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Re: The Future of the QL Wiki

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 12:04 am
by dilwyn
Assuming Norman's work leads to an easier way for people to edit and update the QL wiki, there will be no excuse for people who have relevant information not to try editing pages etc.

Hope everyone will be prepared to contribute information to make it as up to date and comprehensive a guide to the QL as possible.

Re: The Future of the QL Wiki

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 12:25 am
by martyn_hill
Hi Dave - glad to hear that your surgery went well - sorry to hear that you needed it :-(

Re: The Future of the QL Wiki

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:06 am
by NormanDunbar
Morning Dave,

I agree with Martyn. Get well.

Cheers,
Norm.

Re: The Future of the QL Wiki

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:19 am
by NormanDunbar
Morning Dilwyn, everyone,
dilwyn wrote:Assuming Norman's work leads to an easier way for people to edit and update the QL wiki, there will be no excuse for people who have relevant information not to try editing pages etc. Hope everyone will be prepared to contribute information to make it as up to date and comprehensive a guide to the QL as possible.
When this thread started I was keen to help, similar to the SuperBASIC On-line Manual - which I knew would come down to me updating as I converted it, but that's fine. A few people on the thread were trying stuff out with different Wiki systems etc, so I figured that (a) DokuWiki would be the ideal way to go as it's supported, secure (or as secure as it can be) and well used, however, (b) other people were apparently trying other things. I decided that by writing a parser (to give it a grand name) with a "printer.dat" style file, I could come up with a system that anyone could use, hopefully, regardless of the final Wiki system decided upon.

I have to say that I'm actually very impressed (self praise being no praise and all that!) by the conversion from Wiclear to DokuWiki. There are a few problems, but in the main it worked very well indeed. Problems I'm looking at are:
  • Some page links don't work. I've tracked this to misspellings of the page name in the original Wiki pages. Digital Precision Limited has a few non working links, because the page is actually Digital Precision Ltd.
  • Images need better alignment. The default is "inline" but we need left, centre or right. This needs a slight change to the program as DokuWiki (and others?) use a different URL depending on the desired alignment. HTML, on the other hand, uses the same URL with the alignment "built in".
  • Missing pages. These, Schoen for example, were missing from the original Wiki and I cannot do much about that, apart from filling in what I know!
  • Off Wiki links to various web sites are broken in a few cases. I think there's a plug-in for DokuWiki to check for broken links, but I need to look into it.
So far, that's all I've found. Maybe there's a better theme for the DokuWiki, but that's an added "bonus" if necessary - I'm beginning to like the default one to be honest.

As for getting people to update it, there shouldn't be a problem, just ask Rich! :(


Cheers,
Norm.

Re: The Future of the QL Wiki

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 12:52 pm
by NormanDunbar
Just a quickie re the test Wiki.

I've changed the theme for the Wiki away from the default and I'm now using a BootStrap theme which works well on Mobile phones, Tablets and laptops/PCs with narrow, medium and wide screens. This looks better on all the devices I've tried so far.

In addition, on the navigation bar at the top, you can pick a theme within the theme, and it sticks between sessions. Some of the options are diabolical, but personal choice is personal after all, so what I detest, someone else may love! Cerulean looks best, followed by Spacelab.

Cheers,
Norm.

Re: The Future of the QL Wiki

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 1:12 pm
by dilwyn
NormanDunbar wrote:If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that people join "clubs" to do one or more of the following:

* meet other like minded people;
* drink beer;
* take control, my way is the only way, pug up with it or ship out;
* join in the running of said club;
* expect everyone else to do the running, organising, etc, but complain vociferously about stuff not being done, while never putting any effort in themselves;
* being late to pay up for stuff;
* complain when the club folds;
* etc.
Strange, I recognise these from most of the organisations I belong to ;)

Re: The Future of the QL Wiki

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 1:18 pm
by dilwyn
NormanDunbar wrote:Just a quickie re the test Wiki.

I've changed the theme for the Wiki away from the default and I'm now using a BootStrap theme which works well on Mobile phones, Tablets and laptops/PCs with narrow, medium and wide screens. This looks better on all the devices I've tried so far.

In addition, on the navigation bar at the top, you can pick a theme within the theme, and it sticks between sessions. Some of the options are diabolical, but personal choice is personal after all, so what I detest, someone else may love! Cerulean looks best, followed by Spacelab.

Cheers,
Norm.
Had a quick look at this and I agree, it does indeed seem to look better on mobile phones.

The themes are OK, just personal taste as you say.

Will we need new logins to edit this or can those of us with existing logins continue to use them?

Re: The Future of the QL Wiki

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 2:01 pm
by XorA
dilwyn wrote:
NormanDunbar wrote: * drink beer;
Strange, I recognise these from most of the organisations I belong to ;)
Not sure if the 1% beer counts here :-D

#qlforum celebrating propper strong beer :-D

Re: The Future of the QL Wiki

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 2:09 pm
by NormanDunbar
Afternoon Dilwyn,
dilwyn wrote:Will we need new logins to edit this or can those of us with existing logins continue to use them?
At the moment, I'm the only one! Until I get it all sorted that is.

Then we have to decide if it's going to stay where it is - it's a free hosting site so nobody "owns" it, but Rich's idea was to set up some form of community led/owned/administered "system" which would take control of all the stuff he wanted to offload (for want of a better word) for various reasons. If is stays where it is, fine. Otherwise, we can easily move it in it's current form to another site hosting a DokuWiki setup.

The existing Wiki dump file, which Rich supplied me with, has everyone's details up to the 27th July 2017, so I might be able to add everyone back in. Passwords will need to be changed as they are "hashed" (probably md5 or similar) in the existing wiki database tables. The good news is, I've been an administrator of DokuWiki sites before - at least three contracts and one permanent position, plus my own QDOSMSQ wiki is also DokuWiki. (And will be getting a long overdue face lift to make it better on phones etc too!)

So, in summary, existing logins but new passwords I suspect.

UPDATE: I've just had a look at the administration side of the DokuWiki system. There is a bulk-import option on usernames, so all I need is a login name, a full name, an email address and whether the user is admin or not. I can get all of that with a script against the current MySQL database easily enough.

Once I run the import, there will be an email sent, hopefully, to the email address given, with details of the new system generated password. The users can login and click the 'change profile' link to give themselves a new one, if they wish. I (or any administrator) will not ever see the generated passwords, nor the emails that go out.

Cheers,
Norm.

Re: The Future of the QL Wiki

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 3:14 pm
by dilwyn
Thank you.