I need to use MediaWiki at work. It used to be okay, but with sites s.a. StackOverflow, there's some user interface issues that simply don't do any more.
Most importantly, I'd want to see the live preview when typing. There shouldn't be need for a preview mode.
What Wikis are you using? Which would be the best for a recent (easy) Web experience?
Can MediaWiki be updated to have more recent UI behaviour?
Addendum:
Two products seem to be above others, both "open source commercial" (= you get a skinny version free, standard and enterprise levels with more goodies cost).
MindTouch DekiWiki
Confluence
Judge for yourself. I sure found my liking in one of these. :)
There is a WYSIWYG extension for mediawiki. See Fckeditor:
Well there is StackExchange (which is the StackOverflow engine), but you have to pay for it.
A discussion on Confluence vs Mediawiki: http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DISC/Confluence+Vs+Mediawiki
It doesn't have the preview feature you talk about, but you asked for "favorite wikis", so here's mine (at least favorite for ease of use/setup):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ScrewTurn_Wiki
http://www.screwturn.eu/
Related
Can't find any information on iPhoto's plugin development for iPhoto 11. Did Apple abandoned iPhoto SDK effort completely?
Log into your developer.apple.com account and paste this into Safari:
https://developer.apple.com/downloads/download.action?path=Developer_Tools/iphoto_08__plugin_sdk/iphoto_08_plugin_sdk.dmg
One bit of good news is that the iPhoto database is SQLite and is quite accessible to someone already familiar to SQL. The schema changed pretty significantly between iPhoto '09 and '11 but the concepts behind my experiments accessing iPhotoMain.db from the "sqlite3" command-line tool are still relevant.
I can't answer that officially, but it sure seems like Apple abandoned it. The SDK/sample code used to be readily available on the developer site, but it's now pretty difficult to track down. The bright side is it can still be done with the old sample code they used to provide assuming you can find it. The down side is that when it's hard to find like that, it's likely Apple won't be supporting it any more. Of course, maybe they're going to adopt a new plugin architecture, but I won't be holding my breath.
I found this link to an iPhoto Exporter plugin code example: http://code.google.com/p/slideshowexporter/ I think whoever posted this one to google code modified it to meet their needs, but it looks like some of the original code is still in tact and might be a good starting place for you.
I can confirm that the Apple example code works with iPhoto 11. I just don't have an official link.
Good luck.
I'm developing a WinForm app in c# 4.0 and would like other (non-developer) colleagues to contribute writing a context sensitive end-user helpfile. First I thought I could use "HTML Help Workshop" from Microsoft, but it seems outdated (Vista and Windows 7 not supported).
Then I've looked at Sandcastle, but the documentation is lacking and I wonder if it is suitable for non-technical users to write end-user documentation.
So I read about RoboHelp, but it's way to expensive for me.
I'm getting lost in all the information that is available about helpfiles. Can someone help give some best practices or information on what tools to use and what output format I should target (still chm or other).
Great question. I like your idea of non-developers contributing to the end-user documentation.
This idea might motivate users and testers of your application to easily contribute to the documentation.
The first thing that comes to my mind, is using a some sort of wiki engine. You could build a simple function in your WinForm application, that fires up a browser and directs in to the wiki. You could use the context from which it is called to build up an url; e.g. http://dev-wiki.mycompany.com/LoginForm?action=edit. Here the name of the form ("LoginForm") is used in the url of a wiki page.
Alternatively, you could simply use the embedded web browser control for WinForms to access the wiki. That would look something like:
var url = GetWikiUrl(myForm);
browserControl.Navigate(url);
This would be very easy to embed in your application.
In a controlled (office) environment, this would be very easy to set up. In you production environment it might be a bit more difficult, but still doable. It might leverage some end-user contributions too.
For writing documentation, I use sphinx.
It lets you document in plain text and has various output formats (chm, html, pdf etc.).
Some of these (chm, html) can be used as context-sensitive help sources.
However simple, the sphinx user-interface (text editor and make file) might not be suitable for non-technical users.
I would recommend to use Help+Manual for creating CHM documentation. It's similar to MS Word and any PC user can start to contribute doc development after short education.
But this tool isn't free :(
Just wondering what software you use to create a visual sitemap / site structure representation before you start big sites?
I am looking to map out a large site, but cannot find any good software to help me map the site visually (And in pages/categories)..
Maybe SketchFlow http://electricbeach.org/?p=145 ? which is included in the Expression Blend Trial http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=92E1DB7A-5D36-449B-8C6B-D25F078F3609&displaylang=en
I strongly suggest taking a look at this tool: http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups
The Balsamiq tool is the best for doing mockups (i assume this is what you are referring too when talking about sitemaps before you start...). With this software you can quickly generate a working wireframe of what ever you are creating. So much functionality that you can actually share it with your client to get some good sign offs prior to typing the first bit of code.
Very powerful!
And the other one...just shown at the last MIX09 is SketchFlow. Couldn't remember it to save my life. This is a WAY COOL tool for site maps and UI mock up. I was trying to find you the actual MIX presentation as it is super cool to watch. But here are some YouTube videos of that presentation from a user perspective I guess.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsAZjb7FKXA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3ErrS68YMM
Check it out!
update...found the SketchFlow video!!! http://videos.visitmix.com/MIX09/C01F
Great keynote from there too: http://videos.visitmix.com/MIX09/KEY01
I know this is an old question, but for others who find this via search, I personally love mocking my websites up with mind mapping tools. I've tried several but my favorite was MindNode for Mac and Xmind for Windows.
XMind free download:
http://www.xmind.net/
MindNode free download:
https://mindnode.com/
I've also tried MindMeister which works just as well as other mind mapping tools and is hosted for you so you can access your mind maps anywhere. However, MindMeister only allows you three maps (currently) without upgrading to a paid subscription.
Another that I've worked with is mockflow.com which is great for mocking up websites with all their features and buttons and even making clickable navigation. They have a free version, but again it's very limited without upgrading to a paid version.
I'm using Slickplan. This cloud based app allows me to have access to my projects from different machines regardless of their operating systems. All I need is one of the leading web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari).
With Slickplan you can create visual sitemaps from scratch or you can use Site Crawler to import your existing website to visualize and reorganize its structure.
Of course you can always export your projects to the XML format, and use the exported file to create pages and menu systems inside some popular content management system - Slickplan provides plugins for WordPress, Joomla, concrete5 and a few more.
What are the minimum programming requirements to create a Firefox plugin?
You need to learn XUL for the UI and Javascript for the programming.
more infos here:
https://developer.mozilla.org/En/Developing_add-ons
Firefox plugins (such as things like Flash player) are binary components you develop in NPAPI the cross-browser API for plugins.
Check out Mozilla Plugin Developer Center
You might also look into Firefox Extensions sometimes Firefox plugins are shipped as extensions. Firefox extensions modify or enhance the functionality of the browser itself. Javascript is primarily the language you'll be writing a Firefox plugin.
Check out the Mozilla Extensions Developer Center
Some Firefox plugins that come in handy when developing Firefox plugins are the Venkman Javascript Debugger and Firebug Javascript debugger
If you are into an organized style of reading, and prefer an good ol' book, start here.
http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Firefox-Building-Internet-Applications/dp/0596102437
It will get you started on the basics on XUL, which is in turn used to build the addons. If you have a touch in javascript, it will definitely help you.
Else,
Start here.
https://developer.mozilla.org/En
You can start learning what all you will need to start developing firefox addons, or even firefox itself.
If you are fairly proficient in Javascript and DOM, then, just jump here.
https://developer.mozilla.org/En/Developing_add-ons.
The only problem might be, they are as not comprehensive for a newbie programmer. If you have some professional background in programming, and can pick up a language from sample codes, then start here.
But I would definitely suggest a well organized book, like I mentioned above. There are very few XUL book in the market, this was my first google result, so just linked it here.
Search for XUL on http://www.amazon.com/.Choose one, atleast a book published after 2006-07.
[edit]
Just found out this good article
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Getting_started_with_extension_development
There seems to be a huge misunderstanding here; Are you trying to create a plugin or an extension? As Dougnukem stated, plugins have nothing to do with XUL or extensions. They are shared libraries (.dll, .so, or .dylib for win, linux, mac) that provide functionality that the browser isn't capable of alone.
If you're just getting started, I'd recommend looking at the FireBreath plugin framework and reading through some documentation. A decent place to start is: http://colonelpanic.net/2009/03/building-a-firefox-plugin-part-one/
Also, you still haven't selected an answer for this question; is that because you haven't found an answer yet, or because you've forgotten?
Advanced DOM, the Firefox API
I was just reading about Magento, a free framework for easily creating an ecommerce site. I was wondering if anyone knew of a similar, easy to use framework that is designed specifically for social networking sites.
Thanks in advance for your wisdom!
I've seen a few people mention MonoX (based on ASP.Net), but I've not had a chance to evaluate it yet myself: http://www.mono-software.com/Pages/MonoX-ASP.NET-Portal-Framework.aspx
Ning.
Edit. The Ning business model is, they host your community for free and they get the revenue from adverts on the site. If you want to host it yourself you can, but you need to license the software.
Edit 2 I recommended Ning because I participate in a community hosted there. A minute's Googling through Elgg which seems to be more what you're looking for, but I haven't had an direct experience of it.
Laconi.ca (micro-blogging - which could be considered a subset of social networking). It's an open source option on which you could base a project (plugins have already been developed).
You could try something like JomSocial, which is built on top of Joomla.
Having just looked at this question again, you might find that Drupal is pretty useful in building a social networking site too.
We have recently built a private social network for a client, based on Drupal, and lots of the functionality is a pretty good match, particularly if you include modules such as User Relationships and Organic Groups.
I hope that helps!