Forum:Rich Text Editor (again)

First of all: I'm not a big fan of the Rich Text Editor. Yes, it could be a useful tool, especially with text-heavy articles, and you don't have to 'scare' first time editors with something 'complicated' like Wiki markup, but my main gripe is with the way it handles templates. I thought templates were meant to make general editing easier, but in combination with the RTE it works the other way.

It takes two extra steps for a user to get to the 'editable' part (if they get it at all) and it rearranges the parameters where it sometimes shouldn't, for example with templates with both named and unnamed parameters. Rearranging all the parameters also makes the 'Difference between revisions' function less useful.

I am working on Ibanez Guitar Wiki and it gets to the point where the RTE actually 'breaks' (or is able to break) how pages look. I've tried adding the magic __NOWYSIWYG__ word to some RTE-unfriendly template pages, hoping it would work if it was transcluded, but it doesn't (anymore). I don't feel like adding it manually to all pages containing (complexer) templates just for this RTE. I am also not feeling like repairing after every RTE-edit or telling everybody to turn it off manually.

So what are the options? Is there a way to shut it off or lock it in source mode for multiple pages or do I have to request to have it shut off permanently? Any other ideas? Thanks, --BramTalk! 12:27, May 5, 2010 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I saw the problem too. It seems that the NOWYSIWYG doesn't work at all. Mark  ( talk ) 13:35, May 5, 2010 (UTC)


 * Are there any wikis with the RTE already turned off, or never turned on for that matter? BramTalk/IGW 20:32, May 6, 2010 (UTC)

It's turned off on Star Wars Fanon, but only because it broke the site. =/ - Brandon Rhea (talk) 21:17, May 6, 2010 (UTC)


 * In what way did it break the site? BramTalk/IGW 21:31, May 6, 2010 (UTC)

Countless users were unable to edit. Instead of seeing the edit box, they saw a big white nothing. - Brandon Rhea (talk) 21:38, May 6, 2010 (UTC)


 * It was also turned off on Wookieepedia as it often formatted articles in a way that was against the manual of style on the Wiki. Grunny  ( talk ) 23:27, May 6, 2010 (UTC)

Follow-up
I've 'bitten the bullet' on this one: I've requested Wikia to turn off the RTE for Ibanez Guitar Wiki. It's done now and I already feel better :D Now I have to change all the Help pages, because they're all written for using the RTE.. But anyway: I think it has made editing template-heavy pages a bit easier now. -BramTalk/IGW 11:23, May 11, 2010 (UTC)