[Mediawiki-l] Apple's Wiki Server brings WYSIWYG to wiki

[Jan Steinman]

> From: jdd <jdd at dodin.org>
>
> _wiki is a collaborative effort_, let the experienced users
> do what you can't do and insert _your own invaluable
> experience_ as text...

AMEN!

Those who insist wikitext is too hard for their users are not making  
a sincere effort to make it work.

I tell people who are making new pages -- or even editing existing  
ones -- to concentrate on getting the WORDS down, then someone who  
knows spelling, punctuation, grammar, formating, layout, etc. will  
come along behind them and add their contributions.

Micorsloth Worm is the WORST thing that has ever happened to page  
layout, because it makes everyone think they're a graphic artist.  
Give the world WYSIWYG wiki, and you'll end up with tons of pages  
that are formatted by multiple spaces and multiple line breaks that  
WILL NOT LOOK THE SAME on anything except the browser of the author!  
Web browsers are NOT really WYSIWYG-ready!

So tell your users the basic rules: two line breaks are a paragraph.  
Don't put spaces at the beginning of a line. Anything beyond that,  
they can learn incrementally, or it can be left to the "experts."

I'm not saying WYSIWYG is a bad thing and should be resisted. But  
your attitude flavors your users' attitude. Tell them how to get  
their content up there in the simplest possible way, rather than  
reinforce any resistance they may have.

:::: Jan Steinman, Communication Steward, EcoReality: http:// 
www.EcoReality.org ::::
:::: 160 Sharp Road, Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 2P6, Canada,  
250.537.2024 ::::