View it! Tool
View it! is a suite of tools that display all relevant media from Wikimedia Commons depicting—or otherwise related to—the article one is reading. It officially launched on January 12, 2023 with a web app, two user scripts, and an API.
Description
[edit]View it! is a suite of tools to help editors and readers discover freely licensed media, enabled by structured data on Commons. While the number of images displayed in a Wikipedia article is finite and highly curated by editors, View it! allows readers to easily access the full catalog of images available on Wikimedia Commons, and help editors easily add relevant media to an article.
The Toolforge source code is published here and we have a changelog available of all tool and script changes.
View it! Suite
Search Portal
for querying images by Q-item
User script
for embedding galleries on articles
API
for building your own tools
Features
[edit]View it! provides two experiences to explore and view media via structured data on Commons:
- On Toolforge (view-it.toolforge.org), where users can query for specific Wikidata items and use advanced search to search via free text, as well as filter by assessment and resolution. Media can be queried by depicts (P180), main subject (P921), creator (P170), and Commons category (P373).
- A user script that embeds a gallery within articles across Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikispecies, and Wikivoyage.
When using the user scripts, users are able to easily add an image to an article they are editing. While in either visual or source editor, users can copy the image wikitext code by clicking the copy icon on any image in the gallery and paste it into the article they're working on. When using View it! on Wikidata, users can also easily assign an image as an item's image (P18) statement if one doesn't already exist.
Script installation
[edit]View it! user script comes in two flavors: full and lite.
- The full version of View it! embeds a gallery at the top of articles so that images are readily and easily viewable. It includes the ability to copy image wikitext code, and allows users to add image (P18) statements on Wikidata items in one-click.
- The lite version of View it! adds a "View" tab to Wikimedia articles, allowing users to switch to a gallery view.
Across projects
[edit]To enable View it! on all Wikimedia wikis:
- Visit your global.js page on Meta: User:<YourUserName>/global.js
- Copy in the code
- For full View it!:
{{subst:view it}}
- For lite View it!:
{{subst:view it/lite}}
- For full View it!:
- Click "Publish changes"
Please note you may see an error message reading: The document contains errors. Are you sure you want to publish? when you click publish - this is a bug, and it will still work.
-
Go to your User global.js page on Meta
-
View it! script copied in global.js
-
Meta global.js after saving View it! script
For specific projects
[edit]If you wish to only enable View it! on your local project:
- Visit your common.js page: "
Special:MyPage/common.js
" on your wiki of choice. - Copy in the code
- For full View it!:
mw.loader.load( '//meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:SuperHamster/view-it-full.js&action=raw&ctype=text/javascript' ); // Backlink: [[meta:User:SuperHamster/view-it-full.js]]
- For View it! lite:
mw.loader.load( '//meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:SuperHamster/view-it.js&action=raw&ctype=text/javascript' ); // Backlink: [[meta:User:SuperHamster/view-it.js]]
- For full View it!:
- Click "Publish changes"
-
Screenshot of Common.js page - User:JamieF already has other scripts in use
-
View it! script copied to common.js
-
Screenshot of Common.js after saving View it! script
After installation
[edit]Once installed you will see a "View" button between "Read" and "Edit" on the right that is connected to Wikidata/Structured data. The gallery will show 20 images at a time that can be scrolled through (left to right). When the 4 blue, downward facing arrows are clicked, users are shown all 20 images at one time. If there are more than 20 images, a previous page and next page button will appear, so all images may be paged through. Additionally, there is a button sayng "View all x images" with the number of images available.
-
View it! button after installation
-
View it! gallery opened on Wikipedia with navigation buttons]]
View it! will also work on other Wikipedia projects:
-
View it! on WikiSpecies
-
View it! on WikiVoyage
-
View it! on Wikidata
Localization
[edit]View it! has multilingual support! Add missing languages by expanding the localization instructions below. You can also make edits to existing languages.
Expand for localization instructions |
---|
Steps[edit]Please note that to prevent mistakes or abuse, changes are not automatic. Let us know if you've made an update that still needs to be deployed. To help us make View it! multilingual:
Example[edit] |
API
[edit]View it! also includes its own API that serves as an intermediary service in front of the standard Commons Structure Data API, to simplify querying.
To query for images for a particular Wikidata item, like Q2 for Earth:
Each response includes the total
image count, and an array of up to 20 image results
that include a link to the file page, a thumbnail, the file title, and then width and height of the thumbnail.
To retrieve images beyond the initial 20 results, you can use the offset
parameter:
By default, View it! will search for images that "depict or link from" the specified Q-item. You can choose to search against other Wikidata properties: Depicts (P180), Main subject (P921), Created by (P170), or Commons category (P373).
https://view-it.toolforge.org/api/Q2?property=depicts
https://view-it.toolforge.org/api/Q2?property=main
https://view-it.toolforge.org/api/Q2?property=creator
https://view-it.toolforge.org/api/Q2?property=category
To filter by assessment
(featured
, quality
, valued
):
To filter by resolution
(small
[<500px], medium
, large
[>1000px]):
To search with free text:
Update sign up
[edit]Please sign up if you're interested in receiving periodic updates about View it! tool - including the launch date and listening/comment sessions.
Status
[edit]August 2022
[edit]The team is investigating community wishes and best technical approaches.
- Wednesday, August 31, 2022 16:00 UTC: A virtual presentation and discussion was held during the Wikimedians in Residence Exchange Network monthly meeting, with anyone is welcome to attend.
- Saturday, August 13, 2022: In-person presentation/listening session, "Discoverability, Structured Data & the View it! tool" at Carnegie Library, East Liberty, Meeting Room 3. 130 S. Whitfield Street Pittsburgh, PA 15206 (second floor, handicap accessible).
September 2022
[edit]The development team is currently working to make the tool multilingual. Please help us with localization!
October 2022
[edit]- View it! now has a Common's category search in the Advanced search function on Toolforge.
- View it! is available across all Wikimedia namespaces, including Wikisource author and index pages.
- View it! has been installed by 97 users; and has been translated into 14 languages.
November/December 2022
[edit]- View it! had been re-envisioned into two versions - full and lite.
- The full version now includes an image carousel on each content page which can be expanded for pagniation.
- You can also look at a full-screen gallery by clicking the "View" tab.
Usage
[edit]- As of August 2024, 170 users have installed View it! across global, Commons, and various language specific projects.
- View it! has also been modified and added to other projects and utilized in other search queries:
- It has been embedded in ITN Syndication
- Template:Item documentation on Wikidata
- View it! inspired the design on the Commons search in Conzept and was modified to include a modal-image view and zoom option (example).
Timeline
[edit]The project was funded for development by the Wikimedia Foundation's Structured Data Across Wikimedia project, and has a 6 month timeline. View it! will be completed by January 2023.
Team
[edit]To share opinions, wishes, or ask questions please leave a message on the talk page. If you wish to reach a team member directly, please feel free to leave a message on our respective talk pages:
- Project Manager - Dominic
- Lead Developer - SuperHamster
- Community Outreach Manager - JamieF
Beta testers
[edit]Thank you to those who participated in Beta testing and provided valuable feedback for View it!:
View it! tool Beta testing sign ups.
- Newtrains (talk) 14:55, 30 August 2022 (UTC)Newtrains
Update Sign up
[edit]List of those interested in View it! Tool/Update sign up:
- NGC 54 (talk|contribs) 22:20, 16 August 2022 (UTC)
- ♥Ainali talkcontributions 19:22, 24 August 2022 (UTC)
- Bodhisattwa (talk) 06:14, 25 August 2022 (UTC)
- Akbarali (talk) 17:20, 26 August 2022 (UTC)
- daSupremo
16:55, 29 August 2022 (UTC)
- Olea (talk) 17:50, 29 August 2022 (UTC)
- John Samuel 17:55, 29 August 2022 (UTC)
- Ayack (talk) 18:49, 29 August 2022 (UTC)
- Jmabel (talk) 00:09, 30 August 2022 (UTC)
- Ijon (talk) 03:04, 30 August 2022 (UTC)
- Onwuka Glory (talk) 06:34, 30 August 2022 (UTC)
- Hesyomi (talk) 10:25, 30 August 2022 (UTC)
- Newtrains (talk) 14:56, 30 August 2022 (UTC)
- 112.141.248.194 20:50, 30 August 2022 (UTC)
- Guettarda (talk) 22:25, 30 August 2022 (UTC)
- Uniplexity (talk) 02:27, 31 August 2022 (UTC)
- VisbyStar (talk) 09:07, 31 August 2022 (UTC)
- アンタナナ 13:09, 31 August 2022 (UTC)
- Salgo60 (talk) 16:02, 31 August 2022 (UTC)
- Fernsebner (talk) 13:08, 7 September 2022 (UTC)
- Wolfgang8741 (talk) 20:24, 8 September 2022 (UTC)
- rubin16 (talk) 06:34, 11 September 2022 (UTC)
- Hadi (talk) 16:27, 9 October 2022 (UTC)
- Ooligan (talk) 14:50, 16 October 2022 (UTC)
- JopkeB (talk) 03:18, 26 October 2022 (UTC)
- GFontenelle (WMF) (talk) 17:50, 27 October 2022 (UTC)
- Akwugo (talk) 21:11, 9 January 2023 (UTC)
- KellyDoyle (talk) 17:56, 12 January 2023 (UTC)
- ··· 🌸 Rachmat04 · ☕ 07:37, 13 January 2023 (UTC)
- Magotech (talk) 15:06, 24 January 2023 (UTC)
- Tiputini (talk) 19:56, 18 February 2023 (UTC)
- Akbarali (talk) 16:31, 26 August 2022 (UTC)
- Dyolf77 (talk) 14:43, 29 August 2022 (UTC)
- Chikeme Chizurum (talk) 10:03, 30 August 2022 (UTC)
- RukayatAjeigbe (talk) 10:53, 31 August 2022 (UTC)
- Dnshitobu (talk) 10:46, 4 September 2022 (UTC)
- Erokhin (talk) 12:59, 14 September 2022 (UTC)
- Beat Estermann (talk) 15:52, 13 January 2023 (UTC)
- Geagea (talk) 20:27, 26 January 2023 (UTC)
- Xavier Dengra (MESSAGES) 16:09, 13 February 2023 (UTC)
- Hugo en résidence (talk) 14:35, 8 March 2023 (UTC)