Extension:HidePrefix

MediaWiki extensions manual

HidePrefix Release status: stable
Implementation	User interface
Description	Hide prefix in links and page titles.
Author(s)	Van de Buggertalk
Maintainer(s)	Kizule
Latest version	0.1.0 (2022-05-12)
MediaWiki	1.35+
Database changes	No
License	GNU Affero General Public License 3.0 or later
Download	Download extension Git [?]: Download Git master browse repository (GitHub) commit history repository contributors (GitHub) code review
Hooks used BeforePageDisplay HtmlPageLinkRendererBegin
Quarterly downloads	18 (Ranked 115th)
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The HidePrefix extension hides prefix in links and page titles.

For example, wikitext `[[Help:FAQ]]' normally results in link `Help:FAQ'. If this extension is enabled, result will be just `FAQ' without the `Help:' prefix.

The same is about page titles. Page `FAQ' in `Help' namespace normally has `Help:FAQ' title. If this extension is enabled, visible page title will be just `FAQ' without the `Help:' prefix.

Rationale

I as a user do not care too much about namespace of the link target page. To me there is no big difference between `Help:FAQ' and `Manual:FAQ' (especially if one of them is a redirection to another). But both these prefixes looks ugly to me.

Namespace of target is often clear from context. If you see `Author: User:Van de Bugger' it is clear that `User:Van de Bugger' is a link to her/his personal page. Moreover, actually it does not matter whether that page is in `User' namespace or not. But again, the prefix looks very ugly, so many wikieditors use `[[User:Van de Bugger|Van de Bugger]]' to suppress the prefix — look into the infobox on the right.

Prefixes look especially ugly if there is a long list of links with the same prefix. For example, look at the list of Extensions used on Wikimedia. More than 100 occurrences of prefix `Extension:' just clutter the screen and do not add any value. (BTW, did you notice that I had to use `[[:Category:Extensions used on Wikimedia|Extensions used on Wikimedia]]' to suppress ugly `Category:' prefix?)

Thus, If I want to hide the ugly prefix so often, why should I hide it at every link manually? Let me write an extension which will hide the prefix in all the links. Everywhere.

BTW, prefix is hidden in link text, but it is still available — if one hovers the mouse cursor over the link, tooltip will show the full target page title, including the prefix.

Almost the same reasoning is applicable to page titles. A prefix looks ugly and does not add any value to reader, because just above the page title (at least, in Vector skin) there are namespace tabs, and the leftmost tab shows the namespace name.

Installation

• Download and move the extracted HidePrefix folder to your extensions/ directory.
  Developers and code contributors should install the extension from Git instead, using:cd extensions/
git clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/mediawiki/extensions/HidePrefix
• Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php file:

  wfLoadExtension( 'HidePrefix' );
  

•  Done – Navigate to Special:Version on your wiki to verify that the extension is successfully installed.