Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2013-09-04/Technology report

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Accesibility

• I've started a bot request discussion about the first two accessibility issues on my list. Graham87 05:07, 7 September 2013 (UTC)

• Talking of visual accessibility, I'd like to talk with some editors who have different levels of vision impairment, to learn what system/browser settings they use, and what other software they frequently find helpful. Things like screen-magnification levels, specific fonts, copying text into alternate text-editors, custom style-sheets, and everything else. I've started a thread at WikiProject Accessibility#Visual impairment, listing what I can find, and would appreciate any comments, or assistance in finding the relevant editors (please nudge anyone you know of who might help). Thanks! –Quiddity (talk) 06:40, 7 September 2013 (UTC)

• Thank you! Please consider also using the resources on mw:Accessibility. Sumana Harihareswara, Wikimedia Foundation Engineering Community Manager (talk) 00:30, 9 September 2013 (UTC)

• Afaik we still have no guidelines on what needs to go into an alt caption. There was a big push to include them in all FAC candidates, and elsewhere, a few years back, which collapsed when it appeared we had no reliable guidance on what type of information was needed (does anybody have a link to those discussions; I remember several alternative texts for a photo of Kings College Cambridge for example). The question is not simple. Johnbod (talk) 13:50, 9 September 2013 (UTC)
  • I'd presume they should provide a brief description of what the photo is. @Graham87: What do you think? Adam Cuerden ^(talk) 13:57, 9 September 2013 (UTC)
    • Yes. The text at Wikipedia:Alternative text for images has been pretty stable for a few years now. Graham87 14:31, 9 September 2013 (UTC)

Random page

Cool feature! I'd love to have an option to check for subcategories as well. By the way, you can make a direct link like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:RandomInCategory&category=String_instruments. --NaBUru38 (talk) 06:15, 7 September 2013 (UTC)

A simpler way is [[Special:RandomInCategory/String instruments]]. Adam Cuerden ^(talk) 06:18, 7 September 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for the tip! :) --NaBUru38 (talk) 15:30, 12 September 2013 (UTC)

Visual Editor

Copy and paste of richly formatted text has had a history of causing numerous problems for me. The people at the Computing Reference Desk have never been able to explain these problems. Same for people at email services who tried to help me.

If Visual Editor had become mandatory I would have either left Wikiepdia or been accused of frequent vandalism. Plain text is the only thing I can handle.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 20:18, 9 September 2013 (UTC)

Still, for what VisualEditor is, copy-pasting of richly formated text is, if not a necessity, fairly near. As this is the technology report, we report on where major code updates are happening, which mainly means VisualEditor, not Wikitext. Adam Cuerden ^(talk) 22:13, 9 September 2013 (UTC)