Re: [xwiki-users] XWiki feedback

Hi Vincent, Thanks and apologies -- I hadn't ignored your email response, I was just swamped with work (release time). I was only vaguely aware of XOffice but didn't have time to explore it, but it looks like it may have been what we needed (at least partially). What the users didn't like overall was having to relearn text formatting tools, when everyone is familiar with Word. eg. making headers, tables of content, and especially making tables. They found table editing particularly frustrating. Even simple things like keyboard shortcuts for bold, italics, etc. didn't always work (though that was because the browser would trap them). I regret not having the time to feedback all of this while it was going on; most of my wiki support work was done on spare (unbillable) time, and I had little of that of late. Unfortunately, we're a small team, so time to support the system and train users was effectively nil. I know that's not a good state to be in, but when there's limited time and we have to decide between writing code or learning how to use a wiki, writing code always wins out. I had used XWiki for myself, starting with things like note taking, procedure documentation, and doing some technical specification templates and using them to spec. out some projects. I thought it was a perfect way to collaborate, not only between developers but also with the client. But anytime there's even a perceived learning curve for a new tool, there's going to be resistance. I know that's a fact of everyday work, but it's especially so with a small bill-by-the-hour team. As for "ideas for integrating with user's favorite editors", I haven't really had time to think thoroughly about that. I don't know if it's something like XWord, or if it's just a matter of duplicating (to the extent possible) the Word interface within the XWiki GUI editor. I've used HTML editors before, so perhaps that helped me in putting up with it's general peculiarities. I've found, for example, making bulleted lists exactly the way you want is not trivial with HTML editors (as opposed to with Word). I think something like XOffice would go a long way to capturing the Word-oriented users, as long as it's unobtrusive and instinctive to use. I think efficiency of creating content is key more than the formatting frills available -- otherwise users will quickly become frustrated and give up prematurely. I know that once over the learning curve (as with any tool) it's a very rich environment for collaboration -- so the trick is to minimize that learning curve by starting out with something familiar. I don't know if that's helped any, or if I'm just rambling at this point. Thanks again for your attention.

Trevor On Fri, 6 Apr 2012 16:49:06 +0200 Vincent Massol wrote: > Hi Trevor, > > Thanks for your kind words and the piece of feedback which is very useful :) I'm glad you liked the product. > > You may know that we had started XOffice (http://xoffice.xwiki.org/) a few years ago. IMO it was a very good effort to bring xwiki into the hands of MS Word users. Unfortunately our main committer on this is no longer active ATM… > > Before you go if you have ideas for "integrating with user's favorite editors" that would be great. Do you mean something like XOffice or do you mean something else? > > Take care, > -Vincent