Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 20:30, 19 December 2013

You should use Special:MassMessage instead.

# KEY
0683
# RECIPIENTS (PAGE LIST)
Misplaced Pages:VisualEditor/Newsletter
# SUBJECT
VisualEditor newsletter • 19 December 2013
# BODY
{{sidebox
|text= ]
|below='''Did you know?'''  
]
<p>VisualEditor's toolbar has a new drop-down menu that contains all character formatting:  bold, italics, subscript, superscript, strikethrough, computer code, underline, and the ability to remove all formatting from text.
<p>For more information about how to use VisualEditor, read ].}}
Since the last newsletter, the ] team has worked on some toolbar improvements, fixing bugs, and improving support for Indic languages as well as other languages with complex characters.  The current focus is on improving the''' reference dialog''' and expanding the '''new character inserter tool'''.
There have been dozens of changes since the last newsletter.  Here are some of the highlights:
*'''Rich copying and pasting''' is now available.  If you copy text from another website, then character formatting and some other HTML attributes are preserved.  This means, for example, that if you copy a pre-formatted suggested citation from a source , then VisualEditor will preserve the formatting of the title in the citation.  Keep in mind that copying the formatting may include formatting that you don't want (like section headings).  If you want to paste plain, unformatted text onto a page, then use {{key press|Control|Shift|V}} or {{key press|Command|Shift|V}}  (Mac).
* '''Auto-numbered external links''' like  can now be edited just like any other link.  However, they cannot be created in VisualEditor easily.
* Several changes to the toolbar and dialogs have been made, and more are on the way.  The toolbar has been simplified with a new drop-down text styles menu and an "insert" menu. {{highlight|Your feedback on the toolbar is wanted ].}}  The transclusion/template dialog has been simplified.  If you have ], then the menu item is now called the formula editor instead of LaTeX.
* There is a new '''character inserter''', which you can find in the new "insert" menu, with a capital Omega ("Ω").  It's a very basic set of characters.  {{highlight|Your feedback on the character inserter is wanted ].}}
* '''Saving the page''' should seem faster by several seconds now.
* It is now possible to access VisualEditor by manually editing the URL, even if you are not logged in or have not opted in to VisualEditor normally.  To do so, append <code>?veaction=edit</code> to the end of the page name.  For example, change <code>https://en.wikipedia.org/Special:Random</code> to <code>https://en.wikipedia.org/Special:Random?veaction=edit</code> to open a random page in VisualEditor.  This is intended to support bug testing across multiple browsers, without requiring editors to login repeatedly.
'''Looking ahead:'''  The transclusion dialog will see further changes in the coming weeks, with a simple mode for single templates and an advanced mode for more complex transclusions.  The new character formatting menu on the toolbar will get an arrow to show that it is a drop-down menu.  The ] will be improved, and the Reference item will become a button in the main toolbar, rather than an item in the Insert menu. 
If you have questions or suggestions for future improvements, or if you encounter problems, please let everyone know by posting a note at ]. Thank you!  ] (]) ~~~~~