User blog:Jpearson/Technical Update: March 10, 2023

Title: Technical Updates: March 24, 2023

Hey everyone! We have a few updates since February 24, 2023. We’ll continue to update the editor community on bug fixes and product development updates bi-weekly!

Notable Changes

 * Hide Math Rendering Preference. Wikimedia is phasing out png support for math formulas. Because of this update, we want to ensure we’re up to date as we provide proper support for math formulas. We will be switching the rendering mode of mathematical formulas in wiki pages from PNG images to SVG+MathML. You can expect to see the switch early next week and there is no action to take on your end!
 * Post History issues for international wikis. Post History pages failed to load on international wikis that didn't have a language subpath. We’re excited to announce this issue has been resolved and international wikis can experience Post History without error!
 * Custom Code. We plan to make the naming of custom code pages across our platform more accessible. We are not renaming any .js pages at this time, only MediaWiki:FandomDesktop.css, given our current focus on mobile CSS enablement. This change will be made automatically and admins will not have to take any action other than editing your custom desktop css under the new page title.

Known Issues

 * Copy/Pasting issues in 2017 source mode. We've continued to investigate why copying and pasting text sometimes makes the editor extremely slow, especially when syntax highlighting is available. Through that investigation, we've discovered that the issue isn't unique to Fandom, but rather an issue with core MediaWiki. We've reached out to our partners at the Wikimedia Foundation to understand what level of priority the issue is to fix. In the meantime, we're going to consider what, if any, solutions might be available to us on our end.

Mobile

 * Mobile CSS. We’re beginning SEO tests with select communities to ensure there are no negative repercussions to enabling mobile CSS editing. We expect to release this by the end of this quarter, which ends on March 31st.

Discussions/Feeds

 * Easier access to moderation tools. We’re excited to share that admins and moderators can access moderation and other user-related tools (like Special:Block and Special:UserRights) directly from a user’s profile in Discussions making it easier to access these tools.
 * On-site notifications for reported posts. We are continuing to test the code for providing on-site notifications when posts are reported. Until we have brought you custom mobile CSS and a new extension, development efforts for on-site notifications for reported posts are paused. We plan to address the feedback provided by the communities currently testing this, and to release the final feature to all communities in the first half of this year. *Anti-vandalism restriction. We are continuing to investigate adding in a rate limit to Discussions that will reduce the number of images people can post in a certain amount of time, following up on a recent wave of image-based spam attacks.

Platform

 * Two-Factor Authentication. Have you read about Two-Factor Authentication yet? The arrival of the optional security measure to provide a layer of protection for users is here! Dylan Host explains what 2FA is and how you can add it to your account.
 * MediaWiki 1.39 Upgrade. In our last update we announced the timeline for MediaWiki 1.39 and what you can expect to see during the migration process. There are 4 wikis migrated to 1.39 and they didn’t have major problems, so we will continue with the next batches next week. Create New Wiki tool has been updated, and all the new wikis are using the new MediaWiki version, 1.39.
 * Extension Review. After reviewing the bandwidth of the teams and comparing the most workable extensions to our internal goals for our development work with editors, we decided to go ahead and choose the most potentially-impactful extension on the list and prioritize it for being added to the platform. We’re continuing to review and will share our findings soon.

Other
If there’s anything you still think needs to be fixed that hasn’t yet, please be sure to either contact your Wiki Representative or, if your wiki doesn’t have one, send us a bug report!
 * Editor Research. Our User Experience Research (UXR) team continues working on multiple research projects to learn more about how we can help make people’s entry into wiki editing easier. This is part of one of our themes this year, which is to encourage even more editing on the platform.
 * Community Connect. Planning for Community Connect 2023 (April 23 - April 27) continues. We’re excited to send out invitations before the next update, and share updates on an announcement via Community Central. Remember that even if you don’t receive an in-person invite, we’ll be live streaming the event for anyone else who wants to watch. Stay tuned for more details!