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Maniphest T416080

Visual editor does not respect template formats (spaces between parameters) in automatic citation tool
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Authored By
Jengod
Jan 31 2026, 9:59 PM
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Aklapper
Jengod
Johannnes89
Mvolz

Description

  1. Let me apologize for how useless I'm about to be. I have no technical background and I edit on Safari for iPhone so I'm typically just bumbling along best I can
  1. I think some key information is to be found Help talk:Citation Style 1#Formatting change ? where User:Trappist the monk replied to my concerns
  1. tl;dr - please put the spaces back in the automatically generated citations and please restore the previous order of fields, namely name-date-title-publisher etc.

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{F71638345}

{F71638344}

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What happens?:

When I use what I guess is the "automatic" citation tool in what I am told is "the visual editor" in order to create citations from URLs, the result has no spaces between the fields which makes it harder to read and edit and results in weird line breaks.

Also, the resulting order of fields is...weird.

{{Cite news|title=Natchez, the City Unusual: Mercer House|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/tensas-gazette-natchez-the-city-unusual/190277289/|work=Tensas gazette|date=1932-06-03|access-date=2026-01-31|pages=5|last=Wyatt|first=Edith Moore}}

What should have happened instead?:

{{Cite news |last=Wyatt |first=Edith Moore |date=1932-06-03 |title=Natchez, the City Unusual: Mercer House |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/tensas-gazette-natchez-the-city-unusual/190277289/ |work=Tensas gazette |pages=5 |access-date=2026-01-31 }}

Software version (on Special:Version page; skip for WMF-hosted wikis like Wikipedia):

English language wikipedia

Other information (browser name/version, screenshots, etc.):

None

Related Objects

Event Timeline

Jengod created this task.Jan 31 2026, 9:59 PM
Restricted Application added a subscriber: Aklapper. · View Herald TranscriptJan 31 2026, 9:59 PM
Reedy added projects: VisualEditor, Mobile.Jan 31 2026, 10:14 PM
Reedy updated the task description. (Show Details)
Johannnes89 added a project: Citoid.Feb 1 2026, 9:38 AM
Johannnes89 updated the task description. (Show Details)
Johannnes89 subscribed.Feb 1 2026, 9:52 AM

This doesn't seem to be limited to Safari or mobile browsers. Steps to replicate the issue (even in desktop browsers):

<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rafaela Pimenta talks transfer system, gender inequality and more|url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cj6w3wr9x2lo|website=BBC Sport|date=2026-02-01|access-date=2026-02-01|language=en-GB|first=Simon|last=Stone}}</ref>
  • Switch to 2017 Wikitext editor and use Citoid to create the same citation
  • Observe that the wikitext output matches the format defined in TemplateData
<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stone |first=Simon |date=2026-02-01 |title=Rafaela Pimenta talks transfer system, gender inequality and more |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cj6w3wr9x2lo |access-date=2026-02-01 |website=BBC Sport |language=en-GB}}</ref>
Wargo renamed this task from Visual editor - citation tool - "automatic" cites to Visual editor does not respect template formats (spaces between parameters) in automatic citation tool.Feb 1 2026, 12:27 PM
Mvolz subscribed.Feb 4 2026, 1:47 PM
In T416080#11571730, @Johannnes89 wrote:

This doesn't seem to be limited to Safari or mobile browsers. Steps to replicate the issue (even in desktop browsers):

<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rafaela Pimenta talks transfer system, gender inequality and more|url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cj6w3wr9x2lo|website=BBC Sport|date=2026-02-01|access-date=2026-02-01|language=en-GB|first=Simon|last=Stone}}</ref>
  • Switch to 2017 Wikitext editor and use Citoid to create the same citation
  • Observe that the wikitext output matches the format defined in TemplateData
<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stone |first=Simon |date=2026-02-01 |title=Rafaela Pimenta talks transfer system, gender inequality and more |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cj6w3wr9x2lo |access-date=2026-02-01 |website=BBC Sport |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Can you tell me which desktop browser you're using and ideally the version?

I've tried both Chrome and Firefox and I'm unable to replicate this using the 2010 editor.

Johannnes89 added a comment.Feb 4 2026, 2:33 PM
In T416080#11583286, @Mvolz wrote:
In T416080#11571730, @Johannnes89 wrote:

This doesn't seem to be limited to Safari or mobile browsers. Steps to replicate the issue (even in desktop browsers):

<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rafaela Pimenta talks transfer system, gender inequality and more|url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cj6w3wr9x2lo|website=BBC Sport|date=2026-02-01|access-date=2026-02-01|language=en-GB|first=Simon|last=Stone}}</ref>
  • Switch to 2017 Wikitext editor and use Citoid to create the same citation
  • Observe that the wikitext output matches the format defined in TemplateData
<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stone |first=Simon |date=2026-02-01 |title=Rafaela Pimenta talks transfer system, gender inequality and more |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cj6w3wr9x2lo |access-date=2026-02-01 |website=BBC Sport |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Can you tell me which desktop browser you're using and ideally the version?

I've tried both Chrome and Firefox and I'm unable to replicate this using the 2010 editor.

I've used Chrome and Safari on MacOS and iOS. But I can no longer reproduce the issue.
Perhaps the backport in T415328 this Monday to fix T411238: Unexpected wikitext changes & whitespace removals by VisualEditor edits and T416074: VisualEditor capitalizes wikilinks in ref content when ISBN magic links are present also fixed the issue reported in this task?

Mvolz added a comment.Feb 5 2026, 10:56 AM
In T416080#11583504, @Johannnes89 wrote:
In T416080#11583286, @Mvolz wrote:
In T416080#11571730, @Johannnes89 wrote:

This doesn't seem to be limited to Safari or mobile browsers. Steps to replicate the issue (even in desktop browsers):

<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rafaela Pimenta talks transfer system, gender inequality and more|url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cj6w3wr9x2lo|website=BBC Sport|date=2026-02-01|access-date=2026-02-01|language=en-GB|first=Simon|last=Stone}}</ref>
  • Switch to 2017 Wikitext editor and use Citoid to create the same citation
  • Observe that the wikitext output matches the format defined in TemplateData
<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stone |first=Simon |date=2026-02-01 |title=Rafaela Pimenta talks transfer system, gender inequality and more |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cj6w3wr9x2lo |access-date=2026-02-01 |website=BBC Sport |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Can you tell me which desktop browser you're using and ideally the version?

I've tried both Chrome and Firefox and I'm unable to replicate this using the 2010 editor.

I've used Chrome and Safari on MacOS and iOS. But I can no longer reproduce the issue.
Perhaps the backport in T415328 this Monday to fix T411238: Unexpected wikitext changes & whitespace removals by VisualEditor edits and T416074: VisualEditor capitalizes wikilinks in ref content when ISBN magic links are present also fixed the issue reported in this task?

Yeah, almost certainly. I'll close as dupe.

Mvolz closed this task as a duplicate of T411238: Unexpected wikitext changes & whitespace removals by VisualEditor edits.Feb 5 2026, 10:56 AM
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