ManageWikiPermissions Reaches the Next Evolution
Do we have permission to stop?

Just over 7 months ago, I announced the release of ManageWikiPermissions. It is fair to say over the past few months, this module of ManageWiki has evolved immensely with many new features and even a page redesign. I can now finally say ManageWikiPermissions is deemed a 'completed feature' which now provides all the functionality most users would want!

What's new?

Since a lot of the changes are technical, and some may just want the low down, here is a list of all the changes that have been made to ManageWikiPermissions since it was first introduced (and with dates):

  • "Reset group permissions to default" button was added to the main page allowing a complete refresh of all group permissions to what Miraheze deploys globally. (commit, Nov 12th 2018)
  • Extensions are able to add permissions to groups by default - allowing seamless extension management and implementing "sane" defaults for examples. (commit, Nov 29th 2018)
  • Completely redesigned ManageWikiPermissions to move away from old HTML tables to JS OOUI. (commit, April 5th 2019)
  • Allow groups to be able to assign and remove groups to/from themselves. (commit, April 22nd 2019)
  • Allow managing of group autopromotions. (commit, April 22nd)

OOUI?

Yes, OOUI. Or in words, Object Oriented User Interface. While it could be explained, it's probably easier to show the difference OOUI has made to ManageWikiPermissions.

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The images to the right and left show what ManageWikiPermissions was like just 18 days ago using HTML tables instead of OOUI. The layout was poor, compact and not user-friendly.


The images below show the new OOUI design for ManageWikiPermissions. Notice how the design is more user-friendly, considered and condensed.

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Autopromotion?

Autopromotion being added is probably the biggest change to ManageWikiPermissions lately. Autopromotion is a design feature of MediaWiki where if a user meets certain criteria, they will automatically inherit a user group's permissions and abilities without the need to be granted the group through Special:UserRights. The downside is, however, once a user meets the criteria and get's promoted - they can not be removed from the group individually. Care must be taken when deciding on autopromotion criteria.


ManageWiki as a project still has a long way to go before it is able to support every setting MediaWiki has to offer and before we're able to support everything we could possibly want to do on Miraheze. The development of both CreateWiki and ManageWiki will continue long through 2019 when it comes to core changes and core additions however I feel both projects are stable for third party use. Anyone wishing to use either piece of software (or our other ones such as WikiDiscover, MatomoAnalytics or RottenLinks, etc.) are encouraged to contact me by email at john [at] miraheze.org and I will happily support anyone in using the software. For DataDump, contacting @Paladox at paladox [at] miraheze.org is the best course.

To keep up to date on the developments of all of our software, below are links to projects both on Phabricator and GitHub for the software!

Written by John on Apr 22 2019, 21:21.
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