Hi all, Two questions: Do any decent editing tools exist, specialised for editing wikis, and in particular, mediawiki wikis. Such a thing would have to be capable of browsing, but let you do editing in some kind of more sophisticated, enhanced way - whatever that is.
Secondly, if such a thing doesn't exist (possible since I haven't heard of one), are there any real obstacles to it happening? Why has all the discussion of WYSIWYG wiki editing been focused on server-side implementations. With the exception of querying the database, why can't all this be implemented locally, allowing a possibly richer user experience by using native Windows (for example :)) calls, rather than the limitations of javascript.
Has no one tried?
Steve
On Wed, Aug 16, 2006 at 10:04:30PM +0200, Steve Bennett wrote:
Two questions: Do any decent editing tools exist, specialised for editing wikis, and in particular, mediawiki wikis. Such a thing would have to be capable of browsing, but let you do editing in some kind of more sophisticated, enhanced way - whatever that is.
Secondly, if such a thing doesn't exist (possible since I haven't heard of one), are there any real obstacles to it happening? Why has all the discussion of WYSIWYG wiki editing been focused on server-side implementations. With the exception of querying the database, why can't all this be implemented locally, allowing a possibly richer user experience by using native Windows (for example :)) calls, rather than the limitations of javascript.
It sounds as if you do *not* mean "embedded in a browser".
Do you, in fact, not mean that?
Cheers, -- jra
On 8/16/06, Jay R. Ashworth jra@baylink.com wrote:
It sounds as if you do *not* mean "embedded in a browser".
Do you, in fact, not mean that?
I guess I'm probably thinking something external to a browser - but almost certainly with browsing capabilities. However, much of what I'm picturing could possibly be carried out with some sort of enhanced browser, even using a lot of greasemonkey, for instance.
So, yeah your three possibilities would be: - embedded in a browser, using javascript or something similar to provide more power - extending a browser, say by using mozilla to produce a custom wikibrowser - embedding a browser, using either a native windows (or possibly java based cross-platform windowy thing) application that interacts directly with the user, but also embeds some kind of browser component to render HTML and allow the user to, well, browse.
If that doesn't answer the question I'll try again. I'm trying to avoid imposing a solution to the general problem...
Steve
- embedded in a browser, using javascript or something similar to
provide more power
I don't know if you were soliciting comments or not, but I suspect that the first alternative is likely the most attractive - IMO, but don't even begin to ask me how one actually builds such a beastie.
r
On 8/16/06, Ron Hall ron.hall@mcgill.ca wrote:
I don't know if you were soliciting comments or not, but I suspect that the first alternative is likely the most attractive - IMO, butdon't even begin to ask me how one actually builds such a beastie.
I'm definitely soliciting comments. Why is it more attractive? Consider that the user would have to install an extension. And I suspect that javascript can't do that much within an edit control. Perhaps it could replace the edit control by something different altogether? Someone correct me?
From a couple of greasemonkey scripts I wrote, I found it's pretty
easy to manipulate elements of a webpage, moving stuff around and adding new controls. But I don't think you can alter the way a button behaves, for instance - it's just a button, and you get told when it gets clicked on, released, or hovered over...but not sure how much further you can go.
Steve
On 16/08/06, Steve Bennett stevage@gmail.com wrote:
Hi all, Two questions: Do any decent editing tools exist, specialised for editing wikis, and in particular, mediawiki wikis. Such a thing would have to be capable of browsing, but let you do editing in some kind of more sophisticated, enhanced way - whatever that is.
Secondly, if such a thing doesn't exist (possible since I haven't heard of one), are there any real obstacles to it happening? Why has all the discussion of WYSIWYG wiki editing been focused on server-side implementations. With the exception of querying the database, why can't all this be implemented locally, allowing a possibly richer user experience by using native Windows (for example :)) calls, rather than the limitations of javascript.
One of the ideas I had a few months ago was to expand the external editing concept and make it more useful. Erik's initial implementation was good enough, but it could be made much better. I envisioned multiple editors spanning various platforms, interacting with Wikipedia via a standardised editing API.
That idea is still in the depths of my skull. But like many ideas, that's where it's stayed. I would still love to see a nice Windows-based editor, and then we can port something to Unix and the Mac.
Rob Church
On 8/16/06, Rob Church robchur@gmail.com wrote:
One of the ideas I had a few months ago was to expand the external editing concept and make it more useful. Erik's initial implementation was good enough, but it could be made much better. I envisioned multiple editors spanning various platforms, interacting with Wikipedia via a standardised editing API.
Where is Erik's implementation? Do you have any notes, plans, design etc anywhere?
Steve
On 16/08/06, Steve Bennett stevage@gmail.com wrote:
On 8/16/06, Rob Church robchur@gmail.com wrote:
One of the ideas I had a few months ago was to expand the external editing concept and make it more useful. Erik's initial implementation was good enough, but it could be made much better. I envisioned multiple editors spanning various platforms, interacting with Wikipedia via a standardised editing API.
Where is Erik's implementation? Do you have any notes, plans, design etc anywhere?
The current external editing interface is Erik's implementation. A sample script which uses it can be found in Subversion; trunk/extensions/ee.
More of the conflict detection and handling need to be dealt with server-side; client applications implementing a standard editing API should be able to do so without too much duplication of logic.
Rob Church
On 8/16/06, Rob Church robchur@gmail.com wrote:
The current external editing interface is Erik's implementation. A sample script which uses it can be found in Subversion; trunk/extensions/ee.
So we have an external editing interface just begging for an external editor? I'm pleasantly surprised.
Steve
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