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Ahh, never thought of that, thanks.Quote:
Originally Posted by pegasus
But what i was thinking of was something set as default for new users without the need for the admin to set it up first, something they could later disable or edit to whatever they wanted.
I asked this question long time ago and did not get a clear answer (except a short "yes"): Can Vaultwiki be set up to look like wikipedia's main page table content and category http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page ?
If so, what do I need to do, or can you (Pegasus) help me with this (paid service, off course)?
I have problem understanding the concept of Namespace for it has no relational meaning to me (if namespace means "a group of forums that share a parent-child relationship", why don't you just call it "forum grouping" or something easier to relate to?). I don't care what it is called as long as it does its job.
A wizard feature would be great! The wizard will ask me if I want to set VaultWiki as a book online wiki. If the answer is yes, then it prompts me to perform an a to z step.
There's no wizard yet, so for now PLEASE use a creation of a book online example with pictures accompanied to show us how to do it.
I am sure other users would appreciate having a step by step example as well.
It's pretty hard to answer this question, because yes, you can create a page like that in VaultWiki. But there are no prefabricated content pages in VaultWiki (same in MediaWiki). As I believe I mentioned last time you asked, it's just a matter of using the appropriate code to layout the page.
You can view the source of the Wikipedia page and paste it into your VaultWiki article to get started. Some of the syntax (like links) are different, but it should be easy enough to change when editing.
You can always request a paid service via a PM if it doesn't fit one of our existing paid services (this doesn't).
Yup, namespaces has been a hard concept for some to grasp as you mention just because it's a new terminology. Unfortunately it's a terminology that's pretty standard among wikis and other softwares, and not something we're likely to get rid of. It's mainly economy of words and "Namespace" is still shorter to say than something like "Forum Grouping" (at least in English, the syllable count is lower).
The current manual, admittedly, is not the best, and it was thrown together quickly to help new users not be completely lost. While the existing manual is pretty lackluster, I'm sure you remember the days of no manual at all.
However, we are in the process of writing a more in-depth manual (with more pictures) that we hope will clear up confusion about many things. We expect this manual update to be ready by Monday.
As for Book creation, there is essentially now a wizard (if you run 2.5.0). In your article's book tab, there is a new option called "Add to New Book". This will allow you to create the book and add the chapter without having to jump around your forum.
I recalled the day :)Quote:
Originally Posted by pegasus
Great to hear there's a new manual
Just sent you a PM
Sorry for the necro-post! I'm not sure that this is something that could or should be included by the developers, but it would be GREAT to see how some of the common BBCodes (like Footer, Reference, etc) are used and to have some example code/text. Most of my users don't actually use those features, and end up hand-creating things because there is no good write-up that is easy to access (i.e. at the bottom of the posting screen). I haven't bothered to write up anything myself, but it would make it easier for my wiki users.
Like vBulletin's BB-Code FAQ, there is a Wiki BB-Code FAQ. There is a link to it from vBulletin's FAQ and Special:Specialpages, but it is at showwiki.php?title=Special:WikiCodeList
You can always add a link to it at the bottom of the posting screen as you mentioned, just make sure your permissions are set so that your users can see this page.
Provide sample config files with explanation of what setings might be used, what they do and why.
Improve documentation addressed to a lower level user. I still do not understand many of the
functions/features and the logic behind their name bewilders me. Keep it simple.
Get a beta tester program happening with as many different setups as possible. These beta testers
would find issues before normal users and the issues could be addressed.
I second Jav on the sample config idea with explanation
Vaultwiki is such feature rich, it actually hurts the adoption of it if there's no easy to follow manual.
Regarding "the logic behind their name", it's kind of a different wiki language so it's somewhat cryptic, even an experience and very good programmer like MicroHellas would find it confusing :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by mallee
Quote:
Originally Posted by pegasus
Pegasus ... make some simple easy videos.Quote:
Originally Posted by stev
Think up 2 important things to get across.
Maybe tailor it to the new Lite users.
If you are stuck for software choices ... try something like .. JING.
http://www.jingproject.com/
Once you get good at Jing, you can just make a quick video after you add the feature ! It's a natural process.
I'll try to find some other software options for you. Check out JING though. It's quite cool stuff.
I really appreciate this thread and your throwing this open to users. The problems here are endemic for people who write software - you're certainly not alone. VBulletin has the same problem - they think simply elucidating characteristics of the software is enough - and if you want to learn it bad enough it is - but it could be so much easier. If this product is intended to be used by people without technical experience then you would do yourself a world of good simply by doing a step by step show me project; ie I'm going to create a WIKI on X subject; first I add this, then I do this...at this point I have these options....
Right now I'm stuck on these name spaces. The documentation states a namespace is a group of Forums. Then it says namespaces are where articles are located. Honestly I don't know what you mean by Forums or articles. I want to use the WIKI to create and work on projects. Is a project a Forum that contains Articles?
In the Namespace manager on the other hand, Namespaces appear to be general designations for different kinds of Features - templates, headers, books, categories, images - those aren't Forums.
It looks like a great product - a step by step - how to create your first WIKI - would be invaluable. Several people on my Forums are trying to figure this out - none have succeeded thus far.
Think of it this way:
You save your threads, posts, topics, whatever you want to call them in forums and sub-forums. That is a basic concept of vBulletin.
"Namespaces" is just a word, and some people tend to get hung up on the fact that they haven't heard of it before. In the "Namespace" Manager, you select forums / sub-forums so you can save wiki articles in them. That's it!
While yes, you can designate different kinds of features to them too, that's not really important to think about until you want to enable that particular feature.
Step-by-step how to create your wiki videos have been requested in the past. Setting something like this up, I agree, is a great idea, and even though we've had the resources available to do something like it, we haven't had significant enough time to dedicate to a video documentation project. That said, recently we've been hiring additional hands to help reduce the workload on the core dev/support team (which was mostly myself for a while there), so we may be able to dedicate some manpower to such a project some time next quarter.
I think the major problem with *all* projects is that you have developers, and users of which there are two different mindsets. A developer will have a list of features that they think the user wants, and the user has to learn to use these features and make the best use of them, although they don't always do what the user wants. (I'm not saying this is a bad thing)
I work in an industry that makes specialist injection mouldings of which our D&D team are situated in another building, they build apparatus for our staff to work on, but have no real knowledge of how the items they build will be used in a factory enviroment. The end result is that our staff work and complain about how the things are used.....Now if the D&D team were to spend some time working with the staff there would be no problem whatsoever and that is what I commend the creators for vaultwiki for, they spend a LOT of time working with us to find out what we want and add it into the next build of the wiki.
Feedback is a wonderful thing ;)
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Now, what would make Vaultwiki easier to use for me?
Firstly, making it easier to create a home page for the wiki, at the moment we have a Tab at the top in the menu bar and subsequent links when the wiki is open to take you to the home page.
When I click on the Wiki Tab I get taken to a Special page that lists all the different categories of the wiki (This I do not want, it's confusing for the users) I would prefer to be able to easily set this to a self-created wiki home page.
The links above the wiki, We have the option of clicking on Wiki, or (List), when clicking on Wiki I have it set to take me to my self-created home page, but I don't like having the (List) option there, a user does not need to see this, most of my users will think it's a forum to post messages in and that defeats the object of having it there.
So in summary, Have the Wiki tab set by default to take us to some kind of index page that is totally customisable with a simple screen, maybe have a table for Pages, books, categories (keep things like special pages away from the general user, they sometimes get click-happy and don't really need to see these things). Remove the (list) option, they don't need to see this either.
Maybe have a look at some other mods for VB and create a cms type homepage for the wiki, (I personly don't like the current one, that logo blots out too much info and I can't change it!!)
Keep things simple for the user, but let the admins keep their current features (maybe have a preview as user for all-pages option)
You can set the Wiki tab to show a different page in Settings > Options > VaultWiki: Server Settings. Just type in an existing wiki URL, and it will map that page to the wiki home URL (with proper 301 forwarding).Quote:
Originally Posted by vimto
The List option is unfortunately a necessary evil to allow moderation of many articles at once. If you create an official feature request, I'm sure we have enough time to add a separate permission for List links so that only the users who need to see it can see it.
The logo can currently be changed in the CSS, but this frequently gets reverted by upgrades (less so than physically replacing the image, but it still occurs). We actually intend to add a stylevar to set the image for the next build, but it might be nice if you could also post the request in the tracker.
Thanks. I know one person can't do it all :)....I would think, though, that a quick text document showing how to create a project would be very helpful.Quote:
Originally Posted by pegasus
A. Create a WIKI project on say "The World Cup" - its history, teams involved, key play players, matchups, etc.
B. Show how to create the page, the Forums, create articles - put them into Books, etc.
That would make things much easier. My WIKI is going to be pretty simple - forum members are basically going to work on documents. If I had a document like that I just download your example to them. After I learn WIKI - I'm going to have to create a document like that so that my forum members can learn how to use it.