Hey I really like your mind map. We should have something similar on the BoltWire site somewhere. Though perhaps not java... :) And with links to the various tutorials. But sounds like a big project.
As for nomenclature, I agree with Markus that analogies can both help and hurt. If I were doing it over I might use "sites" instead of "field" but there's a reason behind the farm metaphor. Back when I first began using wiki's (a different engine) they had a big discussion on nomenclature and changed the term fields to wikis. They also used the term "farm" for multiple sites on one installation. I argued fields fit better semantically with the farm idea but got voted down. The other side argued the term farms had to do with server farms not agriculture (as if that wasn't a metaphor itself), and they even poked a bit of fun at me by suggesting we should have a "barn" in there somewhere too. And why not a "tractor"... Well when I launch my own project I decided to have my way after all! :) So thats why we have farm, field and barn. In fact I came close to calling engine.php tractor.php. After all, in my mind at least, the other scripts are simply tractor implements (conditions, commands, functions, etc). If I could have come up with something better for the "system" folder I would have probably used it (garden or something) but nothing clicked. Never too late to come up with something though! The other wiki also had a cookbook/recipe metaphor for plugins which I really liked, but I never could quite bring myself to borrow for BoltWire. And I couldn't think of a decent alternative. (Still open to suggestions!). As BoltWire progressed, I suppose we become more standardized with pix and skins and plugins etc. And in the documentation. But I suspect we have lost a little color in the process... I just remember as a new programmer--I found it really helpful to have analogies like this, and I've always wanted to keep BoltWire as accessible to folks with limited programming experience as possible, while extending it's capabilities the other direction as hard as possible. If we get to a BoltWire lite/pro duality, I would really like to rethink the BoltWire Lite as carefully as possible to make it super easy to learn and conceptualize. It should be almost fun. Speaking of which, I'm glad you got a chuckle Markus! I miss the early days when BoltWire was still just a dream in progress and we could tinker more freely. It's gotten bigger now, with more users, and I don't feel that same liberty to change things around and just have fun. But there are times I do feel a bit mischievous and if I had my preference it would be to add more metaphor, rather than less. Probably just my personality, but fortunately there are others here to help keep me on track. Cheers, Dan On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 2:09 PM, Markus <[email protected]> wrote: > Glad you like it. > > Although I don't have difficulties with the nomenclature, I am aware > of the fact that analogies can make things either more difficult or > easier. > > I cannot remember how many times I explained to people that their > Desktop is just a folder that is displayed in a different way. If it > wasn't the Desktop but just a folder that is displayed in a different > way, everyone who understood what a folder is wouldn't be scared > anymore about that magic thing behind their windows. On the other hand > "folder" itself is an analogy but one which actually works. > > Back to BoltWire. Yes, a farm analogy is a bit far-streched for a web > development engine. I know it is cool to talk about farms and fields > though you might get hungry or sick of your city life. Having to > mentally transform the beautiful landscape, cows and colorful crops to > some file system folders while you must understand what the actual > analogy is... might or might not make it easier. > > I probably couldn't even tell you _without_ thinking what the > analogies are. I say "field" but in my head is just a folder. I say > "farm" but in my head is just a folder. Do I think of stamps? > Certainly not. Just past versions of my pages. And so on. > > I am not saying that the nomenclature makes it more difficult. Nobody > knows that. As we don't, there is a high advantage to keeping > everything as it is: we know the nomenclature, new users will learn it > probably as fast as without it and we have a zillion documents where > these terms are used. Also I had a good laugh when first reading that > someone was really that funny to use a farm analogy for a CMS...! :) > > Last but not least, it makes BoltWire special and eco-friendly. > > Moo, > Markus > > On Mar 10, 6:51 pm, riccardo <[email protected]> wrote: >> On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 05:02:24AM -0800, Markus wrote: >> > I agree that more FAQs would be great. What do you think about this >> > quick, unfinished map: >> >> >http://www.markusweimar.de/test/BoltWire.html >> >> Oh, that is useful. I still find the the nomenclature non-obvious. As a >> developer of buildings, I must simply remember that fields are just sites... >> >> But a helpful diagram. Thanks >> >> richard > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "BoltWire" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/boltwire?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BoltWire" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/boltwire?hl=en.
