| Reimplement info action | |
|---|---|
| Component | General |
| Creation date | |
| Author(s) | MZMcBride |
| Document status | implemented |
This is arequest for comment regardingreimplementing the info action.
The info action (?action=info) has existed in MediaWiki sincerev:4242. Sincerev:4247, the action has been disabled by default behind the$wgAllowPageInfo global variable due to performance issues.
Currently, to obtain the information that this proposed action would provide, a user needs to manually query the wiki database, query the MediaWiki API, or hunt down the appropriate MediaWiki Special page (e.g., Special:WhatLinksHere). Many of the proposed additions to the info action are currently completely unexposed in the MediaWiki interface, but these additions provide demonstrable value to readers, editors, and power editors.
Due to the info action being disabled by default in MediaWiki core, it has received very little attention since its introduction in 2004. The current output is below, using the English Wikipedia'sw:Talk:Barack Obama page as an example.
| Current design | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Information for "Talk:Barack Obama"
| ||||||||||||||||||
The "info" action should provide human-readable metadata about a particular page title (e.g., "Main Page" or "Barack Obama"). Some of this data is a view into thepage_props table; other data is simply interesting to editors and readers.
The data contained in this info dashboard will likely need to be split between expensive and inexpensive queries. For larger wikis,$wgMiserMode can be relied upon to block the expensive queries.
Currently the "info" action is not exposed in the user interface, regardless of the value of $wgAllowPageInfo (bugzilla:16362). A tab or a link in the sidebar in the "Toolbox" section should provide easy access to the "info" action.
| Proposed redesign | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Information for "Talk:Barack Obama" The following is an overview of the page "Talk:Barack Obama", as of 01:30, 22 July 2012 (UTC): Basic information
Edit history
Page properties
|