[Pmwiki-users] Call for Template Simplicity
Patrick R. Michaud
pmichaud
Wed Feb 11 07:04:10 CST 2004
On Wed, Feb 11, 2004 at 11:39:09AM -0800, Steven Leite wrote:
> There's no doubt about it, any Admin that is installing PmWiki (even
> for the first time) will follow these steps before anything else:
> 1) Get it installed and working
> 2) Customize it!
> I think we can improve on Step 2 by not shipping PmWiki with a
> css-based template (by default).
I'm very interested in hearing more opinions on this point. Although
we can certainly stick with PmWiki's traditional layout, I've been
migrating PmWiki to a css-based version for a number of reasons--
- Marketing: I think that PmWiki looks more attractive to potential
users if the main PmWiki site looks more like a standard web site
and less like a traditional wiki. The current default layout on
pmichaud.com is about to change, you can see the new default by
going to http://www.pmichaud.com/wiki/PmWiki/PmWiki?skin=pmwiki.
- Admin expectations: It's nice if the shipped version of PmWiki looks
very similar to what the admin has just seen on the PmWiki web site.
- Popular Demand: Two of the most popular recipes in the Cookbook are
the FlexLayout and WebMenu recipes (especially WebMenu), so I'm
thinking it's more convenient if they come "pre-installed" and
with a default configuration.
- Review of existing site practices: In reviewing the existing
PmWikiUsers list, sites seem to fall in three categories:
1. Sites with little customization (basically just changing the logo)
2. Sites using a css-based FlexLayout/WebMenu
3. Sites that are heavily customized
Admins in category #2 will be pleased that the default is already
css-based. Admins in category #3 aren't really affected by the
default PmWiki settings, however, my experience thus far is that
the new layout makes it much easier to achieve many of the
effects that these admins are looking for. That just leaves category
#1--folks who've done little customization. I figure that most of
these admins would appreciate a more advanced layout but didn't want
to do a lot of customization to get there. Of course, it's possible
that these admins prefer a simple layout, in which case it's *very*
easy in the new layout scheme to turn off the CSS (essentially one
just does $PageSkin='none'; in local.php).
The question really comes down to "What do we want a (new) admin's initial
impression and experience of PmWiki to be?" I can see good arguments
in favor of starting with a simple layout and the admin gains experience/
familiarity by customizing it to a more complex one. But I also
see value in providing an initial "Wow!" experience, as the admin
installs the software and thinks "Wow, everything is already set up,
I only need to change the logo and colors and I'm ready to go!".
>From a technical perspective, either of these approaches (or others I
haven't thought of) are pretty easy to achieve, so I'm just looking for
the approach that provides the best impression of PmWiki to new admins.
This is an excellent topic and I really would appreciate any
comments or opinions others might suggest.
Pm
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