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Show a message explaining how to edit references when user selects a references list
Open, MediumPublic8 Estimated Story PointsFeature

Description

Reports such as https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:VisualEditor/Feedback&oldid=568123469#I_can.27t_edit_the_references suggest that the references list being present but not editable is causing confusion for editors.

It would therefore be helpful for VE to display a message (popup? tooltip?) whne the reference list is selected that explains how to edit references. The text of this message should be set on a MediaWiki namespace page.

I don't have a suggested default wording at present.


Version: unspecified
Severity: enhancement
See Also:
https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=52750

Details

Reference
bz52736

Event Timeline

bzimport raised the priority of this task from to Medium.Nov 22 2014, 2:07 AM
bzimport set Reference to bz52736.

If implemented, bug 52750 would make this request either unnecessary or applicable only as an interim measure. In the latter case there wouldn't be any need for the message requested here to be editable on-wiki.

This would be most helpful if the backlinks took you to the position of reference while remaining in edit mode.

Suggestion for the message from en.wp user Looie496:
"This list of references is automatically generated and cannot be edited directly. If you would like to change the content of a reference, click on its number where it appears in the body of the article."

Jdforrester-WMF renamed this task from VisualEditor: Show a message explaining how to edit references when reflist is selected to Show a message explaining how to edit references when user selects a references list.Jul 9 2015, 4:58 PM
Jdforrester-WMF set Security to None.

New feedback from a user (a beginner) who wants to change a reference rom the reflist while editing with VE.

Deskana set the point value for this task to 8.Oct 12 2017, 1:50 PM

I'm suggesting that task for the Hackathon 2019 since it is something that would ease newcomers' lives.

Aklapper changed the subtype of this task from "Task" to "Feature Request".Feb 4 2022, 12:23 PM
Aklapper removed a subscriber: rmoen.