It wouldn't be all that hard. Elements are either "inline" or "block" elements. Inline elements insert into the text flow, while text flows around block elements. If we make the distinction as simple as that, and disallow all methods of positioning other than that which is natively available in wiki code (ie, no html or css positioning), we can make that process very easy.
That said, the editing interface needs to be tightly integrated - you shouldn't have to go to a separate page to edit a template or other "external" element. For users that are able to function with a nice pretty AJAX-capable editor, that interface could be clicking on the element marker, and a dialog pops up to edit the element. For users that have to use a flat HTML form, make these elements "list defined", like list defined references, and then use simple syntax to indicate all the markers, basically as entities.
This would result in a WYSIWYM interface, with any and all complex markup being rendered as placeholders editors could click to get a property screen for that item, and it would probably be way more practical than WYSIWYG given the complexity of the markup we are trying to "fix".
On Fri, Dec 31, 2010 at 8:13 AM, Platonides Platonides@gmail.com wrote:
Ryan Lomonaco wrote:
I think this has been brought up before, but a thought I've had: Apart
from
the fact that it will require a ton of work in coding, what would keep us from separating templates (and, for that matter, images) from the article text? Article text would exist by itself, and categories, templates,
images
and metadata would all be kept and edited separately from the article itself, with "pointers" indicating where the templates and images should
go
within the article.
Nothing. But images and /some/ inline templates can't be done that way since they also need a "position". That can be automated for eg. license templates, or infoboxes, but not for a template formatting a quote.
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