[Pmwiki-users] RE: pmwiki-0.6.beta1 released

[Jonathan Scott Duff]

On Thu, Jan 22, 2004 at 01:18:47PM -0700, Patrick R. Michaud wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 22, 2004 at 04:36:03PM -0000, dave.jackson wrote:
> > 
> > It is just that I am trying to 'sell' Wiki to my boss (for elimination
> > of doubt, not for money), and the ease at which I can create a link with
> > {{xxx}} syntax is so appealing.
> 
> On this topic, I'm working on a paper (or series of papers) that articulates
> some of the problems in "selling a wiki concept" to others. I would
> love to hear comments, stories (both successes and failures), or 
> suggestions from others about this.  
> 
> I already know of several of the largest barriers: 
>    (1) perceived lack of security and/or control of the wiki, 
>    (2) the markup is seen as being too complex, or wiki lacks a WYSIWYG 
>        editor, and
>    (3) the markup is seen as being too limiting, and cannot achieve
>        all of the functionality of a pure HTML/XHTML/XML environment.

I was trying to get my son's daycare to use pmwiki for their website
(that they're just now setting up), but #2 reared its ugly head. Most of
the things they want to do with their website involve graphicy things
(pictures of rooms, kids, the kids' art, etc). Pmwiki's very textual
interface didn't appeal to them and, in fact, seemed a hindrance.
("You mean I can't just drag and drop the image like with <insert
other product>?")   Plus, after showing some of the places in "Success
Stories", I have to admit that "yes, you can do XXX, but it will
require some customization" and that didn't sit too well either.

Though, since my wife may be managing their website, they may be using
pmwiki yet!  ;-)

Of all the times I remember evangelizing pmwiki to others, the
security concerns have gone something like this:  

	Them:	Can *anyone* edit these pages?
	Me:	Sure ... unless you password protect it
	Them:	Oh, you can put passwords on pages?
        Me:     Yeah, you can password protect the whole site if you
                want to, or just individual pages or groups.
	Them:	Okay, cool.

And that's that.  You tell them you can password protect things and
they are happy.  :)

And I don't think I've ever heard anyone complain about the
limitations of the markup, but I've never offered pmwiki to HTML
"experts" as a solution to anything either.

-Scott
-- 
Jonathan Scott Duff
duff at lighthouse.tamucc.edu