GSoC/GCI Archive
Google Code-in 2013 Wikimedia

Add template data to two popular Wikipedia templates #20

completed by: Stefan Stamenov

mentors: Guillaume Paumier

MediaWiki templates are wiki pages to be included in other pages. Templates can take arguments, allowing editors to create special types of content like infoboxes, banners, and more.

VisualEditor is a new way of editing MediaWiki pages. You can add and edit templates to articles using VisualEditor, but that requires the addition of template data to the templates.

English Wikipedia has thousands of templates, and most are currently missing template data. Help improving this situation!

Step 1

Learn about VisualEditor and template data:

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:VisualEditor/User_guide

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:VisualEditor/TemplateData_tutorial

Step 2

Choose two Infobox templates from the list at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:VisualEditor/TemplateData#Infobox_template_.28.3E5.2C000_uses.29

It is better to go for templates at the end of that list, with less uses, especially if this is your first template data task.

Make sure that nobody has started adding template data to the templates you have chosen. Comment in this GCI which task will you work on as soon as you have selected.

Step 3

Add the template data following the instructions in that page.

Test the templates with VisualEditor, both to add the template to an article and edit the data of an existing template. Test in your own Wikipedia user pages, unless you feel confident about editing real Wikipedia articles. If you edit articles, make sure you don't leave any wrong/broken details.

In your tests, you must check that all the parameters of the template have been included. Check also that your English descriptions are correct and fit well in the interface.

Add a {{tick}} to the list as instructed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:VisualEditor/TemplateData#Commonly_used_templates to announce that you have completed your task.

Support

If you have general questions about template data, ask here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:VisualEditor/TemplateData/Tutorial

If you have a specific question about a template, ask in its Discussion page.

Please copy your questions here as well. This way both GCI mentors and other community members will be able to help you.