[Foundation-l] [Wikitech-l] Big problem to solve: good WYSIWYG on WMF wikis

[Stephanie Daugherty]

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 at 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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