[pmwiki-users] Questions from a first PM Wiki user

[H. Fox]

On 9/23/05, Patrick R. Michaud <pmichaud at pobox.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 22, 2005 at 10:47:27AM -0700, Jaap Suter wrote:
>
> > 3. I changed my config.php to include a site-wide password to edit
> > pages (which I intend to only distribute to a select group of
> > content-suppliers and editors).  This works for most pages. However,
> > my site-bar on the left had a edit-sitebar link, and that was still
> > accessible and editable without a password. ...  Is this a bug or a feature?
>
> It's a (often requested) feature.  Normally pages in the Site group
> are protected against editing by default, but by popular demand
> there's a special setting on Site.SideBar that allows it to be edited
> without a password ("nopass").  Perhaps we should instead say that
> Site.SideBar inherits the site-wide password; I'll have to see if there's
> a way to implement that.  At any rate, you found the correct solution
> for now, which is to simply set a password on Site.SideBar.

That would be a useful improvement.

Specifically, it would be helpful for CMS-type sites.  As it is now,
the editable-by-default SideBar requires extra administrative effort.

My "pre-configured CMS" project provides an example.

The default, as it is now:
http://www.cis-dept.com/LightCMS/content/Site/SideBar?action=logout
http://www.cis-dept.com/LightCMS/content/?q=+&n=Site.SideBar&action=search

The default, as it would be if Site.SideBar were to inherit the
site-wide password:
http://www.cis-dept.com/LightCMS/content/Main/TestSideBar?action=logout
http://www.cis-dept.com/LightCMS/content/?q=+&n=Main.TestSideBar&action=search

Much better!

Clearing the password makes editing the SideBar require admin
authorization.  For the site-wide edit password to work it needs to be
maintained manually, and that opens up potential for errors and
confusion.

Hagan