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Universal Edit Button

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Universal Edit Button
Original author(s)Travis Derouin
Initial releaseJune 19, 2008
PlatformCross-platform
TypeBrowser extension
Websiteuniversaleditbutton.org

The Universal Edit Button is a software that provides a green pencil icon in the address bar of a web browser that indicates that a web page on the World Wide Web (most often a wiki) is editable. It is similar to the orange "broadcast" RSS icon () that indicates that there is a web feed available. Clicking the icon opens the edit window. It was invented by a collaborative team of wiki enthusiasts, including Ward Cunningham, Jack Herrick, and many others.

History

The first version of the button, created in 2007

The concept was first conceived during the 2007 RecentChangesCamp in Montreal. After the next RecentChangesCamp, coding began by Travis Derouin, Brion Vibber and other programmers, the button was officially launched on June 19, 2008.[1]

Conversations on this idea started at RoCoCo (a RecentChangesCamp) in Montreal in 2007,[2] and discussions continued on the AboutUs wiki.[3] At the Palo Alto RCC in 2008, a handful of people[who?] explored the idea, got excited about the ability to have the button automatically detected by browsers, and helped spread the idea.[citation needed]

Implementation

The plug-ins on the browser side recognize the specific form of the alternative link specification in HTML fragment:[4] 

 <link rel="alternate"
   type="application/x-wiki"
   title="Welcome to edit this page!"
   href="wiki?edit=myEditLink"/>

The href part tag species the edit page that corresponds with the page being viewed. Every server that is capable and willing to support the user editing can include this fragment and this way enable the button. Hence the button support can be relatively easily added to various web applications if the source code is available. The tag does not put any requirements on the details about the editing session itself and simply brings to the page where the user would also come by clicking on Edit tab (or similar). The button is normally used in the user editable pages, so no maintainer-only credentials should be asked to start a valid editing session. If only registered (logged in) users can edit, the button should bring to the register/login form.

Plug-ins are currently available for Firefox, Opera, Epiphany, and Chrome.[5][6][7][8] There is ongoing work to support Internet Explorer.[9]

Supported websites

Websites supporting the Universal Edit Button include wikiHow, AboutUs.org, Wikimedia (including Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikimedia Commons and all other Wikimedia projects[10]), MediaWiki software, DokuWiki, MoinMoin, PhpWiki, Socialtext, TWiki, the Creative Commons wiki, Foodista, Wikia, PBworks, WikkaWiki, Memory Alpha, Wired's How-To blog, WordPress (as a plug-in[11]), and many others.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Currently,[when?] the project's website lists over 80 other websites that have implemented support for the button.

References

  1. ^ Cleaver, Martin (2008-06-19). "The Universal Edit button launches today". WikiSym. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  2. ^ "RoCoCo". Rocococamp.info. 2008-04-30. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  3. ^ Discussions on the AboutUs wiki — AboutUs.org
  4. ^ Documentation, how to implement the button on the server side
  5. ^ Firefox plug-in
  6. ^ Opera plug-in
  7. ^ Epiphany plug-in page
  8. ^ Chrome plug-in page
  9. ^ Project page, dedicated to Internet Explorer support
  10. ^ "Wikimedia announcement". Blog.wikimedia.org. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  11. ^ "WordPress plugin". Universaleditbutton.org. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  12. ^ Gohr, Andreas (2008-06-20). "plugin:ueb". DokuWiki. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  13. ^ Niall Kennedy (June 28, 2008). "Socialtext announcement". Socialtext.com. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  14. ^ "TWiki announcement". Twiki.org. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  15. ^ "Creative Commons announcement". Creativecommons.org. 2008-06-22. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  16. ^ "PBwiki announcement". Blog.pbwiki.com. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  17. ^ "WikkaWiki announcement". Docs.wikkawiki.org. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  18. ^ Wikis Rally Around Universal Edit Button — Webmonkey
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