Submissions:2025/Parsoid is coming! What in the world is it?
This submission has been noted and is pending review for WikiConference North America 2025.
Title:
- Parsoid is coming! What in the world is it?
Type of session:
- Lecture (15-30 min)
Session theme(s):
- Future of Wikipedia
Abstract:
The Wikimedia Foundation has started to deploy Parsoid, the next-generation wikitext parser, on all Foundation wikis. Wikivoyage and wiktionary already use the new parser, and all Wikipedias are expected to shift over to Parsoid in the next year.
So what is Parsoid? Why is the foundation changing wikitext parsers -- and what is a parser, anyway? What does this mean to you, as an editor or reader?
This talk will answer all your questions and show you how to opt-in to get an early peek at the new parser. We'll talk about some of the benefits of Parsoid for researchers, gadget and bot authors. We'll also describe some of the pitfalls and changes coming to be aware of.
Author name(s):
Wikimedia username(s):
- cscott
Affiliated organization(s):
- Wikimedia Foundation
Estimated length of session
- 5-25min
Will you be presenting remotely?
- I will present in-person
Okay to livestream?
- Livestreaming is okay
Previously presented?
- I've presented some version of the "what is Parsoid" talk at various venues since about 2021; for instance "Updates from the Wikitext Parsing World" at SMWCon in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and "Parsoid is coming!" at Wikimania 2024.
Special requests:
- This talk can be scaled to the time available, from a lightning talk up. As a lightning talk I can briefly show you how to turn on Parsoid Read Views on enwiki; as a full talk I can give a more detailed tour of benefits and pitfalls and specific wikitext patterns that wikignomes have been busy fixing up to prepare for Parsoid's arrival.