User:Isaacl/style/discussion-threads

The User:Isaacl/style/discussion-threads.css user stylesheet defines a set of Cascading Style Sheet rules that add style formatting to lists used in discussion threads. The stylesheet is currently in an experimental state.

On English Wikipedia, threaded discussions are represented as nested lists, using the : and * characters in wikitext. A reply to a comment is added within another list nested within the comment. Conceptually, it is a list of replies to the comment. The stylesheet adds the following style:

• a border is added to the left of the list.
• two background colours are added, one for lists at odd-numbered nesting levels, and another for lists at even-numbered nesting levels, up to a nesting level of 18.

This styling will be applied to any page for which the reply tool or topic subscription is enabled. (The stylesheet checks for an HTML attribute added by discussion tool features to mark a list item as a comment.)

Below is a mockup of how the discussion thread styling appears.

Example

Any suggestions for better writing? QuestioningEditor 17:05, 18 August 2023 (UTC)

I feel that concision in writing is key for effective, efficient communication with readers. EditorA 17:11, 18 August 2023 (UTC)

On the contrary, I definitely feel additional, redundant loquaciousness is hardly a barrier nor an impediment for readers to fully understand and comprehend written communications within articles and other content. EditorB 17:25, 18 August 2023 (UTC)

Very amusing to illustrate my point by demonstrating the opposite! EditorA 17:31, 18 August 2023 (UTC)

Minimizing the use of in-text hyperlinks to the most relevant ones improves readability, by keeping most of the text in the default colour. It also avoids overloading the reader with lots of link targets, which implicitly give the link text additional emphasis. EditorC 17:13, 18 August 2023 (UTC)

To support readers that skip through articles rather than read them top-to-bottom, I do think that key hyperlinked terms should be re-linked once at the start of each major section (with some flexibility with short adjacent sections). EditorA 17:22, 18 August 2023 (UTC)

Install

To install, add the following text to your common.css file:

@import '/wiki/User:Isaacl/style/discussion-threads.css?action=raw&ctype=text/css';

Alternatively, add the following text to your common.js file:

mw.loader.load('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Isaacl/style/discussion-threads.css?action=raw&ctype=text/css', 'text/css');

See the Toggle discussion threads style user script for a way to temporarily disable the CSS style rules for discussion threads on the current page, using an item in the Tools menu.

Limitations

The styling of unordered lists (whose list items start with a bullet) is awkward.

Browser support

The stylesheet uses CSS syntax that is only supported by newer versions of the Chromium-based browsers and Safari. Firefox does not support all of the necessary CSS syntax and thus is not supported.