[Wikipedia-l] A vision for wiki syntax, documented

Thu May 15 22:51:00 UTC 2003

Lee-
> WIKIPEDIA IS NOT HTML. Wikipedia is a collection of free encyclopedic
> content, currently being delivered to users by the technology available
> to us at the time, which happens to be HTML. Wikipedia's content should
> be described in unambiguous ways that preserve the content and structure
> of documents, and that can be rendered readably and edited easily.  HTML
> fails to meet at least some of those criteria (notably ease of editing).

True. But I agree with Uli that the flexibility of HTML tables is  
important. I also do not think the proposed {{style}} syntax really makes  
things easier. Case in point: I did not really understand it before  
reading it a second time. I think the idea of weak attachments, e.g.  
{{red}}foo, is a counter-intuitive one. On the other hand, the HTML-style  
<math> tag is in wide use on Wikipedia -- people seem to grasp it easily.

I think having styles usable with a <foo></foo> syntax is perfectly  
acceptable. Those who do know HTML will find it immediately easy to use,  
and those who do not know only have to learn one thing: <xy> starts  
something, </xy> ends something. I think that's more than simple enough,  
whereas the "What does {{xy}} refer to" question raised by your syntax is  
more complex. And it has the additional disadvantage that those who do not  
know HTML have to learn an entirely new syntax. Also, {{}} looks ugly,  
code-ish.

I think retaining HTML tables within their namespace, while ignoring all  
HTML outside of it would be the best solution. I know what you think: It  
would be cleanest to get rid of all HTML. But consider this case more like  
having TeX or SVG support. We want to support existing markup languages  
where they provide us with better results than hacking our own. We can  
view HTML-tables as one such markup language, even if they are only a  
subset of one.

The table namespace does not necessarily have to be a real namespace whose  
contents would be transcluded (eat your heart out, Ted Nelson), it would  
also be possible to use a syntax like

[[Table:Periodic table]]
<table>...
</table>

Where the table is hidden in the editable wikitext (user option), and a  
small "edit" link is added at the bottom of the table in the rendered  
HTML. No impact on server performance, no silly "Table talk" namespace,  
but the same effect. Existing tables could be converted easily simply by  
adding a [[table:name]] link at the top.

Regards,

Erik