[Mediawiki-l] ramblings on MediaWiki interface design

[Sy Ali]

On 1/25/07, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
> Susan is a 40-year-old stay-at-home mother. She majored in English
> many years ago, and still has a fondness for Jane Austen. She is idly
> browsing the Internet, and happens by Pride and Prejudice. In five
> minutes, her son gets off the school bus. She finds an error on the
> page.

Step one: Click 'edit'
Step two: Type text
Step three: Click 'save'

I think your example is lacking.  You're describing a simple wikignome
type task and not a creation or significant rework of an article.

Most of the policies are "obvious" and are there for reference for
when people stomp all over an article or a user and pretend like it's
alright.

Some of the policies have some subtleties, but everyday editors won't
need to worry about them.

The example being used seems to call for a cleaner interface, in-line
help - maybe also in-line help with tips and policies.

I mean.. if this person edits a page.. people aren't going to go "oh
my god, she fixed my grammar, revert revert!!"


I must conclude this comment with "Is there a real problem which needs
to be solved?"  This thread sounds like great fodder to tie up a
committe and keep people employed for a long time.  It does not sound
useful enough to boil down into a set of concise bug reports or
feature requests.

So the problem needs to be clarified..

Can we find some of these hypothetical editors, and give them a simple
questionnaire maybe?