Seperate content from display.

 

One of the aims of version 0.3 (beta), is to seperate the wiki content from the display. This has been achieved by improving the template system.

 

Now the question is, how much seperation do I do ?

 

There are pros and cons to going all the way, for example...

 

For the search output, I simply populate an array structure within the wiki and allow the skin author to decide on what and how they display the content. That is a good thing.. right? The downside to this approach is that if the skin is not correctly designed, it may appear that the wiki is not functioning correctly.

 

One of the dilema's I am now having is with 'edit conflict avoidance', (new to v.0.3). There are a number of options available when detected.

• Simply overwrite someone elses changes
• Show the usr the differencies and offer the chance to overwrite, or go back
• try and merge changes..
• etc
• etc

 

Shoud this be the job of the wiki or the skin ?

 

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Hi Darren,

 

Well that is a good question... I think that the user should be presented with the changes that was carried out in the meantime - so that nothing would be lost. Also I think that this should be an integral part of the wiki - since my fear is that a skin-developer might find this task too difficult to achieve and skip that task - and then the wiki might end up working in a "faulty" way - ie discarding others edits etc.

 

Carry up the good work the 3.0 beta features are much awaited...

 

Kind regards Uffe Jakobsen

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Hey Uffe...
I have been going through this over and over in my head... I want to offer a flexible solution in terms of display, but, on the other hand I dont want to 'break' the flow of the edit. One of the problems with generating the output from within the wiki, is that the layout is fixed for that particular part, ie its a table, or a fixed named div, or whatever...

 

I suppose this is a side effect of offering a skinning mechanism. Any item could be missed out, even the main body of text (the <!--{$TEXT}--> variable.

 

Thinking about it, I have gone down this route for the current version anyway, for example the whole of the edit screen which is ''''quite'''' important to a wiki (lol), is part of the template / display engine, and not the wiki engine. The wiki simply populates the relevant template fields, and the display is left up to the skin.

 

If the main engine generates the correct actions, populates the relevant template fields, etc, and a suitable template (ie the default) shows how it should be used, there shouldnt be too much of a problem.

 

Generating the output from the wiki wont be a problem, but will tie it down to a certain look and feel.

 

Anyway, take a look at the default skin in the latest version of the beta, hopefully that will help to explain what I am trying to achieve.

 

Advice and ideas more than welcome... 'Darren

 

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Hi Darren,

 

I've now looked at the skin-code in the latest beta (a part that I haven't given much attention earlier). Your arguments for this solution are quite good and gives a flexible solution. I've now got a better (clear) understanding of your goals - and I fully agree with you that it is the way to go.

 

Keep up the good work :-)

 

Kind regards Uffe Jakobsen

 

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27 feb 2006
hello again! i wonder if wikidx is still being actively developed/supported? i've sent a couple of e-mails and left a couple of remarks here on the site about a few wikidx problems i've run into -- but so far got no reply... well i still hope there's someone out there since the last release (0.4.1) is dated 12 jan 2006 =)

• I do intend to develop WikiDX, but my working life is taking far too much time at the moment...
  • or but i do understand you! thanks for the reply and i hope wikidx development continues =) (mail@tivasyk.kiev.ua)

 

wikidx is great. well as for contents separation... look for yourself now: i tried to make my own skin and translate it into ukrainian (ua). first thing i ran into was wikidx absolutely refused to work with a custom language folder. second -- lots of stuff was programmed into the php modules, for example i had to edit toc.php to change the table of contents title to something in ukrainian, or change custom.php (which is not part of wikidx skinning mechanism) to change standard actions titles to show as links in ukrainian. so much for contents sepration.

• Fair points.. I would like to pick up ALL 'hardcoded' text and place it in the msgfiles. Do log any you find into the buglist.

 

but that would be ok if only i could make a custom ukrainian messages work... another thing i couldn't figure out was uploading images... how can that be done?

• Not really sure what the problem is. I have tested with multiple language msgfiles and have had no problems. Provided you set ="<dir>" in the custom.php file it should all work.
  • oops. i hadn't figured i had to change directory manually, my guess was language name (e.g. "en" or "sp" gets treated as the directory name... should give it a try again, will give feedback!