by pieterh
on 01 Jul 2009 14:53
I'd like to offer everyone a Wikidot site. Well, not everyone, but everyone who has joined a Wikidot site but has not yet created one.
What would an ideal 'my first Wikidot project' look like? The current new site template is a bit bleak. How about a personal blog? It could be a nice way to start learning Wikidot and we all imagine we're worth listening to. Sure, most blogs die off, but in the meantime, perhaps one more person has been introduced to the wonderful world of Wikidot.
In a comment on my last blog entry, Ed Johnson proposed a nice default top menu. OK, so now I'm asking you to tell me what else you would like in a basic Blog site. If you introduce a friend to Wikidot, what would you want to give them as a start? Things I think of would include: an installed blog package, a bookmarks page, a photostream page (hooked into a Flickr account). 3D tag cloud, Watchers module in the nav:side. Any other ideas?
But please, don't just tell me what you think would work. Instead, help make it happen. I've started a new site, http://blog-template.wikidot.com. For now, any logged-in user can contribute. All (non-trivial) contributors to the blog template will be listed in the About page: endless fame and Google ranking for those who seek it!
Once we get the blog template into shape, we'll activate the site creation robots who will stomp around shouting "ATTENTION WIKIDOT USER! YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED FOR SITEHOOD! DO NOT RESIST! CLICK URNAME-BLOG.WIKIDOT.COM! EDIT! ENJOY! ENJOY! ENJOY!"
I love this idea! Can you turn on the nav:side page for the new template? I see the page exists, but it's currently not displaying, probably because it needs to be enabled in site manager.
I think that combining the packages with some new basic startup site templates will go a long way to simplifying the site creation process and take some of the fear and learning curve out getting a functional site running out of the blocks. Rather than just picking a "look and feel", the users can select the type of site they want start with, be it a blog, wiki, photo gallery, discussion forum, etc.
-Ed
Wikidot API - PHP · A PHP client and code samples for the Wikidot API
Glad you like the idea.
For some reason the Glass theme only shows the side bar on wide monitors. I've changed theme to the simpler Sahara, we can tune this later.
Once we get the blog template working (this will be most fun for most people IMO), we'll make templates for the other types of project. Our list is pretty much the same as yours (adding petition, open source project, etc.)
Portfolio
Suggestion: change the template for admin:manage to be the same as the main blog pages. When the theme changes suddenly it can be alarming and disorienting for a new user, especially when the top navbar and other layout elements move around as part of the different theme.
Shane Smith ★ Wikidot Freelancer (Hire me!)
— Sites: My Website, Personal Blog
— Projects: STE Editor, Wikimated, Wikidot 101 (Video Tutorials), Wikidot SubReddit
Yes, this is right. I've tried is on the blog-template site. The immediate problem is that the custom CSS is too narrow and the admin panels do not show properly. I've fixed that by disabling the nav:side for the admin category. (Navigation elements panel, then set the sidebar for admin to empty).
The result is really nice. Thanks for the suggestion, we'll do this in all template sites.
Portfolio
The other thing that I think will be important for each of the types of templates that emerge is to make sure that the "Welcome to your new site" page contains specific instructions for what needs to be configured in site manager for everything to work properly. For example, if we have a a blog template that uses a blog:page-name or blog:<autonumber> then there are site manager settings that need to be configured that apply to the blog category (i.e per-page discussions).
What would be really cool if some kind of wizard could be created that walks the user through the process of enabling/disabling the various settings in site manager.
Given the laundry list of other bugs and wishes, this might be out there a bit, but I think it's worth considering.
-Ed
Wikidot API - PHP · A PHP client and code samples for the Wikidot API
The way template sites work (though currently, we only have two built-in templates, English and Polish) is that all settings are copied. We'd not copy membership, but everything else including attachments and comments would be copied, as the clone action does today.
What I've found useful in some cases is a simple symbolic replacement, so that pages can be customized with, e.g. specific names when the site is created. By hand, or by giant imaginary robots.
Portfolio
This site, which has Chat and Contact, you can work with your friends to produce Forum, Wiki, Blog, Doc and Events, is for building up project, event, movement etc,
http://buildup.wikidot.com/
99occupy + yes i am angry! + yes again we can + pile + comcomist <= namzezam :)