Upcoming MediaWiki Changes

We will soon be updating MediaWiki to the latest stable version, 1.18.1. While there are many changes behind the scenes with this update, the most visible change is that the what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) editor, FCKeditor, is no longer supported by its authors and will not run in either of the two latest versions of MediaWiki.

In its place we have added the WikiEditor, the default editor on Wikipedia, which helps users insert proper wiki markup into pages:

Please try out the new editor in our testing sandbox (available only on campus or via the VPN) and let us know how it works for you in the comments below.

While it isn’t WYSIWG, new editor has the following benefits:

  • It won’t corrupt some pages like the FCKeditor would when certain formatting was used.
  • The included ‘Preview’ and ‘Changes’ tabs let you quickly view the results of your changes without saving.
  • Your Wiki-editing skills can be used on Wikipedia and any other MediaWiki wiki.

4 thoughts on “Upcoming MediaWiki Changes”

  1. Rebekah Irwin

    Thanks Adam. This will be great. I have used the WikiEditor in the past and I found it preferable to the FCKeditor. It is very intuitive.

  2. Jess Isler

    Just took a look at the sandbox version. Seems like it will be a good change for wiki editors. Thanks in advance!

  3. Steven Bertolino

    Yes, very intuitive. I knew that my own Wikipedia edits would prove useful someday! It’s just in software know-how instead of encyclopedic information…

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