MediaWiki talk:Common.css

• MediaWiki
• Meta
• Commons
• Wikibooks
• Wikiquote
• Wikisource
• Wiktionary
• de
• fr
• pl
• ja
• jbo
• it
• nl
• es

Interface-protected edit request on 17 April 2020

{{Collapsible list}} is used in numerous infoboxes but still uses the deprecated NavFrame system. There have been discussions about converting that template to use mw-collapsible, and User:TheDJ has been testing that in its sandbox for the past few years, but the most recent discussion last month has raised text alignment issues with the list title. There have also been complaints about whether it should be even used at all under MOS:DONTHIDE. In the meantime, I would still like a temporary hack so it is uncollapsed in the printed version. With my limited CSS knowledge, I believe something like this added on MediaWiki:Print.css could possibly fix it:

ol.NavContent > li,
ul.NavContent > li {
	display: block !important;
}

I suppose that ol.NavContent and ul.NavContent could also be added to one of the other similar lines that uncollapse the other collapsible divs. Thanks. Zzyzx11 (talk) 04:16, 17 April 2020 (UTC)

Zzyzx11 The suggested change looks reasonable. Have you tested with your own personal CSS? Izno (talk) 22:49, 22 April 2020 (UTC)

Izno OK, I just tested it. Hmm ... I was only able to get it working in my CSS after I removed the greater-than signs:

ol.NavContent, ul.NavContent {
	display: block !important;
}

Good thing you have me test it. Maybe something else is overriding the greater-than signs. Thanks. Zzyzx11 (talk) 01:11, 23 April 2020 (UTC)

In a construct like

ol.NavContent > li,
ul.NavContent > li { ... }

the part before the opening brace is a comma-separated list of selectors, and the > character is a child combinator. So the selector ol.NavContent > li represents a li element that is child of an ol element that itself belongs to the NavContent class. So if you remove the > li part you are moving the scope of the selector from the child element (li) to its parent (ol). --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 13:09, 23 April 2020 (UTC)

OK, I looked at the code generated by {{Collapsible list}} and Module:Collapsible list again. The NavContent class is actually placed in the ul element. not in the li element. And there is no ol element. So this should be sufficient instead:

ul.NavContent {
	display: block !important;
}

Thanks. Zzyzx11 (talk) 03:25, 24 April 2020 (UTC)

A comma separates alternative selectors; it's like a logical OR operator. So what I wrote above concerning the ol element applies equally to a ul element. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 19:13, 24 April 2020 (UTC)

Well, apparently there is no ol element at all being used here. It is only the ul element that {{Collapsible list}} generates with the NavContent class. And none of the li elements are given any class or style that collapses. That is why I reduced it to what I did in my last suggestion after further inspecting what is being generated. And apparently the ul.NavContent element is being set to display: none by an already existing selector on MediaWiki:Common.css that is setting all the elements with the NavContent class (the selectors on MediaWiki:Common.css commented with "Reduce page jumps by hiding collapsed/dismissed content"). This is what I'm seeing going through something like the element inspector on Chrome. Zzyzx11 (talk) 07:47, 25 April 2020 (UTC)

@Izno, Zzyzx11, and Redrose64: is this change ready to go, because I notice the request has been open a month without action — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 11:12, 22 May 2020 (UTC)

I don't actually know. BTW this edit didn't notify me, so it won't have notified Izno and Zzyzx11 either. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 15:44, 22 May 2020 (UTC)

I didn't get the ping either, indeed, but I do watch the page. --Izno (talk) 16:02, 22 May 2020 (UTC)

Weird - I thought the ping would work if I resigned? — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 19:38, 23 May 2020 (UTC)

Unfortunately, it doesn't. The notification and the signature have to be made in the same post (otherwise you'd possibly trigger all sorts of unintentional notifications each time you signed a post). It's usually best to just to do a fresh post as an addendum containing the ping and the sig. --RexxS (talk) 19:48, 23 May 2020 (UTC)

I don't see any reason not to fulfill the edit request. --Izno (talk) 16:02, 22 May 2020 (UTC)

Go ahead. The last example with just the ul.NavContent element set to display: block !important; Zzyzx11 (talk) 05:41, 23 May 2020 (UTC)

 Done. Let me know of any problems please — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 19:38, 23 May 2020 (UTC)

Interface-protected edit request on 11 May 2020

At the bottom of MediaWiki:Common.css, please remove

/* Workaround pending completion of T241683*/
#coll-create_a_book {
	display: none;
}

Thanks to some work by myself and @Pppery, phab:T241683 has been resolved. Thanks, --DannyS712 (talk) 18:53, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

 Done Galobtter (pingó mió) 19:26, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

Interface-protected edit request on 26 May 2020

Please add the following:

#mw-indicator-move {
    float: left;
}

This will allow for correct display of Template:Move topicon (a proposed change to the move request notice being discussed here) to the left of other topicons when they are present (e.g. here). Courtesy pinging Wugapodes. {{u|Sdkb}} ^talk 05:18, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

@Sdkb: why can't you accomplish this with templatestyles? — xaosflux ^Talk 17:21, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

Even if we can't, I don't think it's appropriate to add CSS here for this case, which is rare enough that we shouldn't add it to the global stylesheet. --Izno (talk) 17:27, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

Indicators are not in mw-parser-output so templatestyles won't work. I agree with Izno. Galobtter (pingó mió) 19:33, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

.mw-parser-output can be added to wikitext, so it's possible that Template:Move topicon can be modified to emit the class and then TemplateStyles will function as expected (this is how Edit notices and a few of our Mediawiki interface overrides work). I don't know though and haven't tested this specific case. --Izno (talk) 20:08, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

Wugapodes is the one who coded this, not me, so they would be the one who could explain why they took this approach. {{u|Sdkb}} ^talk 20:35, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

I'm not very adept at template styles, so advice here is appreciated. I'll give Izno's suggestion a shot later today when I'm free. — Wug·a·po·des​ 22:52, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

@Izno: I tried this and it didn't work. According to mw:Extension:TemplateStyles#Caveats, the only way to target content outside the main parsed content is by wrapping the content in a div with the .mw-parser-output class. It seems the content we want to target must be inside those tags, but we cannot get #mw-indicator-move inside those tags. Looking at gerrit:162609 the indicator function is written so that the template takes no class attributes, and it is output separately from the rest of the wikitext so we cannot force it to be inside a wrapper div. Given the discussion here, I'll look into other solutions. — Wug·a·po·des​ 00:02, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

I read at gerrit:162609: Indicators are displayed ordered by their names (and not occurrence order). This ensures consistency across pages and provides a simple means of ordering or grouping them. Wouldn't changing the name of the indicator to something like |name=1move fix the ordering problems? Maybe "5-move" might be better as a case might arise in future where we want to put something to the left of the move indicator. --RexxS (talk) 16:58, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

check-icon

A brief look around seems to indicate that the check-icon CSS in common.css is basically unused. Outside of user space, there are a total of 7 uses. I don't think that is sufficient to be supported in Common.css and I think it should be removed accordingly. --Izno (talk) 15:49, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

I have a feeling this is no longer needed, as the way interwiki links are handled has evolved over the years, leaving open for feedback for a little bit. — xaosflux ^Talk 15:54, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

 Done revert if something blows up. — xaosflux ^Talk 13:35, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

CSS to left align the text in the first column of a table

class=left-align-first-column

See discussion here: Wikipedia:Village pump (technical). The section currently titled: class="wikitable aligned linked" for linked country lists with flags

I have helped write Help:Table and Help:Sorting. I also write this page (and related pages) on the Commons: Commons:Convert tables and charts to wiki code or image files.

So I can say with confidence that this class will be used on thousands of tables.

There are many tables that use this below to align table data to the right side of table cells. It helps make data columns easy to scan, especially when sorted.

style=text-align:right;

But it causes country, state, and province lists to end up with the text for those countries, etc. aligned to the right side of those first-column cells. This class solves that problem in the easiest way.

The naming of the class I leave to others. I think dashes make the class name easier to read and understand by the most editors.

The CSS is here:

• Template:TemplateStyles sandbox/Jackmcbarn/aligned.css

--Timeshifter (talk) 14:56, 12 August 2020 (UTC)

Timeshifter, we are trying to empty this file, we shouldn't be adding more to it. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 18:51, 12 August 2020 (UTC)

"thousands of tables" might be true, but this page goes to many millions and millions of devices for each article, regardless of if the page has a table included or not, which is highly inefficient. This is exactly why we have template styles. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 18:53, 12 August 2020 (UTC)

@TheDJ: Templatestyles is a pain to use compared to just adding class=left-column (or some other class name).

See the upper table at User:Timeshifter/Sandbox107. Imagine trying to get the average Wikipedia editor (who only occasionally edits tables) to remember to add this line to the table page:

And if they forget to add it to the same article section as the table they will not see the left alignment in preview.

There are only 2 lines of CSS that would need to be added to Common.css to implement this class.

Surely there are 2 lines of CSS that could be removed from Common.css that are not being used, or only rarely used.

Maybe some day there could be separate CSS and JS pages just for tables. Somehow maybe they would only be imported to a browser when the Mediawiki software detects a table in a Wikipedia page.

--Timeshifter (talk) 13:01, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

@Timeshifter: You misunderstand how TemplateStyles are used. The invocation like is placed inside the template itself, and is thereby transcluded into every article that uses the template. You don't need to put it any article. The addition of that tag is a job for the template designer, not for the article editor. --RexxS (talk) 23:30, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

@Timeshifter: In most of the tables that you describe, the first (text) column will almost always be a row header. We already have the class plainrowheaders which left-aligns those row-headers (which would otherwise be centred in most browsers). If the table is correctly marked-up and scoped, there are very few cases left where the class you are suggesting would have any use. --RexxS (talk) 19:28, 12 August 2020 (UTC)

I think adding this to common.css is overkill. I think the TemplateStyles-based approach we discussed on VPT would be better than this. Jackmcbarn (talk) 21:57, 12 August 2020 (UTC)

I replied at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical). --Timeshifter (talk) 01:19, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Comment. Beside class=left-align-first-column we will need class=left-align-2nd-column - This is because often the first column in a table is a rank column. --Timeshifter (talk) 10:36, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

And class=left-align-3rd-column, presumably, if the first two columns are rank and date – and so on. None of these are needed if row headers are marked up according to MoS. If there's a sensible reason for not doing that, like daily updates using automated tools that don't supply proper markup, then WP:TemplateStyles can provide a solution. --RexxS (talk) 17:48, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

The first or second column is where the text needs to be aligned to the left for the vast majority of data tables on Wikipedia. There are no automated tools that add scope=row tags. And that automated tool would also have to change the cells in question to header cells if they are data cells currently. Because class=plainrowheaders only works with scope=row in rowheader cells.

In the meantime we need this class. You should ask for automated tools elsewhere. This is not the place for it.

WP:TemplateStyles is not meant for this. A commons.css class is much simpler. --Timeshifter (talk) 18:03, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

"There are no automated tools that add scope=row tags" Would you like me to write one for you? I know Magnus quite well, but we don't need to bother him for trivia. Magnus' code for tab2wiki is licensed as GNU GPL 3.0 and it only needs "\n!" changing to "\n!scope='col'|" in line 28 and "\n!" changing to "\n!scope='row'|" in line 35.

You don't need this class, and I can show you how to use TemplateStyles if you ever get around to explaining where you want to use your classes. --RexxS (talk) 22:37, 14 August 2020 (UTC)

RexsS. You obviously are clueless about tables if you don't know that there are tens of thousands of data tables that need their data cell text aligned right with text-align:right; added to the top of the wikitext. That means the left-most column needs text-align:left; or align=left added to all its cells. You'll catch on once you start paying attention instead of pounding your chest. Why are you talking to me instead of Magnus? Obviously because you are all talk. And if you can create the tool yourself more power to you. But stop wasting our time trying to hijack this thread. Until you actually DO something this class is needed. Using TemplateStyles is more complicated, as several people have explained. Using a common.css class is much easier. I am an admin/bureaucrat on a couple wikis outside Wikimedia. I am in charge of them. I know how easy it is to add stuff to Common.css, and how easy it is to use a class. Much simpler than TemplateStyles. --Timeshifter (talk) 02:23, 15 August 2020 (UTC)

See COVID-19 pandemic death rates by country for an example of how to do it. We don't need any more classes in common.css. Use templatestyles if you feel unable to use classes like "plainrowheaders". --RexxS (talk) 14:26, 15 August 2020 (UTC)

I've made a simple modified version of Magnus' tab2wiki that adds scopes at http://ivydene1.co.uk/demo/tab2wiki.php for you to have a look at. --RexxS (talk) 17:43, 15 August 2020 (UTC)

That's a start, but it is missing a few things that will prevent many people from using it. It needs the "Compress table" option found in the original tab2wiki. It makes tables easier to edit. The rowheader cells need a white background. Many people dislike row headers because of the black text on grey background. It is harder to read than black text on white background. From reading his user talk page I can tell that is what Aréat is complaining about at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Accessibility/Data tables tutorial. You and Justin show your unbelievable cluelessness about the visually impaired in the discussion on his talk page. A visually impaired person complains about black text on grey background. And then you and Justin say that MOS for the blind and visually impaired requires Wikipedia to ignore his complaint. So the plainrowheaders class needs its rowheader background color to be changed to white or light yellow or anything but grey. Until that happens we still need this new class. Because many people will not use this revised tab2wiki. Or they won't be using the rowheader part of it. And this tab2wiki may not help all tables. Some Wikipedia tables may not be able to be pasted into it, and converted to tables with scope=row. That will have to be seen over time. In the meantime we need this class. --Timeshifter (talk) 03:26, 16 August 2020 (UTC)

That language is totally inappropriate for Wikipedia (WP:NPA) and is particularly bizarre on this page where you are trying to get assistance from people with appropriate technical skills. Please focus on the issue and drop the emotion. Johnuniq (talk) 03:58, 16 August 2020 (UTC)

Johnuniq. Being against emotion is a gender-normative bias. It is one reason why Wikipedia has so few women editors and women admins. Your statement against emotion is against Wikipedia's current attempts by some editors and staff to recruit more women editors and admins. Please stop railing against emotion. It's unbecoming of an admin. I am an admin/bureaucrat on a couple wikis outside Wikimedia. People should be emotional when an editor so involved with MOS things related to the blind and the visually impaired is so (how shall I word this) totally unfeeling and uniquely without understanding concerning the complaints of Aréat. --Timeshifter (talk) 05:55, 16 August 2020 (UTC)

• Comment. I now think that classes would be a far easier way to add scope=row and scope=col to all headers. For simple tables without colspan and rowspan there should be something like
  

class=left-aligned-scope that would add scope=row and scope=col to all headers, and align the text in row headers to the left. --Timeshifter (talk) 05:55, 16 August 2020 (UTC)

• Comment 2. There should be other classes to convert all first column (or 2nd column) cells from data cells to header cells:
  

1st-column-headers

2nd-column-headers --Timeshifter (talk) 05:55, 16 August 2020 (UTC)

• Comment 3. There should be other classes for row header cells that makes their background color white, yellow, light yellow, or other light colors other than grey:
  

white-rowheaders

yellow-rowheaders --Timeshifter (talk) 05:55, 16 August 2020 (UTC)

• Comment 4. scope could combine them all (except color) for simple tables without rowheaders or scope. Colors:

white-scope

yellow-scope

--Timeshifter (talk) 05:55, 16 August 2020 (UTC)