I think part of the point of usability with a wiki is to reduce user complexity, not to increase it. Silly rules like adding a <br> or using two line feeds (which sometimes shows up as two line feeds), run contrary to that concept.
After seeing many responses (thank you all for the input), I've come to the conclusion that this is best implemented by creating a new extension, which I'm going to call ExtendedStringFunctions.
This will allow escaping characters (such as newline and others) and will be invoked with an extra "e" at the end of the parser function:
Example:
{{#replacee:{{{Input String}}}|\n|<br>}}
This way, the existing users of StringFunctions will not find their stuff unexpectedly escaped, and those who wish to do replacements and escaping can do so with the extended functions.
Again, thanks for all the input!
Jack
-----Original Message----- From: mediawiki-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:mediawiki-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Jon.G.Bartlett@gsk.com Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 6:13 AM To: MediaWiki announcements and site admin list Subject: Re: [Mediawiki-l] Replacing Newline using Extension:StringFunctions
<br> is inserted by FCKEditor (which I guess many are using in their Wikis). Personally, I find these all over the place in oursi - and it irritaes me (even in level heading, and tables etc)
Jon.
"Platonides" Platonides@gmail.com Sent by: mediawiki-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org 01-Sep-2009 10:58 Please respond to "MediaWiki announcements and site admin list" mediawiki-l@lists.wikimedia.org
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Subject Re: [Mediawiki-l] Replacing Newline using Extension:StringFunctions
Katharina Wolkwitz wrote:
Hi Jack,
I'm not sure if I really understand the wherefor and why
but the break in
mediawiki is <br> not <br>.
Perhaps you could make an extra button to insert <br/>?
Greetings Katharina
You break paragraphs in MediaWiki using *two* line breaks. <br /> or <br> force a line break just as it does in html, but you /shouldn't/ need it.
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