Tech News 2026 - Issue 17

Latest *tech news
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News>* from the
Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes.
Not all changes will affect you. Translations
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2026/17> are
available.

*Weekly highlight*

   - After two years of development, Improved Syntax Highlighting
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror>,
   also known as CodeMirror 6
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Extension:CodeMirror>,
   is to be promoted out of beta on Tuesday, April 21. It brings better code
   and wikitext readability, reduction in typing errors, and other benefits
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror>
to
   all users of the standard syntax highlighter. A huge thank you to volunteer
   Bhsd <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/p/Bhsd/> who developed many of
   the new features, including code folding
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror#Code_folding>
   , autocompletion
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror#Autocompletion>,
   and linting
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror#Linting>
   . [1] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T259059>
   - A major update to the Wikipedia app for iOS is now rolling out,
   redesigning the interface to align with Apple's latest "Liquid Glass"
   visual design. Download the latest version
   <https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wikipedia/id324715238> and explore the
   update.

*Updates for editors*

   - Reading lists
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Readers/Reader_Experience/WE3.3.4_Reading_lists>
is
   a feature which allows readers to save articles to a list for reading
   later. This feature is now in beta on Arabic, French, Indonesian,
   Vietnamese, and Chinese Wikipedias and by default for all new accounts on
   all Wikipedias.
   - An experiment which explores extending Page Previews to mobile web
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Readers/Reader_Growth/Mobile_page_previews>
will
   be launched in the week of April 20 on Arabic, English, French, Italian,
   Polish, and Vietnamese Wikipedias. Page Previews are pop-ups that display a
   thumbnail, lead paragraph, and a link to open the full article of a blue
   link, thereby improving content discovery. The feature is already available
   on desktop and in the apps. Read more about this experiment and others
   <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/List_of_experiments_in_Product_and_Technology#Template>
   .
   - On several wikis, logged-in editors who haven't confirmed their email
   addresses
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Email_confirmation>
can
   now see a banner encouraging them to do so. Having the email address
   confirmed allows a user to restore access to the account if they
lose it. Learn
   more
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Product_Safety_and_Integrity/Account_Security#Encouraging_users_to_confirm_their_email_addresses>
   . [2] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T421366>
   - View all 15 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week
   <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Recently_resolved_community_tasks>.
   For example, an issue where editing very large wiki pages in the 2017
   wikitext editor caused slow loading, preview and scrolling lag, and
   performance issues when selecting, cutting, or pasting content, has now
   been fixed. [3] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T184857>

*Updates for technical contributors*

   - As part of the promotion of CodeMirror
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror>
from
   a beta feature, all users will use CodeMirror
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Extension:CodeMirror>
instead
   of CodeEditor
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Extension:CodeEditor> for
   syntax highlighting when editing JavaScript, CSS, JSON, Vue and Lua content
   pages. [4] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T419332>
   - The mirrors.wikimedia.org service for Debian and Ubuntu users will
   sunset and stop working on May 15. The resources for the service will be
   replaced with new and better options. Some users may need to switch to a
   different server which should take about a minute. You can read more
   <https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/thread/LJYRIS4WB66HIRCAO4GIDTXCMDVZRBMA/>
   . [5] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T416707>
   - The image and oldimage table will be removed from wikireplicas
   <https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Wiki_Replicas>. If your tools
   or queries access image or oldimage directly, please update them to use
   the file and filerevision table before 28 May. [6]
   <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T28741>
   - Following the recent implementation of global API rate limits on
   unidentified traffic, the Wikimedia Foundation will continue efforts to
   ensure fair use of infrastructure
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/MediaWiki_Product_Insights/Responsible_Reuse>
by
   applying global limits to identified API traffic beginning the last week of
   April. These limits are intentionally set as high as possible to minimise
   impact on the community. Bots running in Toolforge/WMCS or with the bot
   user right on any wiki should not be affected for now. However, all
   developers are advised to follow updated best practices. For more
   information, see Wikimedia APIs/Rate limits
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_APIs/Rate_limits>
    and Frequently Asked Questions
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_APIs/Rate_limits/FAQ>
   .
   - The Attribution API
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Attribution_API> is
   now available as a beta
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_APIs/Stability_policy>.
   The API fetches information for crediting Wikimedia articles and media
   files wherever they are used. Reference documentation is available through
   the REST Sandbox special page available on all Wikimedia wikis
(such as the REST
   sandbox on English Wikipedia
   <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?api=attribution.v0-beta&title=Special%3ARestSandbox>).
   Share your feedback on the project talk page
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:Attribution_API>.
   - There is no new MediaWiki version this week.

*Tech news
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News> prepared
by Tech News writers
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Writers> and
posted by bot
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/User:MediaWiki_message_delivery>
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