Re: [xwiki-devs] [Proposal] Adding/Editing a link in the new WYSIWYG (was Re: [Proposal] WYSIWYG 1.7 Roadmap)

Hi, I personally like Marta's suggestion a lot (that's definitely be the one I would use) and I think providing it to users would be cool. However displaying both input methods on the same page might look clunky. What we could do is to take advantage of XWiki's simple user / advanced user feature: we could display the full graphical interface for simple user and the quick input one for advanced users, or maybe have 2 tabs with the simple one selected for simple users and the advanced one selected for advanced users when they click on the "add link" button. WDYT?

On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 3:30 PM, Vincent Massol <vincent(a)massol.net> wrote: > Yes +1 > > This is exactly what I had in mind too. > > And yes we should make the control reusable for navigating to any > page > quickly. > > Thanks > -Vincent > > On Oct 30, 2008, at 2:40 PM, Marta Girdea wrote: > >> Hi everyone, >> >> Here's my (late) reaction to the discussion about managing links in >> the new >> wysiwyg: >> >> All the proposals target users who are XWiki beginners and need >> guidance in >> their actions. This is good, of course, for a newbie it's the right >> approach, but a more experienced user will be *very* annoyed with >> all the >> clicking and tabbing and browsing that is necessary in order to >> create a >> link. Experienced users should also have the right to use the >> wysiwyg >> without being slowed down by all the help it offers. >> >> Consequently, I would propose to provide two ways of creating the >> link. In >> the dedicated dialog, there should be two areas (sorry i didn't >> make a >> drawing): >> - top: a small zone for those who know what they are doing, with a >> single >> input endowed with a "smart" suggest feature. >> - under it, a bigger zone containing one of the proposed complex >> selection >> interfaces. In my opinion, this zone should be collapsed for >> advanced users. >> >> Here's an example that illustrates how the link input would work. >> When the >> user starts writing "de" in the input, the suggestions will include >> all >> wikis, spaces from the current wiki and pages from the current >> space >> that >> start with "de", for example in this form: >> *de*v: >> *De*velopment. >> CurrentSpace.*De*tails >> (For experienced users, it will be obvious that what ends with ":" >> is a >> virtual wiki, what ends with "." is a space in the current wiki, >> etc. Maybe >> some color codes can be used in the suggestion list to help them to >> quickly >> spot what they need, and, for a "richer" experience, the different >> fragments >> of the path can be displayed in the input with that color, for >> example: >> purple for wikis, blue for spaces, green for pages. The same color >> codes >> could be used in the beginner's zone as well.) >> >> If the user chooses "dev:", then at that point we start suggesting, >> according to the user's input, spaces from that wiki, and so on. >> Also, >> whenever the user hits ":" (not necessarily by choosing explicitly >> one of >> the suggestions), we realize that so far he specified a virtual >> wiki, and >> start making suggestions of spaces from that wiki. >> >> So, basically, this is addressed to users that know the syntax of >> an >> internal wiki link, know where they want to link, and just want to >> type it >> quickly. >> >> (offtopic: such an input would also be very useful for implementing >> Vincent's idea XWIKI-1485). >> >> Of course, the user may be wrong and try to point to a page that >> does not >> exist. He will be informed about the mistake with a small warning >> somewhere >> around the input, but he will be allowed to continue (maybe he >> knows >> what >> he's doing; otherwise he would have used the wizard :) ). >> >> A complex selection interface is very necessary and can under no >> circumstances be replaced by this toy, but, in my opinion, if the >> beginners >> are properly helped by it and shown the result of their actions, >> some may >> start to understand how to write the paths without all the guidance >> and end >> up preferring to use the more simple and quick variant. I'm >> thinking >> that >> maybe the two (the input and the selector) should be at all time >> "synchronized". I'm aware that probably there's not enough time >> to do >> everything before 1.7, but imo this approach would really boost the >> usability for all categories of users.