[Pmwiki-users] Re: Authors/Users WikiGroup?
Jonathan Scott Duff
duff
Tue Feb 3 08:29:23 CST 2004
On Tue, Feb 03, 2004 at 12:24:20AM -0700, Patrick R. Michaud wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 02, 2004 at 05:02:56PM -0600, Jonathan Scott Duff wrote:
> >
> > I'd prefer shorter too, but isn't part of the point that this will
> > rarely need to be typed? Contributors will just put --Scott and that
> > will magically turn into --Contributors/{{Scott}}
>
> Allowing "--username" as markup at the end of a line is still just a
> proposed addition at the moment--it hasn't necessarily been adopted
> (although there seems to be fairly strong support).
I'm taking the position that something like --username will exist at
some point if only because of shear momentum :)
> Plus, there are
> times when I might want to make reference to another person in the
> middle of a paragraph, as in
>
> Contributors/{{Scott}} says that Contributors/{{Pm}} is allowed
> to do what Pm wants ala Larry Wall.
>
> and I might prefer that Contributors be less cumbersome to type.
We could easily come up with an inline version. Here's one we've
already seen:
[[--Scott]] says that [[--Pm]] is allowed to do what [[--Pm]]
wants ala Larry Wall
> But, I don't know that this will occur often, and a WikiAdmin can always
> change the WikiGroup to be something shorter if he/she prefers.
>
> Returning to the proposed "--username" markup itself, a few questions arise:
>
> 1. What should happen by default with "--username" if the page
> Contributors/Username doesn't exist? Should it become a '?'-link to
> create the page, as with other non-existent WikiWords, or should
> it just be left alone? (I'll probably make this a configurable
> option, but want to know what the default behavior should be.)
It should become a link be default. Make it easy for people to add
themselves to the Contributors group.
> 2. In addition to the example that Reimer Behrends gave of a markup
> alias ("-- That"), the pattern I last proposed would allow names to
> begin with lowercase letters which can generate even more
> unintended markup aliases. For example, with the pattern I
> proposed the following lines in markup would both generate
> username links:
>
> ls --all
> grep -r -- pattern - otherfile
>
> This might be okay if we agree that non-existent usernames don't
> produce links, but it bothers me a bit that I was able to come
> up with two non-obvious alias examples so quickly. Suggestions,
> comments?
An alternative might be to force the --username markup to appear at
the beginning of a line and be the only thing on the line. (I also
think that there shouldn't be a space between -- and the username in
the markup though it could render that way if desired. But that's a
minor quibble)
[[--Pm]] is allowed to do what [[--Pm]] wants ala Larry Wall
--Scott
> 3. I'm not sure how I feel about "[[--username]]" as an author-link
> markup; it just doesn't look quite as natural as "--username".
> On the other hand, it makes it pretty clear that a link is
> intended.
Another idea: --[[username]] or --{{username}} even. Though these
might be surprising since it's not obvious that the -- is a modifier
on the existing syntax (though that's how it would act).
Maybe we should call the group that the users appear in --
--/{{Pm}} is allowed to do what --/{{Pm}} wants ala Larry Wall
--/{{Scott}}
1/2 :-)
-Scott
--
Jonathan Scott Duff
duff at pobox.com
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