Speaking as someone new to TW5, I think documentation is a must. I had a hard time starting to use TWC way back in the day because of the unavailability of documentation. It was a struggle and I stopped bothering with it on several occasions because of that very problem. It was only after more documentation became available that I could theme it, add my own simple extensions, and really start to get it to work for me.
If you document TW5 thoroughly -- not just the dense, complex documentation targeted towards seasoned programmers, but the more easily understood documentation that could be read by newbies -- I think TW5 will grow on its own. Allowing other people to add on to it will guarantee that the most-wanted features are added as users will add them on themselves. This will allow the community and features to grow on their own. I'd say the best features to add to the core are the ones TW5 can't function without. Give a solid foundation upon which others can build. After that, once we have documentation, just wait, and I think you'll see the extensions growing in number to suit any more specific needs. That's just my humble personal opinion and hope. On another note, I wanted to say thank you for all the work you've done. TiddlyWiki is something I've used for very many years and it's done a lot for me -- both in terms of using it and learning from it by playing around with themes/extensions. I'm really glad I had it because it made a difference for me, so thank you! ^-^ On Friday, November 21, 2014 at 7:27:26 AM UTC-5, Jeremy Ruston wrote: > > Several recent events have conspired to make me suggest that until the end > of the year I operate a moratorium on new features for TiddlyWiki5. > Instead, I propose to focus on documentation, and presentation of the > available editions and plugins. I will of course continue to fix bugs as > they are reported wherever it's possible to do so. > > (In the next few weeks I will also have to pay some attention to TiddlyFox > and TiddlyDesktop. In the case of TiddlyFox, imminent Firefox architectural > changes will require the architecture of the add-on to be significantly > updated). > > One trigger is obviously the recent thread discussing obstacles to > TiddlyWiki's success: > > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/tiddlywiki/_rScP9Lscdg/discussion > > A more subtle trigger is my recent experience with implementing the > "export" features for 5.1.5. > > I started work on those features on around 12 days ago, on November 9th. I > committed the first working code on November 10th. Ever since then I've > been tied up with fixing up the loose ends: making the strings > translatable, making improvements in response to feedback. Most recently, > I've been implementing nested popups so that the export button will > function when it is invoked through the "more" menu. The initial > implementation was quick and fun, but a lot of the work since has been a > slow slog. > > In my experience that is all pretty typical for a major new UI feature: 2 > days to get the basic implementation followed by 5 to 10 days of working > through the edge cases and cleaning up. Of course, part of the reason it > takes so long is that alongside I'm still working on bug fixes, > documentation and the occasional new feature such as the tabbed table of > contents. > > The third trigger starts with the fact that I've been busy over the last > few days, and unable to participate in the mailing list threads as much as > I'd like. I've still been scanning the messages, and I'm drawn to the > conclusion that for many people here, some of the quite basic features of > TiddlyWiki are, thanks to the lack of documentation, indistinguishable from > voodoo. For example, Danielo's terrific recent post on the "variable" > attribute of the list widget was pretty interesting: another basic feature > that hasn't been well enough communicated. > > So, now that I stand back, I'm not at all sure that the work on the > "export" features was the best use of my time. It's an undeniably important > feature in terms of rounding out the interoperability of TiddlyWiki, but it > makes little or no difference to new users. > > My worry is that this will keep happening. There's plenty of voices here > calling for new features, and I'm naturally attracted to the intricate > problem solving required to implement them. I've a deep motivation to keep > smashing through the roadmap of planned features. > > Hence my proposal for a new feature moratorium. It's a simple way to > ensure that my attention stays focussed on the really important things for > the next few weeks. > > Some quick googling suggests that new feature moratoriums are not uncommon: > > https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=new+features+moratorium > > I'd be interested in any thoughts on this, and of course we'll discuss it > further at the hangout next Tuesday, > > Best wishes > > Jeremy > > > > > > -- > Jeremy Ruston > mailto:[email protected] <javascript:> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TiddlyWiki" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tiddlywiki. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
