One way to implement creole for engine developers would be to implement a second parser and let administrators, that set up a new wiki choose which markup to use (see NativeCreole). This only works with new wikis however. In this option, implementers would have to write converters, in case they would like to switch existing wikis to creole, in case pages are stored in wiki markup directly. It is one of the mission statements of creole to not replace existing markups, but to be a second markup wikis can offer visitors from other engines.

At the WMS-Workshop therefore, a second option was discussed, that let wikis with a huge amount of existing pages, like for example Wikipedia, easily migrate to creole. This second option offers users two "edit page" links, one offers the page in native markup, the other offers the user the page in creole markup. While the first edit link is intended for native speakers -- long time users of this this wiki -- the second one is intended for new visitors that only speak creole. Native markup elements that are not supported in creole and therefore cannot be transfered from the native markup to creole, will be displayed with the Placeholder element of creole. The Prototype page tries to explain this concept in more detail.

If people new to wikis hopefully only have to learn one markup language in the future, it has to be obvious for them which one offers them the wiki text in their familiar format. Here are some suggestions how to call those buttons.

• edit page / edit page with creole (if creole is relatively new?)
• edit page / edit native (if creole becomes the way of editing for most users)

• edit page native (to long, to confusing for ?)
• edit creole
• edit with creole (to long for the tabbed section?)
• easy edit (might not be a good name, what is easy?)

suggestions welcome...

see also Mixed Mode, Implementation