User blog comment:Sarah Manley/Try the New Wikia Editor/@comment-1091639-20110622133545

What I like:

-Easier access to templates and media display features.

-A more intuitive way of adding categories and edit summaries.

-Access to the diff log in editing mode before even saving changes.

-The fact that it's completely optional and available in WikiaLabs.

-The fact that you can toggle (at least in source mode) the side rail without having to go to Special:Preferences

What I don't like:

-The "Preview mode: no changes..." message as well as other messages (i.e. in protected pages) every time I try to edit - I don't like anything in my edit window that's not related to the edited content, which I have to close every single time I try to edit.

-One scrollbar, no edit box, no "regular" preview - I liked the fact that the edit box was just a part of the edited page and I could freely browse the content even in editing mode. Now I'm limited to what I can see in the preview pop-up. Not to mention the lack of the various edit window notices, warnings, tools.

-Lack of the upper navigation bar - I often use the bar while editing; it allows quick access to other articles for comparison/copypaste purposes. Now I can only quickly go to the main page.

-I was hoping for a handful of RTE bugfixes released together with this extension. Unfortunately the RTE is still as buggy as I remember it to be.

-When I try to edit a page to which I have been redirected to, the editor opens the redirect page instead of the one I've been redirected to. Try and edit this page to see what I mean

Overall I don't like the new extension because, similarly to the RTE, it tries to simplify something that already is simple enough - wikicode (yes, I do think wikicode is simple and intuitive). It complicates editing globally now though, since you can now edit in: source mode, source mode with the extension (differs visually), RTE, RTE with the extension (differs visually and functionally). Such a multitude of editing options will create an inconsistent experience across Wikia wikis and in my opinion might discourage editors.