border-color: #fc3;
	background-color: var(--background-color-warning-subtle, #fef6e7);
}

Thanks. Codename Noreste (discuss • contribs) 22:57, 9 May 2025 (UTC)

@Codename Noreste to confirm, you just want this added? It's not replacing anything? —Kittycataclysm (discuss • contribs) 12:03, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

Kittycataclysm, I think we might have to replace the following below (currently on common.css):

/* User block messages */
div.user-block { padding: 5px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; border: 1px solid #A9A9A9; background-color: #FFEFD5; }

I don't think it will affect the block log color currently on both light and dark modes. Codename Noreste (discuss • contribs) 17:48, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

Done, but I didn't remove the user-block class. That class is for user block warning templates, not block log messages. JJP_Master (she/they) 22:13, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

Duplicated paragraphs

G'day Guys

In "my" Wikibook I have a very large page of potted biographies (about 3,600, now fairly static) here:

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/History_of_wireless_telegraphy_and_broadcasting_in_Australia/Topical/Biographies

But when I create detailed biographies (currently 100+ and growing), I duplicate the individual potted biography at the start of the detailed biography and also in the list of detailed biographies eg:

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/History_of_wireless_telegraphy_and_broadcasting_in_Australia/Topical/Biographies/Clement_Edgar_Ames

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/History_of_wireless_telegraphy_and_broadcasting_in_Australia/Topical/Lists/Detailed_Biographies

This is wasteful of space and also means that when I edit the potted biography, I have to edit three instances.

Is there a way that I can just create one instance and then autorepeat it in the others?

MTIA Samuel.dellit (discuss • contribs) 23:54, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

You can use section transclusion; see w:Help:Transclusion#Selective transclusion. JJP_Master (she/they) 00:23, 24 May 2025 (UTC)

Many thanks for that advice, much appreciated.

But having read the article, the programming is probably beyond my skills.

Would it be possible for you, or another SKS, to edit the three pages mentioned in my original post, as an example for me to duplicate?

TIASamuel.dellit (discuss • contribs) 20:39, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

@Kittycataclysm @JJPMaster @Minorax G'day, The above request for assistance was posted two weeks ago, but I have had no response as yet. This has the potential to significantly enhance the Wikibook and I would really appreciate the assistance Samuel.dellit (discuss • contribs) 19:58, 6 June 2025 (UTC)

I'm not familiar with this, but I might have time to try and figure it out tomorrow. If @JJPMaster can help (since they seem already familiar), that might be faster. Cheers —Kittycataclysm (discuss • contribs) 12:37, 7 June 2025 (UTC)

Your help with this would be appreciated, transclusion may offer a solution to splitting up the massive potted biographies page that we discussed some months ago also Samuel.dellit (discuss • contribs) 21:40, 7 June 2025 (UTC)

Hi @Samuel.dellit—I think I did what you're hoping to do at User:Kittycataclysm/sandbox/potted biography transclusion. If that's the case, here's what you do: wherever you want to transclude the potted biography from a pre-existing page, insert {{#section-h:PAGENAME|SECTIONNAME}}. For example: {{#section-h:History of wireless telegraphy and broadcasting in Australia/Topical/Biographies/Clement Edgar Ames|Potted Biography}} produces the following:

• Ames, Clement Edgar "Clem" [2] - 1889(SA)-1957(SA) - Licences: XVG Adelaide (Torrensville, 1913-1914); S519 Adelaide (1919-1921); 5AV Adelaide (Kent Town, 1923; Hindmarsh, 1924) - Qualifications: cc; Nil identified as yet - Radio Activity: early wireless experimenter; amateur operator; amateur broadcaster; operator 5WI (1925) - Electoral Rolls: engineer (Allenby Gardens, 1939-43) - TroveTag: "XVG-S519-5AV - Clement Edgar Ames"(150+ tags) & "!Wikibooks Ames"(90+ tags)

Does this help? —Kittycataclysm (discuss • contribs) 13:22, 8 June 2025 (UTC)

Thanks, I can see the process, but that wikimarkup is transcluding from the detailed biographies page, whereas I want to transclude from the biographies page. I tried this code:

{{#section-h:History of wireless telegraphy and broadcasting in Australia/Topical/Biographies|AMES}}

but it is not rendering. I don't know whether the syntax is wrong or the template has problems with the large number of subsections on that page. Any further thoughts? Samuel.dellit (discuss • contribs) 23:15, 8 June 2025 (UTC)

@Samuel.dellit: Sorry for not replying sooner--I've had a lot to do outside of Wikibooks recently. The problem appears to be due to a quirk of mw:Extension:Labeled Section Transclusion. Basically, you have to list the section name as what it is in wikitext, rather than how it's displayed to the reader. In other words, the correct syntax is

{{#section-h:History of wireless telegraphy and broadcasting in Australia/Topical/Biographies|''AMES''}}

JJP_Master (she/they) 00:14, 10 June 2025 (UTC)

Magic, thank you so much Samuel.dellit (discuss • contribs) 08:52, 11 June 2025 (UTC)

@JJPMaster @Kittycataclysm But immediately I have encountered a further issue.

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/History_of_wireless_telegraphy_and_broadcasting_in_Australia/Topical/Biographies

The foregoing syntax works a treat when there is only one potted biography in a section. But many of the sections (ie for more common surnames) include two or more potted biographies and all potted biographies in the section will be transcluded, when I only wish to transclude one. Indeed in a few instances there are several potted biographies in a section and I wish to (separately) transclude two or more. Hope this is clear. Appreciate your further advices. Samuel.dellit (discuss • contribs) 19:30, 11 June 2025 (UTC)

@Samuel.dellit: In this case, there are two options:

1. Split off each individual biography into a subsection. For instance, under the ABBOTT header, you could have one header for each person with that surname. This is probably easier, but might make the page needlessly long.
2. Add <section begin="[name of person]" /><section end="[name of person]" /> tags around each individual biography. This won't affect the page aesthetically at all, but will likely be quite tedious.

JJP_Master (she/they) 21:36, 11 June 2025 (UTC)

@JJPMaster Thanks, Item 2 looks to be the way to go, but can you tell me what is wrong with the following syntax which is not rendering:

<section begin="[Leo Pople Anderson]" />* [[/Leo Pople Anderson|Anderson, Leo Pople]] [https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/P92D-H49] - 1895(SA)-1969(NSW) - Licences: XVI Adelaide (Largs Bay, 1912-1914) - Qualifications: Nil yet identified - early wireless experimenter; WW1 (Nil yet identified) - Electoral Rolls: engineer (Bondi, NSW, 1930-1935; Annandale, NSW, 1936-1939; Harbord, NSW, 1946) - TroveTag: "XVI - Leo Pople Anderson" & "!Wikibooks LP Anderson"<section end="[Leo Pople Anderson]" />

{{#section-h:History of wireless telegraphy and broadcasting in Australia/Topical/Biographies|"[Leo Pople Anderson]"}} Samuel.dellit (discuss • contribs) 20:07, 12 June 2025 (UTC)

@Samuel.dellit: The problem here is that you shouldn't include the square brackets. I used them as a placeholder, not because you actually need them. Also, you don't need the quotation marks around the section name in the {{#section}} tag (not {{#section-h}}; that tag is only for sections that are defined with ==[name]==, ===[name]===, etc. headers). In other words, it should be:

<section begin="Leo Pople Anderson" />* [[/Leo Pople Anderson|Anderson, Leo Pople]] [https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/P92D-H49] - 1895(SA)-1969(NSW) - Licences: XVI Adelaide (Largs Bay, 1912-1914) - Qualifications: Nil yet identified - early wireless experimenter; WW1 (Nil yet identified) - Electoral Rolls: engineer (Bondi, NSW, 1930-1935; Annandale, NSW, 1936-1939; Harbord, NSW, 1946) - TroveTag: "XVI - Leo Pople Anderson" & "!Wikibooks LP Anderson"<section end="Leo Pople Anderson" /> {{#section:History of wireless telegraphy and broadcasting in Australia/Topical/Biographies|Leo Pople Anderson}}

JJP_Master (she/they) 01:09, 13 June 2025 (UTC)

article_namespace variable in edit filters

I've noticed that quite a few of the edit filters on this wiki use article_namespace, but it displays in red. The documentation page for the rules format for the AbuseFilter extension says that article_namespace has been deprecated, and page_namespace should be used instead. TTWIDEE (discuss • contribs) 21:05, 28 May 2025 (UTC)

I have already left a similar proposal on Wikibooks:Reading room/Proposals#Significant update requests to edit filters. Codename Noreste (discuss • contribs) 22:27, 30 May 2025 (UTC)

Review of filter 18

• Special:AbuseFilter/18 (private)

I am recommending a review of this filter; is this even necessary, given that it should be similar to global filter 363 (also private)? Please remember to not discuss this filter's specifics here. Codename Noreste (discuss • contribs) 17:20, 1 June 2025 (UTC)

accidental deletion of pages

In the wikibook I created https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=KPZ_Universality&stable=0, I included some pages but they were deleted and now I can't recover them. Can someone please include the pages as part of the book? I think I made a mistake on the type of pages I created. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tkojar (talk • contribs)

Pinging SHB2000 as deleting admin. JJP_Master (she/they) 16:02, 10 June 2025 (UTC)

Is there some admin that can handle this? It's hard to reach particular users. Tkojar (discuss • contribs) 21:53, 15 June 2025 (UTC)

Localizing from "abuse filter" to "edit filter"

This project, like the English Wikipedia, uses the term edit filter, so I am bringing a list of interface messages where we might want to localize that term:

Interface messages

MediaWiki:Abusefilter-blockautopromotereason Autopromotion automatically delayed by edit filter. Rule description: $1 MediaWiki:Abusefilter-edit Editing filter MediaWiki:Abusefilter-edit-notallowed You are not permitted to edit or create edit filters. MediaWiki:Abusefilter-examine-intro-examine-only This page allows you to examine the variables generated by the Edit Filter for an individual change. MediaWiki:Abusefilter-log-entry $1: $2 {{GENDER:$8|triggered}} an edit filter, {{GENDER:$8|performing}} the action "$3" on $4. Actions taken: $5; Filter description: $6 MediaWiki:Abusefilter-log-entry-withdiff $1: $2 {{GENDER:$8|triggered}} an edit filter, {{GENDER:$8|performing}} the action "$3" on $4. Actions taken: $5; Filter description: $6 ($7) MediaWiki:Abusefilter-mustviewprivateoredit For security reasons, only users with the right to view private edit filters or modify filters may use this interface. MediaWiki:Abusefilter-tools-text Here are some tools which may be useful in formulating and debugging edit filters. MediaWiki:Abusefilter-view-specific Viewing filter $1: $2 MediaWiki:Abusefilter-invalid-request-noid Invalid request! You must access private log details through the form on the filter log details page and provide a reason. MediaWiki:Abusefilter-log-hide-forbidden You do not have permission to hide filter log entries. MediaWiki:Abusefilter-log-linkonhistory view filter log MediaWiki:Abusefilter-log-linkonhistory-text View filter log for this page

Codename Noreste (discuss • contribs) 21:11, 12 June 2025 (UTC)

Done. JJP_Master (she/they) 01:28, 13 June 2025 (UTC)