Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Toolbar

Wikipedia ToolBar for IE

http://www.download.com/Wikipedia-Toolbar-for-IE/3000-12777_4-10541716.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.114.255.3 (talk) 22:45, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

After checking out this toolbar I've removed its link from the main page. This seems to be a generic "do-everything" toolbar that was simply tweaked for Wikipedia. It gives you a pop-up blocker, weather, email alerts, links to Amazon and Yahoo etc. Aside from the search bar, it doesn't seem to do much specifically for Wikipedia. Equazcion •✗/C • 15:35, 4 Oct 2008 (UTC)

Bug

I found a very nasty but with the toolbar after updating from 0.5.7 to 0.5.8: It completely destroyed some of my Firefox configuration, including position of buttons on the toolbars (sometimes the existence of the buttons), position of various other elements in the chrome, and it caused the Web Developer toolbar to cease to exist. In addition, none of my extensions would work properly until I restarted Firefox twice and finally rolled back to 0.5.7. I am using Firefox 3.0.3 (Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.3) Gecko/2008092417 Firefox/3.0.3). --FastLizard4 (Talk•Index•Sign) 06:56, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

I can't see any possible reason for that. The two versions are virtually identical. The only difference between 0.5.7 and 0.5.8 is, literally, a little tag that says the latest Firefox version the extension can be installed under (0.5.7 reads "3.1a1pre", and 0.5.8 reads "3.1b2pre"). None of the actual extension code has changed at all. Is it possible there's some other change you made inadvertently and then rolled back along with the toolbar update? Equazcion •✗/C • 19:11, 20 Oct 2008 (UTC)

I suppose it is possible, but I don't know how likely that is - if I recall correctly, the only other extension I updated at the time was Foxmarks, but that is known to be very stable and it worked fine. I have noticed a similar problem happen with previous versions of the toolbar, but it was very limited - my setting to always show the tab bar (even when there is only one tab) was overridden. The problem disappeared when I rolled back (or disabled) the extension. --FastLizard4 (Talk•Index•Sign) 06:30, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Questions

Does this toolbar's editing help features work on other mediawiki installs? --Alex Leonard (talk) 16:54, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Good question. The toolbar is designed exclusively for Wikipedia, but many buttons do incidentally work at other MediaWiki sites. Talk/article toggle, edit, add section, history, watch, unwatch, move, what links here, no redirect, and purge server cache should all work at many other MediaWiki sites. Using other functions, such as the "go" bar, random article button, and watchlist button, will all navigate back to Wikipedia though, rather than staying within whichever other wiki is currently in your browser. Equazcion •✗/C • 17:50, 26 Jan 2009 (UTC)

Information on another page

I've changed Wikipedia:Tools/Browser tools/Mozilla Firefox/Extension: Wikipedia toolbar to a redirect to Wikipedia:Wikipedia Toolbar. I'm guessing that there was not any information there that wasn't already on Wikipedia:Wikipedia Toolbar, but that's just a guess. -- John Broughton (♫♫) 15:51, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Judging by the info that was there and the page revision dates, it seems that page referred to a different older toolbar, also named "Wikipedia Toolbar". It seems rather obsolete now so the redirect might nevertheless be appropriate. Equazcion •✗/C • 19:37, 20 Feb 2009 (UTC)

Toolbar for the Secure Server

I'll have a go at creating this, but any help would be appreciated. DeMoN2009 16:32, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

Update

I'm running Firefox 3.5.2, and this toolbar is sadly unavailable. Any chance of an update in the near future, O Creator? —thedarklordtrombonator 06:21, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

Looking at the Mozilla page, it seems to be compatible with any version up to 3.6 pre. I'm running 3.5.2 myself and just tried installing it, and seems like it was successful. Have you tried installing? If you're just going by the max version on the main page here, it's not necessarily accurate as I've neglected this thing for a while. Equazcion (talk) 06:29, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

No, it turned itself off for some reason. It's all up again now. Thanks anyway. —thedarklordtrombonator 09:21, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

Potential vulnerability

We found a potential security vulnerability in your extension. I sent you an email regarding this issue. Please check it out. Wikiuser2009s (talk) 04:03, 12 November 2009 (UTC)wikiuser2009s

Thanks for the heads-up. I've repaired the error and uploaded version 0.5.9.1, which is pending review by Mozilla. I'll confirm when it's available. Equazcion (talk) 06:09, 12 Nov 2009 (UTC)

Some feature thoughts

This is really cool. I just started thinking about what would be some neat additional features, hope you don't mind:

1. It could probably use an "About" link that would come back to the WP Toolbar page.
2. The ability to rearrange/add/remove buttons would be really useful, as noted above. Then there could also be some buttons with more esoteric functions that would only be custom-added. Personally, I go to "My Contributions" much more than I move pages, so I'd rather have that be a button instead of a drop down, and remove "move" altogether. That's the kind of thing everybody's going to want a little different, so customization is good. The model I'm thinking of is Googlebar (not to be confused with the official Google Toolbar).
   1. Some possible buttons that could be added: User contribution history; template links; maybe a "this page in different languages" dropdown? Just some thoughts off the top of my head. Or some automated features, like quickly uploading images or moving images to commons.
3. Icons instead of text, at least as an option, would actually make it easier for some of us. It'd take up less screen real-estate and would be quicker (depending on one's thought process style, I suppose).
4. Maybe a dropdown by the search box that lets you search in different namespaces?

Anyway, those are my thoughts for now. —Chowbok ☠ 22:27, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

Maybe a MOS dropdown?—Chowbok ☠ 22:33, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

Actually, seems like the watch & unwatch buttons could be combined; it could change depending on the status of the current page. This would have the advantage of showing you at a glance if something was on your watchlist.—Chowbok ☠ 03:15, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

Just went wonky

I've been using the bar for several weeks and like it a lot, but it just went wonky on me under FF 3.5.8 (I'm waiting to upgrade to 6.x until some of my other plugins are made compatible). For example, if I go to Drumsound & Basslinesmith and click the history button, it reports that there is no history (is that even possible?) for that page. I've noted that if I click the talk/article button on some pages it takes me to some other article or talk page from the one I'm viewing. I uninstalled–restarted–reinstalled–restarted the bar with no results. Is it no longer backwards–compatible? Regards, TRANSPORTERMAN (TALK) 16:42, 24 March 2010 (UTC) Fixed typo. — TRANSPORTERMAN (TALK) 16:43, 24 March 2010 (UTC)

I don't think it's an issue of the Firefox version -- it's more likely that you've never tried to use the toolbar with a Wikipedia page that had an ampersand (&) in its title :) It looks like this is a bug, where the "history" and other buttons will only grab the page title until the ampersand, so that usually means you're trying to get the history of a non-existent page. I might look into fixing this, but it seems like it wouldn't really come up that often anyway. Equazcion ^(talk) 18:32, 24 Mar 2010 (UTC)

Does this script show how many items have appeared in my watchlist since I last visited it?

And if not, can that be done? Gary King (talk) 18:07, 12 April 2010 (UTC)

Nope, but you might be looking for this: Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts/Scripts/Watchlist since. Equazcion ^(talk) 18:12, 12 Apr 2010 (UTC)

I've already setup my watchlist to highlight any changes to my watchlist since I last visited it. However, I'm looking for something with push ability. Gary King (talk) 18:16, 12 April 2010 (UTC)

This doesn't do anything like that. I don't think any tools would have push ability, or we'd have the email notification mediawiki feature available. RSS might do something close, but I'm not that familiar with it so I couldn't say for sure. Equazcion ^(talk) 18:28, 12 Apr 2010 (UTC)

Yeah a tool could be whipped up with the feed. I'm familiar with RSS, XML, PHP, JS, etc., just not familiar with XUL. If I have time I'll give it a shot; it'd be similar to the Gmail Notifier. Gary King (talk) 18:52, 12 April 2010 (UTC)

Show only when on Wikipedia

Is there anyway that the toolbar can be set so that it only displays when you are on a Wikipedia page (as opposed to always being displayed)? I know it's not longer actively being developed, but I think this would be a good feature to add. –Dream out loud (talk) 22:53, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

Quit working altogether this morning

Apparently the upgrade to version 1.17 of MediaWiki this morning broke all the buttons on the bar, or at least it did in mine. Best regards, TRANSPORTERMAN (TALK) 20:14, 16 February 2011 (UTC)

Firefox 4

This (incredibly awesome) extension is not available on Firefox 4. Is there any chance of updating this in the near future? —tdltrombonator 10:32, 27 March 2011 (UTC)

I'm planning on updating this to work with Firefox 4. I figured out the problem, and as soon as someone smarter than me can figure out what changed, it should be up and running. Since I'm updating it anyway, are there any suggestions for improvements? MrKIA11 (talk) 21:10, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

Provide an option for removing unwanted buttons and, perhaps, adding others. I just today disabled it and learned the keyboard shortcuts for the primary things that it did. WP:Keyboard shortcuts might provide a good list of optional buttons. Thank you for taking this on. Best regards, TRANSPORTERMAN (TALK) 21:18, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

A challenge right off the bat. Are you saying that it has keyboard shortcuts, or that you just figured out the keyboard shortcuts that are equivalent to the buttons? I can add the keyboard shortcut to the tooltip, but other than that, I'd have to learn how to have any additional functionality. I don't know how to have optional buttons, but I know it's possible, so I'll look into it and see if I can figure it out. MrKIA11 (talk) 21:29, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

No, I'm saying I just figured out the shortcuts equivalent to the buttons. I'm just saying that the keyboard shortcut list might provide a good list of some additional buttons which might be included or excluded at a user's option. For example, some user might not want the watch and unwatch buttons and might instead want a "save" button. That's all, easy for me to suggest probably a pain in the _ss to implement. For me, I'd be happy just to get the existing bar working again, but you asked... Gratefully, TRANSPORTERMAN (TALK) 01:15, 24 April 2011 (UTC) (Alt-Shift-S to save...)

Yeah, I have the access keys displaying next to the links. I also started looking through some of the old discussions, and there are some other good ideas. First priority is getting the current one working, and then I'll start learning what exactly can be done. I think adding options/preferences will be next. MrKIA11 (talk) 01:50, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

I got it! I found an answer to the problem, and I should have the toolbar back in working condition this weekend, latest next weekend. I'll see if I can get access to the original add-on page so that when I post the update, it will automatically push out to everyone that has it installed. MrKIA11 (talk) 00:27, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

I'm waiting for Equazcion to hopefully answer as to whether I will be able to update the existing addon, but is there anyone willing to test it and give feedback? I don't seem to have any problems, but it seems like there is always that one combination of events that will break anything. MrKIA11 (talk) 12:06, 8 May 2011 (UTC)

Just tell me how to implement it and I'll be there, and thanks. TransporterMan (TALK) 17:01, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

Well according to the help files in the Firefox development hub, I should be able to upload the extension as a beta version, and that way you can download it, but it will not get pushed out to everyone. You'll also be added to the development 'channel' for the add-on, meaning you'll also get any beta versions that are put out in the future. Assuming I'm reading that correctly, I'll post here when you can download it. Still waiting for a response from Equazcion. MrKIA11 (talk) 22:52, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

Your mileage may vary, but I got Wikipedia toolbar, at least the search function, which is all that I use, to work in FF 4 by updating the RDF file. Changed this line to: <em:maxVersion>4.5b2pre</em:maxVersion> —Preceding unsigned comment added by Msaroff (talk • contribs) 13:15, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

If all you want is a search facility, let me recommend that you can avoid using screen space for the toolbar by setting up a keyword bookmark in your Firefox bookmarks that points to

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s

I use just the letter "w" as my keyword, so if I type "w kalahari" in my URL bar it searches Wikipedia for kalahari. (I actually have another keyword, wh, which points to

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s&ns12=1&ns4=1&ns10=1&fulltext=Search+Help&fulltext=Search

to search the Wikipedia help system with the same default choices you get through the search blank at Help:Contents.) It's the other buttons that MrKIA11 is fixing. The compatibility issue is, as you note, easily fixed (and if you use the MR Tech Toolkit plugin, you don't even have to recode to force compatibility). Regards, TransporterMan (TALK) 13:41, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, I'm getting all the buttons to work, and after that's done, start adding new features. I just realized that it doesn't work using some of the other skins, so I'll have to fix that before I post it, but it should be up this weekend if I can get a response from Equazcion. MrKIA11 (talk) 15:31, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

Update...

Wow, this would be a great tool! Unfortunately, Not available for Firefox 20.0. ): What would it take to get this toolbar back up and running on the newest versions of FireFox? I can think of ALL kinds of functionality that could be offered to more "advanced" Wikipedians using this toolbar and even some goodies for people that just "browse" WP. I'd love to get in on the development, and might be willing to take the project over if it has been abandoned for some reason. Looking for some input here. Technical 13 (talk) 15:49, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

I'd expect the only people who can help you here already have this page watchlisted; random Wikipedia editors or admins probably cannot help with this task. Thus I've removed the {{help me}} messages. The Toolbar's author was User:Equazcion, who was last active on April 1; you may want to leave a message at User talk:Equazcion or send a mail. Huon (talk) 20:02, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

• I think reviving this project would be an awesome thing! I just came across this page and was way enthused until I came to realize that it wouldn't work with my current Firefox version. Hmm, I know some versions of Puppy Linux still come with Firefox 3.6 as one of the default options... I wonder if my poor old 'puter could run such in virtual box effectively? It's tempting. : } . I've been doing much more editing lately and constant scrolling function shortcuts gets to be a pain. Anyway, kudos to Technical 13 for expressing a willingness to attempt a revival. Best of luck! --Kevjonesin (talk) 22:19, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

Still works fine

Um; just to let the original developers know; this still works fine. If someone here at wikipedia (admin) would like to add|allow me to the mozilla allowed access users, I could mark the toolbar as current since it's working just fine. And has been. I've been using it since it was released and I'm currently on MFF v22. Also appears to work still on 23beta.
A few minor adjustments will show this to work currently so new users can download and utilize this great tool.

The current workaround is to install first Mozilla add on compatibility reporter then install Mozilla Check Compatibility. Turns off the compatibility checker added at the Firefox Rapid Release Cycle and turns on the ignore incompatible plugins and extensions option.Lostinlodos (talk) 18:24, 24 July 2013 (UTC)