[Pmwiki-users] Skins

Lee Corbridge, DVM leecdvm
Sat Feb 21 23:57:47 CST 2004


Hi Patrick ...

Here are my thoughts on this subject ...

I am not a programmer by any means.  I am a veterinarian who enjoys 
playing with scripts and builds websites for fun and enjoyment in my 
free time ( yea ... scary huh ).  I have a lot of experience with .cgi, 
tables and html.  PHP, MySQL and CSS is new territory for me as it is 
for a lot of people now days.

I had another problem that I was facing too.  That was I needed to 
match up to my already existing Moodle site.  All my sites are 
simplistic in nature.  I am a firm believer in KISS.  Mainly because if 
it's too complicated people won't use it and it's a heck of a lot more 
work for me to have to maintain.  Simple is easy ... I like easy.

When I first looked at the code of PMWiki my jaw hit the floor.  I 
simply was not prepared or experienced enough to make sense of it all.  
Having the css code in one directory, the skins in another directory, 
and the pmwiki.php in the local directory was very confusing to me in 
the beginning.  I spent nearly 3 days trying to search out the 
information on your main site as to how to approach this script.  For 
many ... that much time would have sent most people looking for another 
piece of software to do the job instead of trying to learn PMWiki.  Not 
a good thing IMHO.

So what's my first impression of PMWiki?  I think it's the best wiki 
based software ( that does not require a database backend ) available 
if you are trying to integrate a wiki within another program.  It's 
updated regularly and the users are active in it's development.  I like 
that.  However it really is not the easiest piece of code to have to 
work with especially someone that is sitting in my shoes.

The installation was simple, clean, and easy ... the customization part 
should be just as easy, but it isn't.  I am still too new at this to 
really have any major suggestions at this time.  Basically, I'm still 
trying to figure out what goes where still.  However I do know that if 
I have to spend days learning just where the pieces go ... I have lost 
very valuable time that I could have used in developing my content 
instead.  In the end ... if I can build a site quickly, make it simple, 
make it beautiful and productive, I can then concentrate on building my 
content which in turn brings more awareness ( site visitors ) to the 
developers of the software that runs the whole show.

Maybe implementing a template service where members who are experienced 
in coding for PMWiki can upload complete custom template designs ( with 
comments ) so that new users can download ( for free ) as many as they 
want to learn the basics of coding for PMWiki or hire one of the 
members/programmers to modify a specific template to meet their needs.  
After a while you may have 20 or 30 template packages to choose from.  
I may see one item on one template and another item that I like on 
another.  So I take code from A and add it to B and tada ... I have 
something close to what I want.  If I still need more customization, 
and I am not able to do it myself, I hire someone to do it for me.  
What all this does it shorten the time from implementation and design 
to a finished viable product that people can visit and say, " WOW ... 
now that is a really kewl site ... PMWiki???  There's a link let's go 
take a look! "

In the end ... more site visitors, more exposure for the software and 
programmers, more money that enters the coffers.  Then again it's late 
and I have to go to bed.

Tell you what???  Email me in the morning and tell me if I made any 
sense ... OK?  ;-)




On Saturday, February 21, 2004, at 06:24 PM, 
Pmwiki-users-request at pmichaud.com wrote:

> I'm really surprised at the number of people who've said they can't 
> follow
> the structures in the stdlayout.php/pmwiki.php code, or that they're 
> trying
> to modify the $HandleBrowseFmt and other $Handle...Fmt variables, as I
> wouldn't have thought any of these were necessary to produce a desired
> layout.  So what am I missing?
>
> Pm


I Hope This Helps ...
Keep Looking Up

Doc

Lee Corbridge, DVM ~ allcritters at yahoo.com
http://www.allcritters.com ~ Sebring, FL
Member AVMA, AAFP ~ USDA Accredited

Practice Limited To Cats Of All Sizes

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can 
change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
-- Margaret Mead

"Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make 
mistakes."
? Mahatma Gandhi






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