Discussion:
Latest wxWiki Updates
Bryan Petty
2013-10-02 07:31:21 UTC
Permalink
I just about let these latest updates slide without mentioning
anything, but realized there might be some people interested to hear
about changes to the wiki. Almost exactly one month ago, I moved the
wxWiki to a new server, and during this move, I made some pretty
significant updates and changes that have been running for a few weeks
now that you may have already noticed.

- New Vector Skin

No longer being stuck on PHP 5.2, I was able to update MediaWiki to
the latest and greatest release (it was still using a secure "LTS"
release before if you're wondering), and with this came the new
"Vector" skin you might be familiar with on Wikipedia. It's a little
cleaner, a little nicer, and slightly easier to use. If you don't like
it though, you can always still revert back to the old Monobook skin
in your user preferences.

- New Page Editor

With the update, I also pulled in a couple new extensions. One of
these was the WikiEditor. This is a much more functional page editor
than the built in editor, especially when it comes to tasks like
building tables, inserting images, and previewing changes without even
leaving the edit page (though those original buttons are still there
too if you still like that better).

- Updated Syntax Highlight

Not only are we running an updated (and officially supported) GeSHi
extension, but David Hart has also very kindly taken the time to
update our custom C++ language syntax file so that it knows about all
the new stuff in 2.9/3.0, and automatically links references back to
the new Doxygen manual. This was very desperately needed since I
believe the last time this was updated, it was only up through 2.6 or
possibly even 2.4.

We should be able to bring that same update to the forum's syntax
highlighting soon too.

- Assira Captcha

Of any and all web software out there that I've run and managed (and
it's a lot including of course WordPress, phpBB, and many other CMSs),
MediaWiki is by far the worst when it comes to fighting spam.
Everytime I find something that mostly works without scaring new users
away (by making it too difficult or confusing to register or edit
pages), it lasts for maybe a couple months before I end up effectively
disabling registration. I've been fighting this battle with the wxWiki
for 7 years now - it still isn't any easier.

So, here we are with spam again, and with this update, we also have a
new captcha module in the all popular ConfirmEdit extension that makes
use of Microsoft's new Assira [1] service. It requires new users to
identify cats from a set of pictures. It has been running for few
weeks now, and the results look good for now.

[1] http://research.microsoft.com/asirra

That wraps it up for the major changes. Enjoy!
--
Regards,
Bryan Petty
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Tim Burgess
2013-10-02 08:20:34 UTC
Permalink
Hi,

This all sounds good, but I have a concern about your capture method - I'm
blind and, though a big cat fan, it's going to be a problem for any
visually-impaired users (I know of several who lurk on this list).

Pleae let me know if I can help in any way with this - my main role over the
last 20 years has been as an accessibility adviser.

Best wishes.

Tim Burgess

-----Original Message-----
From: wx-***@googlegroups.com [mailto:wx-***@googlegroups.com] On Behalf
Of Bryan Petty
Sent: 02 October 2013 08:31
To: wxWidgets Users; wxWidgets Development
Subject: Latest wxWiki Updates

I just about let these latest updates slide without mentioning anything, but
realized there might be some people interested to hear about changes to the
wiki. Almost exactly one month ago, I moved the wxWiki to a new server, and
during this move, I made some pretty significant updates and changes that
have been running for a few weeks now that you may have already noticed.

- New Vector Skin

No longer being stuck on PHP 5.2, I was able to update MediaWiki to the
latest and greatest release (it was still using a secure "LTS"
release before if you're wondering), and with this came the new "Vector"
skin you might be familiar with on Wikipedia. It's a little cleaner, a
little nicer, and slightly easier to use. If you don't like it though, you
can always still revert back to the old Monobook skin in your user
preferences.

- New Page Editor

With the update, I also pulled in a couple new extensions. One of these was
the WikiEditor. This is a much more functional page editor than the built in
editor, especially when it comes to tasks like building tables, inserting
images, and previewing changes without even leaving the edit page (though
those original buttons are still there too if you still like that better).

- Updated Syntax Highlight

Not only are we running an updated (and officially supported) GeSHi
extension, but David Hart has also very kindly taken the time to update our
custom C++ language syntax file so that it knows about all the new stuff in
2.9/3.0, and automatically links references back to the new Doxygen manual.
This was very desperately needed since I believe the last time this was
updated, it was only up through 2.6 or possibly even 2.4.

We should be able to bring that same update to the forum's syntax
highlighting soon too.

- Assira Captcha

Of any and all web software out there that I've run and managed (and it's a
lot including of course WordPress, phpBB, and many other CMSs), MediaWiki is
by far the worst when it comes to fighting spam.
Everytime I find something that mostly works without scaring new users away
(by making it too difficult or confusing to register or edit pages), it
lasts for maybe a couple months before I end up effectively disabling
registration. I've been fighting this battle with the wxWiki for 7 years now
- it still isn't any easier.

So, here we are with spam again, and with this update, we also have a new
captcha module in the all popular ConfirmEdit extension that makes use of
Microsoft's new Assira [1] service. It requires new users to identify cats
from a set of pictures. It has been running for few weeks now, and the
results look good for now.

[1] http://research.microsoft.com/asirra

That wraps it up for the major changes. Enjoy!

--
Regards,
Bryan Petty

--
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To unsubscribe, send email to wx-users+***@googlegroups.com
or visit http://groups.google.com/group/wx-users
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Bryan Petty
2013-10-02 09:01:28 UTC
Permalink
I really wish I could do better, and I really have tried my best to,
but the best answer I can provide right now is to instruct users like
yourself to contact myself or another admin, and ask if we can
register an account manually. The captcha is only on new user
registrations at least.

I'm terribly sorry about this, and I have been concerned about this in
the past while using several other inaccessible captcha methods. As I
mentioned though, it's been an incredibly difficult task fighting spam
on the wiki, and I really don't have any other options available at
the moment that work well specifically with MediaWiki. Wikipedia has
resources to maintain exhaustive dns blacklist subscriptions, IP
blacklists, user agent filters, proxy scanners, honeypots and more
that they don't provide free access to. I could never setup and
maintain all of that myself. So instead, we rely on captchas, and this
is the only one that even currently works.
--
Regards,
Bryan Petty
Post by Tim Burgess
This all sounds good, but I have a concern about your capture method - I'm
blind and, though a big cat fan, it's going to be a problem for any
visually-impaired users (I know of several who lurk on this list).
Pleae let me know if I can help in any way with this - my main role over the
last 20 years has been as an accessibility adviser.
--
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To unsubscribe, send email to wx-users+***@googlegroups.com
or visit http://groups.google.com/group/wx-users
Tim Burgess
2013-10-02 09:43:56 UTC
Permalink
Bryan,

Understood, and I appreciate you getting back to me on this. At least having
this discussion puts the thread into the archive so that anybody new can
find it.

Best wishes.

Tim Burgess


-----Original Message-----
From: wx-***@googlegroups.com [mailto:wx-***@googlegroups.com] On Behalf
Of Bryan Petty
Sent: 02 October 2013 10:01
To: wxWidgets Users
Subject: Re: Latest wxWiki Updates

I really wish I could do better, and I really have tried my best to, but the
best answer I can provide right now is to instruct users like yourself to
contact myself or another admin, and ask if we can register an account
manually. The captcha is only on new user registrations at least.

I'm terribly sorry about this, and I have been concerned about this in the
past while using several other inaccessible captcha methods. As I mentioned
though, it's been an incredibly difficult task fighting spam on the wiki,
and I really don't have any other options available at the moment that work
well specifically with MediaWiki. Wikipedia has resources to maintain
exhaustive dns blacklist subscriptions, IP blacklists, user agent filters,
proxy scanners, honeypots and more that they don't provide free access to. I
could never setup and maintain all of that myself. So instead, we rely on
captchas, and this is the only one that even currently works.

--
Regards,
Bryan Petty
Post by Tim Burgess
This all sounds good, but I have a concern about your capture method -
I'm blind and, though a big cat fan, it's going to be a problem for
any visually-impaired users (I know of several who lurk on this list).
Pleae let me know if I can help in any way with this - my main role
over the last 20 years has been as an accessibility adviser.
--
Please read http://www.wxwidgets.org/support/mlhowto.htm before posting.

To unsubscribe, send email to wx-users+***@googlegroups.com
or visit http://groups.google.com/group/wx-users
--
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Vadim Zeitlin
2013-10-02 16:24:39 UTC
Permalink
On Wed, 2 Oct 2013 01:31:21 -0600 Bryan Petty wrote:

BP> I just about let these latest updates slide without mentioning
BP> anything, but realized there might be some people interested to hear
BP> about changes to the wiki.

As much as I like these updates, the fact that you didn't have to announce
them and the wiki just continued to work throughout is pretty impressive
too.

Thanks a lot for taking care of it so well!
VZ
--
TT-Solutions: wxWidgets consultancy and technical support
http://www.tt-solutions.com/
Stefano Mtangoo
2013-10-02 21:36:53 UTC
Permalink
Great Bryan!
I only Miss ability to make PDF like wikipedia does. But things a bit
better...no ugly UI anymore!
And spam are always there to make web experience annoying to admins ad
harder for Newcomers :)
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Bryan Petty
2013-10-02 22:42:30 UTC
Permalink
Post by Stefano Mtangoo
I only Miss ability to make PDF like wikipedia does.
I've added this functionality now.

Regards,
Bryan Petty
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Stefano Mtangoo
2013-10-04 09:47:38 UTC
Permalink
Post by Bryan Petty
Post by Stefano Mtangoo
I only Miss ability to make PDF like wikipedia does.
I've added this functionality now.
Thanks a lot
Regards,
Bryan Petty
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Mauro Ziliani
2014-02-27 11:15:56 UTC
Permalink
Hi all.
Is still in progress the extended rtti?
Or it was abbandoned?

Mauro
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