Notable Changes
- Direct video uploads disabled and upcoming removal of unused video files
Recent Fixes
- Removed video formats from permitted upload lists
- Search animation on
Special:RecentChangesno longer hyperexpands - No more Fatal exception when editing blog listing page
- UserProfileActivity comment links to actual comment
- Confirmation of ThemeDesigner save popup was hidden behind the global nav
- Recent Images widget arrows were sometimes missing
- Content panel chevron misalignment rectified
- No more white borders on image thumbnails
- Table of Content on
Special:Versionno longer uses bullet points - Global.js and Global.css didn’t work on MediaWiki 1.43 wikis
- Achievements received profile-hover and button "Previous"
- Undismissable notices showed within 2010 Source Editor
Development Updates:
Platform
- [Update] MediaWiki Update Version 1.43
UXFCP
- [Release] Desktop drawer on screen widths 1440-1640px
- [Product Tweak] Desktop drawer "persistence" remembered for 24h
Eyo, lovely people! We’ve already (or finally?) arrived at the second tech blog of February, which means that the month is coming to an end! If you’re new to this series, hi there! You’re in the right place to be updated about the latest updates on the Fandom platform, bug fixes, and experiments. These blogs are posted every two weeks. Aside from being a source of information for you, they can also serve as a good location to ask questions or report issues you may have encountered. For those who’ve been faithful readers of this series, also hi there! You know the drill, so let’s just go over the past two weeks and look ahead!
Notable Changes[]
Last Friday, Fandom removed the ability to upload video files via Special:Upload, Special:NewFiles, and from within the editors. The ability to upload videos via url and method to embed them as noted on the video help page remain unaffected. The decision was made after an architectural issue with how we are hosting these direct video file uploads was discovered. While we continue to stand behind our decision, we do want to take a moment to acknowledge and apologize for the inconvenience and confusion this decision and lack of communication has caused.
In order to move forward, we have been in constant contact with our external partners to work out a viable solution. Not only are we looking to remedy the current situation, but we're also investigating preventive measures. Due to the volume of video content on our network, a proper solution to cover that scale takes time, though we're hopeful to have a fix next week. One of the actions we'll be taking is the automated removal of all unused video files. Even though this may result in files being removed from your wiki, it should not affect any wiki content as used video files remain unaffected. Our intention is to restore the previous functionality, though it remains to be seen if we can achieve it and whether or not it will be through the usual channels like Special:Upload or via other tooling.
Recent Fixes[]
- Not a bug, but a fix nonetheless: in light of the abovementioned removal of the upload ability for video files, these video formats have been removed from the list of file formats that we allow to be uploaded.
- The search animation on
Special:RecentChangesno longer hyperexpands. - No more
Blog: Fatal exception of type "MWException"when editing the blog listing page. - For the longest time, using a
UserProfileActivitycomment link led to the generic#articleCommentssection instead of the actual comment. No more! - The confirmation save popup on ThemeDesigner was hidden behind the global navigation.
- The navigation arrows of the Recent Images widget were sometimes missing, only to reappear after dragging the images within the widget. This issue has been resolved.
- Within the left content panels, there was a discrepancy between the positioning of the closing chevrons on the explore and current panel.
- Possibly one of the most noticeable fixes, but image thumbnails had gained white borders, backgrounds, and lower padding. All that has been rectified and returned to normal.
- Table of Content on Special:Version no longer uses bullet points
- Global.js and Global.css didn’t work on MediaWiki 1.43 wikis
- Achievements in the right rail are once again showing the achievement explanation on hover, as well as having a “previous” button to accompany the "next" button.
- Undismissable notices also showed up within the 2010 Source Editor, blocking the ability to save an edit. This has been tweaked to no longer show up within the editor.
Development Updates[]
Platform Team[]
- Product Support Owner: Antonio
- [MediaWiki Update] MediaWiki update from Version 1.39 to Version 1.43: As the MediaWiki update continues to roll out to more and more wikis, we’d like to highlight the “Changes” section of the help page about the MediaWiki 1.43 update where you can find all the major changes that are coming with this update. More changes will be added there in the coming weeks, so make sure to check up on it. Not sure if your wiki has updated yet? Check Special:Version. By now, all new wikis that are being created will be created using MediaWiki 1.43 and more than 630 existing wikis have been migrated (including wikis with Thanks, AbuseFilter/Discussions AbuseFilter, TabView, Loops, Variables, Array, and Gadgets).
User Experience (UXFCP) Team[]
- Product Support Owner: Lostris
- [Release] Desktop drawer on screen widths 1440-1640px: The final release of 2024 of the UXFCP team was the new navigation design with content panels. Logged-in and logged-out users received the same design update. However, logged-out users with a screen that’s 1640px or wider see the "Current" panel be open by default when they visit a wiki whereas logged-in users need to click the button to access the panel. By tweaking the design of the panel, shrinking it in size so it can appear alongside the content, that default open state of the current content panel now also applies to logged-out users with a screen size between 1440px and 1640px.
- [Product Tweak] Desktop drawer "persistence" remembered for 1 day: As noted above, a desktop drawer is being shown as open by default to logged-out users with screens at least 1440px wide. If the drawer is manually closed, the system will remember this for 24h, which gives it the same behavior as on mobile. At the end of that period, the drawer will again show up as open on the next session. This tweak will be going live sometime next week.
That's it for the issue! Per usual, if you encounter something that feels off about the platform, please report it by sending in a bug report, reach out to your Community Manager, contact the Product Support Owner on their Wall/talk page, or just simply sound off in the comments here. Remember to include a link to where you’re experiencing the issue, a screenshot if it is something visible, as well as steps to reproduce your issue. As always, thank you for helping us by continuing to communicate. Happy editing, everyone!
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