[xwiki-devs] [Proposal] Workspace as a Flavor

Hi devs, So this is a proposal to have Workspaces as a Flavor and NOT integrated by default. IMO Workspace is a real nice use case and we should definitely promote it. This is how I envision the main homepage (Home) http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Improvements/WorkspaceHomep… and this is how the homepage of a workspace would look like http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Improvements/WorkspaceHomep… For more mockups please check the full proposal: http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Improvements/WorkspaceHomepage The problem is that Workspace Flavor is a use case on it's own and IMO in this particular use case you will not want to have isolated wikis, and plus you will don't want to have lots of the features that are currently by default, so it's really obvious that the Workspace flavor is a specialization of XWiki and will not be anyone's cup of tee. For example, the other Flavors proposed are: - Public Website: you definitely don't need workspaces here - Documentation: same, no need - Application Development: this is intended for development, no need for workspaces See Flavors proposal http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Improvements/Flavours So Workspaces Flavors is exactly the Groupware Flavor (just I proposed it with another name) http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Improvements/GroupwareFlavor What I think we should do in 5.2 is indeed have by default the ability to create multiple wikis (so XEM integration, bu without Workspaces). So: - Have 'Add - Wiki' only shown to admins (until we decide otherwise) http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Improvements/CreateWikiImpr… - Have main wiki homepage defined as 'Home' (using the icon and with a customizable title) - Have a consistent create step for wikis, spaces and pages (in just one step, since Members has sense only for Workspaces) http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Improvements/CreateWikiImpr… - Integrate Wiki Manager inside Administration (since it's information related to administrator and should not be public as it is now) We could improve the UI by using a livetable http://incubator.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Improvements/CreateWikiImpr… All stated above is default functionality that doesn't break backwards compatibility and that is shared between all Flavors. Some base concepts related to Flavors: - Let's consider that what we currently have is a 'Default Flavor' (XE) - We could have a 'Base Flavor' in the future that will consist of 'Default Flavor' minus all the extensions that are not share between all flavors. It will contain just base features and the common denominator for all Flavors. Every time you want to create a new Flavor you could start from this Flavor. - Extra: for test purposes we could also have a 'Full Flavor' containing all the extensions supported by XWiki Development Team. This would be helpful to run the integration tests on it and see if there are possible problems when installing combinations of extensions. Also could serve as a demo flavor of what is possible in XWiki. - There will also be the 'Standard Flavors': Workspaces, Public Website, etc. (proposed and supported by XWiki Development Team) Having this is mind: - Flavors should have the ability to "remove" or alter some pages from the 'Base Flavor' (currently our 'Default Flavor'). For example the Workspace Flavor needs its custom main homepage that list the existing workspace (this doesn't make any sense to any other Flavor). Another example is removing 'Wiki Manager' from 'Default Flavor' and replace it with 'Workspaces Index' that is visible for all users. - Flavors could have their own skin (might need some changed .vm) + preferences (different layout, etc.). In the Workspace Flavor we will want to promote the creation of Workspaces and not Wikis (that is found in the Base Flavor). - Flavors need to integrate other Flavors. For example: 'Workspace Flavor' = 'Base Flavor' + extensions. Also we could have a 'Product Management Flavor' = 'Workspace Flavor' + custom applications installed like: Projects, Deliverables, Meetings, etc. So what we could also do in 5.2 (or 5.3) is: * Flavor definition (from a technical perspective), extensions collections, ability to integrate also pages in the list, etc. * Work separately on the 'Workspace Flavor' which could be our first proposed Flavor (besides the current 'Default Flavor' which is a version of Knowledge Base). This means improving the current 'Workspace Application' with the above proposed Homepages improvements. Let me know what you think, Caty