Suggestions

Also see Implemented suggestions

Bookmarklet Port?
Hi, i've ported the code over to bookmarklet form, which does nothing to really help users recognize that it is editable, but makes it easier to simply edit, as it works as a universal button for editing known Wikis.

javascript:(function{var B=document.getElementsByTagName("LINK");for(var A=0;A<B.length;A++){if((B[A].type=="application/wiki"||B[A].type=="application/x-wiki")&&B[A].rel=="alternate"){return window.location=B[A].href}}alert("Sorry! This page can't be edited.")});

As a side note, I've had this project of mine, somewhat similar, to create a layer that actually lets you edit arbitrary pages online by enabling a browser's design-mode and saving edits onto a remote server, that can be queried any time for edits. http://wikify.antimatter15.com/intro

--Antimatter15 23:26, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Additional Image Ideas

 * One simple idea would be to create an icon that is more representative of an "electronic" or "online" era rather than using the traditional "pencil" icon which represents a "paper" era. A suggestion would be to have an icon showing a few keys on a keyboard with the Enter key (showing the arrow <--) depressed. Color scheme I'm unsure of, but it might be one way of showing the action for "edit" rather than a pencil writing on a page. I realize that the pencil is pretty standard for editing something across many applications and on the Web, but it's just an idea.
 * the logo for this wiki represents about 3/4 the ideas we had during the last 15 months of talking about this idea. We look forward to fresh ideas and designs! :-) MarkDilley 
 * I would like to think in a completely opposite direction: a symbol that isn't tied to any anachronistic technology or cultural paradigm, whether it's the analog or the digital. My favorite thought so far is a hand (maybe like the one in this sketch of ideas). A symbol that doesn't have to do with technology, but which simply says that this is a "hands on" website fits the bill for me. Universality is a big goal here in terms of a symbol, and it doesn't get much more universal than a hand... StevenWalling 19:30, 20 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I think the pencil symbol is just fine - let's not overthink this. My only complaint is that it's a little too small for the icon, it could be enlarged by a couple pixels on either side so it's clearer what it is.  The green is distinctive and the gradient is a nice web 2.0-ish touch.  By the way, the firfox extension, the 'edit' button in the URL bar is slightly smaller than the feed button - I think they should be equal size.  Jeff schiller 19:46, 20 June 2008 (UTC)
 * yeah, I noticed the size difference too. I'd definitely agree it should be equal with the other symbols. StevenWalling 20:42, 20 June 2008 (UTC)
 * You may have a different paradigm than a screen sometime, but I sure like the concept of a finger pushing into/through a computer screen. Hand+interactivity with the content "behind the glass" omDesign

Menu when more than one editable item on the page
Or some way to handle websites (e.g. MediaWiki, Wagn) that have more than one editable item per page.

Add multiple  tags of whatever format we end up with. Then if the browser finds more than one, a menu of those editable items appears when they click on the edit button (a title= key/value pair in the code determines what appears in the menu for each item. --John Abbe 06:17, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

I thought about this before the release today, and I am not sure if this the best option. It is of course the natural way to do it, but it may be too confusing, at least until people get used to the idea of an address bar button. I think it may be best to link to the most reasonable default choice (e.g., in WP the edit link of the page, not of the sections). If no such thing exists it may be best for sites to point to a page the explains the situation, and then offers the relevant links. Ehud Lamm 06:29, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

Could be a preference in the add-on.--John Abbe 06:36, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

The button could also show a pop-up menu (like the RSS one or Bookmarks one does) to allow selection of a particular section of the article to be edited. --Anonymous

Non-REST interfaces
Handle websites that don't use a plain URL to trigger editing.

If your site isn't using a RESTful interface to edit a page, you should change it. There are plenty of user agents which do not support JavaScript and Ajax. -Tom Morris

While i'm all in favor of REST interfaces, i don't see anything wrong with also supporting other means of editing websites. --John Abbe 09:28, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

JavaScript links for AJAX-driven edits
If the current page can start the edit process using AJAX, it'd be nice for the UEB link to take advantage of that. We could abuse the href attribute with a javascript: link, but then we'd lose people who browse without JavaScript enabled (and that would feel dirty, anyway).

That being said, I'm not sure how to be implement this. Possibly a second link tag?:



--Mark 23:02, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

Would the existing Firefox plug-in handle this? --John Abbe 05:44, 21 June 2008 (UTC)


 * for a javascript url, wouldn't a type be not needed? The type attribute is not required in the html specification, and really the link is referring to the javascript "edit" function, not a document of the type text/javascript. 24.65.78.101 05:30, 22 June 2008 (UTC) (user:bawolff elsewhere)


 * you could have a html-link replaced by javascript to a javascript action. then it would work for the non-javascripts too.

Atom Publishing Protocol Support
It would be a shame if this function were limited to just wikis or if it could only redirect the user to another HTML page (though that's a very useful start). Bloggers for instance often use a standalone client and atom publishing protocol to post their entries. The universal edit button should be able to edit their existing entries in their preferred editor too. If the site doesn't support APP, then it would only provide the link to a HTML page.

Being a truly universal edit button (ie: more than a wiki edit button) would greatly increase the chances of being adopted into browsers because it's so much more useful for average users. It could edit photo captions, galleries, blogs and your personal page on .Mac that you made with iWeb.

--Adrian Sutton 21:50, 23 June 2008 (GMT)

We certainly want to work beyond the wiki world - and UEB already does, it works with any page that can be edited by means of a URL (and possibly JavaScript - see my question above).

As for the Atom Publishing Protocol in particular, it had been a while, so i took a quick glance at it. , If i understand correctly, it's a protocol for editor client software to submit edits. If this is the case, then i don't see how it relates to the Universal Edit Button, which is not an editor, but simply a way to easily access the relevant web-based edit interface when you're on an editable page. I suppose we could add preferences to the plugin that would let the user specify whether they would like to edit via the web editing interface, or via their preferred editing client. This would have to be on a per-website basis, as there is no editor which can be used to edit all editable content on the web. Someone correct me if i'm getting any of this wrong... --John Abbe 09:28, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Show URL when hovering
When your cursor's hovering over the edit button, have the status bar show the URL.

Firefox toolbar button?
I'd like to promote this icon to a top-level toolbar icon alongside Back/Forward, etc. --Mark 23:02, 20 June 2008 (UTC)
 * The other icons are not site specific, so it's kind of asking for too much to have the icon there. It would be enough for now to have it native, like the RSS auto-discovery feature. Maybe your idea makes sense for Flock, though?! Ehud Lamm 23:07, 20 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure I agree with that logic -- it has Cut and Paste buttons, after all. :) --Mark 23:43, 20 June 2008 (UTC)
 * It's not that I don't agree in principle. I just think it is premature (consider safety). Getting it in the location bar natively seems more relevant at the moment. --Ehud Lamm (by the way, I am on a public computer without the extension, and it took me a second to realize where the edit link was on the page... The UEB is addictive!)
 * sounds awesome though! maybe a rss button too!  MarkDilley

Use the icon in the page, too
Perhaps in a second stage, the same wiki platforms that got together to implement this extension could add the icon next to the edit links, just like ward's wiki and aboutus.org do right now (I only know these two cases but I bet there are more). That would help spread knowledge and recognizability of the icon. --Waldir 17:55, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

Key command for editing the page
Now that the browser has a point & click interface for editing, how about a standard key command? Control/Command-E doesn't seem to be in use... --John Abbe 04:38, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

UEB.org's favicon - use the pencil icon!
The universaleditbutton.org favicon should be the same pencil icon, not the logo which is an unrecognizable mess at such a small size... Waldir 10:15, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

Ask website developers to link here
No one sees the UEB unless they have the extension installed, in which case they already know about the UEB... That's a Catch-22 situation. Given the enthusiasm for the UEB, as manifested by the coverage and software support, it might be a good idea to think about the next step. Perhaps the easiest thing to accomplish is to ask sites that added UEB support to let their users know about it via their home pages. A standard notice can be created.

Map sites!
It would be great to have map sites that support collaboration display the UEB. How do we get Google Maps on board?

Replace figure on the home page
Can someone create an animated gif showing the UEB on (that is, with) various wikis? It will ilustrate the point better.

Use a common vector based image for variations
Hi, I'd like to contribute this svg source of a 'simpler/stylized' logo base, ready for any semantic (editable/editing) improvement and cosmetic adjustment (gradients/reflections/gel/shadows) Lorenzo Pastrana


 * I attempted to overlay it on the background the open share icon uses (Seeing a "Win3.1 app on WinXP"-like stylistic mismatch in my browser gets on my nerves) but MediaWiki doesn't seem to want to render gradients properly. --Ssokolow 08:54, 29 March 2010 (UTC)

Linking Scheme
moved to Registered MIME type

Better icon position
If possible, the edit icon should appear to the left of the bookmark and feed icons. Right now it appears to the right of both, which means the standard positions of these icons are disturbed. I often reach up for the bookmark star without really looking, and I will be one of many to do this; on an editable site, this automatic response will have the unintended result of taking the page away and replacing it with the editable version. Having this "impostor" shove the standard icons aside will be seen by many as unwelcome behaviour and could even slow the adoption of this extension. 125.238.124.43 08:43, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

Becoming part of the Open Icon Set
I recently became aware of the Open Share Icon (http://www.openshareicons.com/). If you have a look at its site, you'll see what they call the Open Icon Set - Feed, OPML, Share, and Geotag. "Edit" would be a natural and perfect fifth member of the Set, and we are in an excellent position to raise additional publicity for the UEB by becoming a member of the set.

The only thing that would currently impede this, as far as I can see, is that the Set already includes a green icon (Share). For that reason, I'd like to suggest that we change the color of the UEB to something that would complement the existing icons in the Set - indigo. Here's how it would look. I know that the UEB's been green for quite some time ago in the design discussions, but I don't think we should let that prevent us from moving forward with a profitable partnership. :) Note also that someone would need to give the icon a little visual polish to match the other four, but that shouldn't be too hard.

Of course, this is all just my opinion, and has nothing to do with the Open Share Icon people yet. I'm just putting the idea out here because I'm excited by it and would like to get some feedback from the community. Cheers. Earle Martin 19:49, 12 November 2009 (UTC)


 * That's a great idea! I really like the concept and hope it will catch on regardless of whether the UEB is included or not. I also have no problem in changing the icon's color to match the set. --Waldir 13:35, 15 November 2009 (UTC)


 * My main concern with changing the color to indigo is that I'm not sure such a change would be taking human reactions to color into account. (I have Asperger's syndrome and A.D.D. and the combination amplifies the instinctive "ignore that and look at me" effect that emergency vehicles bank on when using red and yellow... something which may result in me forking FlashBlock for Chrome to change the icon. At the very least, you'll want to use a less intense indigo. --Ssokolow 01:33, 29 March 2010 (UTC)

Upgrade
I think it would be advisable to upgrade this wiki to 1.15.4. Additionally I would delete the file "headbg.jpg" found at "[path to MediaWiki]/skins/monobook/" which makes this wiki appear a bit quaint. After deletion the background is all white. Cheers --kgh 13:50, 22 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Since 1.15.5 and 1.16.0 have been released today, one of them would be the best option. However removing the file "headbg.jpg" seems even more important to me since it "spoils" the overall appearance of the wiki. Cheers --kgh 21:44, 28 July 2010 (UTC)


 * ''I understand the upgrade issue - not sure I get the headbg.jpg - can you show me with a link? MarkDilley


 * The file headbg.jpg is found on your webspace in the following location: "mediawiki"/skins/monobook/headbg.jpg. "mediawiki" is the main folder which often gets personalised during installation. However it is the root folder on the server set for the domain universaleditbutton.org. By the way, you do not necessarily have to delete the file. An other option would be to rename it to e.g. head.jpg In this case it is easier to revert the change by renaming it to headbg.jpg if you do not like the result. Cheers --kgh 14:56, 29 July 2010 (UTC)


 * sorry, I need an html link - not a guts of the wiki link :-) MarkDilley


 * Here it is http://universaleditbutton.org/skins/monobook/headbg.jpg Cheers --kgh 21:33, 29 July 2010 (UTC)


 * ''Thanks! I thought that is what you were talking about.  Will try to get it eliminated!  also, what is aw - thought I knew but not sure.  MarkDilley


 * Your'e welcome. I use aw as the abbreviation of answer or Antwort. It is a common habit on dewiki if you do not want to use + or something different. Cheers --kgh 21:44, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

Keyboard shortcut
A keyboard shortcut for pressing the edit button would be very useful - ctrl+e or something. TheNewNo2 19:09, 2 August 2010 (UTC)
 * See also this page for further talk about this suggestion. --kgh 11:35, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

Some page to register the site that implements the button support
It would be good to have the agreed location where webmasters could add they site as supporting the button. After verification, the entry could be moved to the main list. Currently the list of supported sites is locked for editing (the reasons are understandable) but it is not obvious where to apply for inclusion. Audriusa 21:34, 22 April 2011 (UTC)