User:AaronPeterson/Newline as newline

SeeAlso: Wiki Uses , Similar Problem: space at begining of line problems

Problem

For those of us who get frustrated adding <BR> where ever we want a newline, and still want the word wrapping, and the wiki formatting, what are our options?

What a solution would do

plusses

• A solution to this problem would allow for denser formatting options, that are required for certain Wiki uses.
• would clean up table formatting

minuses

• more complication, and/OR, lots of formatting changes to be done.
• extra newlines are sometimes used to separate content in the source view, editing in general will become harder on whole wiki, or whole page wikis. for this reason, the existing format is good, and is probably why it was chosen. A New wiki tag, is the requested method of implementation, though it is probably the most complicated solution.

Beauty of existing format

Even though the behavior is unexpected for some, it allows for flexibility in the editor window, the existing format is also consistent with HTML (No, it is NOT!!, many newlines don't affect html, but 2 newlines becomes 1 in mediawiki!) , so, the behavior is actually expected by... yes most.

Many other Wikis use the behavior that would make a newline be a newline, for a more, what you see is what you get editing experience... but wikipedia is the largest (check statistic) and is therefore the most powerful.

Solution Options

New wiki tag

create a new wiki tag, (or find the correct existing one)

plusses

• keeps compatibility
• can be used only where needed (for those who like the unexpected behavior)

minuses

• another thing to learn
• may confuse some people with varying formatting rules
• probably the most complicated solution option

page mode

have a page by page setting,

Plusses

allows pages to keep existing format.

Minuses

• more stuff to keep track of (shouldn't be that big a deal)
• makes formatting rules be inconsistant across wiki pages.
• probably the second most complicated soution option

global mode

have a setting in LocalSettings.php that will make all pages behave as expected.

plusses

• one time setting!
• easiest solution option

minuses

• breaks the formatting of ALL existing pages
• varies by wiki, confusion amungst editors