Re: [xwiki-users] How to make forgot Password link working?
Hi Mohit Since we use this feature for a long time and I don't remember how much there was in XWiki then and how much we had to develop ourselves I am not sure how XWiki does this in detail, but I think I can give you an idea of the general steps: 1. on clicking "forgot password" you are directed to a form where you can enter your username (we use the user's email as username and activation, thus we have a valid email address) 2. for the entered user you generate a validation key (like the one for account activation) and send a mail to the user's email address containing a link to a page with the validation key as parameter 3. when the user follows the link in the mail he gets taken to a page where he can change his password. Hope this clarifies at least the "how will he login" part of the question and I'm sure someone will correct me if XWiki does something completely different. Edo On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 6:05 PM, mohit gupta wrote: > Hi Folks, > > On login page there is a link forgot username and forgot password. When i > click nothing happens.Same page gets refreshed. I am not sure do we need to > do any configuration to make it work? > > What i observed, first i clicked forgot password and then did the login. I > an directly taken to reset password page. Where i click reset password, > Again nothing happens? I am not sure what is the thinking behind this > functianlity. If user forgets the password how he will do the login ?. > > > Thanks. > ___ > users mailing list > users@xwiki.org > http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/users ___ users mailing list users@xwiki.org http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/users
Re: [xwiki-users] Making it user-friendly to edit pages with macros for new users (was Re: Need some Help & Explanations)
On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 19:13, Vincent Massol wrote:
> Hi Caty,
>
> On Mar 15, 2012, at 5:41 PM, Ecaterina Moraru (Valica) wrote:
>
> > What I would like is something similar that we have for 'Included
> > documents' but that shows the included macros on the page. Something is
> > hard to know where they are located and how you can access them
> (especially
> > if you are new and don't know about XWiki.WikiMacros). Something like an
> > 'Included Macros' info in the panel:
> >
> http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Improvements/WebHome/includedMacros.png
> > (if the macro is defined in the same document, clicking on the 'Edit'
> would
> > take you to the object editor).
>
> I don't like this because the include macro is just a macro, it doesn't
> have anything special. We need a solution for *all* Macros.
>
> As a quick counter example, I can create a custom wiki macro called
> "myinclude" which simply calls the include macro.
>
> But again that's true for any macro since any macro can render content.
>
> This is why the ideas I've suggested were generic ideas.
>
> > Regarding a better location (like Vincent suggested at the top of the
> > editor) was this proposal
> >
> http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Improvements/ImprovedEdit/propC1.png
>
> This looks like a different proposal not related to this thread.
>
> > Regarding 'a way to go back' we could have instead of 'Included macros'
> > something like 'Included by' (with a backlink mechanism).
>
> Again that's not generic and needs to work for all macros.
>
> Going back to a previous page can be something generic that we implement
> in the UI.
>
or just rely on the 'Back' button from the browser.
Thanks,
Caty
>
> Thanks
> -Vincent
>
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Caty
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 17:46, Vincent Massol
> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> On Mar 15, 2012, at 4:44 PM, Vincent Massol wrote:
> >>
> >>>
> >>> On Mar 15, 2012, at 4:17 PM, Marius Dumitru Florea wrote:
> >>>
> A path that you can take to edit the home page is:
>
> * Go to the home page
> * Click Edit
> * Notice the "One included document" in the information panel (I
> know..)
> >>>
> >>> What we need to somehow make clear is that the home page content is
> just
> >> using an include macro to include the content located at
> Dashboard.WebHome.
> >>>
> >>> This makes it very easy to replace the home page by your own content.
> >>>
> >>> What makes it hard is that our WYSIWYG is … WYSIWYG… :)
> >>> So it hides what's underneath (the include macro) and displays the
> >> result of executing the include macro.
> >>>
> >>> Several ideas below.
> >>>
> >>> Idea 1:
> >>> ==
> >>>
> >>> What we could do Marius is start introducing custom WYSIWYG renderers
> >> for macros maybe so that a macro can contribute a custom WYSIWYG
> renderer.
> >> The include macro could then bring a custom WYSIWYG renderer that could
> >> somehow make it clear that this content come from such document with a
> >> button to go and edit that document's content.
> >>>
> >>> Idea 2:
> >>> ==
> >>>
> >>> Always start the WYSIWYG with folded macros so that the user sees the
> >> structure of the page very clearly. He can then decide voluntarily to
> >> render the macro content by enabling that in the toolbar or in a menu
> item.
> >>>
> >>> Idea 3
> >>> ==
> >>>
> >>> Start introducing custom editors for macro and implement a custom
> >> Include Macro editor that would not only display the include macro
> param as
> >> now but at the top of the editor have some text that explains that the
> >> content displayed comes from such other page and have a big button that
> you
> >> can click to edit the content of that page (when clicked we would edit
> that
> >> page in WYSIWYG mode - we'd need a way to go back too ;)).
> >>
> >> For idea3 to work the user would still need to figure out that he can
> >> double click on the content he sees… So maybe that could be combined
> with 1
> >> or 2.
> >>
> >> Thanks
> >> -Vincent
> >>
> >>> WDYT?
> >>>
> >>> Thanks
> >>> -Vincent
> >>>
> >>>
> * Click on the Dashboard.WebHome link
> * Click Edit
> * You're taken to the dashboard editor where you can add/remove/edit
> >> gadgets
> * Hover over one of the gadgets and a wheel icon will appear that will
> give you more options when clicked
> * Edit the first gadget, "Welcome to your wiki"
> * Notice that this gadget is actually an include macro and the
> included document is Main.Welcome
> * Go to Main.Welcome and change the content
>
> As for $msg.get('something') see
>
> >>
> http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/DevGuide/InternationalizingApplications
>
> Hope this helps,
> Marius
>
> On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Chris Bennett <
> cbenn...@geofields.com>
> >> wrote:
> > I want to echo Ken's thoughts, and provide another data point to
> >> represent
> > the beginners out there who may
[xwiki-users] Your version of 'a better' XWiki
Hi, When the XWiki development team wants to introduce some new features or when we need some improvements on existing functionality, I sometimes make proposals on how these features/improvements should look like. You can see some of my work at http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Improvements/WebHome IMO XWiki is a great tool for developers because they can change anything they like and make XWiki bend to their will. Also, XWiki talks a lot the 'developer/administrator' language that new users find cryptic. Some also say that the learning curve for XWiki is steep and that beginners have lots of problems in understanding the structure, finding the documentation, navigating, etc. I'm sure every developer that used XWiki as a base for constructing their project got into these 'new user' issues and tried to fix them as best as they could. Although XWiki is an open source project where anyone can contribute, sometimes time is not on our side and makes it difficult to contribute back. I would be very curious on how some 'independent' XWiki developers solved some of the usability issues XWiki is facing: how they made it more easy to use, more good looking, more intuitive, more clear, more simple. Right now I'm thinking on how to improve the homepage, but I would love to see *screenshots* of any aspect that was improved (profile, administration, rights, history, comments, anything). Sharing these screenshots could inspire others make their project better and would step outside the 'just an idea' mode. Also there is a chance we could integrate them in the platform so that everyone can benefit. Thank you for your help, Caty ___ users mailing list users@xwiki.org http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/users
Re: [xwiki-users] Making it user-friendly to edit pages with macros for new users (was Re: Need some Help & Explanations)
Hi Caty,
On Mar 15, 2012, at 5:41 PM, Ecaterina Moraru (Valica) wrote:
> What I would like is something similar that we have for 'Included
> documents' but that shows the included macros on the page. Something is
> hard to know where they are located and how you can access them (especially
> if you are new and don't know about XWiki.WikiMacros). Something like an
> 'Included Macros' info in the panel:
> http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Improvements/WebHome/includedMacros.png
> (if the macro is defined in the same document, clicking on the 'Edit' would
> take you to the object editor).
I don't like this because the include macro is just a macro, it doesn't have
anything special. We need a solution for *all* Macros.
As a quick counter example, I can create a custom wiki macro called "myinclude"
which simply calls the include macro.
But again that's true for any macro since any macro can render content.
This is why the ideas I've suggested were generic ideas.
> Regarding a better location (like Vincent suggested at the top of the
> editor) was this proposal
> http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Improvements/ImprovedEdit/propC1.png
This looks like a different proposal not related to this thread.
> Regarding 'a way to go back' we could have instead of 'Included macros'
> something like 'Included by' (with a backlink mechanism).
Again that's not generic and needs to work for all macros.
Going back to a previous page can be something generic that we implement in the
UI.
Thanks
-Vincent
>
> Thanks,
> Caty
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 17:46, Vincent Massol wrote:
>
>>
>> On Mar 15, 2012, at 4:44 PM, Vincent Massol wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On Mar 15, 2012, at 4:17 PM, Marius Dumitru Florea wrote:
>>>
A path that you can take to edit the home page is:
* Go to the home page
* Click Edit
* Notice the "One included document" in the information panel (I know..)
>>>
>>> What we need to somehow make clear is that the home page content is just
>> using an include macro to include the content located at Dashboard.WebHome.
>>>
>>> This makes it very easy to replace the home page by your own content.
>>>
>>> What makes it hard is that our WYSIWYG is … WYSIWYG… :)
>>> So it hides what's underneath (the include macro) and displays the
>> result of executing the include macro.
>>>
>>> Several ideas below.
>>>
>>> Idea 1:
>>> ==
>>>
>>> What we could do Marius is start introducing custom WYSIWYG renderers
>> for macros maybe so that a macro can contribute a custom WYSIWYG renderer.
>> The include macro could then bring a custom WYSIWYG renderer that could
>> somehow make it clear that this content come from such document with a
>> button to go and edit that document's content.
>>>
>>> Idea 2:
>>> ==
>>>
>>> Always start the WYSIWYG with folded macros so that the user sees the
>> structure of the page very clearly. He can then decide voluntarily to
>> render the macro content by enabling that in the toolbar or in a menu item.
>>>
>>> Idea 3
>>> ==
>>>
>>> Start introducing custom editors for macro and implement a custom
>> Include Macro editor that would not only display the include macro param as
>> now but at the top of the editor have some text that explains that the
>> content displayed comes from such other page and have a big button that you
>> can click to edit the content of that page (when clicked we would edit that
>> page in WYSIWYG mode - we'd need a way to go back too ;)).
>>
>> For idea3 to work the user would still need to figure out that he can
>> double click on the content he sees… So maybe that could be combined with 1
>> or 2.
>>
>> Thanks
>> -Vincent
>>
>>> WDYT?
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>> -Vincent
>>>
>>>
* Click on the Dashboard.WebHome link
* Click Edit
* You're taken to the dashboard editor where you can add/remove/edit
>> gadgets
* Hover over one of the gadgets and a wheel icon will appear that will
give you more options when clicked
* Edit the first gadget, "Welcome to your wiki"
* Notice that this gadget is actually an include macro and the
included document is Main.Welcome
* Go to Main.Welcome and change the content
As for $msg.get('something') see
>> http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/DevGuide/InternationalizingApplications
Hope this helps,
Marius
On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Chris Bennett
>> wrote:
> I want to echo Ken's thoughts, and provide another data point to
>> represent
> the beginners out there who may be turned off by the learning curve.
>> This
> is something of a long post but I hope my concerns will be helpful to
> others.
>
> XWiki is a great product with a lot of potential for our organization
> (internal information exchange). I like it a lot, and I'm convinced
>> that in
> the long run it's better for us than any of the other options. I'm
>> primarily
> a .NET
[xwiki-users] How to make forgot Password link working?
Hi Folks, On login page there is a link forgot username and forgot password. When i click nothing happens.Same page gets refreshed. I am not sure do we need to do any configuration to make it work? What i observed, first i clicked forgot password and then did the login. I an directly taken to reset password page. Where i click reset password, Again nothing happens? I am not sure what is the thinking behind this functianlity. If user forgets the password how he will do the login ?. Thanks. ___ users mailing list users@xwiki.org http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/users
Re: [xwiki-users] Making it user-friendly to edit pages with macros for new users (was Re: Need some Help & Explanations)
Hi All, At Vincent's point, I appreciate the fact that I can just overwrite the contents, but the programmer in me wants to modify the source, in case I want to re-use the macro elsewhere. The programmability of XWiki is a great thing and getting a first five minutes introduction to the location and meaning of these items would be more useful to me in the long run. On the other hand, if I just want to start adding content, then that's good also. Thanks, -Chris. -- View this message in context: http://xwiki.475771.n2.nabble.com/Need-some-Help-Explanations-tp7358161p7376249.html Sent from the XWiki- Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ___ users mailing list users@xwiki.org http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/users
Re: [xwiki-users] Making it user-friendly to edit pages with macros for new users (was Re: Need some Help & Explanations)
What I would like is something similar that we have for 'Included
documents' but that shows the included macros on the page. Something is
hard to know where they are located and how you can access them (especially
if you are new and don't know about XWiki.WikiMacros). Something like an
'Included Macros' info in the panel:
http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Improvements/WebHome/includedMacros.png
(if the macro is defined in the same document, clicking on the 'Edit' would
take you to the object editor).
Regarding a better location (like Vincent suggested at the top of the
editor) was this proposal
http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Improvements/ImprovedEdit/propC1.png
Regarding 'a way to go back' we could have instead of 'Included macros'
something like 'Included by' (with a backlink mechanism).
Thanks,
Caty
On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 17:46, Vincent Massol wrote:
>
> On Mar 15, 2012, at 4:44 PM, Vincent Massol wrote:
>
> >
> > On Mar 15, 2012, at 4:17 PM, Marius Dumitru Florea wrote:
> >
> >> A path that you can take to edit the home page is:
> >>
> >> * Go to the home page
> >> * Click Edit
> >> * Notice the "One included document" in the information panel (I know..)
> >
> > What we need to somehow make clear is that the home page content is just
> using an include macro to include the content located at Dashboard.WebHome.
> >
> > This makes it very easy to replace the home page by your own content.
> >
> > What makes it hard is that our WYSIWYG is … WYSIWYG… :)
> > So it hides what's underneath (the include macro) and displays the
> result of executing the include macro.
> >
> > Several ideas below.
> >
> > Idea 1:
> > ==
> >
> > What we could do Marius is start introducing custom WYSIWYG renderers
> for macros maybe so that a macro can contribute a custom WYSIWYG renderer.
> The include macro could then bring a custom WYSIWYG renderer that could
> somehow make it clear that this content come from such document with a
> button to go and edit that document's content.
> >
> > Idea 2:
> > ==
> >
> > Always start the WYSIWYG with folded macros so that the user sees the
> structure of the page very clearly. He can then decide voluntarily to
> render the macro content by enabling that in the toolbar or in a menu item.
> >
> > Idea 3
> > ==
> >
> > Start introducing custom editors for macro and implement a custom
> Include Macro editor that would not only display the include macro param as
> now but at the top of the editor have some text that explains that the
> content displayed comes from such other page and have a big button that you
> can click to edit the content of that page (when clicked we would edit that
> page in WYSIWYG mode - we'd need a way to go back too ;)).
>
> For idea3 to work the user would still need to figure out that he can
> double click on the content he sees… So maybe that could be combined with 1
> or 2.
>
> Thanks
> -Vincent
>
> > WDYT?
> >
> > Thanks
> > -Vincent
> >
> >
> >> * Click on the Dashboard.WebHome link
> >> * Click Edit
> >> * You're taken to the dashboard editor where you can add/remove/edit
> gadgets
> >> * Hover over one of the gadgets and a wheel icon will appear that will
> >> give you more options when clicked
> >> * Edit the first gadget, "Welcome to your wiki"
> >> * Notice that this gadget is actually an include macro and the
> >> included document is Main.Welcome
> >> * Go to Main.Welcome and change the content
> >>
> >> As for $msg.get('something') see
> >>
> http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/DevGuide/InternationalizingApplications
> >>
> >> Hope this helps,
> >> Marius
> >>
> >> On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Chris Bennett
> wrote:
> >>> I want to echo Ken's thoughts, and provide another data point to
> represent
> >>> the beginners out there who may be turned off by the learning curve.
> This
> >>> is something of a long post but I hope my concerns will be helpful to
> >>> others.
> >>>
> >>> XWiki is a great product with a lot of potential for our organization
> >>> (internal information exchange). I like it a lot, and I'm convinced
> that in
> >>> the long run it's better for us than any of the other options. I'm
> primarily
> >>> a .NET developer familiar with Java, Python, SQL, etc. I've set up
> the the
> >>> whole shebang from scratch using SQL Server, Tomcat, and all the rest.
> I've
> >>> created a new space, added some lengthy content with images, and
> restricted
> >>> views of unregistered guests.
> >>>
> >>> Yet I'm still dismayed at how hard it is to get the most basic
> information
> >>> on editing the very first page we all see. The page itself says it's
> easy!
> >>> Just try editing in WYSIWYG - it quits. Try editing in Wiki mode -
> >>> unintelligible. The documentation simply says "just edit it" (I'm
> >>> paraphrasing), but that doesn't work, the macro doesn't make sense yet.
> >>>
> >>> I've spent many hours trying to understand what's going on with the
> >>> dashboard tool (e.g., $m
Re: [xwiki-users] Need some Help & Explanations
On Mar 15, 2012, at 5:13 PM, Guillaume Lerouge wrote:
> Hi Chris,
>
> or, more straightforward:
>
> - Edit the page
> - Click on the "Source" tab
> - Remove everything and put some nice text instead
> - Also remove the title and replace it with content of your choice
> - You're done!
Why do you need to go to the source tab?
As Chris said it contains gibberish and it's not needed.
If you wish to replace the content, just edit it, select the content and click
"backspace". this will remove the macro.
Thanks
-Vincent
>
> Guillaume
>
> On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 16:17, Marius Dumitru Florea <
> mariusdumitru.flo...@xwiki.com> wrote:
>
>> A path that you can take to edit the home page is:
>>
>> * Go to the home page
>> * Click Edit
>> * Notice the "One included document" in the information panel (I know..)
>> * Click on the Dashboard.WebHome link
>> * Click Edit
>> * You're taken to the dashboard editor where you can add/remove/edit
>> gadgets
>> * Hover over one of the gadgets and a wheel icon will appear that will
>> give you more options when clicked
>> * Edit the first gadget, "Welcome to your wiki"
>> * Notice that this gadget is actually an include macro and the
>> included document is Main.Welcome
>> * Go to Main.Welcome and change the content
>>
>> As for $msg.get('something') see
>>
>> http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/DevGuide/InternationalizingApplications
>>
>> Hope this helps,
>> Marius
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Chris Bennett
>> wrote:
>>> I want to echo Ken's thoughts, and provide another data point to
>> represent
>>> the beginners out there who may be turned off by the learning curve.
>> This
>>> is something of a long post but I hope my concerns will be helpful to
>>> others.
>>>
>>> XWiki is a great product with a lot of potential for our organization
>>> (internal information exchange). I like it a lot, and I'm convinced that
>> in
>>> the long run it's better for us than any of the other options. I'm
>> primarily
>>> a .NET developer familiar with Java, Python, SQL, etc. I've set up the
>> the
>>> whole shebang from scratch using SQL Server, Tomcat, and all the rest.
>> I've
>>> created a new space, added some lengthy content with images, and
>> restricted
>>> views of unregistered guests.
>>>
>>> Yet I'm still dismayed at how hard it is to get the most basic
>> information
>>> on editing the very first page we all see. The page itself says it's
>> easy!
>>> Just try editing in WYSIWYG - it quits. Try editing in Wiki mode -
>>> unintelligible. The documentation simply says "just edit it" (I'm
>>> paraphrasing), but that doesn't work, the macro doesn't make sense yet.
>>>
>>> I've spent many hours trying to understand what's going on with the
>>> dashboard tool (e.g., $msg.get), spent hours rummaging in the database
>>> schema looking for "Welcome to your wiki" so I can change it to "Welcome
>> to
>>> MY Freaking Wiki!" (just kidding on that last part).
>>>
>>> I understand (now) that I can set up a new page and maybe in an hour or
>> so
>>> figure out how to get the home page redirected there, but that is a lot
>> of
>>> work for simply wanting to change the introductory text in the main page
>> to
>>> say something meaningful to my co-workers to get them interested. Then I
>>> can go on the learn the programming part later.
>>>
>>> The point is that for folks like me there is a critical gap between
>> getting
>>> things running and taking the first meaningful step towards controlling
>> the
>>> application. If I am also not a programmer, then that gap is even
>> larger.
>>>
>>> Questions:
>>> - I'd like to see a tutorial-style breakdown of how the dashboard
>> app/tool
>>> thingy works. Having such a tutorial linked on the documentation page
>> would
>>> be ideal, it would be a great learning tool and introduction to the more
>>> interesting features of XWiki.
>>>
>>> - In that tutorial, I'd like to know how to find out where to find
>> $msg.get
>>> keys so I can change reuse them, find out how they are intended to be
>> used,
>>> maybe even change them. Lots of parameters used in that tool are very
>>> difficult to find. How to know where to find even more? The API docs
>> don't
>>> seem to cover this.
>>>
>>> Again, XWiki is a great product and I'm looking forward to using it even
>> if
>>> I don't figure out the dashboard :). If some kind soul wanted to detail
>>> some explanations of the dashboard, and maybe create a HOWTO list of
>>> beginner tips that would be greatly appreciated by many I'm sure. Maybe
>>> such a thing exists and I just haven't found it yet?
>>>
>>> Many thanks,
>>> -Chris.
>>>
>>> --
>>> View this message in context:
>> http://xwiki.475771.n2.nabble.com/Need-some-Help-Explanations-tp7358161p7375688.html
>>> Sent from the XWiki- Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>>> ___
>>> users mailing list
>>> users@xwiki.org
>>> http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/li
Re: [xwiki-users] Need some Help & Explanations
Caty, Thanks very much for your speedy and detailed answer. I'm glad to see that the first few minutes' experience has a high priority for documentation. I will be looking closely at the links you gave and will be happy to provide feedback where I can. Regarding the documentation link for the Dashboard vs Activity Stream, I would think either would work as long as the same ideas are covered. For example, there should be no need to detail the syntax of velocity or groovy, but maybe links to more information for each idea is sufficient. Like with the dashboard code, perhaps an image of the code and a graphic pointer from the $context.user token to a link that points to the context object (e.g., http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/DevGuide/Scripting, but that's not quite right actually). In other words, a visual map of the interesting parts of the script with links to *details on that specific usage*, not just to a generic API page. Maybe an intermediate page that details all the script's ideas, in order, with links to specific topics. Anyway, just some ideas that come to mind. I'm sure you've already thought of these. -Chris. -- View this message in context: http://xwiki.475771.n2.nabble.com/Need-some-Help-Explanations-tp7358161p7376163.html Sent from the XWiki- Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ___ users mailing list users@xwiki.org http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/users
Re: [xwiki-users] Need some Help & Explanations
On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 17:17, Marius Dumitru Florea <
mariusdumitru.flo...@xwiki.com> wrote:
> A path that you can take to edit the home page is:
>
> * Go to the home page
> * Click Edit
> * Notice the "One included document" in the information panel (I know..)
> * Click on the Dashboard.WebHome link
> * Click Edit
>
or with an "Advanced User" click directly on Edit: Inline Form
> * You're taken to the dashboard editor where you can add/remove/edit
> gadgets
> * Hover over one of the gadgets and a wheel icon will appear that will
> give you more options when clicked
> * Edit the first gadget, "Welcome to your wiki"
> * Notice that this gadget is actually an include macro and the
> included document is Main.Welcome
> * Go to Main.Welcome and change the content
>
> As for $msg.get('something') see
>
> http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/DevGuide/InternationalizingApplications
>
> Hope this helps,
> Marius
>
> On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Chris Bennett
> wrote:
> > I want to echo Ken's thoughts, and provide another data point to
> represent
> > the beginners out there who may be turned off by the learning curve.
> This
> > is something of a long post but I hope my concerns will be helpful to
> > others.
> >
> > XWiki is a great product with a lot of potential for our organization
> > (internal information exchange). I like it a lot, and I'm convinced that
> in
> > the long run it's better for us than any of the other options. I'm
> primarily
> > a .NET developer familiar with Java, Python, SQL, etc. I've set up the
> the
> > whole shebang from scratch using SQL Server, Tomcat, and all the rest.
> I've
> > created a new space, added some lengthy content with images, and
> restricted
> > views of unregistered guests.
> >
> > Yet I'm still dismayed at how hard it is to get the most basic
> information
> > on editing the very first page we all see. The page itself says it's
> easy!
> > Just try editing in WYSIWYG - it quits. Try editing in Wiki mode -
> > unintelligible. The documentation simply says "just edit it" (I'm
> > paraphrasing), but that doesn't work, the macro doesn't make sense yet.
> >
> > I've spent many hours trying to understand what's going on with the
> > dashboard tool (e.g., $msg.get), spent hours rummaging in the database
> > schema looking for "Welcome to your wiki" so I can change it to "Welcome
> to
> > MY Freaking Wiki!" (just kidding on that last part).
> >
> > I understand (now) that I can set up a new page and maybe in an hour or
> so
> > figure out how to get the home page redirected there, but that is a lot
> of
> > work for simply wanting to change the introductory text in the main page
> to
> > say something meaningful to my co-workers to get them interested. Then I
> > can go on the learn the programming part later.
> >
> > The point is that for folks like me there is a critical gap between
> getting
> > things running and taking the first meaningful step towards controlling
> the
> > application. If I am also not a programmer, then that gap is even
> larger.
> >
> > Questions:
> > - I'd like to see a tutorial-style breakdown of how the dashboard
> app/tool
> > thingy works. Having such a tutorial linked on the documentation page
> would
> > be ideal, it would be a great learning tool and introduction to the more
> > interesting features of XWiki.
> >
> > - In that tutorial, I'd like to know how to find out where to find
> $msg.get
> > keys so I can change reuse them, find out how they are intended to be
> used,
> > maybe even change them. Lots of parameters used in that tool are very
> > difficult to find. How to know where to find even more? The API docs
> don't
> > seem to cover this.
> >
> > Again, XWiki is a great product and I'm looking forward to using it even
> if
> > I don't figure out the dashboard :). If some kind soul wanted to detail
> > some explanations of the dashboard, and maybe create a HOWTO list of
> > beginner tips that would be greatly appreciated by many I'm sure. Maybe
> > such a thing exists and I just haven't found it yet?
> >
> > Many thanks,
> > -Chris.
> >
> > --
> > View this message in context:
> http://xwiki.475771.n2.nabble.com/Need-some-Help-Explanations-tp7358161p7375688.html
> > Sent from the XWiki- Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
> > ___
> > users mailing list
> > users@xwiki.org
> > http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/users
> ___
> users mailing list
> users@xwiki.org
> http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/users
>
___
users mailing list
users@xwiki.org
http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/users
Re: [xwiki-users] Need some Help & Explanations
Hi Chris,
or, more straightforward:
- Edit the page
- Click on the "Source" tab
- Remove everything and put some nice text instead
- Also remove the title and replace it with content of your choice
- You're done!
Guillaume
On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 16:17, Marius Dumitru Florea <
mariusdumitru.flo...@xwiki.com> wrote:
> A path that you can take to edit the home page is:
>
> * Go to the home page
> * Click Edit
> * Notice the "One included document" in the information panel (I know..)
> * Click on the Dashboard.WebHome link
> * Click Edit
> * You're taken to the dashboard editor where you can add/remove/edit
> gadgets
> * Hover over one of the gadgets and a wheel icon will appear that will
> give you more options when clicked
> * Edit the first gadget, "Welcome to your wiki"
> * Notice that this gadget is actually an include macro and the
> included document is Main.Welcome
> * Go to Main.Welcome and change the content
>
> As for $msg.get('something') see
>
> http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/DevGuide/InternationalizingApplications
>
> Hope this helps,
> Marius
>
> On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Chris Bennett
> wrote:
> > I want to echo Ken's thoughts, and provide another data point to
> represent
> > the beginners out there who may be turned off by the learning curve.
> This
> > is something of a long post but I hope my concerns will be helpful to
> > others.
> >
> > XWiki is a great product with a lot of potential for our organization
> > (internal information exchange). I like it a lot, and I'm convinced that
> in
> > the long run it's better for us than any of the other options. I'm
> primarily
> > a .NET developer familiar with Java, Python, SQL, etc. I've set up the
> the
> > whole shebang from scratch using SQL Server, Tomcat, and all the rest.
> I've
> > created a new space, added some lengthy content with images, and
> restricted
> > views of unregistered guests.
> >
> > Yet I'm still dismayed at how hard it is to get the most basic
> information
> > on editing the very first page we all see. The page itself says it's
> easy!
> > Just try editing in WYSIWYG - it quits. Try editing in Wiki mode -
> > unintelligible. The documentation simply says "just edit it" (I'm
> > paraphrasing), but that doesn't work, the macro doesn't make sense yet.
> >
> > I've spent many hours trying to understand what's going on with the
> > dashboard tool (e.g., $msg.get), spent hours rummaging in the database
> > schema looking for "Welcome to your wiki" so I can change it to "Welcome
> to
> > MY Freaking Wiki!" (just kidding on that last part).
> >
> > I understand (now) that I can set up a new page and maybe in an hour or
> so
> > figure out how to get the home page redirected there, but that is a lot
> of
> > work for simply wanting to change the introductory text in the main page
> to
> > say something meaningful to my co-workers to get them interested. Then I
> > can go on the learn the programming part later.
> >
> > The point is that for folks like me there is a critical gap between
> getting
> > things running and taking the first meaningful step towards controlling
> the
> > application. If I am also not a programmer, then that gap is even
> larger.
> >
> > Questions:
> > - I'd like to see a tutorial-style breakdown of how the dashboard
> app/tool
> > thingy works. Having such a tutorial linked on the documentation page
> would
> > be ideal, it would be a great learning tool and introduction to the more
> > interesting features of XWiki.
> >
> > - In that tutorial, I'd like to know how to find out where to find
> $msg.get
> > keys so I can change reuse them, find out how they are intended to be
> used,
> > maybe even change them. Lots of parameters used in that tool are very
> > difficult to find. How to know where to find even more? The API docs
> don't
> > seem to cover this.
> >
> > Again, XWiki is a great product and I'm looking forward to using it even
> if
> > I don't figure out the dashboard :). If some kind soul wanted to detail
> > some explanations of the dashboard, and maybe create a HOWTO list of
> > beginner tips that would be greatly appreciated by many I'm sure. Maybe
> > such a thing exists and I just haven't found it yet?
> >
> > Many thanks,
> > -Chris.
> >
> > --
> > View this message in context:
> http://xwiki.475771.n2.nabble.com/Need-some-Help-Explanations-tp7358161p7375688.html
> > Sent from the XWiki- Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
> > ___
> > users mailing list
> > users@xwiki.org
> > http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/users
> ___
> users mailing list
> users@xwiki.org
> http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/users
>
___
users mailing list
users@xwiki.org
http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/users
Re: [xwiki-users] Making it user-friendly to edit pages with macros for new users (was Re: Need some Help & Explanations)
On Mar 15, 2012, at 4:44 PM, Vincent Massol wrote:
>
> On Mar 15, 2012, at 4:17 PM, Marius Dumitru Florea wrote:
>
>> A path that you can take to edit the home page is:
>>
>> * Go to the home page
>> * Click Edit
>> * Notice the "One included document" in the information panel (I know..)
>
> What we need to somehow make clear is that the home page content is just
> using an include macro to include the content located at Dashboard.WebHome.
>
> This makes it very easy to replace the home page by your own content.
>
> What makes it hard is that our WYSIWYG is … WYSIWYG… :)
> So it hides what's underneath (the include macro) and displays the result of
> executing the include macro.
>
> Several ideas below.
>
> Idea 1:
> ==
>
> What we could do Marius is start introducing custom WYSIWYG renderers for
> macros maybe so that a macro can contribute a custom WYSIWYG renderer. The
> include macro could then bring a custom WYSIWYG renderer that could somehow
> make it clear that this content come from such document with a button to go
> and edit that document's content.
>
> Idea 2:
> ==
>
> Always start the WYSIWYG with folded macros so that the user sees the
> structure of the page very clearly. He can then decide voluntarily to render
> the macro content by enabling that in the toolbar or in a menu item.
>
> Idea 3
> ==
>
> Start introducing custom editors for macro and implement a custom Include
> Macro editor that would not only display the include macro param as now but
> at the top of the editor have some text that explains that the content
> displayed comes from such other page and have a big button that you can click
> to edit the content of that page (when clicked we would edit that page in
> WYSIWYG mode - we'd need a way to go back too ;)).
For idea3 to work the user would still need to figure out that he can double
click on the content he sees… So maybe that could be combined with 1 or 2.
Thanks
-Vincent
> WDYT?
>
> Thanks
> -Vincent
>
>
>> * Click on the Dashboard.WebHome link
>> * Click Edit
>> * You're taken to the dashboard editor where you can add/remove/edit gadgets
>> * Hover over one of the gadgets and a wheel icon will appear that will
>> give you more options when clicked
>> * Edit the first gadget, "Welcome to your wiki"
>> * Notice that this gadget is actually an include macro and the
>> included document is Main.Welcome
>> * Go to Main.Welcome and change the content
>>
>> As for $msg.get('something') see
>> http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/DevGuide/InternationalizingApplications
>>
>> Hope this helps,
>> Marius
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Chris Bennett
>> wrote:
>>> I want to echo Ken's thoughts, and provide another data point to represent
>>> the beginners out there who may be turned off by the learning curve. This
>>> is something of a long post but I hope my concerns will be helpful to
>>> others.
>>>
>>> XWiki is a great product with a lot of potential for our organization
>>> (internal information exchange). I like it a lot, and I'm convinced that in
>>> the long run it's better for us than any of the other options. I'm primarily
>>> a .NET developer familiar with Java, Python, SQL, etc. I've set up the the
>>> whole shebang from scratch using SQL Server, Tomcat, and all the rest. I've
>>> created a new space, added some lengthy content with images, and restricted
>>> views of unregistered guests.
>>>
>>> Yet I'm still dismayed at how hard it is to get the most basic information
>>> on editing the very first page we all see. The page itself says it's easy!
>>> Just try editing in WYSIWYG - it quits. Try editing in Wiki mode -
>>> unintelligible. The documentation simply says "just edit it" (I'm
>>> paraphrasing), but that doesn't work, the macro doesn't make sense yet.
>>>
>>> I've spent many hours trying to understand what's going on with the
>>> dashboard tool (e.g., $msg.get), spent hours rummaging in the database
>>> schema looking for "Welcome to your wiki" so I can change it to "Welcome to
>>> MY Freaking Wiki!" (just kidding on that last part).
>>>
>>> I understand (now) that I can set up a new page and maybe in an hour or so
>>> figure out how to get the home page redirected there, but that is a lot of
>>> work for simply wanting to change the introductory text in the main page to
>>> say something meaningful to my co-workers to get them interested. Then I
>>> can go on the learn the programming part later.
>>>
>>> The point is that for folks like me there is a critical gap between getting
>>> things running and taking the first meaningful step towards controlling the
>>> application. If I am also not a programmer, then that gap is even larger.
>>>
>>> Questions:
>>> - I'd like to see a tutorial-style breakdown of how the dashboard app/tool
>>> thingy works. Having such a tutorial linked on the documentation page would
>>> be ideal, it would be a great learning tool and introduction to the more
[xwiki-users] Making it user-friendly to edit pages with macros for new users (was Re: Need some Help & Explanations)
On Mar 15, 2012, at 4:17 PM, Marius Dumitru Florea wrote:
> A path that you can take to edit the home page is:
>
> * Go to the home page
> * Click Edit
> * Notice the "One included document" in the information panel (I know..)
What we need to somehow make clear is that the home page content is just using
an include macro to include the content located at Dashboard.WebHome.
This makes it very easy to replace the home page by your own content.
What makes it hard is that our WYSIWYG is … WYSIWYG… :)
So it hides what's underneath (the include macro) and displays the result of
executing the include macro.
Several ideas below.
Idea 1:
==
What we could do Marius is start introducing custom WYSIWYG renderers for
macros maybe so that a macro can contribute a custom WYSIWYG renderer. The
include macro could then bring a custom WYSIWYG renderer that could somehow
make it clear that this content come from such document with a button to go and
edit that document's content.
Idea 2:
==
Always start the WYSIWYG with folded macros so that the user sees the structure
of the page very clearly. He can then decide voluntarily to render the macro
content by enabling that in the toolbar or in a menu item.
Idea 3
==
Start introducing custom editors for macro and implement a custom Include Macro
editor that would not only display the include macro param as now but at the
top of the editor have some text that explains that the content displayed comes
from such other page and have a big button that you can click to edit the
content of that page (when clicked we would edit that page in WYSIWYG mode -
we'd need a way to go back too ;)).
WDYT?
Thanks
-Vincent
> * Click on the Dashboard.WebHome link
> * Click Edit
> * You're taken to the dashboard editor where you can add/remove/edit gadgets
> * Hover over one of the gadgets and a wheel icon will appear that will
> give you more options when clicked
> * Edit the first gadget, "Welcome to your wiki"
> * Notice that this gadget is actually an include macro and the
> included document is Main.Welcome
> * Go to Main.Welcome and change the content
>
> As for $msg.get('something') see
> http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/DevGuide/InternationalizingApplications
>
> Hope this helps,
> Marius
>
> On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Chris Bennett wrote:
>> I want to echo Ken's thoughts, and provide another data point to represent
>> the beginners out there who may be turned off by the learning curve. This
>> is something of a long post but I hope my concerns will be helpful to
>> others.
>>
>> XWiki is a great product with a lot of potential for our organization
>> (internal information exchange). I like it a lot, and I'm convinced that in
>> the long run it's better for us than any of the other options. I'm primarily
>> a .NET developer familiar with Java, Python, SQL, etc. I've set up the the
>> whole shebang from scratch using SQL Server, Tomcat, and all the rest. I've
>> created a new space, added some lengthy content with images, and restricted
>> views of unregistered guests.
>>
>> Yet I'm still dismayed at how hard it is to get the most basic information
>> on editing the very first page we all see. The page itself says it's easy!
>> Just try editing in WYSIWYG - it quits. Try editing in Wiki mode -
>> unintelligible. The documentation simply says "just edit it" (I'm
>> paraphrasing), but that doesn't work, the macro doesn't make sense yet.
>>
>> I've spent many hours trying to understand what's going on with the
>> dashboard tool (e.g., $msg.get), spent hours rummaging in the database
>> schema looking for "Welcome to your wiki" so I can change it to "Welcome to
>> MY Freaking Wiki!" (just kidding on that last part).
>>
>> I understand (now) that I can set up a new page and maybe in an hour or so
>> figure out how to get the home page redirected there, but that is a lot of
>> work for simply wanting to change the introductory text in the main page to
>> say something meaningful to my co-workers to get them interested. Then I
>> can go on the learn the programming part later.
>>
>> The point is that for folks like me there is a critical gap between getting
>> things running and taking the first meaningful step towards controlling the
>> application. If I am also not a programmer, then that gap is even larger.
>>
>> Questions:
>> - I'd like to see a tutorial-style breakdown of how the dashboard app/tool
>> thingy works. Having such a tutorial linked on the documentation page would
>> be ideal, it would be a great learning tool and introduction to the more
>> interesting features of XWiki.
>>
>> - In that tutorial, I'd like to know how to find out where to find $msg.get
>> keys so I can change reuse them, find out how they are intended to be used,
>> maybe even change them. Lots of parameters used in that tool are very
>> difficult to find. How to know where to find even more? The API docs don't
>> seem to cover this.
>>
Re: [xwiki-users] Need some Help & Explanations
A path that you can take to edit the home page is:
* Go to the home page
* Click Edit
* Notice the "One included document" in the information panel (I know..)
* Click on the Dashboard.WebHome link
* Click Edit
* You're taken to the dashboard editor where you can add/remove/edit gadgets
* Hover over one of the gadgets and a wheel icon will appear that will
give you more options when clicked
* Edit the first gadget, "Welcome to your wiki"
* Notice that this gadget is actually an include macro and the
included document is Main.Welcome
* Go to Main.Welcome and change the content
As for $msg.get('something') see
http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/DevGuide/InternationalizingApplications
Hope this helps,
Marius
On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Chris Bennett wrote:
> I want to echo Ken's thoughts, and provide another data point to represent
> the beginners out there who may be turned off by the learning curve. This
> is something of a long post but I hope my concerns will be helpful to
> others.
>
> XWiki is a great product with a lot of potential for our organization
> (internal information exchange). I like it a lot, and I'm convinced that in
> the long run it's better for us than any of the other options. I'm primarily
> a .NET developer familiar with Java, Python, SQL, etc. I've set up the the
> whole shebang from scratch using SQL Server, Tomcat, and all the rest. I've
> created a new space, added some lengthy content with images, and restricted
> views of unregistered guests.
>
> Yet I'm still dismayed at how hard it is to get the most basic information
> on editing the very first page we all see. The page itself says it's easy!
> Just try editing in WYSIWYG - it quits. Try editing in Wiki mode -
> unintelligible. The documentation simply says "just edit it" (I'm
> paraphrasing), but that doesn't work, the macro doesn't make sense yet.
>
> I've spent many hours trying to understand what's going on with the
> dashboard tool (e.g., $msg.get), spent hours rummaging in the database
> schema looking for "Welcome to your wiki" so I can change it to "Welcome to
> MY Freaking Wiki!" (just kidding on that last part).
>
> I understand (now) that I can set up a new page and maybe in an hour or so
> figure out how to get the home page redirected there, but that is a lot of
> work for simply wanting to change the introductory text in the main page to
> say something meaningful to my co-workers to get them interested. Then I
> can go on the learn the programming part later.
>
> The point is that for folks like me there is a critical gap between getting
> things running and taking the first meaningful step towards controlling the
> application. If I am also not a programmer, then that gap is even larger.
>
> Questions:
> - I'd like to see a tutorial-style breakdown of how the dashboard app/tool
> thingy works. Having such a tutorial linked on the documentation page would
> be ideal, it would be a great learning tool and introduction to the more
> interesting features of XWiki.
>
> - In that tutorial, I'd like to know how to find out where to find $msg.get
> keys so I can change reuse them, find out how they are intended to be used,
> maybe even change them. Lots of parameters used in that tool are very
> difficult to find. How to know where to find even more? The API docs don't
> seem to cover this.
>
> Again, XWiki is a great product and I'm looking forward to using it even if
> I don't figure out the dashboard :). If some kind soul wanted to detail
> some explanations of the dashboard, and maybe create a HOWTO list of
> beginner tips that would be greatly appreciated by many I'm sure. Maybe
> such a thing exists and I just haven't found it yet?
>
> Many thanks,
> -Chris.
>
> --
> View this message in context:
> http://xwiki.475771.n2.nabble.com/Need-some-Help-Explanations-tp7358161p7375688.html
> Sent from the XWiki- Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
> ___
> users mailing list
> users@xwiki.org
> http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/users
___
users mailing list
users@xwiki.org
http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/users
Re: [xwiki-users] Need some Help & Explanations
Hi all, Thanks for your feedback. In the 4.0 timeframe we are planning to make some proposal that will improve the content of the homepage. This include http://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-7568 (problem mentioned by Ken) http://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XE-1117 (somehow related to what Chris mentioned) and I plan to propose some improvements on how the dashboard is displayed in inline mode. There is also a proposal for the first minute wizard http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Improvements/XWiki5MinutesProposal1 that can show users what they can do on the homepage. But from this list some may make it or not in 4.0. Also improving the Homepage and improving the Dashboard are kind of different things. Regarding the Dashboard documentation there is http://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Extension/Dashboard+Macro Regarding the $msg.get you can replace it by a custom string or read http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/DevGuide/InternationalizingApplications I know there are lots of areas that could be covered in documentation and everyone is invited in making the doc more complete. Also the suggestion to have a documentation link about the Dashboard on the homepage is tricky because other users would want maybe Activity Stream doc, etc. Finding a content that would please the majority of the users is the tricky part. Your feedback on this thread [investigation] XWiki 5 minutes Experience - Need users' help: http://xwiki.markmail.org/thread/vcx45otjgjpaca6a would be very welcomed. Thanks, Caty On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 15:57, Chris Bennett wrote: > I want to echo Ken's thoughts, and provide another data point to represent > the beginners out there who may be turned off by the learning curve. This > is something of a long post but I hope my concerns will be helpful to > others. > > XWiki is a great product with a lot of potential for our organization > (internal information exchange). I like it a lot, and I'm convinced that in > the long run it's better for us than any of the other options. I'm > primarily > a .NET developer familiar with Java, Python, SQL, etc. I've set up the the > whole shebang from scratch using SQL Server, Tomcat, and all the rest. > I've > created a new space, added some lengthy content with images, and restricted > views of unregistered guests. > > Yet I'm still dismayed at how hard it is to get the most basic information > on editing the very first page we all see. The page itself says it's easy! > Just try editing in WYSIWYG - it quits. Try editing in Wiki mode - > unintelligible. The documentation simply says "just edit it" (I'm > paraphrasing), but that doesn't work, the macro doesn't make sense yet. > > I've spent many hours trying to understand what's going on with the > dashboard tool (e.g., $msg.get), spent hours rummaging in the database > schema looking for "Welcome to your wiki" so I can change it to "Welcome to > MY Freaking Wiki!" (just kidding on that last part). > > I understand (now) that I can set up a new page and maybe in an hour or so > figure out how to get the home page redirected there, but that is a lot of > work for simply wanting to change the introductory text in the main page to > say something meaningful to my co-workers to get them interested. Then I > can go on the learn the programming part later. > > The point is that for folks like me there is a critical gap between getting > things running and taking the first meaningful step towards controlling the > application. If I am also not a programmer, then that gap is even larger. > > Questions: > - I'd like to see a tutorial-style breakdown of how the dashboard app/tool > thingy works. Having such a tutorial linked on the documentation page > would > be ideal, it would be a great learning tool and introduction to the more > interesting features of XWiki. > > - In that tutorial, I'd like to know how to find out where to find > $msg.get > keys so I can change reuse them, find out how they are intended to be used, > maybe even change them. Lots of parameters used in that tool are very > difficult to find. How to know where to find even more? The API docs > don't > seem to cover this. > > Again, XWiki is a great product and I'm looking forward to using it even if > I don't figure out the dashboard :). If some kind soul wanted to detail > some explanations of the dashboard, and maybe create a HOWTO list of > beginner tips that would be greatly appreciated by many I'm sure. Maybe > such a thing exists and I just haven't found it yet? > > Many thanks, > -Chris. > > -- > View this message in context: > http://xwiki.475771.n2.nabble.com/Need-some-Help-Explanations-tp7358161p7375688.html > Sent from the XWiki- Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > ___ > users mailing list > users@xwiki.org > http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/users > ___ users mailing list users@xwiki.org http://lists.xwiki
Re: [xwiki-users] Need some Help & Explanations
I want to echo Ken's thoughts, and provide another data point to represent the beginners out there who may be turned off by the learning curve. This is something of a long post but I hope my concerns will be helpful to others. XWiki is a great product with a lot of potential for our organization (internal information exchange). I like it a lot, and I'm convinced that in the long run it's better for us than any of the other options. I'm primarily a .NET developer familiar with Java, Python, SQL, etc. I've set up the the whole shebang from scratch using SQL Server, Tomcat, and all the rest. I've created a new space, added some lengthy content with images, and restricted views of unregistered guests. Yet I'm still dismayed at how hard it is to get the most basic information on editing the very first page we all see. The page itself says it's easy! Just try editing in WYSIWYG - it quits. Try editing in Wiki mode - unintelligible. The documentation simply says "just edit it" (I'm paraphrasing), but that doesn't work, the macro doesn't make sense yet. I've spent many hours trying to understand what's going on with the dashboard tool (e.g., $msg.get), spent hours rummaging in the database schema looking for "Welcome to your wiki" so I can change it to "Welcome to MY Freaking Wiki!" (just kidding on that last part). I understand (now) that I can set up a new page and maybe in an hour or so figure out how to get the home page redirected there, but that is a lot of work for simply wanting to change the introductory text in the main page to say something meaningful to my co-workers to get them interested. Then I can go on the learn the programming part later. The point is that for folks like me there is a critical gap between getting things running and taking the first meaningful step towards controlling the application. If I am also not a programmer, then that gap is even larger. Questions: - I'd like to see a tutorial-style breakdown of how the dashboard app/tool thingy works. Having such a tutorial linked on the documentation page would be ideal, it would be a great learning tool and introduction to the more interesting features of XWiki. - In that tutorial, I'd like to know how to find out where to find $msg.get keys so I can change reuse them, find out how they are intended to be used, maybe even change them. Lots of parameters used in that tool are very difficult to find. How to know where to find even more? The API docs don't seem to cover this. Again, XWiki is a great product and I'm looking forward to using it even if I don't figure out the dashboard :). If some kind soul wanted to detail some explanations of the dashboard, and maybe create a HOWTO list of beginner tips that would be greatly appreciated by many I'm sure. Maybe such a thing exists and I just haven't found it yet? Many thanks, -Chris. -- View this message in context: http://xwiki.475771.n2.nabble.com/Need-some-Help-Explanations-tp7358161p7375688.html Sent from the XWiki- Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ___ users mailing list users@xwiki.org http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/users
