There seems to be a bug with the cursor placement on opening the dialog, but it looks like https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T276164 (which @Esanders referenced) will fix that. Other than that, the dialog has parity with the experience on article/page editing.

With that fixed, I think this is ready for QA testing cc @Ryasmeen

In T249072#6872502, @Esanders wrote:

"I wonder what we can do to avoid the collisions that ensue when trying to use the other text tools (linking, pinging, etc.) while the special characters interface is already open".

Having the inserter work with the link inspector is a larger project. It's an existing issue in VE, so I don't think it's critical here.

@Esanders: do you know if this issue already has a ticket? If so, are you able to link to it here?

Is T276258 a blocker? I think it would be better to get the feature out as-is.

These characters:

–
—
≤
≥

and a non-breaking space were requested by @Nthep at https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Topic:W563che155jf0uv0

In T249072#6880612, @Esanders wrote:

Is T276258 a blocker?

As I've been thinking about it, the blocker to the special characters toolbar being deployed is analyzing how the special character toolbar is being used (see: T266376) in VE, where it is already available.

@Esanders is there information that's leading you to think the special characters toolbar should be introduced before the analysis planned in T266376 happens?

In T249072#6959166, @ppelberg wrote:

In T249072#6880612, @Esanders wrote:

Is T276258 a blocker?

As I've been thinking about it, the blocker to the special characters toolbar being deployed is analyzing how the special character toolbar is being used (see: T266376) in VE, where it is already available.

@Esanders is there information that's leading you to think the special characters toolbar should be introduced before the analysis planned in T266376 happens?

Today, @Esanders confirmed that in writing T249072#6880612 he was simply questioning whether T276258 should block the initial introduction of the special characters toolbar in the Reply and New Discussion Tools via T249072. Read: he was not meaning to question the deployment's dependence on T266376.

DECISION

• We are not going to consider T276258 as a blocker to the special characters toolbar being released via T249072.
  • Reason: per what was discussed during today's team conversation, we see T276258 as an optimization that can be made once people first have access to the functionality.

Test wiki created on Patch Demo by ESanders (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task:

https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/6db1b39e1a/w/

@iamjessklein, I like what see in the PatchDemo link.

I also don't think T249074 should be consider a blocker to this task either. That is a pretty significant piece of work and one that we may not have time to complete any time soon. Meanwhile we have a fair amount of space in the toolbar due to the limited tools available in the context of indented replies.

Screenshots of the above patch:

@ppelberg This patch has not been reviewed/merged yet as it was assumed it was awaiting approval

Another request for this on enwiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)&diff=prev&oldid=1100413658

Per today's team meeting, we're going to prioritize doing what this task has asked for for some time: introducing the special characters button/interface within both the Reply and New Topic Tools' toolbars (desktop + mobile).

To do the above, we converged on the following:

Test wiki created on Patch demo by ESanders (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task:
https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/6bd624a6b7/w

https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/6bd624a6b7/wiki/Talk:DiscussionTools

Re: mobile. I don't think we've ever made this tool available on mobile, nor do I think there is the same need there as localised IME's are almost universally available on mobile.

Currently this patch does not make it available on mobile, and I think it should stay that way for now.

Change 667417 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/extensions/DiscussionTools@master] Add 'specialCharacter' tool to toolbar

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/667417

In T249072#8335376, @Esanders wrote:

Re: mobile. I don't think we've ever made this tool available on mobile, nor do I think there is the same need there as localised IME's are almost universally available on mobile.

Currently this patch does not make it available on mobile, and I think it should stay that way for now.

Per the conversation we had offline today, we are going to do as Ed is describing above: limit the introduction of the special characters toolbar to desktop to start.

Thinking...

1. 93% of all mobile edit attempts are made using the following operating systems: Android (41.2%), Windows (38.2%), iOS (14.2%) [i]
2. We assume that each of the operating systems above offer people the virtual keyboards and keys they need to contribute to Wikipedia in ways they expect

In line with the above, I've filed T321630 as a place for us to accumulate new information that could cause us to revise the decision above and the "Thinking" that led to it.

i. https://superset.wikimedia.org/r/2017

In reply-tool, looks like this is added now

However, can the placement be adjusted? Having the user-selector be last has been very helpful, and makes targeting it easy - can the insert tool be moved one to the left?

In T249072#8369313, @Xaosflux wrote:

In reply-tool, looks like this is added now

However, can the placement be adjusted? Having the user-selector be last has been very helpful, and makes targeting it easy - can the insert tool be moved one to the left?

Great spot, @Xaosflux. I think we should make the change you are describing. Here is a ticket for making that change: T322455.

Test wiki on Patch demo by ESanders (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task was deleted:

https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/6bd624a6b7/w/

I think a large use of “special characters” is for people inserting ones that are not in their native language. I don’t want to enable Greek IME just to type β. And good luck finding → on any keyboard.

In T249072#8383997, @Pelagic wrote:

I think a large use of “special characters” is for people inserting ones that are not in their native language. I don’t want to enable Greek IME just to type β. And good luck finding → on any keyboard.

@Pelagic, this use case is helpful to know – thank you for sharing it. I think you'll be pleased to know that the special characters toolbar is now available within the desktop Reply and New Topic Tools at all projects.

In T249072#8384017, @ppelberg wrote:

… pleased to know … now available within the desktop … Tools …

Thanks, Peter. Catching up on recent Tech News is what brought me here. I think the use case applies to mobile as well as desktop. It would be great if some buttons could be conditionally shown where there is sufficient width (tablet, or phone in landscape orientation), but that adds complexity.

In T249072#8384078, @Pelagic wrote:

In T249072#8384017, @ppelberg wrote:

… pleased to know … now available within the desktop … Tools …

Thanks, Peter. Catching up on recent Tech News is what brought me here.

Ah, okay!

I think the use case applies to mobile as well as desktop. It would be great if some buttons could be conditionally shown where there is sufficient width (tablet, or phone in landscape orientation), but that adds complexity.

Understood. We're using T321630 to track the work/consider of offering the special characters toolbar on mobile.

I'm going to make sure the comment you posted above is reflected on T321630 as well.

I'm moving this to QA seeing as how this has been out in production for some time now.

Test wiki on Patch demo by ESanders (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task was deleted:

https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/6db1b39e1a/w/

Test wiki on Patch demo by PPelberg (WMF) using patch(es) linked to this task was deleted:

https://patchdemo.wmflabs.org/wikis/86f00735362b0061ab7fdef1fd8c8a89/w/