[pmwiki-users] Why all this zapping?

[The Editor]

On 4/30/07, Patrick R. Michaud <pmichaud at pobox.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 30, 2007 at 10:54:31AM -0400, The Editor wrote:
> > Also, I am not too concerned about its success. I'm not even sure if
> > I'll end up using it on my site (I'm leaning toward PmWiki).  I just
> > kept coming up against obstacles and complexities in PmWiki in regards
> > to various cutting edge ZAP functionalities. ZAP works in PmWiki, and
> > PmWiki is a great tool--but both could be integrated in ways that
> > would make a lot of things cleaner and simpler.
>
> Care to enumerate some of these integrations?  And can they
> be done while preserving backwards compatibility and features
> for existing sites, or do we have to throw out a lot of existing
> stuff?

I'll send you a summary Pm of some of the main things I'm doing as
soon as I get a chance.  But you are right--the main reason it cannot
be implemented in PmWiki (easily) is the issue of backwards
compatibility.

Still there may be ways to implement some of the ideas in PmWiki.
Certainly the markup table could, just like you've done for
Creole--which I'm modeling after somewhat closely. And just because I
can't find ways to implement some of the other ideas in PmWiki doesn't
mean someone else couldn't.

> Personally, I have little doubt that we could make a number of
> things much cleaner if we removed some of PmWiki's features, or
> didn't feel a need to preserve a reasonable upgrade path for
> existing sites.

Yes that is the root of the issue.  But second, I've made a number of
major design decisions you've deliberately chosen to handle
differently--and for very good reasons (you've explained them all). So
part of the problem is I'm trying to solve a different set of
problems. Or perhaps, serve a different set of needs.  Whether or not
those decisions pan out remains to be seen.

But I'll send you another post sometime this afternoon when I get some time.

Cheers,
Dan