For a new user, the "recent" tab is a working TOC. A real TOC means that there has to be a relationship between tiddlers, based on tagging. So there could be no automatic TOC without forcing a structure on people. I guess you could have every tiddler automatically tagged as "Unassigned" and then have a TOC based on that tag. But it would be functionally no different from the "Recent" tab until the user learned how to create their own tag tree.
Your notes are really good. If it was a year ago, I would probably take them and make a PR (that's an update request to the Github repository) with all or most of the changes. But knowing that the changes might sit in limbo for months or years (by which time the technology might have changed), that approach is less appealing. Thanks! -- Mark On Sunday, November 4, 2018 at 10:21:29 PM UTC-8, S. S. wrote: > > *Below is a short excerpt of my notes from when I first started using > TiddlyWiki.* > > *----- begin -----* > > When I was brand new to TiddlyWiki, one of the first things I did was to > add some tiddlers with a few notes from my extensive personal notes text > file. Just Tiddler Titles, and a sentence or two of text in each tiddler. > Once I had done a few of those and saved the file, I wanted to know how to > find them easily again. The "Recent" tab did not seem the right way. I > wanted a "Contents" tab like on the TW5 home page > <https://tiddlywiki.com/>, and I wondered why there wasn't one. After > all, the TiddlyWiki homepage had a Contents tab - why was mine missing > this? And why was it missing that <more-actions> icon? "Strange", I thought. > > > I typed "Contents" into the search bar of my TW - but nothing. > Then , I typed "Contents" into the search bar on the TiddlyWiki home page, > and opened the tiddler named "*Contents*" > This was not useful. In fact it caused a lot of confusion as it was full > of strange Latin writing, and led onwards to "*Table-of-Contents Macros > (Examples)*". > > Next from the search box I clicked on "*Adding a table of contents to the > sidebar*". I read this but found it confusing. What was the "sidebar"? > What did "Give it the tag $:/tags/SideBar" mean? What was a "tag?" How did > one "give the tag?" (Some days later, when I had figured these out, even > when I made the " TableOfContents" tiddler, nothing showed up.) > > On the last line of the "*Adding a table of contents to the sidebar*" > tiddler, it says: > "Add entries to the table of contents by creating tiddlers tagged > TableOfContents. An easy way is to choose < new-here icon> new here from > the tiddler toolbar. To create sub-entries, tag them with the name of the > parent entry." > > There was no <new-here icon> on the tiddler toolbar. Without clear > instructions, it was not "intuitive" to find this by clicking the > <more-actions icon> on the upper right of the tiddler. > > Nor was it clear what "creating sub entries" meant. How did one "create > sub entries?" More confusing was "tag them with the name of the parent > entry." What was a "tag?" How did one tag? What was a "parent entry?" > > On the top line of the tiddler - *Adding a table of contents to the > sidebar* - is the following line: > A customisable *table of contents* can be added to the sidebar with the > following steps: > > Clicking the link: *table of contents* : takes on the the tiddler: > *Table-of-Contents > Macros* > What is a Macro? How does one use these? : *toc toc-expandable > toc-selective-expandable toc-tabbed-internal-nav and > toc-tabbed-external-nav* > More confusion. > > A little too advanced flow for the beginner. As a first step, I just want > a table of contents that shows the few new tiddlers I have just made. That > would make me so happy. Later, I can figure out how to do more, but right > now, at the beginning, when I am just starting, I want it simple and easy, > and to be able to see some result immediately. > > *----- end -----* > > Making the layout of the empty TW similar to the what is on tiddlywiki.com > could be beneficial. It avoids the initial confusion of "why are these > missing?" > That would mean having a "Contents" tab, and also displaying the > "More-actions" icon. > > The challenge might be - WHAT tiddler(s) are included in the empty.html > that will be tagged with "TableOfContents" so that they show up in the > newly included "*TableOfContents*" tiddler? What will they refer to? A > few basic help tiddlers? An empty Journal entry? > > I imagine the LESS clutter in the empty.html the better, so what is the > right balance? > > > -- 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 https://groups.google.com/group/tiddlywiki. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tiddlywiki/916f1235-361c-4fb4-95be-89fa1229090d%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
