Author: wikipara
Description:
Wikipedia uses a number of interface elements in article header space using data from the article wikitext. They are placed outside the article body in the article header with CSS absolute positioning. Often when sitenotices and other messages are shown, they overlap with the information in the header, especially with the coordinates of location related articles. It is also difficult to copy the information, as many browsers select the content in its HTML order, instead of the order they have rendered it in visually. The problem is mentioned every year during the donation drive, but so far there hasn't been a solution, and only continuous complaints of the resulting problems. It would therefore be good to have a structure so that absolute positioning wouldn't be necessary.
- Container(s) for the location(s) of additional interface elements defined in the skins
- Placeholders within the containers per namespace, defined as pages like MediaWiki:elements-<namespace>-<containername>, where you could then have for example MediaWiki:elements-ns0-header with the contents "$protected $featured $spoken <br /> $coordinates"
- Data from wiki pages given like "<element container='header' name='coordinates'>foo bar</element>", probably often with the help of templates
This would allow information displayed outside the page body, or allow pages to add information for use by a tool in the interface area of the page, if the tool only applies to a certain group of pages.
Version: unspecified
Severity: enhancement