MediaWiki talk:Addsection

I changed it from a plus sign to "Add comment". This is the same as Wikinews, though certainly other short phrases could be thought of.

When you are discussing something on a talk page, you are almost always either:

• Creating a new section ("+" tab)
• Editing a pre-existing section ("edit" link next to the section heading)

You rarely click the "edit" link and edit the entire page at once.

But a newcomer or outsider anon trying to contribute to a discussion for the first time does not notice the "+" tab or does not know what it does. (I've asked several non-wiki folks if they can figure out how to add a new comment to a talk page, and none could figure it out without help. I pointed out to one friend that the tooltip explains what the tabs do in more detail, and she replied "my browser doesn't display tooltips!" :-) )

So with this short phrase, the function of the button is much more obvious, and the newcomer will not press "edit" and be intimidated by a whole page of unfamiliar wiki markup to leave a simple comment like "there's an error on your page". Just an empty box with "subject" and "body" is much much easier for a non-technical non-wikihead to figure out.

If you want to change it back to a "+" (and make shortcuts for other tabs, too), you can always just add code like this to your Special:Mypage/monobook.js:

/* Change "add comment" to "+" */
addOnloadHook(function () {
  if(document.getElementById('ca-addsection')) {
    document.getElementById('ca-addsection').firstChild.innerHTML = '+';
  }
});

But this way it is still clear to newcomers. — Omegatron 23:46, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

I've restored the old version until consensus from the big house suggests using "add comment". —O (说 • 喝) 20:47, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Let's leave it up for now, and if someone dislikes it for some reason they can bring it up on the Village Pump. If there's a consensus to change back to the "+", we can, but I don't see anyone even mentioning it.

If you have extra custom buttons and it's too wide for your screen, you can always customize this, too, with javascript as above. But the vast majority of users don't even have the admin buttons, so the extra width won't be a problem, and the wording will improve usability. — Omegatron 00:05, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

But what about people who don't understand/care about English and js? —O (说 • 喝) 03:11, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

1. Are you proposing that we change all the tabs to symbols for the benefit of non-English speakers?
2. The "people who don't understand/care about js" are by definition not going to have any custom tabs, so the longer wording will not cause any problems. — Omegatron 16:29, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

For the English part, no, but I'd still rather see a "+" rather than a long "add comment", since it ain't broke, and that it causes problems for people with low screen resolutions. For newcomers, they can just click on it and see what happens, so that they will get more experienced; not all things need to be spelled out. For the js thing, people like you who prefer this wording (add comment) can do it like you are showing above. There still needs to be more input on this though. —O (说 • 喝) 20:49, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I vastly prefer the + symbol. For usability... meh. Doing what Wikipedia does is probably better for usability than anything else, because that is what people are most likely to be familiar with. (BTW i18n is not relevant for system messages because they get translated) --pfctdayelise (说什么?) 02:08, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

It took me ages before I understood the + tab. "+section" (I generally don't push buttons if I don't know what they are intended for), "+comment" or "+new" might be a compromise. --Foroa 06:51, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Oh, I like that. +comment would do it for me. Anymore opinions? -- Bryan (talk to me) 20:20, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

What's your reasoning for liking "+comment" more than "add comment"? — Omegatron 12:56, 17 March 2008 (UTC)