[pmwiki-users] Modes in PmWiki (Was: Supporting different modes)

[Bronwyn Boltwood]

On 8/7/05, chr at home.se <chr at home.se> wrote:
> On Sun, 7 Aug 2005, Bronwyn Boltwood wrote:
> 
> I restarted this thread since it was already getting big...

Which shows we're onto something good.  Not many threads generate this
much discussion within 8h.

> > Examples:
> > - Visitor: mostly reading, with occasional editing.  Needs navigation,
> >   search, and big attractive "Edit Page" control.

[snip]

> The above sounds like a pretty good start. The author mode might for
> instance get an edit form that's always at the bottom of a page.

Copied from the other thread: 
I forgot a very useful mode:
- Stealth: like visitor mode, but with no editing.  Completely focused
on reading except for a discreet "Login" control.  Perfect for sites
that use PmWiki as a CMS, and wish to look like an ordinary website.
Such sites usually are not publicly editable anyway.

Even if nobody else wants a stealth mode, I need one for my portfolio site!
 
> > Having a bar across the top, or a block in a sidebar that showed the
> > modes available and marked which one you were using would be perfect.
> 
> I think people would at least be relatively comfortable with the idea of
> tabs as mode selectors.

Oh yes, or a set of buttons, one of which is obviously pressed
in...you get the idea.  Anything that makes it clear which one is in
use and you can click on another one to switch.

Assuming the existence of ?mode=foo and $mode (analogous to $action),
we'd just need an unordered list with the proper id on each list item
so that it can be hilighted through css, plus a style-hooked blurb
explicitly stating what mode is active.  The blurb is for
older/nonstandard browsers that cannot handle the css for the active
mode highlight.  Browsers modern enough for the active mode highlight
can have the blurb hidden through css.  This blurb and list can then
be styled as tabs or buttons or various other ways.  Put in a wikipage
instead of directly in the skin template.
 
> > > Ah.. that gives me an idea of something that'd be useful in admin mode.
> > > Let the sidebar indicate the attributes of the current page, i.e. what
> > > kind of passwords it requires etc.
> >
> > Ooh....how about a second sidebar ...
> 
> A second sidebar is a pretty good idea (or maybe a bar at the top?).
> 
> I do however think that we should really focus on the first two modes
> (even if we as administrators immediately get all these cool ideas...)

Of course we should -- it's just that I'm dealing with a bunch of
admin-related hassles, so some related good ideas naturally sprang to
mind...

Bronwyn