Editing Encyclopedia:Measurements Debate (section)

=== Automatic software conversion ===

Fix it in software?<P>
When I started reading the Wikipedia documentation, I was pleasantly surprised to note that MediaWiki is able to convert (properly formatted) dates to match one's preference setting for date display. I was a little less surprised that such a fix had not been implemented to deal with the unit conversion discussed ''ad nauseum'' on this page. I realize this would tax both the developers and the servers, but wouldn't the end result be more elegant than our current solution?<P>
This feature is already being discussed at [[m:MediaWiki_feature_request_and_bug_report_discussion/Archive#Unit_conversion_syntax|MediaWiki feature request and bug report discussion]] if anyone would like to contribute to this discussion there. --[[User:Jarsyl|Jarsyl]] 08:01, 2004 Aug 6 (UTC)

:Yes! This morning I have the same idea (as many more people, as can be seen in the page you pointed), and by far is the more elegant and flexible solution. For example, when some editor writes <code><nowiki>[[</nowiki>48 m]]</code> (or other sintax) the MediaWiki can make the adequate conversion to the user preferences, and when the user has not logged in it will show both units like this: "[[1 E4 m|48&nbsp;m (29.8&nbsp;mi)]]" i.e. <code><nowiki>[[</nowiki>1 E4 m|48&amp;nbsp;m (29.8&amp;nbsp;mi)]]</code> (note the automatic addition of a link to the [[orders of magnitude]] page, and the &amp;nbsp; between every value and its unit). --[[User:Suruena|surueña]] 07:44, 2005 May 27 (UTC)

:: I agree.  I had the same idea as well.  A long battle over who's measurement system is superior is just silly.  The wiki server should be able to read the markup and display according to the user's preference.  A "force" unit option could be used on the page to override the user preferences and show a specific unit as some things just work better in their native units.  (4 minute mile)  [[User:AndrewC|AndrewC]] 4 July 2005 13:32 (UTC)