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Add ability to search Special:Preferences
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Esanders
Jul 26 2022, 1:30 PM
Referenced Files
F36899079: image.png
Mar 9 2023, 10:08 AM
F35344216: image.png
Jul 27 2022, 12:36 PM
F35344211: image.png
Jul 27 2022, 12:28 PM
F35339776: image.png
Jul 26 2022, 1:30 PM
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"Stroopwafel" token, awarded by TheDJ."Love" token, awarded by matmarex."Barnstar" token, awarded by Sj."Barnstar" token, awarded by MusikAnimal."Orange Medal" token, awarded by Krinkle."Love" token, awarded by Jdlrobson.

Description

Due to most of our preferences being hidden in an inactive tab at any one time, it is not possible to search all preferences using Ctrl+F in the browser. This means you have to guess which tab your preference might be in.

Many UI's which have nested preferences also provide a search feature, e.g. the settings app on Android phones:

image.png (1×564 px, 194 KB)

Event Timeline

Change 817273 had a related patch set uploaded (by Esanders; author: Esanders):

[mediawiki/core@master] Add search functionality to Special:Preferences

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/817273

Test wiki created on Patch demo by ESanders (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task:
https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/e808299dc3/w

This is very cool! I'll definitely see if we can incorporate this into our mobile design if you move ahead with deploying for desktop.

This is very cool! I'll definitely see if we can incorporate this into our mobile design if you move ahead with deploying for desktop.

Thanks, this is how it looks on mobile, I've made the search box sticky:

image.png (691×394 px, 59 KB)

This is very cool! I'll definitely see if we can incorporate this into our mobile design if you move ahead with deploying for desktop.

Thanks, this is how it looks on mobile, I've made the search box sticky:

image.png (691×394 px, 59 KB)

The mobile version no longer works due to the conflicts with the other improvements that were made to mobile preferences, so it would require a bit more work to get going again. Desktop still works fine.

Change 817273 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/core@master] Add search functionality to Special:Preferences

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/817273

This could further be improved by supporting the browser's native search (ctrl+f) where hidden="until-found" is supported (i.e. Chrome) https://caniuse.com/mdn-html_global_attributes_hidden_until-found_value

This has already been done for collapsed sections in articles on MobileFrontend (T216789).

Change 894065 had a related patch set uploaded (by Esanders; author: Esanders):

[oojs/ui@master] Support hidden="until-found" in IndexLayout (tabs)

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/894065

Change 894065 merged by jenkins-bot:

[oojs/ui@master] Support hidden="until-found" in IndexLayout (tabs)

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/894065

As a user, I’d just like to comment that on Android (and other UI’s that have search) search rarely truly helps. (On Android I often can’t find things any more, even with search.)

What would really help is to categorize the options logically so that users intuitively know where the option should be — as opposed to having to “guess”. I’d propose that if a TOC-style list gets too unwieldy maybe an index-style alternative view (i.e., have a person actually analyze the options and index them, as opposed to providing search and hoping that what computers can find match what users are looking for) should be considered.

Gentle side note for future reference – if recent work was inspired by the Community-Wishlist-Survey-2023, can we state this in Tech News announcements (example)? Obviously not required and no biggie if you forget, but it helps reinforce the importance of the survey, which as you might be aware has been a subject of debate as of late :)

Thanks so much for your work on this, Ed! You rock!

In tech news was announced that searching is now avaliable. I don't see it on cs.wiki, but now I have horizontal scrollbar in special:preferences page. When I make window bigger, scrollbar is still here. When I switch from monobook to vector, scrollbar disappear.

image.png (927×1 px, 122 KB)

@JAnD: cswiki is in Group 2 and still on 1.40.0-wmf.25. Try mediawiki.org which is in Group 0 and on 1.40.0-wmf.26. See https://versions.toolforge.org

I don't see it on cs.wiki, but now I have horizontal scrollbar in special:search page.

That sounds unrelated to this ticket.

I don't see it on cs.wiki, but now I have horizontal scrollbar in special:search page.

That sounds unrelated to this ticket.

oops, in special:Preferences page.
This scrollbar wasn't here few weeks ago, on mediawiki.org I have this scrolbarr with monobook too.

matmarex assigned this task to Esanders.
matmarex awarded a token.

What a fantastic QOW improvement! Beautiful, fast, cleanly integrated into the special page. Thanks @Esanders

Also I realize the work was long in the making, but it felt unusually responsive to recent interest and flagging of the issue including in the wishlist survey. More like this please.

Test wiki on Patch demo by ESanders (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task was deleted:

https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/46e58e6b1c/w/

Test wiki on Patch demo by ESanders (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task was deleted:

https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/071ea8e650/w/

Test wiki on Patch demo by ESanders (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task was deleted:

https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/e808299dc3/w/

Change 921070 had a related patch set uploaded (by VolkerE; author: VolkerE):

[mediawiki/core@master] Update OOUI to v0.47.0

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/921070

Change 921070 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/core@master] Update OOUI to v0.47.0

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/921070