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This page (revision-19) was last changed on 26-Sep-2007 09:06 by ChuckSmith  

This page was created on 02-Feb-2007 02:39 by 62.252.32.15

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At line 18 added 24 lines
Christoph, that's not exactly how it is. It's true that users will not usually not read any instructions (there are several ways of encouraging them, but that's irrelevant). But they don't come from outer spaces, you know. Especially on the wikis.
You seem to assume that the users are being caught on the street, seated in front of a computer with an empty editor screen, and told to type in long text with sophisticated markup. This is ridiculous.
* Before editing any page, the users are likely to at least browse other, exisitng pages (rendered).
* The first edit is done on an existing page, with some already formatted text present on it.
* The first edit is most likely to be brief, several lines of text without sophisticated formatting. If the sophisticated formatting is needed, it will be added by other, more experienced users.
The users learn markup by observing it used on the pages (and very rarely, by examining cheat sheets), not by guessing it or by divine intervention. It's impossible to parse markup that is just made up by the user from thin air -- no matter how forgiving the parser is. The only case in which accepting a wide range of markups makes sense is when there actually are several standards requiring specific syntax, and the users are likely to want to use the same syntax on the wiki.
That's why I think that the rules for Creole markup should be:
* obvious from looking at them,
* visually distinctive,
* readable,
* lacking special cases that only appear in some rare contexts (and thus are impossible to learn,
* compatible with existing markups where possible.
I somewhat agree with the "make single person work harder for the benefit of many persons" rule:
* make the spec writer work harder to make developer's work easier,
* make developers work harder to make user's work easier,
* make users work harder to make reader's work easier.
-- RadomirDopieralski, 2007-02-07
Version Date Modified Size Author Changes ... Change note
19 26-Sep-2007 09:06 13.708 kB ChuckSmith to previous restore
18 26-Sep-2007 01:02 13.721 kB 219.138.204.162 to previous | to last
17 24-Jul-2007 05:54 13.708 kB ChristophSauer to previous | to last The -> They
16 22-Feb-2007 02:47 13.707 kB JimGettman to previous | to last
15 22-Feb-2007 02:39 13.659 kB JimGettman to previous | to last
14 20-Feb-2007 16:32 12.405 kB ChristophSauer to previous | to last link to ambiguities
13 08-Feb-2007 21:51 12.113 kB RadomirDopieralski to previous | to last rantitty rantitty rant :)
12 08-Feb-2007 20:36 9.411 kB RaphLevien to previous | to last be clear, be consistent
11 08-Feb-2007 00:24 7.383 kB RadomirDopieralski to previous | to last welcome Jim Gettman
10 07-Feb-2007 19:59 6.238 kB SteffenSchramm to previous | to last
9 07-Feb-2007 15:49 5.565 kB RadomirDopieralski to previous | to last use cases?
8 07-Feb-2007 15:32 5.167 kB ChristophSauer to previous | to last spinning in cyrcles
7 07-Feb-2007 15:15 4.958 kB RadomirDopieralski to previous | to last no chances with worst case
6 07-Feb-2007 15:10 4.763 kB ChristophSauer to previous | to last not all people learn like this
5 07-Feb-2007 13:24 4.641 kB RadomirDopieralski to previous | to last small correction
4 07-Feb-2007 11:00 4.626 kB 150.254.78.35 to previous | to last make less work hard for more
3 07-Feb-2007 10:01 2.683 kB ChristophSauer to previous | to last how people learn
2 06-Feb-2007 22:42 2.142 kB SteffenSchramm to previous | to last
1 02-Feb-2007 02:39 0.296 kB 62.252.32.15 to last I agree
« This page (revision-19) was last changed on 26-Sep-2007 09:06 by ChuckSmith