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Highlighting syntax within editing window by default
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Description

Author: IJethrobot

Description:
Having read https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16268 and https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11627, this enhancement proposal is sufficiently different and is based on different discussion.

There is a wide consensus of editors who would like to see syntax highlighting in the standard editing window turned on by default, particularly for references, for wiki markup. This consensus has been reached in two discussions on en.wiki, one at the Village Pump http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_%28proposals%29/Archive_92#Differentiating_reference_syntax_in_the_editing_window. and one in a Request For Comments that was a part of Centralized Discussion for 30 days: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/Syntax_differentiation_in_editing_window. Given the course of the discussion, and the overwhelming support for this functionality, I decided to submit this proposal to bugzilla.

Many participants in the above discussions expressed that adding a syntax highlighter would make editing a more accessible experience for newer users. In fact, direct feedback from new editors has suggested that this has been a problem (e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:FeedbackDashboard/46104). They are also unsatisfied with

Previous proposals have stated that implementing this internally is not possible. However, this is incorrect; there are at least some examples of non-external editors that work or could work reasonably well:

The only thing I would have liked to see more of in the above discussions were persons who might be able to discuss a specific implementation. Some discussion of that is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/Syntax_differentiation_in_editing_window#Implementation. Such discussion would be helpful here, given the above information on how it may be viable to implement this internally.


Version: unspecified
Severity: enhancement

Details

Reference
bz41770

Event Timeline

bzimport raised the priority of this task from to Medium.Nov 22 2014, 1:12 AM
bzimport set Reference to bz41770.
bzimport added a subscriber: Unknown Object (MLST).

IJethrobot wrote:

Example of syntax highlighting using AceWikiEditor

attachment url.txt ignored as obsolete

IJethrobot wrote:

Screenshot of AceWikiEditor as an example of syntax highlighting.

Attached:

AceWikiEditor-Aki-na-ukwa.png (457×752 px, 124 KB)

You know that the existing javascript solutions could be installed as default gadgets, right?

IJethrobot wrote:

Right, but I figured in order to turn something on by default for all users, it would need to come here. Also, a specific implementation would need to be decided upon.

thewub.wiki wrote:

If there's consensus on a particular javascript implementation, and it's been thoroughly tested, then it can be done by a local administrator - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Gadget#Default_gadgets

Suggest closing this bug since it doesn't require any developer intervention.

Won't get into core, since VisualEditor is where resources are dedicated in this area (unless a volunteer picks it up, which i doubt will happen).

Default gadget seems like the simplest and most effective solution. And devs won't have to deal with all the people complaining which will inevitably follow if this is turned on by default.

IJethrobot wrote:

Thanks. I didn't know this could be implemented by a local admin.