Background
Site notices have historically been disabled on mobile (Minerva skin) because most site notices were not tested on mobile and had a negative impact on readers (T138572). The config flag $wgMinervaEnableSiteNotice was created to allow wikis to opt-in to showing site notices on mobile.
As part of the WP25 Easter Egg deployment (T416644), site notices were enabled on Minerva for all Wikipedias:
- First enabled on English Wikipedia (February 9, 2026)
- Then enabled for all Wikipedias (February 12, 2026)
Now that site notices are widely enabled on mobile, the config flag is no longer necessary and should be removed to simplify the codebase.
User story
As a MediaWiki developer, I want to remove the deprecated $wgMinervaEnableSiteNotice config flag so that the codebase is simpler and there is no confusion about whether site notices work on mobile.
Requirements
Acceptance criteria
- Remove $wgMinervaEnableSiteNotice config option from MinervaNeue skin
- Remove any references to wgMinervaEnableSiteNotice in operations/mediawiki-config
- Site notices continue to display on Minerva skin after removal
- Update MinervaNeue documentation to reflect that site notices are always enabled
Communication criteria
A Tech News entry may be appropriate to inform wiki administrators that:
- The $wgMinervaEnableSiteNotice config flag has been removed
- Site notices are now always displayed on mobile
- Wikis that wish to hide site notices on mobile can use #siteNotice { display: none; } in MediaWiki:Minerva.css
Rollback plan
If issues arise after removal:
- Revert the MinervaNeue patch that removes the config
- Revert any mediawiki-config changes
- Re-deploy via scap
This task was created by Version 1.0.0 of the Reader Experience team task template using phabulous.