php & wikis

[Alain Farmer]

Hello David, Andu, and y'all,

> I've not used MC to create server side blog/Wiki
> stuff -- it's already been done...

Please, please, I *beg* you to give us some URLs to
have a look at these MetaCard-based blog/Wiki servers.

> ... but adding custom stuff to the core structure
> is I think a more productive line to take.

Sounds interesting. Let's discuss this further.

> On the end-user side, I've never been a fan of
> Wikis, but liked Blog's, which is strange as I'm 
> working on wiki based stuff at the moment. Blog's
> have proved more succesful in the short term...

That's odd! My experience is exactly the contrary.
Blogs are like un-threaded forums. The messages just
pile in one after the other, most recent one on the
top. A lot of 'publishing' systems like Xoops also
share this same paradigm. Wikis, OTOH, are more like a
editable website. The content is divided into
hyperlinked pages. The info becomes hierarchically
organized (a good thing) without sacrificing any of
the hyper-linking to any other page or site. The
knowledge being built with the wiki has a stable feel
to it, and bits of it can be subsequently tweaked as
many times as you like; whereas, in blogs, only the
admin has the power to modify the content of the
contributions.

What I don't like about wikis, or rather the ones I
have used so far, is that the web interface is the
*only* way to interact with the wiki; whereas the blog
can also be mailed to or accessed by any XML-RPC
client. But I have since discovered that there are
wikis that also do XML-RPC. Without this 'automation'
potential, making global changes in a wiki is a
nightmare. You literally have to go to each-and-every
page as any 'user' would. Which is why I am still
interested in systems like Zope. A global change of a
footer on [a subset of] all pages is a cinch with Zope
: all you have to do is change one file in the
appropriate place in the object hierarchy.

> ...but the technologies are merging.

Many blogs were started by forking some wiki code. As
for merging, I am not sure it would be a good idea.
They each have their own particular 'charm' (e.g.
uses).

> Wikis especially annoy me as they bring out in the
> starkest terms, how awful browsers are at producing 
> responsive interfaces - you can do it so much better

> in MC.

My guess is that you're interacting with your blogs
with a MC-client, whereas the wikis you have used only
have a web interface. If so, you have not founf the
right wiki yet, e.g. the ones you can remote control
with XML-RPC.

> Think you can get the best in both worlds by
> producing value added clients in MC, with the option

> of using the web interface if you really have to.

Very well summed up, David. Value added clients in MC
for those customers who are open-minded, AND the
lesser option of using the web interface for those
conservative customers who are still *clinging* to
their favorite web browser (just like Linus and his
favorite blanket in the Peanuts).

Regards y'all,

Alain

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