| • Whatamidoing-WMF | |
| Aug 11 2015, 6:25 PM |
| F32243805: Screen Shot 2020-09-03 at 3.17.31 PM.png | |
| Sep 3 2020, 7:20 PM |
The Citoid-enabled manual citation tab offers an option "Basic form". This label is confusing, because it sounds like you will be given an actual form to fill out, rather than a large, blank, freeform box.
Can we change it to match visualeditor-dialogbutton-reference-tooltip ("Basic")?
Example:
| Subject | Repo | Branch | Lines +/- | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change the button "Basic form" to "Basic" | mediawiki/extensions/Cite | master | +2 -2 |
The current label was the result of much searching for something that made it clear it was different from all the others. I don't think "Basic" does enough to convey that.
Aside from the best name, would it be possible to separate this function from the other "regular" templates with a horizontal divider line between "Basic form" and the rest of the templates? This would clarify visually: "Basic" is a citation, but it's a different type - separate from the others.
Definitely. Have filed T108725: Show separation between template and 'basic' citation types in the "manual" tab for that.
As a German I don't know how common the term is, but how about "Free-form"?
The problem with "Basic" in this context is: this citation form is not restricted to "basic" usage (aka simple or generic), in fact it can be the most complex method with additional options and flexibility in citation creation.
Hmm. Possibly.
The problem with "Basic" in this context is: this citation form is not restricted to "basic" usage (aka simple or generic), in fact it can be the most complex method with additional options and flexibility in citation creation.
"Basic" is not to mean "simplified" so much as "unstructured", "without help", "formless". I don't like the word either. :-)
The word "Basic" is not the main problem. The word "form" is the main problem. The user is not inserting a form, but a reference or a footnote. Therefore, replacing "form" with "reference" or "footnote" will make everything much clearer.
"Basic" can perhaps be replaced, too. For example, "Free-form reference" or "Generic footnote" can work. But the minimal change to "Basic reference" is probably enough.
The above is a theory. It can be proven wrong or right with a bit of user testing :)
I agree with @Amire80 - the issue here is really the word "form". If we were in an universe where the term "template" wasn't such a loaded word, I'd suggest "Basic Template".
Yeah, more accurate would even be "No template" since all the other ones ARE templates!
I actually think either
or
Both work here. You can use the "simple" box to just type the template in, sure, but you can also use it to directly insert other citation templates. It's actually more featured / complex than the other dialogs that go directly to a form.
I think "Other" captures the idea that you might want to use this option if none of the pre-sets work for you, whether you want to type in free text, use a different template than those listed, or use multiple templates.
Change 697399 had a related patch set uploaded (by Amire80; author: Amire80):
[mediawiki/extensions/Cite@master] Change the button "Basic form" to "Basic"
I decided to just be bold and change it to simply "Basic": https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/697399
My logic is:
Change 697399 merged by jenkins-bot:
[mediawiki/extensions/Cite@master] Change the button "Basic form" to "Basic"