Topic on 2017 wikitext editor/Feedback

Hello. I'd like to report a bug when using 'New wikitext mode' in the English Wikipedia. The lines of wikitext overlap with each other and also with the editing interface when I am editing on mobile with the desktop view. I'm using Chrome in Android (Samsung phone), but toggle the desktop view.

Is the text colorful? If so, the problem is in CodeMirror (the syntax highlighting software). You can turn it off in the "hamburger" menu (three lines near the big blue Publish button).

Thank you. I've figured out wikEd was the cause. I've turned it off, but this is less than an optimal solution. Anyway, I suppose it was causing other trouble as well.

It turned out wikEd was not the true problem since the problem persists but the page displays correctly if I reload it on mobile... I will let you know as soon as I figure this out. --TadejM (talk) 21:11, 17 January 2023 (UTC)

I have not figured out the exact cause. None of the gadgets or beta functions seem to resolve the issue. I'm attaching the link to a screenshot. As said, when I reload the page, it displays correctly. I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S21 phone with Android 13 and opening the file in Chrome 108 (desktop view).

After disabling all gadgets and removing all custom css and js, I've now found that the issue is strictly caused by the option 'New wikitext mode' (i.e. 2017 wikitext editor) under Preferences/Beta features. It appears when I enable this mode and disappears when I disable it. I tested this in the English Wikipedia.

(In addition, wikEd does not work with this mode. I guess though that this must be resolved by its developer.)

In addition, the responsiveContent gadget caused me problems when working on desktop. I had to disable it since when it was enabled, I was unable to correctly select wikisyntax. It is described as "Improved appearance for mobile, narrow and wide screens". I don't know if it caused any problems on mobile. Blank space was selected and when I tried to delete it, the wikitext was deleted instead.

TheDJ will want to know about the gadget.

What happens if you go to the "hamburger" (three lines) menu and turn off syntax highlighting?

I left TheDJ a message on his talk page. The issue only occurs when syntax highlighting is enabled. Otherwise, everything seems to work fine.

I encountered this today, with desktop view on my phone (Android 13). The code was colorful, but the cursor seems to be at wrong place, so I could edit nothing (except by switching back to mobile view) until I turned the feature off. My browser is Ecosia.

I had the same garbled text prob in the English Wikipedia (but not in other Wikipedias) as @TadejM had before. It is possible to bypass the bug by turning off either New Wikitext mode or CodeMirror in the Hamburger Menu while editing.

After turning these on again the bug reappears. Thus it seems like CodeMirror is producing the bug as @Whatamidoing (WMF) mentioned, but it must be a different cause:

• The garbled text bug did not appear in other Wikipedias while I was editing and where CodeMirror and New Wikitext mode turned on, too, e.g. the German Wikipedia.

• And I finally managed to get rid of the bug completely:
  • While I edited an article in the English Wikipedia where the garbled text bug appeared I switched to Preferences --> Gagdets --> Editing and turned off the Syntax Hightlighter (which is not CodeMirror but the Syntax highlighter by Remember the dot) and saved prefs.
    • Note: CodeMirror and New WikiText Mode were on all the time and I did not change their modes/prefs.
  • I reloaded the tab with the article in edit mode - the mix up of colorful overlayed text disappeared.
  • Later I turned on the "Syntax highlighter" in Gadgets again to reproduce the bug. But curiosly the bug did not return... not in the article I was editing, not in other edit sessions. Not even after I restarted my browser (Firefox) which completely clears my sessions, cookies, caches, etc. and forces me to log in again.
  • BTW: I have wikEd generally turned off.

Hope that will help you, too.

If anyone can figure out how to force the bug to appear reliably, I'd love to hear the instructions.