Manual Individual Page Conversion

[yuv]

Thank you for this useful extension! I was going to discontinue MediaWiki usage. NativeMarkdown is giving MediaWiki an extra chance at continued used.

Feature request: is it possible to add some switch to ConvertToMarkdownModel to convert one specific page? or add an extra button/link on the page if the page is in the Wikitext format?

[JeroenDeDauw]

Thanks for the kind words — great to hear NativeMarkdown is keeping you on MediaWiki.

To make sure we build the right thing, one clarification first: ConvertToMarkdownModel changes a page's content model only — it does not translate wikitext syntax into Markdown. The stored text stays unchanged and is simply rendered as Markdown afterwards. So, which of these do you need?

1. Switch one page whose text is already Markdown (created under the wikitext model via a bot, the API, or before the extension was installed). That works today without the script: open Special:ChangeContentModel/Your_Page_Name to switch a single page, in either direction (there is also action=changecontentmodel in the API). It needs the editcontentmodel right, which logged-in users have by default.

2. Actually convert wikitext syntax to Markdown (== heading == → ## heading, '''bold''' → **bold**, tables, and so on). This does not exist yet — it was deliberately left out of scope when the script was added (Add a maintenance script to convert existing pages to the markdown content model #40), because it is a much larger feature.

A plain model switch goes further than you might expect, since Markdown pages still support [[wiki links]], {{templates}} and parser functions, and #REDIRECT — but headings, bold/italic, tables, and raw HTML would show up as literal text. Your button/link idea would fit naturally with option 2, since converted output needs a human look before saving.

If option 2 is what you are after: what do your pages mostly contain — plain prose with links and templates, or heavier wikitext such as tables, references, and HTML? That tells us how far a converter would need to go to be useful.

_{AI-authored — Claude Code, Fable 5 (max); posting directed by @JeroenDeDauw after in-session discussion of this issue; exact wording not human-reviewed; behavior claims checked against the extension and MediaWiki core source.}

[yuv]

many thanks! sorry I have not RTFM properly. Option 1 works for me, and is the pragmatic and easy way to move forward, switching progressively to Markdown not only when adding pages, but also when updating/editing them. It would simplify the flow if there was a button in a usability-friendly place such as the line showing the Save changes / Show preview / Show changes buttons in the editor. Maybe even recycling the same dropdown that is on Special:ChangeContentModel/

Option 2 would be nice and save some editor work. I understand it is a lot of programming work. No pressure. In my quite simple use case, the worse part are tables with inline style such as

{| style="margin: 1em auto 1em 1em;background:#FFFFDD;text-align:left;border-top: thin dotted #333333;"
|-valign="top"
! width="180" |
MAC ID
! width="40" |
5
! width="40" |
2.4
! width="720" |
Description

|-valign="top"
! style="background:#DDDDDD;border-top: thin dotted #333333;" colspan="4" |
Guests Wireless Client MAC list

|-valign="top" 
! style="border-top: thin dotted #333333;" |

the knowledge base has been kept intentionally simple, so removing the styling and going to plain standard Markdown is best for everyone. Except maybe for the sense of ego and aesthetic of the person who has crafted the table design, but they understand the efficiency of Markdown and won't mind.

There are a few other special cases, such as [[external links]] inside ==title [[reference]]== documented here in case an AI agent reads along and wants to do a really good job to impress us. Otherwise, I am afraid I am not really useful at testing the limits of a potential solution for option 2.