[pmwiki-users] PmWiki page editing is programming! ...a friendly flame/gripe/complaint

Patrick R. Michaud pmichaud at pobox.com
Mon Apr 25 13:47:55 CDT 2005


On Mon, Apr 25, 2005 at 01:34:11PM -0500, Monty wrote:
> Although basic WikiPage editing isn't hard, putting a paragraph or 
> header or bullet point or hyperlink on a page, to do anything 
> interesting with PmWiki, more and more it seems like The Edit Page has 
> become an programmer's IDE and PmWiki a compiler and a language which 
> one must write code in!

This statement makes it sound as though page content isn't "interesting". :-) 

More to the point, to keep our terminology consistent, I'm guessing
that your qualm is with the advanced markups and not with the "edit page"
itself.

Ultimately, simple things should be simple and complex things possible.
Yes, some advanced features and cookbook recipes can make the markup
look more like a programming language than anything else, but I've
always intended those for the rare case where "complex things possible"
was the rule of the day.  But if you think they're really simple, or
know of a way to make them simple... :-)

> May of the directives (source code) aren't even specific to the copy, 
> they pertain more to the page's presentation or function, and rightly 
> belong -- not in the body of the page's copy, but in a special "head" 
> area for PmSourceCode things that most WikiUsers would *rather* *not* 
> *see* (but could if s/he wanted!).
> 
> What can be done to shield the average writer from the 
> increased/increasing complexity of PmWiki programming?

IMO, anything special that belongs in a "head area" and shared among
multiple pages is best handled by placing it in a GroupHeader or 
(:include:).  This hides the nasty parts from authors who aren't 
interested in it, while making it available to those who are.

To speak to anything more on this topic, I'd need to react to specific
examples of "this page looks too much like programming" to be able
to comment intelligently.

Pm



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