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User:Pelagic/Incubator/Comparison of MediaWiki editing interfaces June 2020

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This is a broad comparison that covers both editing articles and contributing to discussions. Though a different platform, Phabricator is included for contrast. Wikimedia Space is not included due to its short lifespan.

I might add user scripts and gadgets when I learn them, but the main focus is interfaces that are available on a en-wp, WikiMedia, and MediaWiki generally.

Descriptions
Editor Description Availability URL parameter
Desktop classic Also called the "text area" editor. Yes! action=edit
Desktop visual Visual Editor or "VE" (in original visual mode) Not in Talk or WP namespaces. (Short of adding the magic code to the URL.) veaction=edit
Desktop 2017 source VE in source mode. Around time of development and release, known as the "New Wikitext Editor" (NWE). Is opt-in beta feature on en-wp ,where it’s labelled “New wikitext mode”. Mutually exclusive with classic editor, need to visit Preferences to change. (Short of adding the magic code to the URL.) veaction=editsource
Mobile wikitext veaction=edit
Mobile wikitext (Javascript suppressed)
Mobile visual veaction=editsource
iOS app Edit only Articles. For other namespaces uses embedded browser.
SD source Discussions on MediaWiki wiki. On fr-wp users can switch their talk page to SD. Extension not loaded on en-wp.
SD visual
DT Reply (source)
Phab
Publishing workflow
Editor General Move from editing page to next step Preview Preview button label Diff (show changes) Edit summary Section details in edit summary Mark as minor Cancel editing
Desktop classic Single-page N/A Button (saves state in browsers that remover form submissions) Preview Yes, editable
Desktop visual Modal dialog Publish page... "Review your changes" button No, have to use browser Back to exit editing mode.
Desktop 2017 source
Mobile wikitext 5-line scrollable box. Accepts newlines (Return key). Yes, not visible, not editable.
Mobile wikitext (Javascript suppressed)
Mobile visual 2-step wizard (similar to desktop dialog, but full page) Chevron > (next) WYSIWYG "Review your changes" button, covered by onscreen keyboard. 3-line scrollable box. No newlines. No, not visiadded automatically. Yes X button
iOS app 3-step wizard Mandatory step No
SD source Toggle to visual editing
SD visual WYSIWG
DT Reply (source) Live preview below edit box
DT Reply (visual) WYSIWG
Phab In-place toggle (non-editable).


Edit summaries
Editor Entry Preview Section details Score
Desktop classic Single-line non-expandable box, can’t scroll horizontally on touch-screen. (1/2) Yes, generated/updated with page preview (2/2) Yes, pre-populated, can edit (2/2) 5/6
Desktop visual 3-line scrollable box. No newlines. (2/2) Yes, but have to go into diff view (1-2/2) Pre-populated, but misleading: there is no section-edit mode (0-1/2) 4/6
Desktop 2017 source Yes, shows at top of page preview Yes, pre-populated, can edit 6/6
Mobile wikitext 5-line scrollable box. Accepts newlines (Enter/Return key), but they are concatenated on save. (2/2) No Yes, invisible, can’t edit, can’t delete (can add a second one FWIW) (0/2) 2/6
Mobile wikitext (Javascript suppressed)
Mobile visual 3-line scrollable box. No newlines. No Not populated, can hand-type (0/2) 2/6
iOS app
SD source No, auto-set to topic title. No Preset 1/6
SD visual No, auto-set to topic title. No Preset 1/6
DT Reply (source) Not in vers. 1.0 (automatically set to “Reply”, not visible, not editable) No Preset 1/6
DT Reply (visual) Not in alpha (automatically set to “Reply”, not visible, not editable) No Preset 1/6
Phab N/A, no separate History page.