22 Jul
2009
22 Jul
'09
2:58 p.m.
Pascal Voitot wrote:
hello,
On Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 8:23 AM, Sergiu Dumitriu <sergiu(a)xwiki.com> wrote:
Well, I didn't say not to use something, but not to use many similar
tools in parallel, when their functionality exists or can be easily
implemented in one place. And I don't say this as a marketing ploy for
XWiki, but with the users in mind.
[Ricardo Rodriguez] Your EPEC Network ICT Team
wrote:
One tool to rule them all etc... I have always been fighting against this
industrial way of thinking that tend to consider everything can go in the
same box... It sounds scary when someone tells me:"do NOT use other
tools"... But I see what you mean: using several tools that do the same
thing in parallel is not very good. But I prefer saying I use the best part
of each tools and make them fit together. Integration of XWiki with other Open Source
initiatives seems to be an
answer. For me the question here is if it is better to keep developing
XWiki in a given area, or to join another project as an alternative. For
instance, Pasca Voitot speaks in this same thread about the use of
Magnolia to provide a easily customizable front end for XWiki. The
result as he shows in his site Mandubian is quite good, but it seems to
me that XWiki skins are not so far of being able to allowing something
better!
One thing that should NOT be done, is to use different tools in
parallel. One of the big advantages of XWiki is that it allows to build
several application in the same place. True, such a small application
done with a piece of Velocity and a bit of JavaScript doesn't have all
the power and features of a dedicated system, but the advantages are
numerous:
- one place
- one UI
- one common set of rules
- one principle: the wiki way
- for the developers, one API and one common programming paradigm
- etc.
From my point of view, I consider XWiki as a toolbox
or an enabler: it
allows me to do things I could never do alone because I would spend too much
time gathering everything.
Yes, this is the main target, small apps that would take more to develop
standalone, but only a couple of hours inside XWiki.
But sometimes, I don't find what I need in XWiki
immediately and I don't have time to develop it completely, so I use another
tool and I distort the other tool and XWiki until they fit together.
This is not the solution for long term but it works. Moreover, it gives me
ideas about the "where" should go XWiki to fulfill such needs.
But, in fact, I really consider XWiki as an engine and I put the UI part
aside. I often need a content manager based on the XWiki features and then I
need to present this content. To my mind, the UI part of XWiki and the skin
should be separated as much as possible from XWiki (it is already the case)
and should be given some nice tools inspired by what can be found in other
tools for customizing skins.
Yes, we are aware of the skin customization problem, and we're planning
to improve this. But we're lacking manpower for it...
--
Sergiu Dumitriu
http://purl.org/net/sergiu/