User:Rrzzrr/Sandbox

village pump proposal
Modifications, touching on 3 tabs.


 * 1. The "edit this page" tab, modified. Centers on a modification of the Preview function. The page now always displays an "editor's preview" of the page. This "editor's preview" also tops any article "section edits."
 * 1 Editor's Preview. To replace old Preview. At the heart of the proposal, the Editor's Preview shows a modified preview of sections and articles. This modification renders "comment" tags which are transparent on the "article" tab. These tags, generated on the "comments" tab (posited later), highlight text in a specific color and, when clicked, link to the related section on the "comments" tab. Red for critique, grey for observations and green for tips. (more on hidden comments in the footnotes.)


 * 2. The "comments" tab, new. The page deprecates "discussion". The page, expanding and introducing pre-formatted structure to its predecessor, now consists of 5 sections: one to add a comment, one to summarize (show the subject of) and linking to questions asked from "questions" tab (posited later), and one each for critique, observations and tips. The "new section" tab is removed.
 * 1 New Comment.  At the top of the page, this section is essentially a modified "new section" dialog. It constitutes 3 radio buttons (to select whether the comment is a critisism, observation or tip), a highlight function (which will allow anyone to select a specific piece of text in the article to identify an issue, more on this in the footnotes), a subject line, a textbox and a save page (as "submit"), preview and cancel button. See Critique, Observations and Tips for what happens when "submit" gets clicked.
 * 2 Questions. A summary of questions asked from the article's question tab. The section shows the subject and user and links to the complete section at the relevant reference desk. (More in "3. The "questions" tab, new.")
 * 3 Critique, Observations and Tips. Upon "submitting" a comment, its subject and body are entered in the chosen section (Critique, Observations or Tips) and a tag is added around the highlighted text in the article. This tag, which renders red, grey or green depending to where it links, redirects to the relevant comment on the "comments" page. As stated in "1. The "edit this page" tab, modified.", this tag is only rendered in the "Editor's Preview". Clicking the title of a comment does the reverse.


 * 3. The "questions" tab, new. The page allows readers to ask questions which are then posited at the appropriate reference desk. The page consists of a boilerplate which recomends the FAQ, instructs on rules and notes limitations and a modified "new section" dialog.
 * 1 Boilerplate. Starts with the rules: a question answered in the FAQ or off-topic (not about the subject of the article) will be ignored. Limitations: no guarantee concerning if, when and how well a question will be answered.
 * 2 Question. A subject line, a textbox and a save page (as "submit"), preview and cancel button. Upon "submitting" a question, its subject and body are entered at the appropriate section of the appropriate reference desk and a note is entered in the "Questions" section of the article's "comments" tab, as described in "2. The "comments" tab, new." Both the full section at the reference desk and the summary on the "comments" page include the originating article and user. The user is forwarded to the section they just entered and reminded to note the page, in order to track its progress.

Footnotes
 * "1. The "edit this page" tab, modified. Hidden comments." - Embedded comments are already part of wiki formatting, in the form of hidden comments. The Editor's Preview proposal basically upgrades this function with front-ends at reader-level for adding and at editor-level for manifesting feedback.
 * "2. The "comments" tab, new. High-lighting." - To prevent confusing a user, they cannot be suddenly confronted with the wikicode version of an article. Therefor, they must be presented with an article which looks like the main page, but whose text can be selected so a tag can be added at its location.