Jump to content

VisualEditor: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
Tags: Reverted Visual edit Mobile edit Mobile web edit
m Reverted edits by 2403:6200:8832:6317:2CA0:8FE5:1A95:E45F (talk) to last revision by Mignof: disruptive edits
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Editor for Wikipedia and other MediaWiki websites}}{{Update|date=January 2023|reason=it still is used a decade on, but the article is stuck in the 2010s}}
{{Short description|Editor for Wikipedia and other MediaWiki websites}}
{{About||character mode editors in general|Visual editor|the Wikipedia project page about the VisualEditor feature|Wikipedia:VisualEditor|selfref=yes}}
'''VisualEditor''' ('''VE''') is an online rich-text editor for MediaWiki-powered wikis that provides a direct visual way to edit pages based on the "what you see is what you get" principle. It was developed by the Wikimedia Foundation in partnership with Fandom. In July 2013, it was enabled by default on several of the largest Wikipedia projects.
{{Update|date=January 2023|reason=it still is used a decade on, but the article is stuck in the 2010s}}
{{Infobox software
| name = VisualEditor
| title = VisualEditor
| logo = [[File:VisualEditor-logo.svg|250px]]
| logo caption = VisualEditor logo, set in [[Gill Sans]]
| logo_size =
| logo_alt =
| screenshot = [[File:VisualEditor text format menu.png|300px]]
| caption = VisualEditor's text formatting menu
| screenshot_size =
| screenshot_alt = VisualEditor's text formatting menu
| collapsible =
| author =
| developer = [[Wikimedia Foundation]] and [[Wikia, Inc.|Fandom, Inc.]]
| released = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| discontinued =
| latest release version =
| latest release date = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| latest preview version =
| latest preview date = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| programming language = [[JavaScript]], [[Node.js]], [[PHP]]
| operating system = [[Cross-platform]]
| platform = [[MediaWiki]] [[Software extension|extension]]
| size =
| language =
| language count = <!-- DO NOT include this parameter unless you know what it does -->
| language footnote =
| genre = [[Wiki]]
| license = [[MIT License|MIT]]<ref>[https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/diffusion/EVED/browse/master/LICENSE.txt;9740d1683e9f2d66e81d8c54466b89b7ca2a0292 LICENSE.txt], VisualEditor source code repository</ref>
| alexa =
| website = {{URL|https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor}}
| standard =
| AsOf =
}}


'''VisualEditor''' ('''VE''') is an [[online rich-text editor]] for [[MediaWiki]]-powered wikis that provides a direct visual way to edit pages based on the [[WYSIWYG|"what you see is what you get"]] principle. It was developed by the [[Wikimedia Foundation]] in partnership with [[Fandom (website)|Fandom]].<ref name="TheVerge">{{cite web |work=[[The Verge]] |url=https://www.theverge.com/2012/6/22/3110130/wikimedia-visual-editor-prototype |title=Wikimedia releases updated prototype for simplified visual editor |author=Andrew Webster |date=2012-06-22 |access-date=2013-07-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927065510/http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/22/3110130/wikimedia-visual-editor-prototype |archive-date=2013-09-27 }}</ref> In July 2013, it was enabled by default on several of the largest [[Wikipedia]] projects.<ref name="WPproj">{{cite web|work = [[Wikipedia]]|url = https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:VisualEditor&oldid=566232325|title = Wikipedia:VisualEditor|access-date = 15 September 2013}}</ref><ref name="thenextweb">{{cite web|work=The Next Web|url=https://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/07/02/wikimedia-rolls-out-its-wysiwyg-visual-editor-for-logged-in-users-accessing-wikipedia-articles-in-english/|title=Wikimedia rolls out WYSIWYG visual editor for logged-in users accessing Wikipedia articles in English|author=Emil Protalinski|date=2013-07-02|access-date=2013-07-06|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130705200158/http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/07/02/wikimedia-rolls-out-its-wysiwyg-visual-editor-for-logged-in-users-accessing-wikipedia-articles-in-english/|archive-date=2013-07-05}}</ref>
The Wikimedia Foundation considered it the most challenging technical project to date, while ''The Economist'' has called it Wikipedia's "most significant change". According to ''The Daily Dot'', Wikimedia Foundation's pursuit of wider participation may risk alienating existing editors. In September 2013, English Wikipedia's VisualEditor was changed from opt-out to opt-in, following user complaints, but it was returned to being available by default (for new registered users only) in October 2015 after further development. A 2015 study by the Wikimedia Foundation found that VisualEditor failed to provide the anticipated benefits for new editors.

The Wikimedia Foundation considered it the most challenging technical project to date, while ''[[The Economist]]'' has called it Wikipedia's "most significant change".<ref name="TheEconomist">{{cite news |author=L.M. |date=2011-12-13 |title=Changes at Wikipedia: Seeing things |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/12/changes-wikipedia |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=2013-07-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130609185354/http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/12/changes-wikipedia |archive-date=2013-06-09}}</ref> According to ''[[The Daily Dot]]'', Wikimedia Foundation's pursuit of wider participation may risk alienating existing editors.<ref name="TheDailyDot">{{cite web|author=Tim Sampson|date=2012-07-04|title=Will Wikipedia's pretty new editing software solve its recruitment crisis?|url=http://www.dailydot.com/business/wikipedia-visual-editor-wysiwyg/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927181859/http://www.dailydot.com/business/wikipedia-visual-editor-wysiwyg/|archive-date=2013-09-27|access-date=2013-07-27|work=[[The Daily Dot]]}}</ref> In September 2013, [[English Wikipedia]]'s VisualEditor was changed from opt-out to opt-in, following user complaints,<ref name=thereg>{{cite news|work=[[The Register]]|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/09/25/wikipedia_peasants_revolt/|title=Revolting peasants force Wikipedia to cut'n'paste Visual Editor into the bin|author=Andrew Orlowski|date=2013-09-25|access-date=2013-10-06|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131001154730/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/09/25/wikipedia_peasants_revolt/|archive-date=2013-10-01}}</ref><ref name="dd-kww"/> but it was returned to being available by default (for new registered users only) in October 2015 after further development.<ref name=":0">{{Cite encyclopedia|last=Forrester|first=James|date=2015-09-01|title=Gradual availability of VisualEditor for new users is now complete|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk:VisualEditor&oldid=678948662|encyclopedia=Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia|language=en}}</ref> A 2015 study by the Wikimedia Foundation found that VisualEditor failed to provide the anticipated benefits for new editors.<ref name=May2015study/>


==Development==
==Development==
{{main|MediaWiki#Editing interface}}
{{main|MediaWiki#Editing interface}}

[[File:Editing makes me feel stupid.ogv|thumb|'Editing makes me feel stupid' - user tests commissioned by the Wikimedia Foundation from 2009 which demonstrate the difficulty that ordinary users were having with editing MediaWiki code.]]
[[File:Editing makes me feel stupid.ogv|thumb|'Editing makes me feel stupid' - user tests commissioned by the Wikimedia Foundation from 2009 which demonstrate the difficulty that ordinary users were having with editing MediaWiki code.]]
[[File:Wikimania 2013 - VisualEditor - The present and future of editing our wikis.webm|thumb|right|200px|In a presentation from [[Wikimania 2013]], the team developing the software presented it to attendees]]
[[File:Wikimania 2013 - VisualEditor - The present and future of editing our wikis.webm|thumb|right|200px|In a presentation from [[Wikimania 2013]], the team developing the software presented it to attendees]]
The original web-based Wikipedia editor provided by [[MediaWiki]] is a plain browser-based [[text editor]], also called 'Source editor', where authors have to learn the [[wiki markup]] language to edit.<ref name="ghacks">{{cite web |work=[[ghacks]] |url=http://www.ghacks.net/2012/02/24/wikipedia-visual-editor-coming-soon/ |title=Wikipedia Visual Editor Coming Soon |author=Martin Brinkmann |date=2012-02-24 |access-date=2013-07-28 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927175934/http://www.ghacks.net/2012/02/24/wikipedia-visual-editor-coming-soon/ |archive-date=2013-09-27 }}</ref> A what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) editor for Wikipedia had been planned for years in order to remove the need to learn the wiki markup language. It was hoped this would reduce the technical hurdle for would-be [[Wikipedian]]s, enabling wider participation in editing, and was an attempt to reverse the [[Wikipedia#Decline in participation since 2007|decline in editor numbers]] of 50,000 in 2006 to 35,000 in 2011, having peaked in 2007.<ref name="TheEconomist">{{cite news |author=L.M. |date=2011-12-13 |title=Changes at Wikipedia: Seeing things |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/12/changes-wikipedia |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=2013-07-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130609185354/http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/12/changes-wikipedia |archive-date=2013-06-09}}</ref><ref name="TheDailyDot">{{cite web |author=Tim Sampson |date=2012-07-04 |title=Will Wikipedia's pretty new editing software solve its recruitment crisis? |url=http://www.dailydot.com/business/wikipedia-visual-editor-wysiwyg/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927181859/http://www.dailydot.com/business/wikipedia-visual-editor-wysiwyg/ |archive-date=2013-09-27 |access-date=2013-07-27 |work=[[The Daily Dot]]}}</ref> It was part of a $1m project aimed at developing new features and making improvements.<ref name="TheEconomist" /> A goal of the project is to allow both the former wiki markup editing and editing with the WYSIWYG VisualEditor.<ref name="h-online2011">{{cite web |work=[[h-online]] |url=http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Wikimedia-testing-visual-editor-1394872.html |title=Wikimedia testing visual editor |author=ehe |date=2011-12-14 |access-date=2013-07-28 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727133929/http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Wikimedia-testing-visual-editor-1394872.html |archive-date=2013-07-27 }}</ref> According to Wikimedia Foundation's Jay Walsh, the hope is to redress under-represented contributions from [[Arabic Wikipedia|Arabic]], [[Portuguese Wikipedia|Portuguese]], and [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indic-language]] versions of the site.<ref name="TheDailyDot" /><ref group="note">Respective Wikipedia websites: [//ar.wikipedia.org/ Arabic], [//pt.wikipedia.org/ Portuguese] and Indic languages' [//ur.wikipedia.org/ Urdu], [//hi.wikipedia.org/ Hindi], [//bh.wikipedia.org/ Bihari], [//gu.wikipedia.org/ Gujarati]</ref>
The original web-based Wikipedia editor provided by [[MediaWiki]] is a plain browser-based [[text editor]], also called 'Source editor', where authors have to learn the [[wiki markup]] language to edit.<ref name="ghacks">{{cite web |work=[[ghacks]] |url=http://www.ghacks.net/2012/02/24/wikipedia-visual-editor-coming-soon/ |title=Wikipedia Visual Editor Coming Soon |author=Martin Brinkmann |date=2012-02-24 |access-date=2013-07-28 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927175934/http://www.ghacks.net/2012/02/24/wikipedia-visual-editor-coming-soon/ |archive-date=2013-09-27 }}</ref> A what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) editor for Wikipedia had been planned for years in order to remove the need to learn the wiki markup language. It was hoped this would reduce the technical hurdle for would-be [[Wikipedian]]s, enabling wider participation in editing, and was an attempt to reverse the [[Wikipedia#Decline in participation since 2007|decline in editor numbers]] of 50,000 in 2006 to 35,000 in 2011, having peaked in 2007.<ref name="TheEconomist"/><ref name="TheDailyDot"/> It was part of a $1m project aimed at developing new features and making improvements.<ref name="TheEconomist"/> A goal of the project is to allow both the former wiki markup editing and editing with the WYSIWYG VisualEditor.<ref name="h-online2011">{{cite web |work=[[h-online]] |url=http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Wikimedia-testing-visual-editor-1394872.html |title=Wikimedia testing visual editor |author=ehe |date=2011-12-14 |access-date=2013-07-28 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727133929/http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Wikimedia-testing-visual-editor-1394872.html |archive-date=2013-07-27 }}</ref> According to Wikimedia Foundation's Jay Walsh, the hope is to redress under-represented contributions from [[Arabic Wikipedia|Arabic]], [[Portuguese Wikipedia|Portuguese]], and [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indic-language]] versions of the site.<ref name="TheDailyDot"/><ref group="note">Respective Wikipedia websites: [//ar.wikipedia.org/ Arabic], [//pt.wikipedia.org/ Portuguese] and Indic languages' [//ur.wikipedia.org/ Urdu], [//hi.wikipedia.org/ Hindi], [//bh.wikipedia.org/ Bihari], [//gu.wikipedia.org/ Gujarati]</ref>


According to Wikimedia Foundation, "There are various reasons that lead existing and prospective contributors not to edit; among them, the complexity of wiki markup is a major issue. One of VisualEditor's goals is to empower knowledgeable and good-faith users to edit and become valuable members of the community, even if they're not wiki markup experts. We also hope that, with time, experienced editors will find VisualEditor useful for some of their editing tasks."<ref name="thenextweb">{{cite web |author=Emil Protalinski |date=2013-07-02 |title=Wikimedia rolls out WYSIWYG visual editor for logged-in users accessing Wikipedia articles in English |url=https://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/07/02/wikimedia-rolls-out-its-wysiwyg-visual-editor-for-logged-in-users-accessing-wikipedia-articles-in-english/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130705200158/http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/07/02/wikimedia-rolls-out-its-wysiwyg-visual-editor-for-logged-in-users-accessing-wikipedia-articles-in-english/ |archive-date=2013-07-05 |access-date=2013-07-06 |work=The Next Web}}</ref> In 2012, [[Sue Gardner]], the executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, said "we don't think that the visual editor, in and of itself, is going to solve the challenge",<ref name="theatlantic">{{cite web |author=Megan Garber |date=2012-07-12 |title=On the Ugliness of Wikipedia |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/07/on-the-ugliness-of-wikipedia/259747/ |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703125036/http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/07/on-the-ugliness-of-wikipedia/259747/ |archive-date=2013-07-03 |access-date=2013-07-29 |work=[[The Atlantic]]}}</ref> and Wikipedia co-founder [[Jimmy Wales]] remarked "This is epically important".<ref name="Ubergizmo">{{cite web |author=Gene Ryan Briones |date=2012-06-21 |title=Wikimedia launches new prototype "visual editor" for Wikipedia |url=http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/06/wikimedia-launches-new-prototype-visual-editor-for-wikipedia/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929171844/http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/06/wikimedia-launches-new-prototype-visual-editor-for-wikipedia/ |archive-date=2013-09-29 |access-date=2013-07-29 |work=Ubergizmo}}</ref>
According to Wikimedia Foundation, "There are various reasons that lead existing and prospective contributors not to edit; among them, the complexity of wiki markup is a major issue. One of VisualEditor's goals is to empower knowledgeable and good-faith users to edit and become valuable members of the community, even if they're not wiki markup experts. We also hope that, with time, experienced editors will find VisualEditor useful for some of their editing tasks."<ref name="thenextweb"/> In 2012, [[Sue Gardner]], the executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, said "we don't think that the visual editor, in and of itself, is going to solve the challenge",<ref name="theatlantic">{{cite web |author=Megan Garber |date=2012-07-12 |title=On the Ugliness of Wikipedia |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/07/on-the-ugliness-of-wikipedia/259747/ |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703125036/http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/07/on-the-ugliness-of-wikipedia/259747/ |archive-date=2013-07-03 |access-date=2013-07-29 |work=[[The Atlantic]]}}</ref> and Wikipedia co-founder [[Jimmy Wales]] remarked "This is epically important".<ref name="Ubergizmo">{{cite web |author=Gene Ryan Briones |date=2012-06-21 |title=Wikimedia launches new prototype "visual editor" for Wikipedia |url=http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/06/wikimedia-launches-new-prototype-visual-editor-for-wikipedia/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929171844/http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/06/wikimedia-launches-new-prototype-visual-editor-for-wikipedia/ |archive-date=2013-09-29 |access-date=2013-07-29 |work=Ubergizmo}}</ref>


===Rollout===
===Rollout===
MediaWiki is used by numerous [[wiki]]s, with smaller sites originally conceived as being rolled out first.<ref name="theverge-previews">{{cite web |work=[[The Verge]] |url=https://www.theverge.com/2011/12/15/2637734/wikimedia-previews-simplified-editor |title=Wikimedia Foundation previews simplified visual editor |author=Jamie Keene |date=2011-12-15 |access-date=2013-07-28 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928193749/http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/15/2637734/wikimedia-previews-simplified-editor |archive-date=2013-09-28 }}</ref> VisualEditor was planned to be rolled out on the English-language Wikipedia for editors with registered accounts, and then for anonymous editors.<ref name="softpedia">{{cite web|work=[[Softpedia]]|url=http://news.softpedia.com/news/Wikipedia-s-Visual-Editor-To-Be-Rolled-Out-358956.shtml|title=Wikipedia's Visual Editor to Be Rolled Out|author=Gabriela Vatu|date=2013-06-06|access-date=2013-07-06|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615084714/http://news.softpedia.com/news/Wikipedia-s-Visual-Editor-To-Be-Rolled-Out-358956.shtml|archive-date=2013-06-15}}</ref> The [[alpha software|alpha]] version was made available to select users in December 2012, widened to all registered users in April.<ref name="TheRegister">{{cite web |work=[[The Register]] |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/07/wysiwyg_wikipedia_writer_lands_in_july/ |title=Wikimedia edges closer to banishing Wikitext |author=Simon Sharwood |date=2013-06-07 |access-date=2013-07-28 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728204221/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/07/wysiwyg_wikipedia_writer_lands_in_july |archive-date=2013-07-28 }}</ref> It was the default editor for users logged-into the English-language Wikipedia in July 2013.<ref name="thenextweb"/><ref name="TheDailyDot"/> It was subsequently made opt-in on the English-language Wikipedia in September 2013 due to community complaints over its stability, and implementation was buggy and had limitations<ref name="thereg">{{cite news |author=Andrew Orlowski |date=2013-09-25 |title=Revolting peasants force Wikipedia to cut'n'paste Visual Editor into the bin |work=[[The Register]] |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/09/25/wikipedia_peasants_revolt/ |url-status=live |access-date=2013-10-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131001154730/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/09/25/wikipedia_peasants_revolt/ |archive-date=2013-10-01}}</ref><ref name="dd-kww" /> (though it remained active for most non-English Wikipedias).<ref name="mediawiki-VisualEditor2">{{cite web |title=VisualEditor |url=https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927190403/https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor |archive-date=2013-09-27 |website=MediaWiki}}</ref> In 2015, it completed its beta development phase and was again made available on English Wikipedia.<ref name=":0">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Gradual availability of VisualEditor for new users is now complete |encyclopedia=Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk:VisualEditor&oldid=678948662 |last=Forrester |first=James |date=2015-09-01 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Wikimedia Engineering 2015 Q1 Goals |url=https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Engineering/2015-16_Q1_Goals |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024113137/https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Engineering/2015-16_Q1_Goals |archive-date=2018-10-24 |access-date=2018-10-24 |website=MediaWiki |language=en}}</ref>
MediaWiki is used by numerous [[wiki]]s, with smaller sites originally conceived as being rolled out first.<ref name="theverge-previews">{{cite web |work=[[The Verge]] |url=https://www.theverge.com/2011/12/15/2637734/wikimedia-previews-simplified-editor |title=Wikimedia Foundation previews simplified visual editor |author=Jamie Keene |date=2011-12-15 |access-date=2013-07-28 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928193749/http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/15/2637734/wikimedia-previews-simplified-editor |archive-date=2013-09-28 }}</ref> VisualEditor was planned to be rolled out on the English-language Wikipedia for editors with registered accounts, and then for anonymous editors.<ref name="softpedia">{{cite web|work=[[Softpedia]]|url=http://news.softpedia.com/news/Wikipedia-s-Visual-Editor-To-Be-Rolled-Out-358956.shtml|title=Wikipedia's Visual Editor to Be Rolled Out|author=Gabriela Vatu|date=2013-06-06|access-date=2013-07-06|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615084714/http://news.softpedia.com/news/Wikipedia-s-Visual-Editor-To-Be-Rolled-Out-358956.shtml|archive-date=2013-06-15}}</ref> The [[alpha software|alpha]] version was made available to select users in December 2012, widened to all registered users in April.<ref name="TheRegister">{{cite web |work=[[The Register]] |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/07/wysiwyg_wikipedia_writer_lands_in_july/ |title=Wikimedia edges closer to banishing Wikitext |author=Simon Sharwood |date=2013-06-07 |access-date=2013-07-28 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728204221/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/07/wysiwyg_wikipedia_writer_lands_in_july |archive-date=2013-07-28 }}</ref> It was the default editor for users logged-into the English-language Wikipedia in July 2013.<ref name="thenextweb"/><ref name="TheDailyDot"/> It was subsequently made opt-in on the English-language Wikipedia in September 2013 due to community complaints over its stability, and implementation was buggy and had limitations<ref name="thereg"/><ref name="dd-kww" /> (though it remained active for most non-English Wikipedias).<ref name="mediawiki-VisualEditor2">{{cite web |title=VisualEditor |url=https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927190403/https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor |archive-date=2013-09-27 |website=MediaWiki}}</ref> In 2015, it completed its beta development phase and was again made available on English Wikipedia.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Wikimedia Engineering 2015 Q1 Goals |url=https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Engineering/2015-16_Q1_Goals |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024113137/https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Engineering/2015-16_Q1_Goals |archive-date=2018-10-24 |access-date=2018-10-24 |website=MediaWiki |language=en}}</ref>


===Technical===
===Technical===

Revision as of 22:40, 6 February 2023

For character mode editors in general, see Visual editor. For the Wikipedia project page about the VisualEditor feature, see Wikipedia:VisualEditor.
VisualEditor
Developer(s)Wikimedia Foundation and Fandom, Inc.
Written inJavaScript, Node.js, PHP
Operating systemCross-platform
PlatformMediaWiki extension
TypeWiki
LicenseMIT[1]
Websitewww.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor

VisualEditor (VE) is an online rich-text editor for MediaWiki-powered wikis that provides a direct visual way to edit pages based on the "what you see is what you get" principle. It was developed by the Wikimedia Foundation in partnership with Fandom.[2] In July 2013, it was enabled by default on several of the largest Wikipedia projects.[3][4]

The Wikimedia Foundation considered it the most challenging technical project to date, while The Economist has called it Wikipedia's "most significant change".[5] According to The Daily Dot, Wikimedia Foundation's pursuit of wider participation may risk alienating existing editors.[6] In September 2013, English Wikipedia's VisualEditor was changed from opt-out to opt-in, following user complaints,[7][8] but it was returned to being available by default (for new registered users only) in October 2015 after further development.[9] A 2015 study by the Wikimedia Foundation found that VisualEditor failed to provide the anticipated benefits for new editors.[10]

Development

Main article: MediaWiki § Editing interface
'Editing makes me feel stupid' - user tests commissioned by the Wikimedia Foundation from 2009 which demonstrate the difficulty that ordinary users were having with editing MediaWiki code.
In a presentation from Wikimania 2013, the team developing the software presented it to attendees

The original web-based Wikipedia editor provided by MediaWiki is a plain browser-based text editor, also called 'Source editor', where authors have to learn the wiki markup language to edit.[11] A what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) editor for Wikipedia had been planned for years in order to remove the need to learn the wiki markup language. It was hoped this would reduce the technical hurdle for would-be Wikipedians, enabling wider participation in editing, and was an attempt to reverse the decline in editor numbers of 50,000 in 2006 to 35,000 in 2011, having peaked in 2007.[5][6] It was part of a $1m project aimed at developing new features and making improvements.[5] A goal of the project is to allow both the former wiki markup editing and editing with the WYSIWYG VisualEditor.[12] According to Wikimedia Foundation's Jay Walsh, the hope is to redress under-represented contributions from Arabic, Portuguese, and Indic-language versions of the site.[6][note 1]

According to Wikimedia Foundation, "There are various reasons that lead existing and prospective contributors not to edit; among them, the complexity of wiki markup is a major issue. One of VisualEditor's goals is to empower knowledgeable and good-faith users to edit and become valuable members of the community, even if they're not wiki markup experts. We also hope that, with time, experienced editors will find VisualEditor useful for some of their editing tasks."[4] In 2012, Sue Gardner, the executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, said "we don't think that the visual editor, in and of itself, is going to solve the challenge",[13] and Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales remarked "This is epically important".[14]

Rollout

MediaWiki is used by numerous wikis, with smaller sites originally conceived as being rolled out first.[15] VisualEditor was planned to be rolled out on the English-language Wikipedia for editors with registered accounts, and then for anonymous editors.[16] The alpha version was made available to select users in December 2012, widened to all registered users in April.[17] It was the default editor for users logged-into the English-language Wikipedia in July 2013.[4][6] It was subsequently made opt-in on the English-language Wikipedia in September 2013 due to community complaints over its stability, and implementation was buggy and had limitations[7][8] (though it remained active for most non-English Wikipedias).[18] In 2015, it completed its beta development phase and was again made available on English Wikipedia.[9][19]

Technical

The Wikimedia Foundation joined forces with Wikia to work on the project.[20] The implementation encountered challenges with the wiki markup language (the basis for Wikipedia articles), due to it being continuously extended over 12 years to include seldom-used rich and complex features making reproduction of the final article appearance dependent on many factors that were not easy to reproduce.[21] The technical implementation required improvements to MediaWiki in parsing, wiki markup language, the DOM and final HTML conversion.[22] A necessary component is a parser server called Parsoid[note 2] which was created to convert in both directions between wikitext and a format suitable for VisualEditor.[21] The Wikimedia Foundation considered VisualEditor its most challenging technical project to date.[5]

As of January 2021 supported web browsers include modern versions of Chromium (Chrome, Edge, Opera), Firefox, Midori, and Safari.[citation needed]

The VisualEditor MediaWiki extension is available for download by server operators and typically requires the latest version of MediaWiki, it is bundled since MediaWiki 1.35.[23]

Online rich-text editor

According to the VisualEditor team, the aim is "to create a reliable rich-text editor for MediaWiki",[18] a "visual editor" which is "WYSIWYG-like".[24] The implementation is split into a "core" online rich-text editor which can run independently of MediaWiki,[25] and a MediaWiki extension.[26]

Response

Responses to the introduction of the VisualEditor have greatly varied, with The Economist's L.M. calling it "the most significant change in Wikipedia's short history."[5]

Opposition

Some editors expressed concerns about the rollout and bugs, with the German Wikipedia community deciding to use an opt-in model instead of an opt-out one.[6][27] Irish Wikipedia administrator Oliver Moran, echoing concerns of other editors, said that users may feel belittled by the implication that "certain people" are confused by wiki markup and therefore need the VisualEditor, comparing the learning of wikitext favorably to Twitter's hashtag and @ (at sign) mention syntax.[28]

Three months after the rollout of the VisualEditor to the English Wikipedia, The Daily Dot reported that the Wikimedia Foundation had experienced backlash from long-time editors who deemed the editor "buggy and untested". Following discourse between the community and the foundation, Wikipedia administrator Kww overrode the foundation's rollout, making it opt-in, instead of opt-out. The Foundation did not revert the change, instead committing to further improving VisualEditor.[7][8]

Support

Softpedia ran an article titled "Wikipedia's New VisualEditor Is the Best Update in Years and You Can Make It Better".[29] The Register said that the update brings the foundation "a little closer to its goal of making it easier for anyone to create and edit Wikipedia articles."[17]

Research results

Aaron Halfaker, a research scientist at the Wikimedia Foundation, ran a controlled study on the effects of VisualEditor in May 2015. The study found that VisualEditor did not increase editor productivity, however reducing the burden upon existing editors. Editing took 18 seconds longer with VisualEditor before hitting save, and new editors were less likely to save their work. Halfaker however did ascribe these negative results as from editors testing the new system, not any real struggle.[10] A previous June 2013 controlled test — when VisualEditor was less mature — showed similar neutral and negative results.[30]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Respective Wikipedia websites: Arabic, Portuguese and Indic languages' Urdu, Hindi, Bihari, Gujarati
  2. ^ "Parsoid". MediaWiki. Archived from the original on 2014-11-25.

References

  1. ^ LICENSE.txt, VisualEditor source code repository
  2. ^ Andrew Webster (2012-06-22). "Wikimedia releases updated prototype for simplified visual editor". The Verge. Archived from the original on 2013-09-27. Retrieved 2013-07-27.
  3. ^ "Wikipedia:VisualEditor". Wikipedia. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  4. ^ a b c Emil Protalinski (2013-07-02). "Wikimedia rolls out WYSIWYG visual editor for logged-in users accessing Wikipedia articles in English". The Next Web. Archived from the original on 2013-07-05. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  5. ^ a b c d e L.M. (2011-12-13). "Changes at Wikipedia: Seeing things". The Economist. Archived from the original on 2013-06-09. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
  6. ^ a b c d e Tim Sampson (2012-07-04). "Will Wikipedia's pretty new editing software solve its recruitment crisis?". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on 2013-09-27. Retrieved 2013-07-27.
  7. ^ a b c Andrew Orlowski (2013-09-25). "Revolting peasants force Wikipedia to cut'n'paste Visual Editor into the bin". The Register. Archived from the original on 2013-10-01. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
  8. ^ a b c Tim Sampson (2013-09-24). "Wikipedia faces revolt over VisualEditor". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on 2013-09-25. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
  9. ^ a b Forrester, James (2015-09-01). "Gradual availability of VisualEditor for new users is now complete". Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
  10. ^ a b "VisualEditor's effect on newly registered editors/May 2015 study". Wikimedia.org. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  11. ^ Martin Brinkmann (2012-02-24). "Wikipedia Visual Editor Coming Soon". ghacks. Archived from the original on 2013-09-27. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
  12. ^ ehe (2011-12-14). "Wikimedia testing visual editor". h-online. Archived from the original on 2013-07-27. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
  13. ^ Megan Garber (2012-07-12). "On the Ugliness of Wikipedia". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 2013-07-03. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
  14. ^ Gene Ryan Briones (2012-06-21). "Wikimedia launches new prototype "visual editor" for Wikipedia". Ubergizmo. Archived from the original on 2013-09-29. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
  15. ^ Jamie Keene (2011-12-15). "Wikimedia Foundation previews simplified visual editor". The Verge. Archived from the original on 2013-09-28. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
  16. ^ Gabriela Vatu (2013-06-06). "Wikipedia's Visual Editor to Be Rolled Out". Softpedia. Archived from the original on 2013-06-15. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  17. ^ a b Simon Sharwood (2013-06-07). "Wikimedia edges closer to banishing Wikitext". The Register. Archived from the original on 2013-07-28. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
  18. ^ a b "VisualEditor". MediaWiki. Archived from the original on 2013-09-27.
  19. ^ "Wikimedia Engineering 2015 Q1 Goals". MediaWiki. Archived from the original on 2018-10-24. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  20. ^ Kirkburn (June 3, 2014). "VisualEditor - the past, present and future". Wikia Community Central. Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  21. ^ a b djwm (2012-12-13). "VisualEditor launched in Wikipedia". h-online. Archived from the original on 2013-07-27. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
  22. ^ "The Architecture of Open Source Applications (Volume 2) : MediaWiki". aosabook.org. Archived from the original on 2013-09-24. Retrieved 2013-07-27. {{cite web}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter |authors= (help)
  23. ^ "MediaWiki 1.35". MediaWiki. Retrieved 2021-03-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  24. ^ "Project:VisualEditor testing/Welcome". MediaWiki. Archived from the original on Oct 23, 2022.
  25. ^ "wikimedia/VisualEditor". GitHub. 11 January 2022.
  26. ^ "wikimedia/mediawiki-extensions-VisualEditor". GitHub. 11 January 2022.
  27. ^ Andrew Orlowski (2013-08-01). "Wikipedians say no to Jimmy's 'buggy' WYSIWYG editor". The Register. Archived from the original on 2013-08-04. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
  28. ^ Simonite, Tom (October 22, 2013). "The Decline of Wikipedia: Even As More People Than Ever Rely on It, Fewer People Create It". MIT Technology Review. Archived from the original on October 23, 2013. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  29. ^ Lucian Parfeni (2013-07-02). "Wikipedia's New VisualEditor Is the Best Update in Years and You Can Make It Better". Softpedia. Archived from the original on 2013-10-03. Retrieved 2013-07-30.
  30. ^ "Research:VisualEditor's effect on newly registered editors/June 2013 study". Wikimedia Foundation. Archived from the original on 10 September 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2016.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to VisualEditor.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=VisualEditor&oldid=1137882431"