"Sam Korn" <smoddy(a)gmail.com> wrote in message
news:cbffa3750601211232l4145f438le5ea3d2ef072f74f@mail.gmail.com...
On 1/21/06, Jama Poulsen <jama(a)debianlinux.net>
wrote:
[snip]
One could also
say that the current Wiki syntax is too simple for many
editors.
Sure its much more complex than the 'standard' Wiki syntax, but I do see
a need for more dynamic page constructions and displays, and this
provides
a very interesting building block for that.
Do you see the need? I don't.
All I see is people wanting to use one
template in all situations, where they could easily use multiple
templates.
This is known as "template forking" and is regarded as evil.
It generally results in 17 different variants of a given template, with
minor differences between them, forcing an editor to work much harder to
discern which variant is appropriate for a given occasion.
Take for example the classic {{book reference}}. The simplest possible
instance is just the title of the book. This can later be embellished with
the name of the author, possibly with a link to an appropriate article.
Later additions can include the publisher and ISBN, to distinguish between
different editions and to enable a reader to find an actual copy.
If you fork this template (and this was actually done before the advent of
condition "tricksiness"), you have to use a different template every time
you incrementally improve the accuracy of your citation. Your choice can
even be affected by the order in which your embellishments are added!
Since accurate citation of sources is a key requirement for a good Wikipedia
article, making this any harder than necessary is not good.
HTH HAND
--
Phil
[[en:User:Phil Boswell]]