-----Original Message----- From: wikitech-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikitech-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Roan Kattouw Sent: 25 September 2009 23:39 To: Wikimedia developers Subject: Re: [Wikitech-l] Proposal for editing template calls within pages
2009/9/25 Platonides Platonides@gmail.com:
Those descriptions will have to be edited by the same user
base that
edit all other pages. Even if they are power users, it's
not easy to
write correct XML on the wiki textarea. We would need to create an
editor for the language being created so a template editor
can be made.
Since the XML file describes the template, it need only be changed when the template is changed. Realistically, newbie editors don't edit templates; anyone skilled enough to edit templates can handle some simple XML.
I advocate for a simpler syntax for form definition (but we
shouldn't
on the way reinvent wikitext).
Exactly. XML is a decent choice here because it has a well-defined, pre-existing grammar with parsers already available, which means it's easy to parse and easy to learn (assuming you've got some shred of a technical background; see my earlier point about newbies not editing templates).
Roan Kattouw (Catrope)
One thing I think might be missing from the example template description is all the implicit parameters it depends on, like language.
Jared