Community Wishlist Survey 2021/Editing/Copy and paste from diffs

Random proposal ►◄ Editing The survey has concluded. Here are the results!

Copy and paste from diffs

Problem: It is difficult to copy and paste from a diff without having to edit the resulting text afterwards.
Who would benefit: Everyone
Proposed solution: 1) Add CSS similar to Github to not include the + or - signs when copying. 2) Allow the ability to select text from just one column rather than having to copy both columns.
More comments:
Phabricator tickets: T192526, T270775
Proposer: Rs chen 7754 01:16, 17 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion

Good idea. I've noticed this annoying problem before, and it shouldn't be too hard to fix. --Piotrus (talk) 04:43, 17 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
- It is harder to fix then you think. That's because browsers for security reasons, don't like it when you copy things and then 'leave out' parts of what you have selected. That can be abused in phishing for instance. Perhaps we can completely revamp the layout of the diff, maybe with grid layout CSS or something to avoid this problem... Haven't checked yet if that is possible now, but a couple of years ago, browser support wasn't there yet to enable an alternate layout. Could be worth a revisit. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 11:39, 17 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  - It's fine to change what gets written to the clipboard. The onCopy event fires just before the data is written to the clipboard so you can modify the selection. We use such a technique in VE to ensure we write Parsoid HTML to the clipboard instead of what you see on the page. ESanders (WMF) (talk) 15:39, 24 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  - Grid is still not greatly supported by the long tail. --Izno (talk) 01:18, 21 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
+1 ~~ CAPTAIN MEDUSA^talk 12:11, 17 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Agreed it should be done. Anyway you can hold ctrl while selecting text and it should do the trick (at least on Firefox / Windows). Stryn (talk) 20:17, 17 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
What? Just holding Ctrl? No way that could… Oh, it works! Thanks! --Mormegil (cs) 08:13, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Absolutely. This is a pretty annoying problem especially in communities where quoting from diffs is common practice (such as enwiki where I copy from diffs hundreds of times a year at least, no exaggeration). Best, KevinL (aka L235 · t) 06:44, 1 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
This appears to have been resolved. (Many thanks to TheDJ and PeterTheOne, and code reviewers ESanders and Thiemo Kreuz.) Deployment will happen over the next couple days, if I understand correctly. --Yair rand (talk) 07:46, 1 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
- The indicators part appears to be, but not the columns. --Rs chen 7754 19:17, 1 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  - You are correct. My mistake. --Yair rand (talk) 23:54, 1 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
What is a diff? I assume it's a 'Difference revision' of an article --RanuKanu (talk) 09:33, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

A diff is the difference between two versions of any wikipage, where the differences are shown. Something like this, and those little + are copied with the real stuff, if you mark them and press ctrl-c. If there is text on both sides of the relevant parts, that's included as well. Grüße vom Sänger ♫^(Reden) 23:11, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Voting

Support Geert Van Pamel (WMBE) (talk) 19:08, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Christian Ferrer (talk) 19:16, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support A feature with raw text like Pastebin would be nice. Support for convenience. MarioSuperstar77 (talk) 19:24, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support IagoQnsi (talk) 20:02, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support --NGC 54 (talk / contribs) 20:12, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Useful for edit conflicts, so the user can resolve it easily. Snaevar (talk) 20:13, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support CrystallineLeMonde (talk) 20:15, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support ToBeFree (talk) 20:39, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Pi.1415926535 (talk) 20:56, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support KTC (talk) 21:11, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Nw520 (talk) 22:44, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Barcelona (talk) 22:50, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support — Jules ^Talk 22:58, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Necessary. YFdyh000 (talk) 23:33, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Redactedentity (talk) 23:45, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support DePlusJean (talk) 00:05, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Hanif Al Husaini (talk) 01:02, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support * Pppery * _{it has begun} 01:59, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support // Lollipoplollipoplollipop :: talk 02:59, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support —— Eric Liu_{（留言．百科用戶頁）} 04:31, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support --Ita140188 (talk) 04:49, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support This has a low effort-to-reward ratio. {{u|Sdkb}} ^talk 05:34, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support kennethaw88 • talk 06:07, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Mbkv717 (talk) 07:10, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Philbutler (talk) 07:21, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Tmv (talk) 07:33, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Paul Hermans (talk) 08:23, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Nurg (talk) 09:02, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Matěj Suchánek (talk) 09:34, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Samwalton9 (talk) 09:46, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Thomas Kinz (talk) 10:30, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support JAn Dudík (talk) 11:04, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Kpjas (talk) 11:14, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Sgd. —Hasley 13:50, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Hb2007 (talk) 14:10, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support NMaia (talk) 15:22, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Baltakatei (talk) 16:57, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support. Max Semenik (talk) 19:50, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Nehaoua (talk) 22:37, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support dwf² (talk) 22:55, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Samat (talk) 22:56, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Eddie891 (talk) 23:37, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support - Darwin ^Ahoy! 01:51, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support -- Amanda (aka DQ) 03:25, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support CaptainEek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 03:51, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support JPxG (talk) 05:51, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Possibly (talk) 07:25, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support - yona B. (D) 07:36, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support --Timeshifter (talk) 07:51, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support ‐‐1997kB (talk) 12:01, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Though the diffing UI really deserves a general overhaul. Ostrzyciel (talk) 13:17, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Dexxor (talk) 16:31, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Libcub (talk) 19:31, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Srđan (talk) 22:05, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support — HELLKNOWZ ▎TALK ▎enWiki 22:19, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Paucabot (talk) 12:19, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support MichaelSchoenitzer (talk) 14:06, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Encycloon (talk) 15:24, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support ProcrastinatingReader (talk) 15:40, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Bencemac (talk) 16:11, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Zanaq (talk) 16:18, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support AndyAndyAndyAlbert (talk) 16:22, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Noel baran (talk) 16:54, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Szalax (talk) 16:59, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support OosWesThoesBes (talk) 17:20, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support czar 17:24, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support --Gereon K. (talk) 17:42, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Akela NDE (talk) 17:45, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Ahecht (TALK
PAGE) 18:41, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support For EC. --Kusurija (talk) 19:28, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Remagoxer (talk) 21:16, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support This would make it much easier to quote diffs. Tenryuu (talk) 21:26, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support. Meiræ 21:36, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Parzi (talk) 22:47, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support --Alaa :)..! 01:16, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Eric0892 (talk) 02:12, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Liuyun97 (talk) 07:15, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Oh, DrPizza! (talk) 07:55, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support -- Beland (talk) 08:17, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support ~Cybularny ^Speak? 11:25, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Tom Ja (talk) 12:44, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Trizek ^{from FR} 19:32, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Theshumai (talk) 23:19, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Kew Gardens 613 (talk) 02:41, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support -- hgzh 17:18, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support 4nn1l2 (talk) 17:26, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support -- the wub "?!" 18:31, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Novak Watchmen (talk) 19:14, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Kaviraf (talk) 20:16, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Sadads (talk) 11:48, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Glorious idea ~ Amory (u • t • c) 13:16, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Michel Bakni (talk) 14:00, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support β₁₆ - (talk) 16:00, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Papuass (talk) 21:47, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support WTM (talk) 00:24, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support This has driven me nuts for 15+ years. — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ >^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ< 06:39, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support — Draceane ^talk_contrib. 13:00, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Benjamin (talk) 17:40, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Vacant0 (talk) 18:37, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Utopes (talk) 20:18, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support DMT biscuit (talk) 22:31, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Jurbop (talk) 17:59, 16 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Épico (talk)/(contribs) 23:21, 16 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Michael Childs (talk) 01:55, 17 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Missed that for a long time. Diffing and patching is standard in *nix, There's no reason why it should be made excessively difficult. Kku (talk) 06:51, 17 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support KevinL (aka L235 · t) 08:32, 17 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support TrangaBellam (talk) 10:38, 17 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Temp3600 (talk) 17:58, 17 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Kocgs (talk) 20:41, 17 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Shenme (talk) 01:32, 18 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Cilstr (talk) 12:48, 18 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support VKG1985 (talk) 17:44, 18 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Grüße vom Sänger ♫^(Reden) 22:14, 18 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support 5910 C (talk) 21:39, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support HLHJ (talk) 22:40, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support -- CptViraj (talk) 06:23, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Iva (talk) 18:19, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support USI2020 (talk) 18:32, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Sudonet (talk) 19:57, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Thibaut (talk) 16:55, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Nadzik (talk) 17:18, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Schniggendiller (talk) 17:41, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 17:59, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]