[pmwiki-users] Cluster recipe

[The Editor]

On 2/14/07, Kathryn Andersen <kat_lists at katspace.homelinux.org> wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 13, 2007 at 09:04:28AM -1000, Sivakatirswami wrote:
> > Kathryn Andersen wrote:
> > >I've uploaded a new version of the group-cluster recipe:
> > >http://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/Cookbook/Cluster
> > >
> > >This adds $GroupTitle and $GroupTitlespaced page variables.  For the
> > >most part it's the same as the GroupTitle recipe, in that it looks for
> > >the (:title :) in various pages, but if it doesn't find those, then it
> > >will use the last part of the group name as the group title; so, for
> > >something like Kingdom-Animal-Canine, the $GroupTitle will be "Canine".
> >
> > "Cluster"  Good! avoids all the philosophical machinations
> > over what is or is not Hierarchical Groups....and
> > the traditional PMwiki URL's have their advantages
>
> Less confusing when it doesn't change the URLs, yes.
> Even though it would be prettier if it did.


In contrasting the two recipes, heres a few thoughts to consider...

First, it should be noted that Hg accepts either cleanurl like links
or regular PmWiki type links.  So it's not a choice between either
or...  And the function that converts links into cleanurls is easily
turned on or off.  When off, there is no difference in this regard
between the two recipes.

If there is a preference Hg could be changed to leave it off by
default. Actually, probably a good idea, as it would help new users
understand what Hg is doing. To me having both options available seems
a better approach as some definitely like the cleaner look.  And with
it optional, it might save us from having to maintain two virtually
identical recipes...

Another advantage to Hg is that it has a built in powerful group
prefixing capability that can be used to great effect.  Basically you
can define a subgroup and have all links automatically prefixed such
that they are placed within that group.  For example, I plan to use
this to allow member to create their own individual wiki spaces with
normal group.name linking. It too can be turned on or off, and can be
overwritten when turned on to provide normal linking.  So these are
two big plusses to hg.

On the other hand, looking at the Cluster code I noticed Kathryn added
some rather complex sidebar stuff. Though there's no documentation on
it, I'm wondering if you have changed how Cluster handles sidebars--or
if it works as Hg?  Also, Cluster added a good Group Title idea which
I will probably add to Hg when I get back from Melbourne.  :)

Kathryn, were there any other functional changes you made in Cluster?
I notice you made quite a few code changes, but theres no
documentation on the cluster recipe page of any differences in how it
works. Also have you used the new group home page feature in the
latest beta release of PmWiki yet?  Or do you even have group
homepages capabilities in Cluster?

Cheers,
Dan