TiddlyWiki can be extended through the use of plugins, and developers have created some pretty nice apps this way (mGSD for instance, and a bunch of cool ones out of osmosoft). These apps usually take over the whole wiki (custom theme etc) in order to provide a cohesive user experience - i.e. they are monolithic. Unfortunately, multiple monolithic apps can't be mixed together in one wiki. Mixing apps becomes especially attractive in a multi-user environment like TiddlySpace.
I wonder if there are conventional ways to provide UI such that each plugin can add only those elements that it needs, and the theme can be changed without breaking plugins. Modular frameworks such as MS Office and Drupal provide standard UI container elements (menus, toolbars, regions) which addins can hook into. Are similar conventions available to TiddlyWiki plugin developers? Specifically, looking at mGSD, it defines several types of tiddler (Action, Project, Context, etc), for which it overrides the rendering. Any tiddler tagged with one of these types will be rendered specially. It also provides a menu in the side bar, and another menu at the top of the page. Could these elements be provided in a way that allows other apps to make similar changes, while allowing the theme to change independently? I'd be especially interested in finding out about existing work or documentation about making interoperable plugins. Perhaps a set of plugins and conventions could be created to provide a base on which to build apps? I'm guessing at least that TiddlySpace devs are thinking in this direction, but perhaps it would be better if the UI stuff was a separate product? Best Eric Drechsel http://wiki.pdxhub.org/people/eric -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TiddlyWikiDev" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tiddlywikidev?hl=en.
