Re: [Wikitech-l] Mobile site rewrite implementation
I've been in transit and just saw this. There are pros/cons to each approach. I'll get Patrick to fill in on the details when I see him at the hackathon. --tomasz On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 5:15 PM, Chad innocentkil...@gmail.com wrote: On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 12:58 PM, Quim Gil quim@nokia.com wrote: Out of curiosity... On 5/11/2011 3:56 PM, ext MZMcBride wrote: A few people (including myself) have expressed some concerns about the way in which the mobile site is being rewritten. Where? Any URL to know more about these concerns? https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=25558 -Chad ___ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l ___ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Re: [Wikitech-l] Mobile site rewrite implementation
The reason that I went the route of creating an extension vs a skin was that I wanted the most flexibility in adapting the content for mobile device rendering. There are a number of sections that need to be removed from the final output in order to render the content effectively on mobile devices. So, being able to use a PHP output buffer handling is a nice feature. I also wanted the ability to use many of the features that are available when writing an extension to hook into core functionality. -- Patrick On Wed, May 11, 2011 at 3:56 PM, MZMcBride z...@mzmcbride.com wrote: A few people (including myself) have expressed some concerns about the way in which the mobile site is being rewritten. I don't really think Bugzilla or MediaWiki.org are the appropriate forums for this, but this list probably is. (I assume Patrick Reilly is subscribed to this list. CC'ing him in any case.) The previous mobile site was written in Ruby and does some of its own parsing. The rewrite is written in PHP and many people seem to agree that it should be some sort of skin system so that it's adaptable to other MediaWiki installations and doesn't try to do anything too crazy (like re-implement the parser). There are concerns that the current rewrite approach (in SVN in an extension called PatchOutputMobile for those curious) isn't the best, but it's completely possible there are reasons for the way it's being re-implemented. Patrick or Tomasz: can you give an overview of what the current re-implementation strategy is? * Relevant bug: https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=25558 * Relevant MediaWiki page: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Mobile_site_rewrite MZMcBride ___ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Re: [Wikitech-l] Mobile site rewrite implementation
(I apologise for breaking the thread) The reason that I went the route of creating an extension vs a skin was that I wanted the most flexibility in adapting the content for mobile device rendering. There are a number of sections that need to be removed from the final output in order to render the content effectively on mobile devices. So, being able to use a PHP output buffer handling is a nice feature. I also wanted the ability to use many of the features that are available when writing an extension to hook into core functionality. -- Patrick Sorry, but this is a poor excuse. ___ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Re: [Wikitech-l] Mobile site rewrite implementation
On Fri, May 13, 2011 at 2:40 PM, Patrick Reilly prei...@wikimedia.orgwrote: The reason that I went the route of creating an extension vs a skin was that I wanted the most flexibility in adapting the content for mobile device rendering. There are a number of sections that need to be removed from the final output in order to render the content effectively on mobile devices. So, being able to use a PHP output buffer handling is a nice feature. I also wanted the ability to use many of the features that are available when writing an extension to hook into core functionality. To clarify -- a skin alone can't really do everything we want out of this system -- it needs to be able to freely modify a large swath of output, including rewriting content and styles and breaking long pages into shorter pages. A combination of a skin *and* other extension bits could probably be a good future step for simply *adjusting the view a bit* for high-functioning modern smartphones on the regular site, but will need to be combined with paying more attention to how our MediaWiki's native user interface elements display on a very small screen at native mobile size (as opposed to a zoomable desktop-sized rendering as when you view regular MediaWiki on an iPhone or Android browser). The 'extension that rewrites a bunch o' stuff on output' allows a more direct port of the existing Ruby codebase, which'll get equivalent stuff running and ready to hack sooner. IMO this is a plus! We *should* continue to look at the core MediaWiki interface as well, and longer term also end up thinking about ways to supplement some forms special pages with small-screen-friendly variants. (Editing for instance will not be very nice with a toolbar that's three times wider than your screen, and will need a major redesign! :D) -- brion ___ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Re: [Wikitech-l] Mobile site rewrite implementation
On Fri, May 13, 2011 at 7:32 PM, Brion Vibber br...@pobox.com wrote: On Fri, May 13, 2011 at 2:40 PM, Patrick Reilly prei...@wikimedia.orgwrote: The reason that I went the route of creating an extension vs a skin was that I wanted the most flexibility in adapting the content for mobile device rendering. There are a number of sections that need to be removed from the final output in order to render the content effectively on mobile devices. So, being able to use a PHP output buffer handling is a nice feature. I also wanted the ability to use many of the features that are available when writing an extension to hook into core functionality. A combination of a skin *and* other extension bits could probably be a good future step for simply *adjusting the view a bit* ... It would have been a extension providing the skin. To clarify -- a skin alone can't really do everything we want out of this system -- it needs to be able to freely modify a large swath of output, including rewriting content and styles and breaking long pages into shorter pages. I think it *could* do (almost) everything the ruby code did. I agree we should want more of this system than that, though. I talked with Patrick after the presentation, we will a look at it tomorrow. ___ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Re: [Wikitech-l] Mobile site rewrite implementation
Out of curiosity... On 5/11/2011 3:56 PM, ext MZMcBride wrote: A few people (including myself) have expressed some concerns about the way in which the mobile site is being rewritten. Where? Any URL to know more about these concerns? There are concerns that the current rewrite approach (in SVN in an extension called PatchOutputMobile for those curious) isn't the best, but it's completely possible there are reasons for the way it's being re-implemented. What are the concerns? I guess it will be easier for Patrick and Tomasz to address them if they are known. -- Quim ___ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Re: [Wikitech-l] Mobile site rewrite implementation
On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 12:58 PM, Quim Gil quim@nokia.com wrote: Out of curiosity... On 5/11/2011 3:56 PM, ext MZMcBride wrote: A few people (including myself) have expressed some concerns about the way in which the mobile site is being rewritten. Where? Any URL to know more about these concerns? https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=25558 -Chad ___ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
[Wikitech-l] Mobile site rewrite implementation
A few people (including myself) have expressed some concerns about the way in which the mobile site is being rewritten. I don't really think Bugzilla or MediaWiki.org are the appropriate forums for this, but this list probably is. (I assume Patrick Reilly is subscribed to this list. CC'ing him in any case.) The previous mobile site was written in Ruby and does some of its own parsing. The rewrite is written in PHP and many people seem to agree that it should be some sort of skin system so that it's adaptable to other MediaWiki installations and doesn't try to do anything too crazy (like re-implement the parser). There are concerns that the current rewrite approach (in SVN in an extension called PatchOutputMobile for those curious) isn't the best, but it's completely possible there are reasons for the way it's being re-implemented. Patrick or Tomasz: can you give an overview of what the current re-implementation strategy is? * Relevant bug: https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=25558 * Relevant MediaWiki page: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Mobile_site_rewrite MZMcBride ___ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
