Last modified: 2014-10-24 17:54:31 UTC
If you create a new reference, you can specify a name - great! If you try to modify an existing reference to add a name... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:VEReferenceEdit.jpg oops.
Actually, it even looks like the ability to name a reference has been removed from the reference creation interface. Expanding the scope of this request accordingly. Being able name references is an important step to allow compatibility with the classic wikitext editor: human-readable names are much easier to use than names like ":5".
Editor APerson at en.wp, is asking for this and suggests that the name of a reference could be set in the "Options" section along with the group name.
It would even be convenient if VisualEditor suggested a unique label for the ref, perhaps using the first alphabetic string of characters in the ref (usually the first author's last name).
Useful for default would be to read from the parameters of the cite template if provided. The following would be a useful preference order I think 1. Lastname and Year (e.g. Smith2013) 2. Author and year (e.g. Bob Smith2013) 3. Lastname and serial number (e.g. Smith001) 4. Title (first 3 words) and year (e.g. FreddieStarrAte1986) 5. domain, underscore, page name (If only a bare url is given) (e.g. bbc_magazine-23969607) 6. fist alphabetic string in reference (when neither a template or a url) and a string of four digits from the reference (e.g. Jones1999) 7. fist alphabetic string in reference and a serial number (when neither a template or a url and no sequence of four digits is present) (e.g. Brown001)
*** Bug 57459 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
