Comments on: Making MediaWiki friendly http://anyonecanedit.org/blog/2009/01/making-mediawiki-friendly/ Free content, free software and just about anything else free Sat, 17 Jul 2010 14:12:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Tgr http://anyonecanedit.org/blog/2009/01/making-mediawiki-friendly/comment-page-1/#comment-17 Tgr Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:58:29 +0000 http://anyonecanedit.org/blog/?p=86#comment-17 For experienced users, using templates (especially references) might be the most annoying. There is a nice gadget called VorlagenMeister (template master) on dewiki, which, surprisingly, didn't really spread to other wikis (maybe due to the language barrier?), and refTools is also helpful, but there is still a long way to go. (Ideally, you should be able to enter a URL, and get back a fully formatted reference template; I plan to attempt something like that this spring.) Separating metadata from the article text would also be helpful; this should not be very hard with stuff that relates to the subject of the article (categories, infoboxes etc.), but for information related to the text of the article (ie. references) I don't see how this could be possible. Stuff like <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikicite" rel="nofollow">Wikicite</a>/<a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiTextrose" rel="nofollow">WikiTextrose</a> could be a huge hit if it can be done somehow, though. Image uploading is also very hard, but that is mostly not a technical problem, copyright is just too complicated. For beginners, markup in itself is the largest problem, I suppose. I don't really believe in WYSIWYG, but intelligent syntax highlighting plus live preview plus a much better help might make a difference. Plus semi-WYSIWYG mini-editors for tables, templates, formulas - stuff that has a rigid, well-defined syntax that's unlikely to change. Importing Word documents is also a must - WikEd already does a decent job there, but it has an interface that's intimidating even for many regular users. For experienced users, using templates (especially references) might be the most annoying. There is a nice gadget called VorlagenMeister (template master) on dewiki, which, surprisingly, didn’t really spread to other wikis (maybe due to the language barrier?), and refTools is also helpful, but there is still a long way to go. (Ideally, you should be able to enter a URL, and get back a fully formatted reference template; I plan to attempt something like that this spring.) Separating metadata from the article text would also be helpful; this should not be very hard with stuff that relates to the subject of the article (categories, infoboxes etc.), but for information related to the text of the article (ie. references) I don’t see how this could be possible. Stuff like Wikicite/WikiTextrose could be a huge hit if it can be done somehow, though.

Image uploading is also very hard, but that is mostly not a technical problem, copyright is just too complicated.

For beginners, markup in itself is the largest problem, I suppose. I don’t really believe in WYSIWYG, but intelligent syntax highlighting plus live preview plus a much better help might make a difference. Plus semi-WYSIWYG mini-editors for tables, templates, formulas – stuff that has a rigid, well-defined syntax that’s unlikely to change. Importing Word documents is also a must – WikEd already does a decent job there, but it has an interface that’s intimidating even for many regular users.

]]> By: Steven Walling http://anyonecanedit.org/blog/2009/01/making-mediawiki-friendly/comment-page-1/#comment-16 Steven Walling Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:32:33 +0000 http://anyonecanedit.org/blog/?p=86#comment-16 Over at the blog for WikiProject Oregon (wikiprojectoregon.wordpress.com), I've written a couple posts about the Stanton grant and usability features I really like, mostly drawing on the ease of use that enterprise wikis have really perfected. Over at the blog for WikiProject Oregon (wikiprojectoregon.wordpress.com), I’ve written a couple posts about the Stanton grant and usability features I really like, mostly drawing on the ease of use that enterprise wikis have really perfected.

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