UESPWiki:Archive/CP Edit Tools for Wiki Markup

This is an archive of past UESPWiki:Community Portal discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page, except for maintenance such as updating links.

Edit tools for wiki markup

I've been thinking about removing the namespace links from the "Wiki markup" section that appears below your Edit window. They're left over from before we had transparent namespaces, and for the most part they're not necessary any more. The vast majority of links on the site will be within the same namespace, in which case the [[]] is now all you need. (And the Ab button on the top of the Edit window does that just as well.) For those links that go to another namespace, the OB, SI, MW, TR, BM, and Template:|Tam templates (as well as the others for older games) pretty much handle those cases well enough. The only ones I'd consider leaving would be the UESPWiki and Category links. UESPWiki links are uncommon enough that a template isn't really necessary. Categories are in more cases than not automatically covered by Breadcrumb Trail or Infobox templates, and only rarely need to be entered manually. (I just created the Template:Cat|Cat template to easily link to a category without placing the page in that category.) Removing those 6 entries from the Edit tools would shrink the box by a line or two, and possibly make it less confusing for inexperienced editors. However, since this affects all editors on the site, I thought I'd open it up to a community vote to see if there were any serious objections to this proposal. So, discuss below. --TheRealLurlock ^Talk 14:38, 10 January 2008 (EST)

That would probably make it much less confusing for new editors, especially editors used to other wikis, most of which don't use namespaces the way we use them. I prefer to keep the links in the box, however, as I use them frequently. I rarely, if ever, use the namespace templates. --GuildKnight^Talk2me 22:25, 10 January 2008 (EST)

Well, I myself used those links relatively often, rather than the templates you just mentioned (it's easier to make a single click than to type a few letters ;). Therefore I would vote agains shrinking the Edittools table just for the sake of saving a few lines. --DrPhoton 03:28, 11 January 2008 (EST)

I agree. I always use the full name for a link rather than the template and often use the links in the edit box. Those templates seem plain unnecessary to me - they increase the load on the server for the sake of saving people a couple of key presses. –Rpeh^{•T•C•E•} 04:40, 11 January 2008 (EST)