As of gerrit 114527 parameter value boxes will now auto-size (without maximum), and when empty (or have a short value) will show as just a single line (actually "normal size" which is ~1.5x in height).

(In reply to WhatamIdoing from comment #2)
> Other suggestions from en.wp:
>  
> * At least three lines tall.

I think that's too large for default; most parameter values are simple entries (e.g. a file name or an author's surname). We want filling in the fields to seem like a quick, easy thing to do, not an overwhelming prompt to write an essay. However, we could possibly bump the minimum size to larger than 1.5x, though I'd still be worried about making them too large. Note the size of the boxes in the sketch of the citation dialog by way of example: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor/Design/Reference_Dialog#mediaviewer/File:VE-reference-dailog-design-04b.png – this change was done as part of that work. I suggest we re-visit this if it doesn't feel like it's working out very well.


> * Scrollbars as needed.

Right now they'll just grow without limit, which means if it's such an insanely large parameter value that it's larger than the dialog it will get scrollbars, but otherwise it will just grow. Maybe we could set a maximum size (10 lines? 5?) and then scroll when larger than that? Perhaps something for another bug?


> * Ability to resize the window vertically.

Which "window"? The dialog itself, or the text box? If the latter, that's now done; if the former, I don't think that that's a reasonable outcome (because it breaks the design for mobile, limited vision users, and others with small screen sizes, and because it's Yet Another Control for users to have to understand what it does, why they'd use it, and how it works).


> * Replace the grey area between parameters by a line (less space wasted, as
> readable as before), don't use large padding inside the fields, reduce white
> space between parameter name and value.

The first and third of these points is also being done as part of the citation dialog work; if anything, we're probably going to increase the padding on the input boxes in line with that work, though.


Am thus closing this bug as FIXED for now, with an adjustment to the title to reflect the design decision, and we can open further bugs for other ideas.