editors wrote:

WP:VPT is hardly user friendly language for alerting new and old users to the place for bugs etc.

Perhaps it's better that way (!) but I note that the Editor Trends Survey on Wikimedia shows a disturbing decline in edits over the years.

If it takes a journo like me years to hunt down a simple deselect then how many other non-technical "bugs" like this one are holding back other users. Is
WP:VPT the right page to contribute to on simplifying the bug/error/problem process? A wizard perhaps?

Not very techy, I know, but not many people are!

Well it does say "for experts only". Basically what it does is you download a
file, and you're supposed to have a program on your computer that takes that
file and helps you edit it.

For more info about what the option does, see
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:External_editors

We could potentially add a comment in the file explaining what the deal with it
is, and how to stop it from happening. (the downloaded file is an ini file, i
think that format supports comments of some sort)

Do you have some sort of text that would be clearer for the option text is
special:preferences.

editors wrote:

Thanks very much for the quick response. Answers following your points, in quotes, as follows.

"Well it does say "for experts only". Basically what it does is you download a
file, and you're supposed to have a program on your computer that takes that
file and helps you edit it."

Yup. But the "experts" bit gets a bit lost among the 21 or so other options on the page - and that's just for "editing" !

"For more info about what the option does, see
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:External_editors"

Cool. Just read this bit - "This is accomplished using a very simple system" - cue crazed non-techy laughter.

"We could potentially add a comment in the file explaining what the deal with it
is, and how to stop it from happening. (the downloaded file is an ini file, i
think that format supports comments of some sort)"

Just tried to open one of the said PHP files but got a "Windows cannot open this file:" error box. Maybe INI files are linked on computers owned by people with IT skills, but not most IITs - Idiot Information Technologists - like me. Short story: people can't read INI notes if their computer is not set to open it.

"Do you have some sort of text that would be clearer for the option text is
special:preferences."

Yup, and your responses helped me figure out some ideas. I was just about to suggest an advanced options tab when I checked and there already is one! Okay, as a format layout guy, I would suggest making the words "advanced options" - currently in light grey - much bolder, bigger and in the colour RED. Too easy to miss as it is, especially when there are literally dozens of other options to go through. Even better, would be, eventually, a similar arrangement as the new text input box with an "advanced" link. So that idiots, like me, never get tempted to even look at such things, or at least have to make a conscious decision to access advanced features. For now, though, red lettering might cut back on the number of people clicking things they shouldn't.

Again, thank you, Bawolff and hope this feedback is not a total pain.

I wonder how often people (correctly) use that preference. I believe that the majority of people who use external editors, use it for images. I wonder if people who use it for articles, generally use the url parameter method. If people generally use the url method, we might consider removing the preference altogether.

Be good to get some stats on how widely used it is.

editors wrote:

(In reply to comment #4)

"Be good to get some stats on how widely used it is."

Absolutely. Exactly what I was suggesting to Prodego. No idea how such stats might be collected but I guess that's why I am not a techy!

Alternatively to removal, a "how-to" or "what's this" link to explain it's use, as you raised above. Tech-challenged idiots like me won't get it but maybe others more capable might make greater use of it. My wonder: Is anyone running a wikipedia help site with screen grabs etc?

Yes, a link to http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:External_editors from the default [[mediawiki:tog-externaleditor]] and [[mediawiki:tog-externaldiff]] should be added at a minimum (if they are kept).

editors wrote:

(In reply to comment #6)

Yes, a link to http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:External_editors from the
default [[mediawiki:tog-externaleditor]] and [[mediawiki:tog-externaldiff]]
should be added at a minimum (if they are kept).

Exxxxxcelllent.

Maybe that's the first option and the other options can be phased in at a less urgent pace, if Wikipedia ever runs out of priorities , )

Great work.

Is there another list these ideas need to be proposed to, or does it just flow from here?

...

Default text of [[mediawiki:tog-externaleditor]] and [[mediawiki:tog-externaldiff]] changed in r80608 to have a link.

As for removing them altogether, I'm duping this to Bug 2760, and then re-opening that bug to discuss possible removal.

See also Bug 7092

• This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 2760 ***