Wikipedia's Visual Editor to Be Rolled Out

Wikipedia users will soon get their hands on Wikimedia Foundation’s “WYSIWYG” visual editor.

The editor has been under works for years, but it is only now on the brink of seeing the light of day.

Wikimedia Foundation officials are saying that it has been the most challenging software project they have ever worked on.

The new visual interface will be available in beta for all users in July, but it will be restricted to logged-in users on English-language articles at the beginning.

Starting June 17, randomly selected Wikipedia users will start using the new visual editor by default as they start filing in feedback and fixing out bugs.

“Visual HTML editors are now common on the Web, but building one for Wikipedia and its sister sites has been a challenge in itself, due to our specialized requirements and the need to integrate with our existing software, MediaWiki, ” Wikimedia says in its announcement.