Contents
Goal[edit]
Goal of an extension store is:
- The extension store is the "frontend" (website) to the "backend" of the extension repository (Github etc.)
- The extension store functions as a starting point for all questions concerning the extension – for consultants, developers and users.
- The documentation offers every aspect worth knowing about the extension in a concise and targeted manner: again for consultants, developers and users. (Different approaches, different background knowledge, different terminology!)
The documentation shall include:
- The user shall be able to easily identify the "best", the most downloaded, most actively patched, most actively supported, most often used extensions.
- Dependencies and compatibility information (was tested, was not tested) towards core and other extensions shall be clearly shown.
Connected to the extension store is the extension management:
- Extension management shall be easy for administrators and developers alike.
- Extension management shall be possible from within the wiki (Special page). It includeds installation, update, deactivation.
- 1-click-installation (update, deactivation etc.) shall be possible.
- Installation of skins shall also be possible via extension management.
Technical challenges:
- Compatibility testing of extension towards core and other extensions shall be improved and automated.
- Installation process shall include automatic compatibility testing before installation.
Questions[edit]
- What should the store feature? Just extensions, or also templates, skins, SMW packages?
- What possibilities for location of the store are out there? (MediaWiki.org, Magento new store)
- The ideal place is MediaWiki.org, what facts speak against having the store there?
- Paid extensions won't be accepted.
- What speaks against a store on a new, external platform?
- Duplicate content
- Time and effort to maintain
- What is the role of Bluespice in here?
- What could be a "give back" policy also for the store?
- E.g. a percentage of sales goes towards the maintenance of the platform/store and/or MediaWiki
- How to ensure content quality?
- What is in for WMF to support this?
To do:
- Update of feature list
- Next steps
Status quo[edit]
On MediaWiki.org currently a few thousand (how many exactly?) extensions are listed.
Existing features (see Template:Extension)[edit]
Technical info:[edit]
- Release status/extension status: stable/beta/experimental/unstable/unknown/unmaintained
- Latest version, latest preview version
- Implementation type (numerous, e.g. special page, hook, wikipage, parser function)
- Database changes Yes/No
- Tables
- Namespace, Parameter, Hooks used and provided
- Vagrant roles
- Links to open bugs in Phabricator
Installation info:[edit]
- Compatibility notes: "MediaWiki 1.17+". "PHP 5.3" – Is this info sufficient?
- Composer
- Download link
Developer info:[edit]
- Author/Developer
- License note
Usage info:[edit]
- Description
- Image (Screenshots)
- Example
- Link to translation page
In fulltext:[edit]
- Release notes
- installation instructions
- extension dependencies
Problems[edit]
- Many extensions are outdated, the documentation, the status is not up-to-date.
- The update process of extensions is non-automatic and tedious.
- Extensions are not tested against new core releases.
Feature ideas[edit]
Feature ideas: see also Magento Connect and WordPress plugins
Content bundles[edit]
- The store shall support distribution of content bundles. See [RFC Content bundler].
Rating system[edit]
- New rating system for extensions: 1–5 stars for e.g. "Usefulness, Functions as Described, Developer Support"
Comment from Karsten: Re: Rating (pls only 3 stars in future), most parts of usage statistics, popularity, (text review) is actually already there at Wikipiary which is also already linked from every extension at mw.o - perhaps this needs to be fluffed up further and we need a way to sync this info into wm.o directly (a prototype is somethere in the water, too = Confirm Edit extension) the biggest issue here is to get compatibility info which is also teased by Wikiapiary though at a high performance burden.
Statistics[edit]
- New statistics: Most wanted extensions, most downloaded extensions, most highly rated extensions (total, average, percentage)
- Popularity score: The download statistics visualized in an icon with 5 versions.
Security reviews[edit]
Curated lists[edit]
Reviews[edit]
- User text reviews with commenting functionality – extended talk page?
Follow this extension – via watchlist, but also via email, RSS/Atom
Developer information[edit]
- Developer info – Contact possibilities and preferences (email, talk page etc.) – template that lets developers include a nice list of their extensions on their user page, statistics about the developer
Compatibility[edit]
- Compatibility: "Tested with" – extended compatibility notes – "requires 1.21.x, compatible up to 1.25.3" (see WordPress!) – what has been tested, what is supported and what is assumed – also "intercompatibility", compatibility between extensions
- BlueSpice ready
- Known issues (not compatible with following extensions: ...)
Documentation[edit]
- Enhancement of screenshots and use case examples – extend the existing "Example"
- Short screencasts
- Extended usage information beyond technical settings.
- Info about CSS classes for styling.
Links[edit]
- Link to WikiApiary
Examples[edit]
- Live examples (would require installation of the extension on a wiki hosting the examples)
Paid extensions[edit]
Developers/Users can offer extensions and skins for money. This is not possible on MediaWiki.org. – To discuss!
Extension management for admins (on a special page):[edit]
Get notifications at new releases, choose automatic or manual update. Functions:
- Install new
- Install/revert to previous version
- Activate/Deactivate
- Delete
- Edit settings