(source) C. Scott Ananian: Ideas/A Dozen Visions for Wikitext/Colon replacement

Colon replacement

Speaking of parser functions: isn’t it annoying that the first argument to a parser function is separated by a colon, while the first argument to a template (and every other argument for both) are separated by a vertical bar? 

{{Template|arg1|name=arg2}}

but

{{#function:arg1|arg2}} (and no support for named arguments)

We could fix that, or at least treat a vertical bar as a synonym for a colon. We propose to support a vertical bar as an alternative separator, and add built-in support for named arguments while we're at it:

Proposed parser function alternative syntax

{{#function|arg1|name=arg2}}

Next section: Backticks

C. Scott Ananian [[User:cscott]]