Hi folks,
I finally had a spare second to look at template. Here is what I would
like to do:
When I design a web site (if I ever do that) I like to follow OOHDM. I
first discover the objects that I will talk about, then I try to
organize them in different Navigational nodes, saying what I see in each
of them and how navigation is done, and finally I design the interface.
After that I start filling in content. This approach is specially
suitable for web sites that are the front end to a database (or
repository of objects).
This is how I would use templates, if possible. Each page would
represent for me a navigational Node. It will have a structure (what
parts, what are their titles, what is expected to be there). It will
also have a set of links that are supposed to leave the page and whose
type I know in advance. Better said, I know the type of Nodes these
links are conducting me to. I could use this to build the template not
for a page but for the whole web site, saying what types of pages I have
(what are they supposed to contain) how are they related to other pages
(including the type of them). I will have the frame for my whole west
and what I have to do then is just fill in the content. When more
content arrives (in a site about research a new project starts), the
frame will guide me on how to integrate it.
The problems I find now, after trying to understand how templates work,
are:
1. To indicate the type (template) of page a link goes to I have to edit
the XML file. That's not the swiki philosophy, right?
2. I can not have different types of target pages for links departing
from one page.
Have I got it correct?
Of course, I want all this structure to evolve, as the swiki evolves.
Ok, you asked what would people do with templates... :)
Regards,
casco
PS: One of the things I enjoy most is showing swikis to people and
seeing how they convert to the swiki way. In my group we started with
Swiki.net and when we moved to ComSwikis, to have our own server. They
then complained about the lack of the kind of templates they previously
had. Anyway, that's not the kind of template functionality I am looking
for (I think).
PS2: I sent a mail some days ago about automatic update of swikis (code,
patchs) and the suggestion was to ask the Squeak community. I sent a
mail to the squeak list and I had no answer, possibly because it was
horribly written or was too stupid. Anyway, it looks like the support
for project loading from the web will be a central feature. Maybe we can
take a look at this when it's ready.
--
Alejandro Fernandez
GMD - German National Research Center for Information Technology
IPSI - Integrated Publication and Information Systems
Dolivostrasse 15 - (64293) Darmstadt - Germany
Phone: +49 6151 869-4837
Fax: +49 6151 869-963
