Now, hasn't anybody thought in doing it as
javascript at user side?
So it works in Russian Wikipedia
"Wikificator" is a JavaScript currently used in the Russian Wikipedia.
It is embedded in the source code of an edit page, so that any visitor
can use it just by clicking a link below their editing box. The script
applies certain transformations (mainly regarding typographics, such
as dashes, quotation marks, etc) to text highlighted in the editbox,
if any; otherwise to the whole article. It is very convenient and does
a great job improving the look of the Russian Wikipedia's articles.
Thw script can be modified only by our sysops, since it sits MediaWiki
namespace.
Note that the Russian typographical conventions are quite different to
the Anglo-American ones.
The script
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Wikificator.js
Description
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Википедия:Викификатор
Example
Befor
Text text "text in quotation marks "nested" text" - mdash.
After
Text text «text in quotation marks „nested" text» — mdash.
--
Alexander Sigachov