Re: [Phpwiki-talk] PHPwiki newbie questions/suggestions

[Jeff D. <da...@da...>]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

> - Where can I find a good doc about themes ? I'd like to create my own
> theme
>   but I can't find any doc, I have to look at the other themes.

There is none.  If someone want to write some that would be great.
Otherwise the only hint is "Use the source, Luke!", and ask here
if you get stuck.


> - Login names should not have to be WikiWords.=20
Yes.  That requirement is/should be just for bogo-logins,
I think.

The user authentication code is currently under development
(by Reini Urban).  I think it's currently somewhat broken
--- but I haven't played with it much, so I could be wrong.

> - UserPreferences should be saved in the database or in a flat file,
>   so that the user could keep its preferences when using different
>   computers

Yes, that's the plan.  See above.

> - There should be a "Rename" and a "Remove" button with the "Edit"
> button
>   for each page.

"Rename" functionality is tricky (have to rename all the links in
all pages).   "Remove" functionality is there, but the remove button
only shows up if you have permission to use it (currently that means
it only shows up if you're logged in as the admin user.)

>   - ask the user to confirm and perform the operation (for private
>   wikis)

Note that if you delete all text from a page (via the edit form), it acts
(for the most part) as if the page were deleted.   (Links to the page wil=
l
have the question mark.)

I've always planned (though it's not implemented yet) to have a mechanism
whereby empty/deleted pages which have been empty for N days get
automatically
fully deleted.

(More traditional wiki methods of handling messages to the admin is
a RequestForPageDeletion page or some such, or a DeleteMe tag on the
page.)

> - History and Diffs could be merged and improved. What about this:
>   - use a unique History button (no more Diffs button)

>   - in the History page, show all revisions
>   - let the user select two revisions and then see the diffs
We have this, right?

>   - put a "Revert" button after each revision to immediately revert to
>   it
>     (without having to see it, edit it and save it)

I think that would make it too easy for vandals (or edit wars).
("Revert"ion shouldn't, I think, be a very frequent operation.)

> - It would be great to be able to organize some pages in a hierarchical
> manner
>   (=E0 la Yahoo) and then move them in the hierarchy and create links
>   between directories. All the pages should not have to be placed in th=
e
>   hierarchy.

The wiki solution to this is to use Category tags.

Personally, before adding mechanisms to make this more explicit
I'd rather add mechanisms to enable "book-style" hierarchies
of pages (parent/ordered-sibling relationships)
("Up", "Next", "Prev").

It's not clear to me how to do either of these cleanly.

> - With the current PHPwiki, there's no topic separation: if you want to
> have
>   one wiki per topic, you need to install one PHPwiki for each topic.
>   Being able to manage multiple wikis (topics) with one PHPwiki
>   installation would be great.

You only have to replicate the config file (currently index.php), and
the page database.  You can, of course, share the rest of the PhpWiki
source between multiple distinct wikis (on the same server).
There's information on this on the FrequentlyAskedQuestions
and PrettyWiki pages of the PhpWiki wiki.

> - I like to start with an empty wiki. PHPwiki should have an "empty
> wiki" admin
>   button, or if topics are implemented, they should start empty (with a
>   form asking for the first WikiWord).

You can, of course, adjust the definition of WIKI_PGSRC (or delete all
but the HomePage from the pgsrc directory) before firing up PhpWiki the
first time...


> - My index.php contains "define('ENABLE_REVERSE_DNS', true);" but I onl=
y
> get IP
>   addresses even if a reverse DNS exists.=20

Currently the ENABLE_REVERSE_DNS only affects the output in the=20
PhpWiki generated access_log (which is only generated if ACCESS_LOG
is defined in the config file.)