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WYSIWYG - Wiki

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Is there a WYSIWYG that is functional on the wiki? It would be much easier to use.

I

Ilja Mon 10 Dec 2018 5:23PM

I agree that WYSIWYG would be easier. I saw recently that our wiki now has buttons you can use[see pic]. It's not WYSIWYG, but at least you can use those which means you don't have to remember the code for every markup you want to do.

I do see that an extention exists https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:WYSIWYG
It's beta, so there might be bugs, but maybe worth a try? @hgo ?

I also see a category for WYSIWYG in MediaWiki https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Category:WYSIWYG_extensions

DU

Mon 10 Dec 2018 8:23PM

That's nice!

H

HgO Tue 11 Dec 2018 9:34AM

@michelbraibant Are you talking about the VisualEditor, which is enabled on (french) Wikipédia for instance ? We had discussions about this in the WikiSquad, and at the time we decided to not enable this extension.

The reason is explained on the page of the WikiSquad :

We are not sure whether this new tool would make the edition easier, or on the opposite it will complexify everything by hiding wiki syntax from the user.
This requires more discussions within the WikiSquad.

So I do think we would need more thinking before enabling this extension.

@iljabaert I don't really know this extension, but we should check how it is related to the VisualEditor. It looks like it's an earlier attempt to have a WYSIWYG extension for a wiki. Technically, VisualEditor is already installed* (but not enabled) on our wiki, so we wouldn't get much here I think.

* VisualEditor is already used by the Flow discussion system (the new talk pages). However, if we want to enable VisualEditor for the whole wiki, we would need more configuration (e.g. for the templates)

I

Ilja Thu 13 Dec 2018 7:07PM

It was just the first thing I saw. I just didn't know we already had something :slight_smile:

Does enabling VisualEditor make it impossible to use wiki-syntax? Or will a user be able to choose?
If I check the talk-pages it looks like you're not able to edit the code anymore.
But when I check the discussion[1], I see

it is possible to switch to the VisualEditor when you edit a wiki

So I would think being able to choose will still be an option?

If it can be a choice, having WYSIWYG as a default, but being able as a user to use the wiki-code, then I say we should go for it. I understand that some people like the syntax since it's much quicker and easier for certain things, but it's very cumbersome for people who only use it sporadically. Having WYSIWYG by default, but with an option for viewing and using code, makes the wiki accessible for both use cases.
If it's not possible to have both options, or the VisualEditor just isn't workable enough for our wiki, then I think the enhanced editing toolbar should suffice for now (unless someone thinks otherwise of course).

In any case, the enhanced editing toolbar is already a very nice enhancement.

[1] https://wiki.pirateparty.be/Talk:WikiSquad

EDIT Since we already have the enhanced editing toolbar and there will be work for the templates, I don't really see this as a high priority, but still, it could be nice to have one day

DU

Tue 11 Dec 2018 12:16PM

I just think that such an extension would be very user friendly as I don't remember markups that I use once a month. If the extension just replaces markups by buttons, that's perfect and it should do the trick to me. Now, I don't know all the technical problems that you could encounter.

H

HgO Tue 11 Dec 2018 1:33PM

If the extension just replaces markups by buttons, that's perfect and it should do the trick to me

But there is already the toolbar which does that :confused:

H

HgO Tue 11 Dec 2018 1:37PM

Maybe this toolbar is not enabled by default ? You can check in your profile settings (Editing > "Enable enhanced editing toolbar", see screenshot)

DU

Tue 11 Dec 2018 10:37PM

I probably didn't modify the wiki since it appeared... Or maybe I simply didn't notice it! Anyway, sorry for that.