Bob Paige wrote:
I have been playing with the Namespaces plugin and the WikiTags plugins, and have a question: how can I provide an easy way for my users to create new pages?
Yes, certainly. Any plugin that creates a link like http://www.jspwiki.org/Edit.jsp?page=NewPageName (i.e., with "Edit.jsp" in the URL) creates a link to a new page. It's also possible to code a plugin to create a page programmatically (it's relatively easy). I have a plugin that pops up a dialog box, asks for a new page name, and generates a page. But it's not a solution to a common user scenario (or at least one in my idealistic wiki mode that I agree with).
The scenario is this: using tags and namespaces, I want to set up a hierarchy of pages within my wiki (this is for technical documentation). These plugins automatically insert links between pages, so it is unlikely users will be defining links to non-existent pages and clicking on them to create the pages. I tried some embeded javascript (which naturally gets filtered out). Is there some plugin or some other workflow thing that I am missing? How do your users typically create new pages in your wiki?
I think the answer to that last question is that they do it traditionally, by creating a link to a page and then clicking on it. This has the disadvantage of making it more difficult than say, Microsoft Word, in that there's no "New Document" button. People are forced to think about how a new page links into the corpus of pages, i.e., where they're going to place that link. Some people think that requirement is artificial, others essential. I've on occasion had to explain *why* wikis don't have that button to people. The advantage is that one's wiki is less likely to develop islands of disconnected pages. With good search tools this isn't such a problem as on early wikis. I've spent the last few years working on tools to assist in creating structure among wiki pages, most of it in the form of tags or assertions, the latter providing the ability to create hierarchies when the predicate used is by nature hierarchical or at least transitive. But I think it would be helpful if you were to further flesh out what you're looking for. Do you want people to actually create pages, or just links to pages? Do you want to make it easy to create a *lot* of pages via program control, with all the potential dangers that incurs? Generate a set of pages or links to pages based on a preexisting structure provided to a plugin? etc. How are you thinking the structures would be represented? in wiki text? I'm curious as to how you envisage the automation of either link or page creation, as that can be approached in so many ways. E.g., one could provide some form of structured TOC and autogenerate all the pages for that TOC, with links (up, down, previous and next) on the autogenerated pages. That's certainly doable. But it also is potentially rather complicated for users and potentially dangerous (e.g., allowing a single user to create hundreds of pages with a single command invites abuse). Murray ........................................................................... Murray Altheim <murray07 at altheim.com> === = = http://www.altheim.com/murray/ = = === SGML Grease Monkey, Banjo Player, Wantanabe Zen Monk = = = = Boundless wind and moon - the eye within eyes, Inexhaustible heaven and earth - the light beyond light, The willow dark, the flower bright - ten thousand houses, Knock at any door - there's one who will respond. -- The Blue Cliff Record
