Change Details

In wikitext, `[[foo]]bar` will turn into `<a href="foo">foobar</a>` assuming `bar` matches the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Linktrail | linktrail regexp ]]. VisualEditor instead offers a visual cue: when one is about to type a character which will be part of the link, the link is highlighted, otherwise it's not (and moving the cursor towards/away from the link can be used to switch between those states). This is intuitive and easy to use and would be neat interaction design, except that the two actions are not symmetric: unlinked characters at the end of a link are basically never used. So VisualEditor makes it very easy to create misformatted text (which looks extra weird in the source, too: T127635), while with the old editor it's practically impossible. VisualEditor should automatically make linktrail characters part of the link as they are typed (in the ultra-rare case of not wanting that, the user can enter the trailing part as a separate word and then backspace it onto the link), or some kind of warning should be shown when one adds unlinked trailing characters. (Originally reported at [[https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Kocsmafal_(egy%C3%A9b)#VisualEditor-hib%C3%A1k|huwiki:Wikipédia:Kocsmafal_(egyéb)#VisualEditor-hibák]])

In wikitext, `[[foo]]bar` will turn into `<a href="foo">foobar</a>` assuming `bar` matches the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Linktrail | linktrail regexp ]], so it is very hard to end up with partially linked words (such as `<a href="foo">foo</a>bar`). VisualEditor on the other hand makes it easy, which is a problem as such partial linking conflicts with basically all style guides and usability guidelines, and also look ugly and confusing in wikitext (`[[foo]]<nowiki/>bar` or something like that). There are two ways in which one can end up with such markup: * There is a linked word, and an editor tries to add a suffix to it (e.g. someone wants to edit `[[word]]` to become `[[word]]s`). VisualEditor offers a visual cue for this: when one is about to type a character which will be part of the link, the link is highlighted, otherwise it's not (and moving the cursor towards/away from the link can be used to switch between those states). While this sounds intuitive, in practice it seems that many editors (even experienced ones) fail to figure it out. * There is an unlinked word with a suffix, and someone wants to link it by selecting the word root and clicking on the link button (ie. they want to turn `words` into `[[word]]s`). This presumably seems more convenient than selecting the whole word and then deleting the suffix in the link dialog; but it ends up with VisualEditor only linking part of the word. Unlinked characters at the end of a link are, as far as I know, never used. So VisualEditor makes it very easy to create misformatted text, while with the old editor it's practically impossible. This is a major problem in agglutinative languages where suffixes are used a lot; on Hungarian Wikipedia most experienced editors refuse to use VisualEditor because of this (and the advice gets passed down in editathons and other outreach events, which impacts the ability of those events to quickly introduce newbies to editing). Seems to be a frequent issue elsewhere, too - see e.g. T35091, T53173, T54044, T95272 which are all about the same issue. Maybe VisualEditor could automatically make linktrail characters part of the link as they are typed (in the ultra-rare case of not wanting that, the user can enter the trailing part as a separate word and then backspace it onto the link), or some kind of warning should be shown when one adds unlinked trailing characters. (Originally reported at [[https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Kocsmafal_(egy%C3%A9b)#VisualEditor-hib%C3%A1k|huwiki:Wikipédia:Kocsmafal_(egyéb)#VisualEditor-hibák]])

In wikitext, `[[foo]]bar` will turn into `<a href="foo">foobar</a>` assuming `bar` matches the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Linktrail | linktrail regexp ]], so it is very hard to end up with partially linked words (such as `<a href="foo">foo</a>bar`). VisualEditor instead offers a visual cue: when one is about to type a character which will be part of the linkon the other hand makes it easy, thewhich is a problem as such partial link is highlighteding conflicts with basically all style guides and usability guidelines, otherwise it's not (and also look ugly and movconfusing the cursor towards/away from the link can be used to switch between those statesin wikitext (`[[foo]]<nowiki/>bar` or something like that). This is intuitive and easy to use and would be neat interaction designere are two ways in which one can end up with such markup: * There is a linked word, and an editor tries to add a suffix to it (e.g. someone wants to edit `[[word]]` to become `[[word]]s`). VisualEditor offers a visual cue for this: when one is about to type a character which will be part of the link, the link is highlighted, otherwise it's not (and moving the cursor towards/away from the link can be used to switch between those states). While this sounds intuitive, in practice it seems that many editors (even experienced ones) fail to figure it out. * There is an unlinked word with a suffix, except that the two actions are not symmetric: unlinked characters at the end of a link are basically never usedand someone wants to link it by selecting the word root and clicking on the link button (ie. So VisualEditor makes it very easythey want to create misformatted text (which looks extra weird in the source,turn `words` into `[[word]]s`). too: T127635),This presumably seems more convenient than selecting the whole word and then deleting the suffix in the link dialog; whilebut it ends up with the old eVisualEditor it's practically impossibleonly linking part of the word. VisualEditor shUnlinked characters at the end of a link are, as far as I know, never used. So VisualEditor makes it very easy to create misformatted text, while with the old editor it's practically impossible. This is a major problem in agglutinative languages where suffixes are used a lot; on Hungarian Wikipedia most experienced editors refuse to use VisualEditor because of this (and the advice gets passed down in editathons and other outreach events, which impacts the ability of those events to quickly introduce newbies to editing). Seems to be a frequent issue elsewhere, too - see e.g. T35091, T53173, T54044, T95272 which are all about the same issue. Maybe VisualEditor could automatically make linktrail characters part of the link as they are typed (in the ultra-rare case of not wanting that, the user can enter the trailing part as a separate word and then backspace it onto the link), or some kind of warning should be shown when one adds unlinked trailing characters. (Originally reported at [[https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Kocsmafal_(egy%C3%A9b)#VisualEditor-hib%C3%A1k|huwiki:Wikipédia:Kocsmafal_(egyéb)#VisualEditor-hibák]])