Tectonic shift think tank/Tech requirements/Ease of use

WYSIWYG Discussion

From FTF Session

What We Have

• Wiki Syntax Editor, and optionally with highlighting
• Currently does not support advanced macros and templates
• It supports both power user (programmer) and novice users
• Data is stored in wikitext

Wishlist

Target Audience Profile

• MS Word Users
• Yahoo Email, Google Email Users

Requirements Outline

• Greenfield vs. Existing Applications have different needs
• Define what WYSIWYG is for WYSIWYG Bi-directional Editor:
  • Minimally Acceptable [High Impact, 6 Months]
    • Support: B, I, U, >, H, *, =, Images, Table, iLink, xLink, Pre, HTML
    • CAVEAT: Editing an Image might pose issues [Need to work through and scope]
    • Copy & Paste from WORD must preserve RTF formatting [Hight Impact, Beyond 6 Months]
    • Jump to inline editing for unknown wikitext
  • Application Scenario Specific Extensions [Medium Impact, 12 Months]
    • Application Specific
    • Provide masking capabilities for unknown wikitext
  • Template Specific [Low Impact, 15+ Months]
    • Templates must be identified via Template Metadata
    • All Templates should not be included via SUBST
    • Templates can be masked and detailed views can be presented via mouseover property editors with preview capability
    • Provide integrity checks to guarantee backward compatibility
  • It should not malform existing wikitext [MUST]
• The editor should perform and be reliable [MUST]
• Ability to disable wikitext editing within a namespace or wikispace

The Resulting Experience

• 75% of Greenfield Content can be done via WYSIWYG
• Templating and Power Macros will be done via inline editor

The Approach

• The WYSIWYG can be done in an evolutionary way
• The canonical data format needs to be done as part of NG

From the community chatroom

<kim_register> now making diffs and history more accessible might be a good idea

"so jimmy mentioned working on the wysiwg editors at wikimania last summer. has there been no 
progress? cause he sure made it sound like a high priority and that we would see that."

Project was recently resumed, implementation probably in transitional steps (section editing, new page creation, etc.) -- already in use at http://politics.wikia.com/ and other Wikia sites that use the armchairgm.com codebase.--Eloquence 19:14, 13 April 2007 (CEST)

Alternate Device Support

Plugins for other word processors

• Like MSWORD Plugin

ADA Compatibility

• Voice XML