On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 4:32 PM, Markus Weimar <[email protected]> wrote: > [if time]read[else]postpone[if] > > tractor.php... first thought this to be a joke. :) > > If I had to decide between cookbook/recipe and plugins, I would choose > plugins. Might be rooted in studying nutrition... To plug something in is > straightforward. Recipe is okay because it's quite generic. Cookbook is just > alien in the context of a CMS.
The problem is not all solutions involve plugins. Some are simply code snippets that do something useful. Others may involve changing some site.config settings. Some are php extensions for sure, but others are simply special pages (action or otherwise), or css settings, or some combination. The nice thing about a recipe is it has a list of ingredients (which may be any of the above), and step by step instructions for using them. This worked better for the other wiki I used, because it didn't have anything close to one click plugin installation. But on the other hand, I feel like our solutions area has not flourished fully because we are thinking "plugin" when there are often ways to do things (just as important) without requiring a plugin. How long have we been thinking of setting up a code snippets section? Just doesn't really fit anywhere, but if they are useful snippets they could easily go in a cookbook. > One thought concerning color. I think this should be the last benchmark to > use. Colorful or colorless: what counts are users that understand what the > farmers talk about and that quickly. Yes, but what about entertainment value? Even programmers need a chuckle now and then--as long as it doesn't get in the way of meaning, of course. > The thing with analogies in the nomenclature is that you are never able to be > consistent. Why are 'pages' in a field? Shouldn't they be called crops then? > But then you would have to refer to them as crops on-site. Uh, now things get > ugly. Good point. Along with all the observations you made below. Excellent points... Though I snipped them out for the sake of space... > I think that is one of the key elements of design. Be powerful but don't show > it off until you are asked to. Good point again. I appreciate your insights in this thread. Definitely gave me room for thought. I did my graduate study in languages--so I find your observations about semantics very apropos. > You said the magic word: personality. Some analogies work for some people and > others for others. Maybe that is why heavily usability tested software is > rarely put into strong metaphoric chains. Just imagine Apple had used the > "Safari" theme all over the place. Would you prefer "Guide" to "Finder"? > "Binoculars" to "Preview"? "Radio" to "Mail"? If you start using chains you > are trapped and for every good metaphor you have a bad one. Agreed. Though the latter definitely could be more fun! > To summarize my ideal that might totally scare Dan because of it's > non-specialty: > > /boltwire > /boltwire/system > /boltwire/system/scripts > /boltwire/system/pages > /boltwire/shared > /boltwire/shared/extensions > /boltwire/shared/images > /boltwire/shared/public > /boltwire/shared/looks > /site > /site/config > /site/files > /site/catalogues or indexes > /site/pages > /site/stamps I have to admit Markus, you make a very compelling case. Perhaps in 4.xx we will move this direction. I like plugins better than extensions and indexes better than catalogues. And I'm not sure about looks, but I like it. Everything else is excellent. Love the shared and site particularly. > My questions of today: > > - Which terms have more in common: "BoltWire" (read: "bolts and wires") and > "farm" or "cow" and "meow"? > > - Is Dan a farmer or an exceptional engineer? > > "BoltWire" makes me think of engineering. Do you see the relation to > construction "sites"? To "public" buildings? To "shared" buildings? To > electricity, heating or water "systems" that give life to buildings? Who made > "stamping" text possible? Farmers or engineers? This is the icing on the cake. Excellent point. Particularly on the branding side. At one point BoltWire was a wiki primarily, about "growing" collaborative sites. But it's definitely become much more a web development engine. Engineering/Architecture is much more appropriate. And of course as you say--bolts and wires. We may need to just think about ways to reinforce the connections in this alternate metaphor so we get the benefits of clear terms and analogy. For example, instead of a cookbook with lots of recipes, how about a bunch of blueprints? That's more along the lines of what I have in mind for the solutions area than just plugins. Like it. We could probably find ways to reword the docs to use more construction vocabulary to explain things. Just thinking out loud. But maybe this really is the way we should go. Esp if we can make it a bit of fun for the new user. > This has MUCH MORE related metaphors than the current naming theme and MUCH > MORE consistency! And it does not even demand users to think through the > analogies and metaphors... Bingo--all the way around. > Regards, > "Butcher of the sacred cow" Engineering a better BoltWire together... Dan -- 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.
