Gadgets Extension

The gadgets extension was installed on all Wikimedia wikis yesterday, and already wikibookians have installed over a dozen javascript gadgets. With this addition has come a major refactoring, not only of global javascripts, but also of individual user's javascripts. Functions and features that had previously been global are being converted into optional gadgets. This way, users who do not want these features do not need to load them.

Several of our users had interesting personal scripts, and these are slowly being converted into gadgets as well. In this way, one person's hard work can be shared with the rest of the community quickly and easily. Scripts that once had to be installed by all users manually are now being removed in favor of global, gadget-based solutions.

I think that this extension is going to play a big role at Wikibooks, because users who are not javascript saavy can benefit from many enhancements, additions, and modifications that our more advanced users have been implementing for a long time. I think it's a great addition, and I'm happy that it's been installed on Wikibooks and all other Wikis.