[pmwiki-users] PmWiki for a Writer? (Long)

Petko Yotov 5ko at 5ko.fr
Sat Sep 19 15:02:38 CDT 2015


In addition to what Gilles wrote, you can look into WikiTrails, a 
feature allowing a table-of-contents-like pages and previous-next 
navigation links which can be automatically displayed in your page from 
a GroupHeader or GroupFooter.

   http://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/PmWiki/WikiTrails
   http://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/PmWiki/GroupHeaders

You should definitely look into the Backlinks feature of PageLists, it 
can create automatic cross-page navigation. For example, in your chapter 
you mention characters and link to their pages like [[Characters/John]]. 
Then in the page Characters/John, after the description of the 
character, there is an automatic list to all chapters in all books 
linking to that page. (Only links to pages where the visitor has 
permissions to view will be listed, so a visitor will not see links to 
locked groups, but you as a logged in author will see them.)

The core software does not support subgroups, but you can have 
individual groups for every book, and order those in sections of your 
navigation. (There are two modules about subgroups but their developers 
have left the community and the modules are not extensively tested or 
maintained).

WikiGroups allow easier linking to pages in the same group, custom 
styling/appearance or locking of related group of pages, and repeated 
headers/footers for all pages in the group.

About the "infobox" template feature, you can include other pages or 
sections formatted as templates containing {$$variables}, and these 
variables are defined from the page where the template is included:

   http://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/PmWiki/IncludeOtherPages#includevariable

PmWiki allows private and public groups. You can lock a full group 
(book) and unlock it after if is published:

   http://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/PmWiki/Passwords

I would keep the passwords simple: for a wiki with a single or a few 
trusted writers, probably the default "shared password" feature will be 
enough (and AuthUser will be too much).

PmWiki has many features and modules, and the documentation can appear 
overwhelming. But you can start really simple, focus on your content, 
and think about infoboxes and backlinks later. But the WikiTrails 
feature will be very useful so read about it early. My advice is to keep 
the content simple, with few markups and features, even when you become 
an experienced editor.

Also, if you need some feature, you can search the core documentation 
and Cookbook for a recipe/module, and look at the Talk and Users pages: 
a module used by more people and with more discussions tend to be good 
because more extensively tested. Or, you can ask the mailing list.

Petko

On 2015-09-19 06:57, Bob Mueller wrote:
> Greetings all. I've got some feasibility and strategic questions about
> using PmWiki.
> 
> I'm looking to use a wiki for a series bible. That's where you keep
> all of your information about characters and settings and locations
> across a series. I've been using Word docs and Excel spreadsheets, but
> that's a kludgy approach, and won't scale well, I think. Wikis are
> perfect for the idea, and I think PmWiki will be just what I want.
> 
> I'll be the only user and admin for the foreseeable future. I have my
> own domain and a good web host.
> 
> I have two book series that I want to use this for. Series1 has 2
> books done, and a 3d in progress. Series2 has 6-7 books planned.
> 
> I want the sections for the unwritten or in-progress books to stay
> private until the books are published. Then I'll open them up for
> public viewing (but almost certainly not editing) as each book is
> published.
> 
> So am I talking about multiple groups here? I think I am, based on the
> documentation I've read.
> 
> If I set up a Series1 group, can I also set up Book1, Book2, and Book3
> subgroups? And for MainCharacter, I don't have to replicate his page
> across all three subgroups, right?
> 
> But is this (all these subgroups) really the best way to handle it? Os
> is there something a little bit more elegant?
> 
> Lastly (for now), if I want to make my character pages look almost
> exactly like
> https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jack_Ryan_(character) for
> example, how difficult is it to set up what Wikipedia calls an infobox
> on the right side like that? I wasn't sure that Wikipedia and PmWiki
> use the same term for that construct, and I don't think I was finding
> what I needed in the docs or the Cookbook.
> 
> Thanks much for any help here.

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