Wikibase does supply a rather powerful editing interface, but what it provides in terms of flexibility and internationalization, it sorely lacks in ease-of-use. There is no easy way to know what properties go with which page types - or which qualifiers go with which of those properties. And unfortunately, unlike for the other features, there is no existing tool that can be used to simplify Wikidata's editing process. That is why we propose to create a new MediaWiki tool that provides an additional editing tab that presents a more structured, and simplified, interface for editing data.
We call it a tool because it may not necessarily be structured as a MediaWiki extension. It may make sense to develop this tool entirely in JavaScript; one massive advantage of such an approach is that this code could then potentially be used directly on Wikidata, by any user who wants a simplified editing approach, without the need for Wikidata administrators to add any code to the Wikidata back-end. Having this code be used on Wikidata could be a huge help for novice Wikidata editors, and would also make it much more likely that this code would continue to be maintained and improved in the future.
The basic approach of this editing tool would be to provide a new editing tab for each class/type that a page belongs to, based on its "instance of" properties. This tab, or tabs, would not replace the main editing, which happens directly in the main tab for any item; rather, it would serve as a helpful additional form, which displayed the standard set of expected fields for that class/type.
This figure shows what such a tab could look like for an item of type "room", i.e. one which has an "instance of" value set to "room". Let us say that, for the "room" class, the "properties for this type" property has the following values:
- building
- floor
- has use
- capacity
- image
...and that, for the "image" property, the "qualifier for this property" property has the following values:
- point in time
- creator
This additional helper form simply uses what is defined for each class: the expected properties, their types (item, string, date, etc.) and their qualifiers, to display a simple form that makes it easier for users to enter the relevant data, without fear that they are doing something incorrect.
Where you see a downward-pointing triangle, that is meant to be an indication that this is input is a "combobox", which autocompletes on the current items stored in the wiki, in the manner of the main editor tab's inputs. Properties of type "item" would get this combobox, while properties of type "date" would get a date input, etc.
{F47914051}