I think the problem here is this is just too complicated! I have a great deal of trouble following these complex templates and functions, and I think it's fair to say I'm an experienced user of MediaWiki. For people with less time using wikis, it must be even more complicated.
I can understand that advanced functions are useful for some users with specific goals in mind, but there comes a point when the complexity of the code becomes more of a problem than the issue you are trying to fix. Any less technically minded user will look at the code and be totally flummoxed. They won't be able to get the same effect on their own templates or to make changes to existing ones, they will be frustrated and put off. When wiki markup gets to this point, maybe it's better to consider how the same functionality can be given in a way that works without the complexity. Is there a way that it can be moved to an extension that can be used simply? Or, is this a case where the problems outweigh the benefits and we simply don't provide this functionality? I don't want to limit the technically minded from getting the effects they want, but the beauty of wikis has always been captured in the phrase "anyone can edit". There are more ways of preventing that than by protecting pages. -- sannse On Dec 11, 2007 7:01 AM, DanTMan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I've started a discussion and a WikiPage on this topic now. I'd love > feedback from the Wikia community on what functions are useful or wanted > from other extension, or what functionality or ease of use syntax could be > added. > The discussion is here: > http://inside.wikia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=133 > > Remember, the idea isn't turning WikiText into a programming language, but > making the current esoteric syntax easier to use, and adding more features > and usability. > > ~Daniel Friesen(Dantman) of: > -The Gaiapedia (http://gaia.wikia.com) > -Wikia ACG on Wikia.com (http://wikia.com/wiki/Wikia_ACG) > -and Wiki-Tools.com (http://wiki-tools.com) > DanTMan wrote: > I did a little mockup on Community Test explaining the usefulness of Looping > Functions. > http://communitytest.wikia.com/wiki/LoopFunctions_usefulness_example > I know most people don't think that WikiText should be considered a > programming language, but I would also think that anything that can make > template and article syntax more simplified should be reviewed. > > Though, I do think that most of the implementations are lacking. I'm > probably considering reviewing all of them (ParserFunctions, ParserFunctions > (extended), StringFunctions, LoopFunctions, Control Structure Functions, > Character Escapes, and RegexParserFunctions), and creating an extension > which combines the usefulness of all of them, but while working better with > the syntax, and still making it backwards compatible with wiki like Wikia > which is already using some of the extensions and would have issues > installing some of the others for compatibility reasons. > > Would anyone consider such an extension good for use on Wikia? > > My first question is on the subject of character escapes. LoopFunctions, > and also in the case of tables, any type of ParserFunctions do have issues > with syntax of things because of the nature of ParserFunctions. There are > multiple ways to do escapes. I'm probably going to add the <esc></esc> > function from Character Escapes in, but that doesn't work on it's own, > sometimes you need an alternate set of escapes. However there are multiple > forms, and I'd like to know what the community thinks of them. > > ... > > > So I would half to say that it does improve the ability to do stuff, and > kills function parsing and template overhead in many ways. > > -- > ~Daniel Friesen(Dantman) of: > -The Gaiapedia (http://gaia.wikia.com) > -Wikia ACG on Wikia.com (http://wikia.com/wiki/Wikia_ACG) > -and Wiki-Tools.com (http://wiki-tools.com) > > > ________________________________ > > _______________________________________________ > Wikia-l mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.wikia.com/mailman/listinfo/wikia-l > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikia-l mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.wikia.com/mailman/listinfo/wikia-l > > _______________________________________________ Wikia-l mailing list [email protected] http://lists.wikia.com/mailman/listinfo/wikia-l
