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Gadgets

From Meta, a Wikimedia project coordination wiki

Gadgets are tools that provide a way for users to pick JavaScript or CSS based "gadgets" that other wiki users provide (For more technical details: mw:Extension:Gadgets). Many gadgets and scripts have been created by that volunteers across Wikimedia projects, which add various useful features (such as improved editing experience, easy mass category modifications etc).

The purpose of this page is to provide cross project statistics for gadgets and to improve gadgets sharing between projects.

Gadgets used across wikis

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Statistics for gadgets used across projects, based on user preferences (including the ones enabled on a wiki by default) [1]:

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Gadgets in this category meet the criteria listed below:

  • Used on more than 50 Wikimedia wikis.
  • Widely tested, proven useful and reliable.
  • Well-documented and maintained.
  • Help to carry out valuable tasks related to editing, browsing, fighting vandalism, etc.

Note: The table below was last updated on 2022-10-12.[2]

Category Gadget name Description Number of Wikimedia wikis used on
Editing HotCat Helps registered users easily change and add categories to Wikipedia pages 423
RefToolbar Help editors add citation templates to articles. For use in combination with WikiEditor. 104
Cat-a-lot Helps with moving files (or subcategories) between categories or adding categories to search results 80
CharInsert Editing tool that allows the insertion of various characters and symbols that may be difficult to add from the keyboard 80
ProveIt Makes it easy to find, edit, add and cite references when editing articles. For use in combination with WikiEditor, as VisualEditor provides a citation tool itself. 67
DotsSyntaxHighlighter An alternative to the default coloring of wiki syntax in the edit box. Note: This gadget is unneeded when the CodeMirror extension is available unless you are on an RTL wiki, where this extension is currently not supported. 64
CleanDeleteReasons Removes the automatic deletion reasons to keep the delete logs cleaner 60
Appearance UTCLiveClock Adds a clock to the personal toolbar that displays the current time in UTC and provides a link to purge the current page 205
Edittop Add an [edit] link for the introduction section of a page 143
markblocked Pulls user accounts and IPs from the history page and strikes out the users who are currently blocked 59
removeAccessKeys Deactivates access keys in the web browser 54
Reading Navigation popups Offers access to page previews (in all namespaces), and dozens of related-links such as history pages. It appears as a popup window when you hover over links. It is primarily used by power-editors. This gadget has some overlap with the Page Previews extension which just shows article previews and is enabled by default on all Wikipedias. See some of the differences between the gadget and the extension. 154
purgetab Adds a tab that lets you purge the page's cache, so you do not have to manually load the page via the action=purge URL parameter 144
Reference tooltips Displays notes when you hover over on a footnote link. This gadget is unneeded when the Reference Previews extension is available. See Topic:V9ygqcn5s9d1eld4 for the differences between the gadget and the extension. 126
Twinkle Gives auto-confirmed registered users many extra options to assist them in common Wikipedia maintenance tasks and to help them deal with acts of vandalism or unconstructive edits 81
Exlinks Opens external links in a new tab or window 81
Patrolling RTRC Helps patrol recent changes in real-time 70
ContribsRange Find user edits in the IP range you want 67

Guidelines for gadgets

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  • For wiki admins:
    • Use the above statistics to find interesting gadgets your project is missing and other projects have.
    • If you want to enable a gadget on your wiki and this gadget already exists on another wiki:

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. Source: Python scripts to fetch statistics for gadgets used across Wikimedia projects.
  2. Source: Python script to fetch gadgets used on more than 50 Wikimedia wikis.