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Add "templates used on this page" to MediaWiki's info action
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Description

The "templates used on this page" list should be moved from ?action=edit, where it currently sits (far) below the edit form, to ?action=info, where it's much more logically suited.


Version: unspecified
Severity: normal

Details

Reference
bz38528

Event Timeline

bzimport raised the priority of this task from to Needs Triage.Nov 22 2014, 12:51 AM
bzimport set Reference to bz38528.
bzimport added a subscriber: Unknown Object (MLST).

This list can be incredibly long for particular titles (154 entries for "Talk:Barack Obama" at the English Wikipedia). The question becomes: does this list need to be paginated? If so, it should be moved to a separate Special page (similar to, but distinct from, Special:WhatLinksHere). If the results don't need to be paginated, the list is fine where it is, though it probably needs to be collapsed or something. It's simply overwhelming to the user.

This list actually should stay intact on edit page, because it gives lots of useful hints to user when editing. The simpliest usecase for instance: when replacing some template, some can be missed, thus preview will notify, that it is still present. OTOH, it may be collapsible or displayed per user preference though.

richardg_uk wrote:

I predict a riot if this were removed from edit pages without a prominent means for editors to reinstate it! Collapsing very long template lists would be less controversial.

On a separate point: With enwiki at present, all current templates are always listed for a fullpage edit (even without a preview). For a section edit, the templates are only listed if the section is previewed, but the listed templates comprise only those in the edited section, which is usually more helpful than looking at the list for the entire page.

Presumably it would not be worthwhile supporting section-level information, such as ?action=info&section=1. So ?action=info would not provide all the information obtainable at ?action=edit&section={secnum}.

Therefore, providing information at ?action=info should not be at the expense of existing information at ?action=edit.

I think it's a really, really bad idea to suddenly remove this from the edit page.

(In reply to comment #3)

I predict a riot if this were removed from edit pages without a prominent means
for editors to reinstate it! Collapsing very long template lists would be less
controversial.

Yeah, there a few issues that are quickly getting conflated here. This is mostly my fault (sorry). This bug should only be about whether to include the list of transcluded templates at ?action=info. Whether to continue to list templates at ?action=edit (and in what way) should be the subject of other bugs.

I'm updating this bug's summary from "Move "templates used on this page" from MediaWiki's edit action to the info action" to "Add "templates used on this page" to MediaWiki's info action". Do you think listing the templates used on a specified title at ?action=info is a good idea?

On a separate point: With enwiki at present, all current templates are always
listed for a fullpage edit (even without a preview). For a section edit, the
templates are only listed if the section is previewed, but the listed templates
comprise only those in the edited section, which is usually more helpful than
looking at the list for the entire page.

This is mostly bug 878.

Presumably it would not be worthwhile supporting section-level information,
such as ?action=info&section=1. So ?action=info would not provide all the
information obtainable at ?action=edit&section={secnum}.

This should be filed as a separate bug. Implementing the ability to get info about a particular section is an interesting idea, but far outside the scope of this bug. :-)

(In reply to comment #4)

I think it's a really, really bad idea to suddenly remove this from the edit
page.

Do you think listing the templates used on a specified title at ?action=info is a good idea?

richardg_uk wrote:

(In reply to comment #5)

(In reply to comment #3)
I'm updating this bug's summary from "Move "templates used on this page" from
MediaWiki's edit action to the info action" to "Add "templates used on this
page" to MediaWiki's info action". Do you think listing the templates used on a
specified title at ?action=info is a good idea?

Yes.

(Thanks for refining the scope from "Move..." to "Add..." - much VPT drama avoided!)

(In reply to comment #5)

(In reply to comment #4)

I think it's a really, really bad idea to suddenly remove this from the edit
page.

Do you think listing the templates used on a specified title at ?action=info is
a good idea?

Yes, I do.