MediaWiki talk:Sidebar

Wikipedia's 2020 sidebar update

Removal of Upload file

Back in October 2020 we noticed that in the Tools section, the Upload file link was missing, which was traced to a change in MediaWiki:Common.css. We reversed it in This revision to restore "Upload file" from the Toolbox section, per T255381 English Wikipedia sidebar changes. Kcowan contacted me today because the link was again missing.

Further investigation revealed the background for the Wikipedia's change is covered in Wikipedia:Requests for comment/2020 left sidebar update. The short version is "a vast majority of uploads on Wikipedia should happen on Commons. Those who have the know-how and understanding for why and how to uploaded files locally, know where to go. This is an old link that has very infrequent use now."

The challenge going forward is we periodically resync to Wikipedia's MediaWiki:Common.css and the Upload file link goes missing.

Survey (Upload file)

Given the limited number of wiki editors here, can we make the same assumption as Wikipedia that those who have the know-how and understanding for why and how to uploaded files locally, know where to go? Or is there enough usage that it makes sense to try revert the specific lines of code in MediaWiki:Common.css each time we resync with Wikipedia versions.

Thoughts? --Peculiar Investor 20:44, 31 March 2021 (MDT)

I recommend reverting the change to restore Upload file. This link is present in the Bogleheads wiki (documented here). We should give editors all the help we can, as they are not familiar with Wikipedia's layout. --LadyGeek 05:57, 2 April 2021 (MDT)

Last time I tried to upload something, I noticed the upload link was missing from the usual place (the left sidebar), and it took me while to figure out a way to upload a file. I think it is quite convenient to have it there. --Quebec 12:57, 2 April 2021 (MDT)

Action taken

Done The Upload file link is back in the Tools section of the sidebar. The downside is that whenever we update MediaWiki:Common.css to the Wikipedia version baseline we'll need to make edits to restore this functionality. --Peculiar Investor 11:19, 12 April 2021 (MDT)

Naming and tooltips

The article Manual:Interface/Sidebar is a good resource. On Wikipedia they have changed some of the 'standard' text and provided tooltips for most, if not all, elements. For example MediaWiki:Randompage becomes Random article and MediaWiki:Tooltip-n-randompage provides the tooltip when you hover over the link. Those changes have now been applied here.

A low priority but likely medium to high impact would be to have a wiki admin import appropriate text and tooltips from Wikipedia and also create tooltips for the finiki specific menu items. --Peculiar Investor 15:38, 26 January 2023 (UTC)

Done --Peculiar Investor 17:59, 26 January 2023 (UTC)