User blog:TK-999/RecentChanges

Special:RecentChanges is an essential special page that gives users up-to-date and detailed information about edits and events on the wiki. Most experienced users and administrators prefer it over Special:WikiActivity, but RecentChanges is actually much more than a list. Here are some of its abilities:

JavaScript improvements
Many wikis equip their RC with so-called "Ajax" autorefresh&mdash;a feature that, when turned on, updates the page every minute to save the time of reloading. It is a piece of JavaScript code; an example can be found here.

If someone has JavaScript enabled, s/he can also make use of "enhanced" RecentChanges, adjustable via Special:Preferences. This adds a blue arrow next to grouped edits&mdash;sequences of edits made to a single page or log&mdash;which shows the actions undertaken in detail when clicked, thus sparing the time of visiting the log page or the page history.

Toolbar
Administrators, bureaucrats, helpers, staff and VSTF can edit MediaWiki:Recentchangestext to customize the appearance of the top of the page. This can be used to add a list of useful pages or community messages.

RecentChanges also has a built-in bar that can be used to limit the number of actions displayed and the timeframe. The user can also choose to hide minor edits, anonymous users' contributions, his/her own edits, bot edits and log actions and adjust "grouped changes"&mdash;a feature rendered redundant by enhanced RC. The page can also be filtered to only show edits made to a given namespace, or "start blank" and show actions made after the current time.

Color scheme
RecentChanges uses one-letter markers to mark certain edits&mdash;the creation of new pages, bot edits and minor edits. Using cascading style sheets, the colors of these can be adjusted, along with the various auxiliary links displayed.