[Pmwiki-users] Re: %class=something% (was Re: Extending ...)

[John Coxon]

On Mar 2, 2004, at 8:26 PM, Patrick R. Michaud wrote:

> Just as a reminder to the group (since I haven't had occasion to say
> it in a long while), the phrase "this markup would only be used by
> advanced users" often translates into "this markup ensures that only
> advanced users will be able use our system."
>
> Someone who knows and understands advanced markups has a choice
> whether to use it.  But someone who doesn't understand the advanced
> markup is out of luck when he/she tries to edit a page containing
> advanced markup written by someone else.  These latter folks will
> often simply get frustrated and decline to participate.


I just reread PmWikiPhilosophy, which attracted me to PmWiki 
originally. Maybe it's time to consider a PmWikiPro version for 
advanced markup while keeping PmWiki simple. I find my users cannot 
handle even the simplest markup and just insert the cursor and type 
away. For them even a PmWikiLite might be too much. If they encounter 
anything more than just the text in the edit box, they are lost.

For example, in one instance, I assigned different colors to editors 
initials to facilitate a dialog. It works well but training editors to 
use it was harder than I would have imagined.

%define=jhc color=green%
%define=tkj color=brown%

Whenever I use a bit of fancy markup in one of our dialogs, it gets 
broken at the first edit. My audience just won't let me show off :-(

I do use PmWiki to build static pages and there I really appreciate the 
extensive markup, but it sure doesn't work on my collaborative pages. 
Maybe I need a new bunch of collaborators ;-)

John