Tech:Commons links

From Wikitravel Shared

This request is very similar to Tech:Interwiki links to shared. Two requests in one:

1) I'd like to be able to use direct commons links on language versions like I can here (e.g., commons:Image:Narzisse.jpg). This feature is not enabled on any language versions beyond Shared.

2) It would be nice to be able to use "other sites" links to commons, in the form of [[Commons:Article title]].

Both of these features work for the language versions of Wikipedia, but not for commons. I'm guessing this should be straightforward. --Peter ^Talk 17:21, 20 August 2008 (EDT)

By 1) do you just mean enabling the interwiki link to commons? I don't really understand what you mean by 2) at all.

KevinSours 18:40, 20 August 2008 (EDT)

For 1), yes.

For 2), we can use, for example, the syntax [[Wikipedia:Article title]] on any page to create a link to that Wikipedia article on any article on the English language version. See en:Chicago, or really any article there for an example. I'd like to be able to do the same with Commons. And it would be nice to enable that option for all language versions. --Peter ^Talk 19:12, 20 August 2008 (EDT)

So you want it linked and moved to the "other sites" box? Sorry if I'm being annoying but I like to nail this stuff down. I'll need to double check but I'm not sure if "commons" vs "Commons" is going to be distinct. I also wonder if the existing commons links are going to exhibit the same problem as the "shared" links we had with that issue. KevinSours 19:17, 20 August 2008 (EDT)

Well, just linked in the other sites box. Good point about breaking links, and you're right, the capitalization won't make this distinct. To achieve goal #2 here, I suggest we use the syntax [[wmcommons:article title]] instead. WM = wikimedia. --Peter ^Talk 22:05, 20 August 2008 (EDT)

or wmc to match wts – cacahuate ^talk 01:18, 21 August 2008 (EDT)

Yeah, wmc would be easier to type also. It should display, nonetheless, in the "other sites" box as "Commons". --Peter ^Talk 01:30, 21 August 2008 (EDT)

Okay I implemented "wmc" as a link to commons. Without the leading colon it will go to the side, with the leading colon it will stay inline. Note that there is a three hour cache on this so some language versions may not update right away (I put a link up on en before I got things working so its in the cache as "no value"). Implementing "commons" is more problematic. Right now it is active on the en version pointing to shared. My inclination is to change this because having an interwiki link point to different locations on different wikitravel version is just asking for trouble. And using commons as an alias for shared also strikes me as a poor idea. However I'm not sure how commonly its used or even how to check. Any thoughts? 172.16.2.144 13:21, 27 August 2008 (EDT)

I'd say there should be no "commons" links pointing to shared, since that is simply incorrect. I'd remove that functionality, and let the wmc links do the job. --Peter ^Talk 14:18, 27 August 2008 (EDT)

Thanks for implementing this Kevin. On :en though I think :commons should be able to work inline as a link to commons too, in addition to wmc since some people may try that without checking to see if it works, but not a big deal – cacahuate ^talk 23:59, 3 September 2008 (EDT)