Topic on Talk:VisualEditor/Diffs

Visual diff hangs with non-standard element structure

4
Summary last edited by ESanders (WMF) 14:44, 21 March 2023 1 year ago

Fixed.

Isaacl (talkcontribs)

When the wikitext markup produces incorrect element nesting, the visual diff tool just hangs. For example, this edit added an <s> element that spanned across block display elements:

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/Desysop_Policy_(2021)&diff=1009235999&oldid=1009235431&diffmode=visual

I realize the halting problem means it's impossible to stop all hangs. Nonetheless, this type of markup error is not unusual on talk pages. Is there anything that can be done to help prevent this as often as possible?

Apologies if this has been discussed before or if there is a ticket; I don't know how to search this structured discussion (Flow) or Phabricator.

Whatamidoing (WMF) (talkcontribs)

Usually, when Something Bad happens, it times out and produces an error about not being able to calculate it. I'm not sure what's going on with that one.

Isaacl (talkcontribs)

Some time in the past few months I have noticed a change: when a property is missing, the VisualDiff feature will revert back to showing a wikitext diff, while displaying an error message. I appreciate the change!

ESanders (WMF) (talkcontribs)

Fixed in Feb 2022.