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CenterForOpenScience / osf.io

Facilitating Open Science
https://osf.io
Apache License 2.0
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Rich text editor for the wiki (like Wikipedia's VisualEditor) #6368

Open ferreira-santos opened 8 years ago

ferreira-santos commented 8 years ago

I would like to request adding a WYSIWYG rich text editor for the wiki (something like Wikipedia's VisualEditor). This would allow less code-savvy users to edit the wiki more easily, and it could still coexist with the current simple text editor using wiki markup for those who prefer source editing. I have seen some open source solutions for rich text editors, but perhaps someone who is better informed may suggest some tools.

I use OSF for research but am trying to include it also in teaching. One of the difficulties I faced was students being unable to overcome the learning curve to properly use the wiki which ultimately makes them less willing to use the platform.

brianjgeiger commented 8 years ago

This is a great idea and I'm all for it. It's mostly a question of when we can work it in, as it's a pretty major feature. Right now, we have all of the elements of the visual editor with the toolbar and keyboard shortcuts and so on, except that you have to see the preview updated live next to the text your editing instead of overlaid on top of, so we're mostly there. Unfortunately, as I say, getting that last 10% is going to take a while.

ferreira-santos commented 8 years ago

Thanks for the feedback! If it helps in any way, I have come across a solution that is kind of a compromise between pure markdown and a full WYSIWYG: https://simplemde.com/ (MIT License).

From their github page:

WYSIWYG editors that produce HTML are often complex and buggy. Markdown solves this problem in many ways, plus Markdown can be rendered natively on more platforms than HTML. However, Markdown is not a syntax that an average user will be familiar with, nor is it visually clear while editing. In otherwords, for an unfamiliar user, the syntax they write will make little sense until they click the preview button. SimpleMDE has been designed to bridge this gap for non-technical users who are less familiar with or just learning Markdown syntax.

brianjgeiger commented 8 years ago

Very nice, thank you. We'll keep an eye on that.