Author: zocky

Description:
I've seen cite.php and it looks promising, but it remains just a formating tool,
not something that will provide functionality to manage references.

What we need, IMO, is a Reference: or Ref: namespace, which would be used to
indirectly cite sources. The [[Ref:Darwin 1859]] page would thus contain
something along the lines of "Charles Darwin: On the Origin of Species by Means
of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for
Life, 1859", some ISBNs and/or internal and external links. Any page that wanted
to reference that book would simply say [[Ref:Darwin 1859]] where needed, and
the description of the book would be added to an automatically generated list of
references at the bottom of the page.

The advantages this would give us:

• Standardized display of references on all articles.
• A better working environment for reference checkers.
• Consistent treatment sources used in more than one article.
• The exact format of the listed references could be controlled by user settings.
• A better data model for an encyclopedia.

Version: unspecified
Severity: enhancement