[Wikipedia-l] Avoid tables -- keep it simple!

[Erik Moeller]

> The English Wikipedia often is overdesigned; example:
> http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuwait (and probably many a lot other
> countries).

> 1. It's hard to edit tables
> 2. Cut-and-paste does not work that good

Ugly to edit, but very useful in some instances. The country page template  
is one example. Having the most essential information in one common place  
has become tremendously useful, and I now use Wikipedia over the CIA World  
Factbook where the information is from, in part because it is easier to  
find in Wikipedia. If we reverted back to flat text, stuff like the  
population data would again be buried in a complex textual hierarchy. I  
always cringe when I come across a country page that doesn't use the new  
layout yet.

The lack of a table syntax is really the core problem here, and it is one  
that we have pushed aside many times. Many conflicting syntax proposals  
have been made, and any one which is chosen to implement would probably  
generate controversy because it isn't *quite* as capable as real HTML, or  
almost as complex. I favor starting with something very simple and adding  
more features as the need arises.

But when you have something like

||right
\\ Dawlat al Kuwayt
\\gray [[Image:foo.jpg]]
\\ National motto: foo
\\ Official language: | Arabic
\\ Capital | Kuwait
\\ Emir | Jabir
\\ Prime minister | Saad
\\ Area <BR>
- Total <BR>
- %water |
Ranked 153 <br>
17,820 km2 <br>
Negligible
||

||alignment=table |=cell \\color=row

It gets a lot more readable, doesn't it?

Regards,

Erik