Last modified: 2012-04-16 09:16:14 UTC

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Bug 26990 - Interface of api.php is hard to read
Interface of api.php is hard to read
Status: RESOLVED INVALID
Product: MediaWiki
Classification: Unclassified
API (Other open bugs)
unspecified
All All
: Normal enhancement (vote)
: ---
Assigned To: Roan Kattouw
:
Depends on: 28817
Blocks:
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2011-01-27 18:46 UTC by The Evil IP address
Modified: 2012-04-16 09:16 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

See Also:
Web browser: ---
Mobile Platform: ---
Assignee Huggle Beta Tester: ---


Attachments

Description The Evil IP address 2011-01-27 18:46:58 UTC
I believe that the interface of the api.php page (http://translatewiki.net/w/api.php) is quite difficult to read. Few HTML formatting is used for the page, no table of contents at the top of the page and the sections associated with this exist and the design is pretty much the default. It might also be nice to have some option to get back to the wiki from the api.php file.

Even though the API documentation page is mostly read by technical guys, I believe that a nice GUI would also help those (see for example http://www.flickr.com/services/api/).
Comment 1 MZMcBride 2011-01-27 18:50:46 UTC
(In reply to comment #0)
> I believe that the interface of the api.php page
> (http://translatewiki.net/w/api.php) is quite difficult to read. Few HTML
> formatting is used for the page, no table of contents at the top of the page
> and the sections associated with this exist and the design is pretty much the
> default. It might also be nice to have some option to get back to the wiki from
> the api.php file.

This should probably be split into multiple bugs, for easier dissection and discussion. One bug for adding a table of contents, one bug for adding a "go back to wiki" link, one bug for adding more HTML formatting, etc.

> Even though the API documentation page is mostly read by technical guys, I
> believe that a nice GUI would also help those (see for example
> http://www.flickr.com/services/api/).

Our version of that Flickr page would probably be <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API>. As you note, directly accessing api.php is supposed to largely be for developers (most of whom just ctrl/cmd-F on the page and search for what they need).
Comment 2 Sam Reed (reedy) 2011-01-27 20:46:38 UTC
(In reply to comment #1)
> > Even though the API documentation page is mostly read by technical guys, I
> > believe that a nice GUI would also help those (see for example
> > http://www.flickr.com/services/api/).
> 
> Our version of that Flickr page would probably be
> <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API>. As you note, directly accessing api.php is
> supposed to largely be for developers (most of whom just ctrl/cmd-F on the page
> and search for what they need).

Exactly, I still do visit api page, and use the browsers text search thing on it.




I believe it was discussed about doing the anchors (needed for the TOC). It was decided to be a bit strange. As such, I implemented being able to request specific sections of the help screen. Coming in 1.17

See bug 19721 for info about that one

quote:
(In reply to comment #1)
> Need to have some way to indicate an anchor in the text that is only displayed
> in fm mode...
> 
> I see no sane way to do this.


"Go back to wiki" link is probably somewhat pointless, I mean, if you went directly to the api page, you're not going back. If you went to it via some onwiki link, you've got your browsers navigation tools, surely?


Certainly, if you've got some specific ideas...

I've added word wrap at 100 chars (or something) in SVN, which might be worth backporting to 1.17 for the benefits (Roan, ok with that, as a usability improvement?)


We do link back to the MW.org docs at the top. When Zak, Roan and I have finished tidying them up, it might be a nice thing to add some more specific links
Comment 3 Sam Reed (reedy) 2011-04-10 13:17:20 UTC
Is there really any input on this (that is explicitly actionable), or can I close as invalid?
Comment 4 Sam Reed (reedy) 2011-05-20 17:44:05 UTC
Closing as invalid.

I'm not sure what we can really do, or whether we should really need to do anything...

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