[WikiEN-l] SI vs. Imperial/US/cubits and furlongs...

[Robert Graham Merkel]

On Tue, Mar 23, 2004 at 08:06:44PM -0800, wikien-l-request at Wikipedia.org wrote:
> Send WikiEN-l mailing list submissions to
> 	wikien-l at Wikipedia.org
> 
> Why not use a conversion syntax that allows a question
> mark for one of the values, which then gets converted
> and replaced in the actual markup code. The editor
> could then correct the converted value for the
> context.
> 
> For example, {{num:mi:1000:km:1600}} would show "1000
> miles" (or whatever) for a US user, and would show
> 1600 km for everyone else. 
> 
> If the editor entered {{num:mi:1000:km:?}}, then it
> would be converted in the markup text as
> {{num:mi:1000:km:1609}}. The editor could then change
> that to read as the first example above, if desired.
> Similarly, the editor could express the value in km
> and leave the mi as a question mark...
> 
> This would allow a preference of either unit, or both.
> 
> By the way, I'm not at all stuck on this syntax -- I
> haven't given those details much thought. It the
> concept that I want to contribute.
>

If we're going to be pedantic about this, I'd suggest 
a couple more features, listed in order of priority:

1) The *first* figure to appear in the notation should always be
the "source" figure, so when editing you know which one has
been rounded for display.

2) Should you be able to explicitly indicate the number of significant
digits in a measurement?

3) Ideally, you'd like to be able to mouse-over such figures in the
displayed article, and get the metric and imperial equivalents in a 
pop-up box or something, as well as an indication of which is the source 
figure.

4) Would it be going over the top to (optionally) be able to specify a 
separate "source figure" (of higher precision than that desirable for 
display) that is separate from the displayed figure in that unit system?  
So you could record a source figure of 84.52 km/h (which appears in the
mouse-over box) but is displayed in the text as 85 km/h or 52 mph?

Is this all getting too complicated?


-- 
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                                           Robert Merkel
                                     robert.merkel at benambra.org
                                        http://benambra.org

She's leaving the country...she doesn't speak English...I insulted her
friend's breasts...and she thinks I collect women's ears in a bucket.
 -- Jeff Murdock (Richard Coyle), "Coupling"
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