Hi Dave, I'm sure others will respond to this as it has been a major area of development and debate.
I am in two minds about this. Yes, an easier interface would lower barriers to entry and may help boost numbers participating - but I'm not convinced that this would result in benefits to the projects. Here are a coupe of points in support of the interface as it stands: 1. At the moment Wikieducator's interface is very similar to the other major wiki projects. I see that the skills a teacher acquires by learning to edit Wikieducator are very transferable skills that may see them participating more on other major wiki projects like Wikipedia and Wikibooks, or even their own MediaWiki installation (MediaWiki is the software that Wikieducator and the other big wikis run on). This would be a good thing for everyone involved in my view. 2. The simple text view for editing helps keep mistakes and formatting problems to a minimum. I use Google Docs regularly and the formatting troubles are always a hassle. Words that won't move, lines that are too long or too short. I even get this in desktop word processors. But in saying that, it might be nice to have the options for both views so I can correct problems if they persist. 3. The skills needed to edit MediaWikis can be something of a status if teachers are encouraged to think of it this way. 4. The barriers that the interface presents could be helping to keep vandalism down.. not sure about this one. 5. People like me have become loyal to the MediaWiki.. why is that? I used to desire an easier interface, but now I know enough about MediaWiki to get around, I really enjoy that I can work it and that I can participate on other Wikiprojects... this has inverted my feelings so that now I am a trad loyalist! :) Actually, I am like this with quite a few things... There might be others reasons, but that's my bit. On Dec 17, 2007 2:06 PM, David McQuillan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi all, > > I've been lurking on the periphery of the WikiEd conversation for a > while, but haven't really had much to contribute so far. I'll start > with a query. > > Are there any plans to change the way in which wiki-editing occurs? > > It seems to me that the major barrier to wiki-editing is the need to > learn how to write using media-wiki text. Writing in media-wiki text > is is significantly different from the type of text-editing that most > people are used to. If the interface was changed to something more > akin to the google-docs interface I imagine that the participation > would go through the roof. > > I realise that the open-office media-wiki text add-on has made this > process significantly easier, but it's still a jump for the general > populace. > > Kind regards, > > David McQuillan > > > > > -- -- Leigh Blackall +64(0)21736539 skype - leigh_blackall SL - Leroy Goalpost http://learnonline.wordpress.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
