User:Zellfaze/Subtitles

I am thinking of creating an extension named Extension:Subtitles that would allow the addition of subtitles to the title of an article on a wiki. I envision this extension being used on this wiki in order to add the full name of the person being described in an article to the top of the article, similar to how second level headings are currently used. This would also work for chapters and other pages that use a similar technique.

Screenshots

These screenshot illustrate the difference in appearance with and without using the extension. I believe they show why such an extension could be beneficial to us.

• Before:

• After:

Notice how the article flow much more smoothly now. It doesn't appear to have a second beginning. Wikilinks are preserved in the subtitle, just as they are in the header, and the subtitle doesn't appear in the table of contents, freeing up the table of contents to be used properly.

These screenshots are just mockups, but the final product would look similar if not exactly the same.

Usage

The usage of the extension would be similar to using other extensions to the Wikitext parser. In this case by adding {{SUBTITLE:[[Sir]] Byron [[Defender]] of the [[Burning Grove]]}} anywhere on the page, you would add a subtitle with the same wording. In the case of multiple subtitles being listed on the page, the one found furthest in the page would be displayed.

This puts usage difficulty on a level that is comparable to the current practive of using headings.

License

The extension when developed would be licensed GNU/GPL and made available on Mediawiki.org.

Installation

Installing the extension would be as simple as downloading and adding a single line to LocalSettings.php. The extension requires no database migrations. It would take less than five minutes to install.