Last modified: 2014-11-13 13:22:00 UTC
Yesterday I tried VisualEditor for the first time, after nine years of editing wikitext. I took me several minutes to find out how to make a link. I have tried text styles drop-down (as it has an underlined letter, which I associated with hyperlinks), the the "insert" drop-down, which included several useful objects, but not the hyperlink option. I have tried typing "[[", which has shown me a warning that wiki syntax does not work, but did not tell how to create a link in VisualEditor. Then I went through citation and list-formatting menus, before finally stumbling onto the link button, which is sort of grey, and the only button in the line that has no drop-down arrow. In retrospect, I guess I though it is some kind of separator. Some things that might have made my life easier: - a bit more obvious link button - having another link option in "insert" menu (with the same icon, so I could discover it on the toolbar afterwards) - having mr. Clippy's "It looks like you're attempting to use wikitext" message point me to the VisualEditor equivalent of what I'm trying to do (by showing the icon or highlighting the button on toolbar) Alternatively, interpreting wikitext in VisualEditor might make life easier for users experienced with it's syntax, but that might be a stupid idea. In any way, thank you for your work on VisualEditor. You're pushing as all forward towards a better future :-)
The current link button is very similar to what is used in Google Docs and Gmail. It also has the same keyboard shortcut - Ctrl-K. Adding a button to the insert menu is not bad, but may increase clutter unnecessarily. Interpreting wikitext such as identifying that the editor is typing [[ would be nice DWIM for a lot of people, but unnecessary for others. I wouldn't make it a priority.
