(cross-posting for visibility, even though this task asks for an option to manually name references in VE which we cannot address)

We've published m:WMDE Technical Wishes/References/VisualEditor automatic reference names a couple of weeks ago, proposing multiple options to improve VE auto-generated ref names: Generating ref names based on template parameters or (if available) second-level domain names and also potentially improving fallback options if a reference doesn't use a template or URL. Please read more about our proposed solutions and leave your feedback on our talk page. Note that we cannot implement an option to manually add/change ref names in VE and we will only implement the proposed solution(s) if there's clear consensus by the global community to do so.

We've published m:WMDE Technical Wishes/References/VisualEditor automatic reference names a couple of weeks ago, proposing multiple options to improve VE auto-generated ref names: Generating ref names based on template parameters or (if available) second-level domain names and also potentially improving fallback options if a reference doesn't use a template or URL. Please read more about our proposed solutions and leave your feedback on our talk page. Note that we cannot implement an option to manually add/change ref names in VE and we will only implement the proposed solution(s) if there's clear consensus by the global community to do so.

In T402072#11094417, @DLynch wrote:

I'm extremely confident that there's another ticket out there about adding a new type to templatedata so that parameters could be flagged as expecting wikitext, in which case we could give you a VE widget in the template editor to have access to things like the link tool. But I can't find it.

The same bug was reported on svwiki as well.

In T416304#11758870, @STei-WMF wrote:

@Johannes_Richter_WMDE hello, regarding the entry in tech news:

Wikis that host a copy of the Reference Tooltips gadget are asked to update their version – typically located at MediaWiki:Gadget-ReferenceTooltips.js if existing – as shown here. This makes the gadget compatible with the new sub-referencing feature. Sub-referencing will be gradually rolled-out to more wikis later this year. Other gadgets that work with references might be affected as well.

I will need some more clarification. And unfortunately, this might move it to next week instead (the current edition needs to be frozen). What exactly is the news? The upcoming roll out of Sub-referencing (itself) later this year? The roll out of a new feature of Sub-referencing? Some work done on Reference Tooltips gadget to enable it be compatible with Sub-referencing? Can someone help me understand which aspect is the actual change being announced? And which part becomes the supporting/context information? Thank you.

T403394: VisualEditor doesn't offer an intuitive way of removing sub-reference details describes one scenario in detail

Thank you for the draft! Added to next week's Tech News edition.

I was referring to the option "Nesting refs via the main content" which is technically unrelated to this ticket (and which works in Parsoid). Our project page makes no mention of nesting refs in the details attribute so far. Just wanted to mention that we should check if the statements on our project page is still correct when making changes in this ticket.

Just noting that we currently mention the possibility to combine nested references and sub-references on our project page because some community members asked about it https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WMDE_Technical_Wishes/Sub-referencing#Nesting_sub-references – we should revisit that if we decide to make any changes to the current state.

svwiki interface admins implemented the recommended change https://sv.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MediaWiki%3AGadget-referenser.css&diff=59128275&oldid=58649651
I've tested the issue in legacy reader view and Parsoid and can confirm it has been resolved, see e.g. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anv%C3%A4ndare:Johannes_Richter_(WMDE)/sandl%C3%A5da1?useparsoid=1 and https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anv%C3%A4ndare:Johannes_Richter_(WMDE)/sandl%C3%A5da1?useparsoid=0

There's currently a discussion about this on German Wikipedia: de:WP:FZW#Fehler bei Einfügen von Links im Visual Editor

Noticed this task while looking at T242089, it seems this specific problem has been fixed by the website operators, I can no longer reproduce the issue.

Noting that we've implemented a feature for sub-referencing last year to address this need: T406461: VE: Enable user to make a choice to edit all sub-ref or only one.. Users can copy and paste a sub-reference (or use the re-use dialog) and decide whether to change all instances of the re-used sub-reference or just the one they're currently editing. The same mechanism also exists for adding sub-reference details to re-used references: T406454: VE: Enable user to make a choice to add a sub-ref to all or only one main ref.

Another instance of this bug: https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rothschild_(Familie)&diff=prev&oldid=264904033 (but this dirty diff looks even more broken because the reference also uses a template). Reproduced in my sandbox: https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Benutzer%3AJohannes_Richter_%28WMDE%29%2FTest3&diff=264904468&oldid=264904457

In T418280#11662368, @Johannes_Richter_WMDE wrote:

We noticed that https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Gadget-referenser.css also introduces square brackets in Parsoid view. Proposed fix (consistent with the community removing the square brackets in MediaWiki:Cite references link many):

Change lines 14-19 from:

span[rel="mw:referencedBy"]::before {
    content: "^ [";
}
span[rel="mw:referencedBy"]::after {
    content: "]";
}

To:

span[rel="mw:referencedBy"]::before {
    content: "^ ";
}

-> Delete lines 17-19 entirely and remove the square bracket from line 15.

Yes definitely very long (and not intuitive at all). Just wanted to mention it because the previously mentioned workaround doesn't seem to be working nowadays. But I just noticed that the workaround I described was already mentioned in T71498#4868396.

Thanks for relaying this feedback and creating the ticket! We've received similar feedback from German Wikipedia community members as well and noted improvements to the reference list on our roadmap for sub-referencing. We are still looking into this (provisional ticket without much content is T413221), unfortunately potential solutions are less straightforward as one might think, given that sub-references can contain details other than page numbers, e.g. quotes from different pages.

We noticed that https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Gadget-referenser.css also introduces square brackets in Parsoid view. Proposed fix (consistent with the community removing the square brackets in MediaWiki:Cite references link many):

Fixed by removing the brackets (onwiki discussion). We'll keep this task open to investigate if other wikis use similar customizations before approaching global rollout of sub-referencing.

Appears to be a variation of T404297: Adding main+details references to an empty article leads to content loss – similar to the issues with {{reflist}} there are also VisualEditor issues if there's no <reference /> tag at all. All of that might be solved once our background work on moving away from "synthetic list-defined main references" is done which is our main priority right now.

I'm very sorry for the miscommunication, I could have noticed that by just checking pl:Szablon:Przypisy myself.

The issue is not about using templates within sub/main references, it would also occur with basic references. Your plwiki test page uses {{Przypisy}} instead of <references /> As we discussed on meta sub-referencing isn't ready to deal with {{reflist}}-style templates in VisualEditor. T397501 documents the technical work required to make sub-referencing work with such templates.

Deployed today in T418209

In T416304#11622766, @Nux wrote:

Just to make this a bit more complete: plwiki is also using the enwiki version (now used by ~30 users). The gadget was enabled by default from 2012 on plwiki, but IIRC we disabled it once MediaWiki implemented reference previews. Perhaps itwiki can discuss to change the default state too.

Also, I think the gadget is not terrible at the moment, as it kind of works. So not terrible, not great ;-)
(enwiki's Gadget-ReferenceTooltips.js on top, built-in preview on the bottom)

Screen from:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomenklatur_(Biologie)#:~:text=Das%20Art%2DEpitheton%20in%20der%20Botanik%20wird%20%C3%BCblicherweise

In T414094#11616420, @Mohammed_Qays wrote:

لدي ملاحظة نحن في ويكيبيديا العربية نستخدم اسلوب مشابهة ولكن بطريقة أراها أفضل بكثير عن الاسلوب المتبع بهذه الطريقة وهو الاعتماد على قالب ووحدة. إذا كان لديكم الوقت الاطلاع عليها وفهم الطريقة وكيفية الاستشهاد. مع التحية.

This bug has been fixed by recent work in T415770. I've tested the change in Special:ContentTranslation and can no longer reproduce the issue, therefore closing as resolved.

@Blackisnewyellow I've created tt:MediaWiki:Citoid-template-type-map.json. Change the page if you want a different mapping.

Divider line above convert button: Was it there before?

Yes, see e.g. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Visual_editor_citoid_convert_button.png