Forum:Switching to the new parser

Hi all,

There will soon be some important code changes in the software we use at Wikia. There is a new version of the "preprocessor", which converts the text you enter in the edit box into the formatted text on the article page. This has a few differences to the old version, so switching over is likely to cause some pages to show errors - in particular pages with complex templates and formatting, and pages that contain faulty HTML. We can't update the main software until this switch over is done on all wikis, so it is important that we get it done soon.

Most wikis should see very little effect, so the first wikis to be switched will be those that are inactive and those that our tests show are likely to have very few pages affected. After that we will help the more active wikis and those with a lot of problem pages to fix problems before they are switched.

To see which group your wiki is in, you can check the list at Forum:Switching to the new parser/group list. If you are listed there, you are in group 2. Everyone else is in group 1.

The new parser will be switched for group 1 on Tuesday, February 10th. If you see any problems, then the first thing to do is check your pages and templates for bad formatting - especially unclosed HTML tags. If you can't see what to change, then please contact us using the form at Special:Contact and we'll give you a hand.

For group 2, there are lists of pages that might have issues linked from the group list.

The switch will happen for group 2 on February 17th or March 3rd. You may want to look at the list of pages before then and fix any problems. If you need advice, please check the help page or contact us using the Special:Contact form.

Thanks - sannse (talk) 20:25, 5 February 2009 (UTC)