NM Demo

(alt account of User:Nick Moyes) My main account is User:Nick Moyes.

This is one of two demonstration accounts, intended for creating screenshots to show how to edit Wikipedia, or for testing/teaching purposes. My newer alt-account, (created for precisely the same purpose in 2022) is User:NM Demo 2.

Since becoming an admin in 2020, I may also use this account for editing in unsecured places such as editathons, or when on public wifi/other people's devices.

Note: Between Dec 2021 and Feb 2022 I shall be using this non-admin alt-account for the purpose of familiarising myself again with the interface and default settings seen by brand new users. Mobile edits are likely to still be made from my main account because my password is so fiddly to enter I can't easily type it without access to a keyboard! I may also switch back to my main account to deal with urgent admin matters.

New user default settings - what they're missing out on...

Because this alt-account is using the Default settings experienced by every new user, I'm listing all the things I really missing from my own settings which I've tweaked over the years:

Visual Editor is not offered by default. (Crazy!) Enable both at: Special:Preferences>Editing>Editor>Editing mode: Select: 'Show me both editing tabs
no 'Reply' tool (hugely missed) Enable at: Preferences>Beta>Discussion Tools
no WP:TWINKLE (makes leaving tags and warning users easy) Enable at: Preferences>Gadgets>Browsing>Twinkle
no 2-column Edit Conflict display (can't cope without it now) Enable at: Preferences>Beta>Paragraph-based edit conflict
Syntax highlighting when using Source editor. Colour separates article text from all the other stuff. Switch on in Source Editor menu (blue slanted pencil icon)
no Numbered sub-headings in pages. Enable at: Preferences>Gadgets>Testing and development>Auto-number headings
MoreMenu not active. Enable at: Preferences>Gadgets>Appearance>MoreMenu: add Page and User dropdowns

More specialised settings I'm missing:

Navigation Popups (great utility for checking diffs, hist and user info) Enable at: Preferences>Gadgets>Browsing>Navigation Popups .
no Copyright Violation checker in the left hand 'Tools' menu.
no Teahouse talkback tool (only relevant to WP:TH hosts) Enable at:
My favourite Special:RecentChanges settings which only showed the most troublesome-looking edits. (This is my favourite setting)
I'm not yet Extended Confirmed with this account, so I forgot various pages can't be edited (like this one)
Highlighting: Links to Redirects are not displayed as green links. Fix this: See Wikipedia:Tip of the day/March 17
Highlighting: Links to Disambiguation pages are not displayed in Orange. Enable at: Preferences>Gadgets>Appearance>Display links to disambiguation pages in orange
Highlighting: Striking out blocked editor names. Enable at: Preferences>Gadgets>Appearance>'Strike out usernames that have been blocked'

Less important settings not enabled by default

Link to edit lead paragraph. Enable at: Preferences>Gadgets>Appearance>'Add an [edit] link for the lead section of a page'
Purge option. Enable at: Preferences>Gadgets>Appearance>'Add a "Purge" option'

Help:Visual Editor - items to address

The following issues are too complex to be addresses with simple edits:

The Cite and Cite menu instructions are utterly dire, totally confusing and need to be focussed solely on en-wikipedia. They currently bang on about enabling on "your wiki" - something totally irrelevant to every normal user. We either have enabled, or we don't!
Insert: The "Insert" menu may be different on some projects. Below is a list of all options that may appear. There are 8 listed, but 13 on en-wiki and also in the embedded image.
Special character insertion: "You can also switch (one-way only) from VisualEditor to the classic wikitext source editor without losing the editing work you've done." As far as I can tell from small tests, one can switch both ways, ad infinitum. - is this an old issue that has been resolved? (I've amended this section to remove mention of one-way switching).
Resume editing: The text says "The "Resume editing" button returns you to the page you were editing. You can save and publish all of your changes later." Call me stupid, but I can't see any 'Resume editing" button anywhere! What am I missing??
Links The example used for adding an external link is highlyinappropriate, as it is being shown as an inline link within article text. It says: To link to a web page on another website, the process is similar: Choose the "External site" tab, and enter a URL in the box.

TWA