Parsoid/Parser Unification/Cite CSS

This page describes features being actively worked on by the Wikimedia Germany Technical Wishes team as part of their ongoing focus area reusing references.

Parsoid CSS for footnote numbering

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T370027

Background

Wikis that use localized numbering schemes for references (e.g. [۶] on Persian Wikipedia) currently rely on CSS styling in Parsoid read mode and in VisualEditor . The original parser localizes the markers as plain HTML, and we will move towards rendering plain HTML from Parsoid as well.

How can I help?

Current phase: on-wiki CSS cleanup for footnote markers

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T377458

Site interface admins - You can help by removing all "mw-Ref" rules on your site, if possible between 20 February 2025 and 20 March 2025, otherwise the development team will assist your wiki in making these changes.
During and after this transition there should be no difference for readers, this is purely a cleanup.

Example

All of the examples below may be removed if they appear on your wiki.

/*.mw-ref > a::after {
    content: '[' counter( mw-Ref, decimal ) ']';
}*/
.mw-ref > a[data-mw-group]::after {
    content: '[' attr( data-mw-group ) ' ' counter( mw-Ref, decimal ) ']';
}
.mw-ref > a[data-mw-group=lower-alpha]::after {
    content: '[' counter( mw-Ref, lower-alpha ) ']';
}
.mw-ref > a[data-mw-group=kurdish-alpha]::after {
    content: '[' counter( mw-Ref, kurdish-alpha ) ']';
}
.mw-ref > a[data-mw-group=georgian]::after {
    content: '[' counter( mw-Ref, custom-group-label-georgian ) ']';
    /* And if a custom @counter-style exists only to support this rule, it can be removed as well. */
}

Project timeline

• 5 November 2024 Done The localized footnote numbers are included in Parsoid HTML, same as is done in the legacy parser. T377454
• 20 January 2025 Done Override the local and global CSS styles responsible for the Parsoid footnote markers and de-facto disable them so that only the HTML is visible. T382310
• 20 February 2025 In progress Remove on-wiki Parsoid CSS rules to localize footnote marker numbering. T377458
• 20 March 2025 Development team removes any remaining on-wiki "mw-Ref" rules.
• TBD: Final cleanup of Cite code to support footnote numbering CSS. T386184
• TBD: Make backlink numbering explicit. T384948
• TBD: Make reference list numbering explicit (both parsers). T378570

If you notice any undesirable changes to references, please leave a comment on the discussion page.

Parsoid CSS elsewhere in Cite

Reference list numbering

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T378570

Reference lists are still rendered using browser counter styling on the <li> tag, which is error-prone and doesn't support all languages. This may as well be rewritten to use explicit numbering instead.

Backlink markers for reused refs

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T383036

The backlink markers ("1.0, 1.1" or "a, b, c") on reused references in the reference list will also be changed but in a later phase of work. We plan to phase out numbered markers and default to alphabetic symbols localized to the wiki's content language. These will still be customizable but through a simpler mechanism than the system messages .

Square brackets

Tracked in Phabricator
Task T376717

Some projects prefer to hide square brackets around the footnote markers. Currently this is done by adding custom CSS classes around brackets in the local MediaWiki:Cite reference link message and custom rules to MediaWiki:Common.css. This is not supported by Parsoid and VisualEditor.

Now there's a mechanism available that's compatible with Parsoid and VisualEditor which makes it possible to hide square brackets just using CSS rather than by editing system messages. It's also working with the legacy parsing and can be used there when MediaWiki:Cite reference link is unchanged or changes in there reverted.

Hiding the square brackets should now be done using the following CSS in MediaWiki:Common.css or in your user stylesheet:

.mw-references .cite-bracket {
  font-size: 0;
}

Using font-size: 0 has the advantage of making the square brackets still show up when copy-pasting as unformatted text. display: none is not recommended because this will remove the brackets from the content in most browsers, leading to confusing copy-paste such as 2025[1] turning to 20251.

Ideally affected projects with customized Cite_reference_link message could remove this message altogether when they tweaked their CSS rules.