Overview
MediaWiki core provides 'content-links-external' module, currently in use by every skin that loads it or loads 'content-links', for example in Vector or MinervaNeue.
This is an example of the icon and style treatment provided right now:
Problem statement
The external links module is broken functionality from several angles:
1. The user benefit of having minuscule icons of questionable identification value is highly doubtful. When these icons where brought into place, different programs have been defaults to protocols and links, like an external PDF reader application. Nowadays browsers open a PDF by default themselves. Point in case of identification issue is English Wikipedia overwriting PDF icon styles with a custom Commons one, resulting in any desktop skin featuring this instead | (Monobook showing oversized PDF icon) |
2. The icons are not implemented scalable. Bad for theming and accessibility. | (Note: Minerva Neue with skin overwrite of external icon. Showing non-scaled core 'mail' and 'document' icons) |
3. The icons are not-theme agnostic. Every skin has to redefine them in order to fit into their visual appearance. And most don't. | |
4. The file and protocol definitions are somewhat arbitrarily chosen, far from complete and unmaintained | Example video files | (Note the outdated character of listed video formats)
5. The icon treatment is limited to links that carry .external and are within .mw-parser-output. For example a normal email link without the class would not carry the icon. | |
Proposal
There are two different paths forward from my perspective:
Let's decide if
- this functionality should be carried on with in MediaWiki core? If that is really useful out-of-the-box for the average users. Or if that is skin territory
- icon treatment should be removed completely as core module and with that:
- Bring external link treatment back to skins Vector, MinervaNeue and Monobook
- Fix scaling issue
- Decide if any other protocol/file treatment makes sense. From my perspective the maintenance overhead and problems outlined above do not let this seem useful to carry further.
- Reach out to wiki communities about PDF icon
Goal
- Decide if carrying it further makes sense for MediaWiki core
- Update repos with decisions above