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context specific editor for templates?
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Description

On English Wikipedia, it is stated that some common templates need a context specific editor.

Examples offered by (and with explanatory text by) User:Clem Rutter


*[[Template:convert]]
([[Template:frac]]
Those are simple- all we need is to display the parameters so they can be changed, when focus is lost they just display. For useability you could enter the the inline-template-editor by double clicking or ctrl-shift -click.

*[[Template:fact]]
*[[Template:cn]]
These two are more complex as editors are there to change the *cn to a reference- of which the *sfn template is ideal. So here on a double-click, you need to change a *cn to a *sfn and enter the inline-template-editor to add the fields which are Name|Year|pp=page-lastpage. For a sfn, on leaving, you need an alert that offers to take you to the reflist to confirm or edit if that reference is missing.

*[[Template:sfn]]
Explained above.

*[[Template:efn]]
Simplicity- there is only one parameter. Though an alert may be needed if the Notes {*{notelist|notes=}*} structure is not in place.

*[[Template:reflist]]-
fiendishly complex from a programming pov but functionally simple- as the functionality we need is
add a line in wiki code- I C&P common ones from a master list of commonly used texts in field that I keep in a subpage, or as a textfile on the desktop. An easy technique to teach when you are training at a museum or library as you can give your students the file on usbstick
change some data- for instance an isbn number
this can be achieved in a popup wikicode editor- or even gedit, vi, geaney, wordpad as no parsing is required.

([[Template:infobox]]
it is totally essential to just be able to change the content of a field visually. It is desirable to add new fields but this is of lower priority nigh essential, and this wont be achieved until the issue of recursive templates is resolved. (That rates as essential on my list.)

I leave the list there for a Linus test, so if you could pass this on to your dev team and ask them to add these to the functional specification. Here is an example of a sample edit for them to try Swanley it keeps coming up on my watchlist:

*first three references contain raw urls- probably could do with a *cite template her- not mentioned above
*fix a *cn
*change item in infobox
*convert acres to hectares needed

All of that could be easily achievable.-- Clem Rutter (talk) 18:20, 5 July 2013 (UTC)


Version: unspecified
Severity: normal

Details

Reference
bz50915

Event Timeline

bzimport raised the priority of this task from to Needs Triage.Nov 22 2014, 1:55 AM
bzimport added a project: VisualEditor.
bzimport set Reference to bz50915.

This is a WONTFIX; VisualEditor is not specific to the English Wikipedia, and it is neither appropriate nor sane to create specific dialogs for each of the thousands of templates on hundreds of wikis.