I was writting something about this, just before receiving Josh's post. It was a really interesting testimony, especially because I think quite the same :)
- Is it still relevant now to go toward the wiki direction, instead of CMS? - Most success stories (http://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/PmWiki/SuccessStories), at least the 4 first ones and some more I randomly picked up, seem to use PmWiki as either a CMS, or as a wiki with restricted rights only (login / password) - "Real" wikis, with no restriction, are quickly vandalised, and require much work to maintain - Yet wiki can be userful for some projects, or for intranet. Many users problably still expect PmWiki to behave like a wiki. Would it be too complicated to distribute 2 versions of PmWiki, one for traditional wikis, and the other for more traditional websites ? Or only one version, but with different settings so we can quickly choose one way or the other? I'm not talking about removing wiki functionalities, but about enhancing the parts as framework for designing website. After customised PmWiki with my favorite settings, I think it was quite a long (but interesting) task. I think this at least could be improved, or arranged to help the users: - After using the password only authentication, I thought it would be wiser for my website to use a login/password. I don't know how the brute force is possible, but with only one password and no username, it may be easier to scan for the password. I've looked at http://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/PmWiki/AuthUser but it might be quite tedious to set up. Maybe proposing by default the couple username/password (with an option to password only) would help. - Most actions, such as edit, history and such, could be hidden for readers. A discrete login link (or a login page) could replace this. It could be quite frustrating to most reader since they can't edit the pages. When I visit my town's website, I'm not proposed to edit the pages or login as admin. - Adding facilities such as index to pages ( http://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/Cookbook/DictIndex ), TOC ( http://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/Cookbook/PageTableOfContents )? - The documentation is a bit confused, we don't really see what is important at first, and what is less important. The WikiLinks problably help to circulate too much between the pages, adding to the confusion. > It's a great product, but it ships in an unappealing packaging. - As discussed, the default theme and website should look more attractive, and hopefully this might change in the future. See this: http://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/PITS/01265 > From a brand management point of view, the brand name PmWiki is not really a > benefit, as it reduces the cms to a wiki. Probably it's too late to change now. It's already known as PmWiki, and besides it's short and easy to remember. I quite like the name. Wikipedia and mediawiki has the word wiki in it, and they are well known and widespread even for normal websites (in case of mediawiki). _______________________________________________ pmwiki-users mailing list [email protected] http://www.pmichaud.com/mailman/listinfo/pmwiki-users
