[Wikipedia-l] Why is MediaWiki so low-tech?

[James Hare]

Well we have to remember that -not everyone- owns a Dell Dimension with a
3gHz processor and 1GB of RAM, or a high-end MacBook from 2006. While I own
both, not everyone does. Not everyone has the resources to run the latest
browser with all the greatest implements and support for seventy thousand
scripts. I wouldn't be surprised if a computer that was old by 1995 in the
US is considered industry standard in Somalia.

On 1/6/07, Virgil Ierubino <virgil.ierubino at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Why is MediaWiki so low-tech?
>
> I understand the imperitive for maximal accessibility, but is it not also
> true that, these days, fewer and fewer people are using browsers that
> can't
> handle advanced features? The fact of the matter is that a website's
> *usability* is improved by taking advantage of the higher-tech
> architecture
> that modern browsers allow you to use. Can't MediaWiki default to its
> current state, but offer a per-user preference to turn on advanced
> options?
>
> Look at a site like Facebook, (http://www.facebook.com), for example,
> which
> is possibly one of the most beautifully constructed websites I have ever
> encountered. It is simple in layout and ridiculously easy to use on
> account
> of very good design, and the use of advanced code generating popups,
> immediate editing, etc. Furthermore their code is pristine; I have never
> seen an error, even in the advanced features, on any browser.
>
> The kind of MediaWiki advanced features I'm talking about could be
> something
> like instant editing. Think about if you're reading a long section of an
> article, and midway down there's a spelling error. There are so many
> reasons
> to not fix it: you'd have to scroll up to click the edit link on that
> section, you'd have to wait for it to load, you'd have to find the place
> again in the edit box, you'd have to wait for it to load again, and all
> this
> time you won't be able to continue reading your article, and you'll have
> lost your place. What if you could just click next to the relevant
> paragraph, turning it into an edit box on the same page - no loading -
> edit
> it, save it, and never once have to switch page. Something similar to the
> way you can edit posts in vBulletin without having to change pages. I know
> for sure that a feature like this would double the speed at which (and the
> likelihood of which) articles are improved.
>
> Obviously once you accept the usage of advanced elements like this there's
> no stopping how much easier you can make the site, and how user friendly.
> If
> the only grounds to not include this kind of feature are accessibility,
> just
> put each feature on a switch in user preferences.
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