[xwiki-devs] [Proposal] Add fields to administration app whose names are links to explanations of those fields on xwiki.org
11 Feb
2010
11 Feb
'10
3:43 a.m.
The problem:
When a new wiki administrator uses the registration application, they are faced with a set
of fields with
names which are too short to explain what each field is for.
eg:
Boolean field named: "Check Active fields for user authentication"
To a new administrator, this is confusing and it's not apparent where to look for an
explanation.
Proposal:
I would like to add fields with names which are links to descriptions of what those fields
are for.
I can implement this in the "configurable" class which I am working on.
This means XE would have links to xwiki.org but it already does on the dashboard
explanation of tags.
WDYT?
Caleb
11 Feb
11 Feb
8:40 a.m.
New subject: [xwiki-devs] [Proposal] Add fields to administration app whose names are links to explanations of those fields on xwiki.org
Hi Caleb,
On Feb 11, 2010, at 3:43 AM, Caleb James DeLisle wrote:
The problem:
When a new wiki administrator uses the registration application, they are faced with a
set of fields with
names which are too short to explain what each field is for.
eg:
Boolean field named: "Check Active fields for user authentication"
To a new administrator, this is confusing and it's not apparent where to look for an
explanation.
Proposal:
I would like to add fields with names which are links to descriptions of what those
fields are for.
I can implement this in the "configurable" class which I am working on.
This means XE would have links to xwiki.org but it already does on the dashboard
explanation of tags.
WDYT?
I don't like it too much. IMO XE should be standalone. This is why we've taken
pains to have the syntax guide directly in XE for example. The reason is simple: you can
install XE locally and have no internet access.
We do have a solution for field help. I haven't used it myself but I'm sure others
here can comment on it.
It's used for example on the XWiki SAS intranet, something like this:
http://tinycoke.com/_6rXVfMRfwk2/screen_shot_2010-02-11_at_8.39.20_am.png
WDYT?
Thanks
-Vincent
10:20 a.m.
Vincent Massol wrote:
Hi Caleb,
On Feb 11, 2010, at 3:43 AM, Caleb James DeLisle wrote:
Though I agree with the philosophy of separating XE from xwiki.org, my opinion is that the
advantages of xwiki.org
being more likely to be up to date and not having to maintain multiple copies of each help
document (and svn commit them)
outweigh the disadvantage of system administrators who can't access the internet being
unable to see the help files.
An alternative might be to have maven pull the documents from xwiki.org and put them in XE
automatically, but I still
don't like the fact that users will be forced to install documentation in their
database to have the "default pages"
perhaps the most elegant solution is to provide xwiki.org for download as an xar so users
can have all of the
documentation if they wish, links could point to an application which would redirect the
user to xwiki.org if the
documentation was not locally installed.
More realistically, I think documentation will just remain harder to find.
Anyway that is my opinion,
Caleb
The problem:
When a new wiki administrator uses the registration application, they are faced with a
set of fields with
names which are too short to explain what each field is for.
eg:
Boolean field named: "Check Active fields for user authentication"
To a new administrator, this is confusing and it's not apparent where to look for an
explanation.
Proposal:
I would like to add fields with names which are links to descriptions of what those
fields are for.
I can implement this in the "configurable" class which I am working on.
This means XE would have links to xwiki.org but it already does on the dashboard
explanation of tags.
WDYT?
I don't like it too much. IMO XE should be standalone. This is why we've taken
pains to have the syntax guide directly in XE for example. The reason is simple: you can
install XE locally and have no internet access.
We do have a solution for field help. I haven't used it myself but I'm sure
others here can comment on it.
It's used for example on the XWiki SAS intranet, something like this:
http://tinycoke.com/_6rXVfMRfwk2/screen_shot_2010-02-11_at_8.39.20_am.png
WDYT?
Thanks
-Vincent
_______________________________________________
devs mailing list
devs(a)xwiki.org
http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/devs
10:34 a.m.
New subject: [xwiki-devs] [Proposal] Add fields to administration app whose names are links to explanations of those fields on xwiki.org
On Feb 11, 2010, at 10:20 AM, Caleb James DeLisle wrote:
Vincent Massol wrote:
I've done it the other way around for the syntax page. It's pulled from svn on
xwiki.org.
Hi Caleb,
On Feb 11, 2010, at 3:43 AM, Caleb James DeLisle wrote:
Though I agree with the philosophy of separating XE from xwiki.org, my opinion is that
the advantages of xwiki.org
being more likely to be up to date and not having to maintain multiple copies of each
help document (and svn commit them)
outweigh the disadvantage of system administrators who can't access the internet
being unable to see the help files.
An alternative might be to have maven pull the documents from xwiki.org and put them in
XE automatically, but I still
don't like the fact that users will be forced to install documentation in their
database to have the "default pages" The problem:
When a new wiki administrator uses the registration application, they are faced with a
set of fields with
names which are too short to explain what each field is for.
eg:
Boolean field named: "Check Active fields for user authentication"
To a new administrator, this is confusing and it's not apparent where to look for an
explanation.
Proposal:
I would like to add fields with names which are links to descriptions of what those
fields are for.
I can implement this in the "configurable" class which I am working on.
This means XE would have links to xwiki.org but it already does on the dashboard
explanation of tags.
WDYT?
I don't like it too much. IMO XE should be standalone. This is why we've taken
pains to have the syntax guide directly in XE for example. The reason is simple: you can
install XE locally and have no internet access.
We do have a solution for field help. I haven't used it myself but I'm sure
others here can comment on it.
It's used for example on the XWiki SAS intranet, something like this:
http://tinycoke.com/_6rXVfMRfwk2/screen_shot_2010-02-11_at_8.39.20_am.png
WDYT? perhaps the most elegant solution is to provide
xwiki.org for download as an xar so users can have all of the
documentation if they wish, links could point to an application which would redirect the
user to xwiki.org if the
documentation was not locally installed.
Yes, but not in this manner IMO. We need it controlled (versioned, committed, with svn
tag, ip clearance, etc). What I'd propose is to create a help application in
platform/applications (but not for your use case, more for tutorials, getting started
guide, etc - We'd need to define the content) and have this help app available on
xwiki.org too (in order to prevent duplication).
FYI here's how I've done it for the syntax page (but this would need to be
improved for a full XAR):
{{velocity}}
#set ($content =
$xwiki.getURLContent("http://svn.xwiki.org/svnroot/xwiki/enterprise/trunk/wiki/src/main/resources/XWiki/XWikiSyntax.xml"))
#set ($newdoc = $xwiki.getDocument("Dummy"))
#set ($newdocprivate = $newdoc.getDocument())
$newdocprivate.fromXML($content)
{{html clean="false"}}
$newdoc.getRenderedContent()
{{/html}}
{{/velocity}}
IMO for your use case what the user needs is a tooltip or a popup that explains what a
field is. What he doesn't want is a new page opened or pointing to a help page where
he has to parse the page to look for the information he need.
More realistically, I think documentation will just remain harder to find.
I don't understand this point. Could you explain?
Thanks
-Vincent
Anyway that is my opinion,
Caleb
Thanks
-Vincent
_______________________________________________
devs mailing list
devs(a)xwiki.org
http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/devs
_______________________________________________
devs mailing list
devs(a)xwiki.org
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11:34 a.m.
Vincent Massol wrote:
On the one hand I was trying to say that if there isn't an established system for
connecting the application interface to it's documentation then developers will
document less and make less of an effort to make it easily accessible from the app.
On the other hand I was just whining that it would make my job harder.
Caleb
On Feb 11, 2010, at 10:20 AM, Caleb James DeLisle
wrote:
My current design uses links which could point to javascript:function();
The only change would be to make the admin page use skin extensions of the included pages
so the javascript function (open popup) could be defined.
Vincent Massol wrote:
I've done it the other way around for the syntax page. It's pulled from svn on
xwiki.org.
Hi Caleb,
On Feb 11, 2010, at 3:43 AM, Caleb James DeLisle wrote:
Though I agree with the philosophy of separating XE from xwiki.org, my
opinion is that the advantages of xwiki.org
being more likely to be up to date and not having to maintain multiple copies of each
help document (and svn commit them)
outweigh the disadvantage of system administrators who can't access the internet
being unable to see the help files.
An alternative might be to have maven pull the documents from xwiki.org and put them in
XE automatically, but I still
don't like the fact that users will be forced to install documentation in their
database to have the "default pages" The problem:
When a new wiki administrator uses the registration application, they are faced with a
set of fields with
names which are too short to explain what each field is for.
eg:
Boolean field named: "Check Active fields for user authentication"
To a new administrator, this is confusing and it's not apparent where to look for an
explanation.
Proposal:
I would like to add fields with names which are links to descriptions of what those
fields are for.
I can implement this in the "configurable" class which I am working on.
This means XE would have links to xwiki.org but it already does on the dashboard
explanation of tags.
WDYT?
I don't like it too much. IMO XE should be standalone. This is why
we've taken pains to have the syntax guide directly in XE for example. The reason is
simple: you can install XE locally and have no internet access.
We do have a solution for field help. I haven't used it myself but I'm sure
others here can comment on it.
It's used for example on the XWiki SAS intranet, something like this:
http://tinycoke.com/_6rXVfMRfwk2/screen_shot_2010-02-11_at_8.39.20_am.png
WDYT? perhaps the most elegant solution is to provide
xwiki.org for download as an xar so users can have all of the
documentation if they wish, links could point to an application which would redirect the
user to xwiki.org if the
documentation was not locally installed.
Yes, but not in this manner IMO. We need it controlled (versioned, committed, with svn
tag, ip clearance, etc). What I'd propose is to create a help application in
platform/applications (but not for your use case, more for tutorials, getting started
guide, etc - We'd need to define the content) and have this help app available on
xwiki.org too (in order to prevent duplication).
FYI here's how I've done it for the syntax page (but this would need to be
improved for a full XAR):
{{velocity}}
#set ($content =
$xwiki.getURLContent("http://svn.xwiki.org/svnroot/xwiki/enterprise/trunk/wiki/src/main/resources/XWiki/XWikiSyntax.xml"))
#set ($newdoc = $xwiki.getDocument("Dummy"))
#set ($newdocprivate = $newdoc.getDocument())
$newdocprivate.fromXML($content)
{{html clean="false"}}
$newdoc.getRenderedContent()
{{/html}}
{{/velocity}}
IMO for your use case what the user needs is a tooltip or a popup that explains what a
field is. What he doesn't want is a new page opened or pointing to a help page where
he has to parse the page to look for the information he need. More realistically, I think documentation will
just remain harder to find.
I don't understand this point. Could you explain?
Thanks
-Vincent
Anyway that is my opinion,
Caleb
_______________________________________________
devs mailing list
devs(a)xwiki.org
http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/devs
Thanks
-Vincent
_______________________________________________
devs mailing list
devs(a)xwiki.org
http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/devs
_______________________________________________
devs mailing list
devs(a)xwiki.org
http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/devs 
12:09 p.m.
Hi Caleb,
Caleb James DeLisle wrote:
The problem:
When a new wiki administrator uses the registration
application, they are faced with a set of fields with
names which are too short to explain what each field is for.
Then maybe the right solution is to add a description. The fact that
class properties don't have a description but only a name and a pretty
name looks like a serious limitation to me. What would take to add a
description field to a class property?
Hope this helps,
Marius
eg:
Boolean field named: "Check Active fields for user authentication"
To a new administrator, this is confusing and it's not apparent where to look for an
explanation.
Proposal:
I would like to add fields with names which are links to descriptions of what those
fields are for.
I can implement this in the "configurable" class which I am working on.
This means XE would have links to xwiki.org but it already does on the dashboard
explanation of tags.
WDYT?
Caleb
_______________________________________________
devs mailing list
devs(a)xwiki.org
http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/devs
2:56 p.m.
New subject: [xwiki-devs] [Proposal] Add fields to administration app whose names are links to explanations of those fields on xwiki.org
There was something to address this before the class editor overhaul,
there was a tooltip field.
It's never been used in our default distrib, may be we should get it
back and improve it.
See
http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/DevGuide/Creating+a+form+with+vali…
JV.
On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 12:09 PM, Marius Dumitru Florea
<mariusdumitru.florea(a)xwiki.com> wrote:
Hi Caleb,
Caleb James DeLisle wrote:
The problem:
When a new wiki administrator uses the
registration application, they are faced with a set of fields with
names which are too short to explain what each field is for.
Then maybe the right solution is to add a description. The fact that
class properties don't have a description but only a name and a pretty
name looks like a serious limitation to me. What would take to add a
description field to a class property?
Hope this helps,
Marius
eg:
Boolean field named: "Check Active fields for user authentication"
To a new administrator, this is confusing and it's not apparent where to look for an
explanation.
Proposal:
I would like to add fields with names which are links to descriptions of what those
fields are for.
I can implement this in the "configurable" class which I am working on.
This means XE would have links to xwiki.org but it already does on the dashboard
explanation of tags.
WDYT?
Caleb
_______________________________________________
devs mailing list
devs(a)xwiki.org
http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/devs
_______________________________________________
devs mailing list
devs(a)xwiki.org
http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/devs
9:13 p.m.
Jean-Vincent Drean wrote:
There was something to address this before the class
editor overhaul,
there was a tooltip field.
It's never been used in our default distrib, may
be we should get it
back and improve it.
+1
Thanks,
Marius
See
http://platform.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/DevGuide/Creating+a+form+with+vali…
JV.
On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 12:09 PM, Marius Dumitru Florea
<mariusdumitru.florea(a)xwiki.com> wrote:
Hi Caleb,
Caleb James DeLisle wrote:
_______________________________________________
devs mailing list
devs(a)xwiki.org
http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/devs The problem:
When a new wiki administrator uses the registration application, they are faced with a
set of fields with
names which are too short to explain what each field is for.
Then maybe the right
solution is to add a description. The fact that
class properties don't have a description but only a name and a pretty
name looks like a serious limitation to me. What would take to add a
description field to a class property?
Hope this helps,
Marius
eg:
Boolean field named: "Check Active fields for user authentication"
To a new administrator, this is confusing and it's not apparent where to look for an
explanation.
Proposal:
I would like to add fields with names which are links to descriptions of what those
fields are for.
I can implement this in the "configurable" class which I am working on.
This means XE would have links to xwiki.org but it already does on the dashboard
explanation of tags.
WDYT?
Caleb
_______________________________________________
devs mailing list
devs(a)xwiki.org
http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/devs
_______________________________________________
devs mailing list
devs(a)xwiki.org
http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/devs
7:47 p.m.
On 02/11/2010 03:43 AM, Caleb James DeLisle wrote:
The problem:
When a new wiki administrator uses the registration application, they are faced with a
set of fields with
names which are too short to explain what each field is for.
eg:
Boolean field named: "Check Active fields for user authentication"
To a new administrator, this is confusing and it's not apparent where to look for an
explanation.
Proposal:
I would like to add fields with names which are links to descriptions of what those
fields are for.
I can implement this in the "configurable" class which I am working on.
This means XE would have links to xwiki.org but it already does on the dashboard
explanation of tags.
WDYT?
I also believe that this is not a good idea. The wiki should be
self-documented, any interface element should be clear. If a simple name
is not good enough, then a tooltip should provide more information. If
that's still not enough, then there is a Documentation link (to
xwiki.org) at the bottom of the page already, the user should find the
full documentation starting from there.
But this is just the ideal solution. In reality, there are plenty of
places where the short name is not descriptive enough (for example this
check Active field), tooltips are rarely used, and many users complain
that they can't find what they're looking for on xwiki.org. All these
must be improved.
For a start, this field could be renamed to "Require account validation
through email" or something similar. Is that still not suggestive enough?
Then, we need to make the property tooltip work.
Third, we need to reorganize xwiki.org.
--
Sergiu Dumitriu
http://purl.org/net/sergiu/
5335
days inactive
5335
days old
8 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
Caleb James DeLisle -
Jean-Vincent Drean -
Marius Dumitru Florea -
Sergiu Dumitriu -
Vincent Massol