Difference: ATasteOfTWiki (1 vs. 10)

Revision 102011-08-19 - TWikiContributor

 This is a short introductory training course for TWiki beginners.

Start Presentation

Slide 1: A Taste of TWiki

Hula girl The basic function of TWiki is a Wiki (if that helps!)

A Wiki is like a web site, except that you can edit the content in your browser

  • "Wiki" is short for "wiki wiki", the Hawaiian word for "Quick"
  • The idea originates from Macintosh Hypercard, via Ward Cunningham
  • In Ward's words, Wiki is "the simplest online database that could possibly work"
  • A Wiki is basically a shared, online, persistent whiteboard

Slide 2: TWiki Wiki

Whiteboard TWiki implements the basic Wiki idea of a shared whiteboard

  • Anyone can add content
    ... or change what is written
    ... or change the organisation of the content
Changed:
<
<
  • Whatever what you write is
    ... nicely presented
    ... remembered... and never forgotten
>
>
  • Whatever you write is
    ... nicely presented
    ... remembered... and never forgotten
  Start Presentation

TWiki also acts as an "application platform" to integrate a number of other functions.

TWiki is an Open-Source development on TWiki.org

Slide 1: Where is it used?

TWiki is mainly used in commercial environments, often on corporate intranets
  • Examples: Disney, British Telecom, SAP, Wind River, Motorola, Epic Games
    Disney logo British Telecom logo SAP logo Motorola logo Epic Games logo

A number of public Wiki sites also use TWiki

Slide 2: TWiki Features

TWiki builds on the original Wiki concept and adds a number of features that make it very useful in a business environment.
  • TWiki pages are fully revision controlled, so a record of every change to every page is kept
    r6 < r5 < r4
  • The look-and-feel is highly configurable, through use of templates
  • A "plugins" interface eases
    • customisation
    • extension
    • application integration

Slide 3: Applications of basic TWiki

Basic TWiki can be used as:
  • A whiteboard
  • A document repository
  • A collaborative authoring environment
  • A notebook / scrapbook
  • A chat room

Slide 4: Extended applications

TWiki-with-extensions has been used as:
  • A Content Management System (CMS) for websites
  • A presentation development tool
  • A Blog
  • A database
  • A project management system
  • A tracking tool
  • (truth is, we don't really know its limits!)

Slide 5: Structure of a TWiki page

TWiki pages are usually organised into three parts:
  • A header
  • A body
  • A footer

  • The header and the footer are generated by the system
  • The body contains the text of the page, as entered by you
TWiki is very configurable, and the look can change. However the essentials will all be there on the page (somewhere!)

Slide 6: The Page Header

The header of a TWiki page is generally highlighted in colour, and will usually contain an icon that gives you an idea of where you are, such as a company logo.
TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
It will also usually contain a number of 'links' that you can click on. You will generally see:
  • Changes - gives you a list of recent changes
  • Index - gives you a full index
  • Search - takes you to a search page, where you can search all the text
  • Go - lets you type in the name of a page you already know

Slide 7: The Page Header ... continued

TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
You may also see in the header (usually at the top right) a list of the TWiki "webs". A web is a collection of pages that are related closely together
  • For example, we might have a web called "Enemies", where we keep all we know about our enemies, and another called "Friends"
  • There's usually a safe play web called something like "Sandbox" or "Scratch", where you can create pages just to try things out
  • And some admin areas, like "Main" and "TWiki"

Slide 8: The Page Footer

The footer of the page is also highlighted in colour, and is usually where you will find the links that let you change the content.
Edit | Attach | Diffs | r2 > r1 | More
Revision r1.2 - 13 Feb 2004 - 09:09 GMT - TWikiPresenter This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platformCopyright © 1999-2024 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback
Note: Please contribute updates to this topic on TWiki.org at TWiki:TWiki.ATasteOfTWiki.
  • The Edit link takes you to an interactive page where you can change the page content
  • The Attach link lets you attach files
  • The other links invoke other, more complex, functions, mainly to do with revision tracking - they can safely be ignored for now

Slide 9: Editing Pages

  • You've read a page, and you disagree with it violently! It says:
    Everyone knows that the world is an OblateSpheroid
    But you know for a fact it is flat! wink
  • You've clicked the edit link, and an edit page has appeared. But it doesn't look much like what was on the page before - it's full of strange hieroglyphics!
_Everyone_ *knows* that =the world= is an OblateSpheroid
  • Now what?

Slide 10: What's in a page

  • The hieroglyphics are what's known as "TWiki Markup" or "formatting"
  • They are a really simple way of telling the browser how you want the page to look
  • You don't have to use them
    • TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine.

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

      appears as

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

Slide 11: Formatting just makes pages prettier

... and easier to read

_Actually_ it is *perfectly* and __absolutely__ flat

appears as

Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat
  • A full description of all the formatting can be found in the TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • The best thing to do is just to type until you get stuck
    • then follow the link on the edit page to the help.

Slide 12: Commonly used formatting

TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine, but you can jazz them up using some simple formatting shortcuts. Here are some of the more commonly used ones:
  • ---+ indicates a heading. Add more +'s for a deeper heading.
    You type You see
    ---+ This is a heading

    This is a heading

    ---++ And so is this

    And so is this

  • %TOC% will insert a table of contents

Slide 13: More common formatting

  • A blank line gives a paragraph break
  • --- on a line of its own gives a horizontal bar
  • Text in stars *like this* looks like this
  • Text in underscores _like this_ looks like this
  • Text in equals signs =like this= looks like this
  • Bulleted lists use three spaces followed by an asterisk (*) at the start of the line
    • The depth of the bullet is given by the number of spaces, in multiples of three
You type You see
   * Bullet
      * Sub-bullet
  • Bullet
    • Sub-bullet
  • Numbered lists use a number in place of the *. The list is numbered automatically, so you can just use a 1

Slide 14: Even more.....

  • You can create a table using vertical bars:
     | Cat | Feline |
     | Bear | Ursine |
     | Wolf | Lupine |
  • appears as
    Cat Feline
    Bear Ursine
    Wolf Lupine
  • %RED% .... %ENDCOLOR% will change the colour of the enclosed text. Lots of colours are available (%RED%, %GREEN%, %BLUE% etc)

WikiWords"> Slide 15: WikiWords

  • One special hieroglyph that is very important is a BumpyWord
    • a word that starts with uppercase, then some lowercase, then more uppercase (a.k.a CamelCase)
  • This has a special meaning to TWiki; if it matches the name of another topic, TWiki will automatically create a link to that page for you.
  • If there is no such page, then the word is highlighted with a red-link, LikeThis
  • If you click on the red-link, then TWiki will invite you to create that page.

  • This lets you enter the names of topics you think should exist, but don't yet
    • You, or someone else, can always come along later and click on the red-link!

Slide 16: Referencing other pages and URLs

  • BumpyWords automatically link to the target page
    • You can make these links easier to read using square brackets:
  • An ordinary URL pasted into text will appear as a link - http://www.google.com
    • You can also prettify URLs using square brackets:
      • [[http://www.google.com/][Google]] appears as Google
  • Use %SEARCH. This is an interface to a sophisticated search engine that embeds the results of the search in your page. See TWikiVariables for full details.

Slide 17: More formatting

  • There's lots more formatting available, see TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • If you are a real masochist, you can even enter raw HTML tags!
  • Important to disable unwanted formatting, use <nop>
    • <nop>_word_ appears as _word_

Slide 18: Creating new pages

  • Alternative ways:
    • Click on the red-link of a BumpyWord
    • Type in the name of the topic in the "Jump" box
    • Type in the name of the topic in the URL
  • Any time you try to visit a page that doesn't exist, TWiki will invite you to create it.
  • Make sure the names of topics are always BumpyWords.

Slide 19: Attachments

  • Attachments are files which have been uploaded and attached to a TWiki page using the 'Attach' function in the footer.
Attachment sort Action Size Date Who Comment
myco.gif manage 9.6 K 13 Feb 2004 - 18:41 MushroomMagicMan Attached image file
  • Attachments are simply files, in whatever format you want.
  • TWiki recognises some file formats, notably image files (.gif)
    • Write %ATTACHURL%/myco.gif to see this: myco.gif

Slide 20: Wiki Culture

Enough about mechanics; how is a wiki actually used ? Well, that's really up to you, but there are a number of tricks that the wiki community has developed for collaborative writing that work pretty well:
  • What can I edit?
    • Anything. But it's good etiquette to sign your contributions
    • If someone doesn't want you to edit a page, it's up to them to say so, clearly, on the page
  • But what if somebody doesn't like my edits?
    • In TWiki, they can always recover the old revision and re-instantiate it if they really want to
    • Otherwise they should regard your changes as an opportunity for discussion
  • Pages in wiki are (usually) in one of three "modes"
    • DocumentMode
    • ThreadMode
    • StructuredMode
TWiki doesn't automatically distinguish between these modes; they are purely semantic.

DocumentMode"> Slide 21: DocumentMode

  • A page in DocumentMode usually comprises a contribution which is written in the third person and left unsigned.
  • The piece of text is community property
    • It may have multiple and changing authors as it is updated to reflect the community consensus.

ThreadMode"> Slide 22: ThreadMode

  • Thread mode is a form of discussion where the community holds a conversation
  • The discussion usually starts out with a statement, at the top of the page, that is subsequently discussed
  • The page may be periodically "refactored" (edited) to remove some of the comments
    • As long as the comment is accurately reflected in what replaces it, nobody usually minds.
    • Remember to always maintain a complete list of contributors, though!
You may see a comment box on a page in ThreadMode that makes it easy to quickly add your inputs. Typing in a comment and adding it to a page this way is known as "blogging" wink
  • ThreadMode is rather like an e-mail thread
    • Except that new comments are usually added to the end
  • ThreadMode pages often get refactored into DocumentMode

StructuredMode"> Slide 23: StructuredMode

  • A page in StructuredMode follows some predefined structure for example
    • An agenda
    • A set of meeting minutes
    • A requirement description.
  • Pages in StructuredMode will usually have rules governing how they are edited.

Slide 24: Other Wiki tricks - Categories

  • A Wiki trick for grouping pages together
  • Example: to group together a set of pages all relating to the weather:
    1. Create a page called 'CategoryWeather'
    2. Put a SEARCH that contains the word 'CategoryWeather' into it
      • %SEARCH{"CategoryWeather" nosearch="on" nosummary="on"}%
    3. Put the BumpyWord 'CategoryWeather' on all the pages relating to the weather
      (usually at the bottom, below a horizontal bar)

Slide 25: Contributed features

Basic TWiki is rich with features, but is enriched even further by the addition of optional plug-in modules that may (or may not!) be installed in your TWiki. These are classified as either skins (modules that change the look-and-feel) and plugins (modules that enhance functionality).

Here's a brief description of some of the more common plugins, together with the tags you might expect to see in topics if they are used. You can find out more by visiting the plugin pages.

  • AutoCompletePlugin: Auto-complete for input fields of forms
  • CalendarPlugin: Show a monthly calendar with highlighted events %CALENDAR...%
  • CommentPlugin: Support rapid entry of short comments (also known as blogging) %COMMENT...
  • ChartPlugin: Create PNG or GIF charts to visualize data in TWiki tables %CHART...
  • EditTablePlugin: Edit TWiki tables using edit fields and drop down boxes %EDITTABLE...
  • InterwikiPlugin: Define shortcuts for links to common external sites

Slide 26: More plugins

  • RenderListPlugin: Render bullet lists in a variety of formats %RENDERLIST...
  • SlideShowPlugin: Create web based presentations based on topics with headings %SLIDESHOWSTART...
  • SpreadSheetPlugin: Add spreadsheet calculations like "$SUM( $ABOVE() )" to tables located in TWiki topics %CALC...
  • TablePlugin: Control presentation and sorting of tables %TABLE...
  • TWikiDrawPlugin: Add quick sketches to pages %DRAWING...
The following plugins are installed on this TWiki: SpreadSheetPlugin, BackupRestorePlugin, ColorPickerPlugin, CommentPlugin, DatePickerPlugin, EditTablePlugin, HeadlinesPlugin, InterwikiPlugin, JQueryPlugin, PreferencesPlugin, RedirectPlugin, SetGetPlugin, SlideShowPlugin, SmiliesPlugin, TWikiSheetPlugin, TablePlugin, TagMePlugin, TinyMCEPlugin, TwistyPlugin, WatchlistPlugin, WysiwygPlugin

There are many other plugins, see http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins

Slide 27: Credits and Acknowledgements

Related topics: WelcomeGuest, TWikiTutorial

Revision 92010-11-11 - TWikiContributor

 This is a short introductory training course for TWiki beginners.

Start Presentation

Slide 1: A Taste of TWiki

Hula girl The basic function of TWiki is a Wiki (if that helps!)

A Wiki is like a web site, except that you can edit the content in your browser

Changed:
<
<
  • "Wiki" is short for "wiki wiki", the Hawaiian for "Quick"
>
>
  • "Wiki" is short for "wiki wiki", the Hawaiian word for "Quick"
  Start Presentation
  • The idea originates from Macintosh Hypercard, via Ward Cunningham
  • In Ward's words, Wiki is "the simplest online database that could possibly work"
  • A Wiki is basically a shared, online, persistent whiteboard

Slide 1: TWiki Wiki

Whiteboard TWiki implements the basic Wiki idea of a shared whiteboard

  • Anyone can add content
    ... or change what is written
    ... or change the organisation of the content
  • Whatever what you write is
    ... nicely presented
    ... remembered... and never forgotten

TWiki also acts as an "application platform" to integrate a number of other functions.

TWiki is an Open-Source development on TWiki.org

Slide 2: Where is it used?

TWiki is mainly used in commercial environments, often on corporate intranets
  • Examples: Disney, British Telecom, SAP, Wind River, Motorola, Epic Games
    Disney logo British Telecom logo SAP logo Motorola logo Epic Games logo

A number of public Wiki sites also use TWiki

Slide 3: TWiki Features

TWiki builds on the original Wiki concept and adds a number of features that make it very useful in a business environment.
  • TWiki pages are fully revision controlled, so a record of every change to every page is kept
    r6 < r5 < r4
  • The look-and-feel is highly configurable, through use of templates
  • A "plugins" interface eases
    • customisation
    • extension
    • application integration

Slide 4: Applications of basic TWiki

Basic TWiki can be used as:
  • A whiteboard
  • A document repository
  • A collaborative authoring environment
  • A notebook / scrapbook
  • A chat room

Slide 5: Extended applications

TWiki-with-extensions has been used as:
  • A Content Management System (CMS) for websites
  • A presentation development tool
  • A Blog
  • A database
  • A project management system
  • A tracking tool
  • (truth is, we don't really know its limits!)

Slide 6: Structure of a TWiki page

TWiki pages are usually organised into three parts:
  • A header
  • A body
  • A footer

  • The header and the footer are generated by the system
  • The body contains the text of the page, as entered by you
TWiki is very configurable, and the look can change. However the essentials will all be there on the page (somewhere!)

Slide 7: The Page Header

The header of a TWiki page is generally highlighted in colour, and will usually contain an icon that gives you an idea of where you are, such as a company logo.
TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
It will also usually contain a number of 'links' that you can click on. You will generally see:
  • Changes - gives you a list of recent changes
  • Index - gives you a full index
  • Search - takes you to a search page, where you can search all the text
  • Go - lets you type in the name of a page you already know

Slide 8: The Page Header ... continued

TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
You may also see in the header (usually at the top right) a list of the TWiki "webs". A web is a collection of pages that are related closely together
  • For example, we might have a web called "Enemies", where we keep all we know about our enemies, and another called "Friends"
  • There's usually a safe play web called something like "Sandbox" or "Scratch", where you can create pages just to try things out
  • And some admin areas, like "Main" and "TWiki"

Slide 9: The Page Footer

The footer of the page is also highlighted in colour, and is usually where you will find the links that let you change the content.
Edit | Attach | Diffs | r2 > r1 | More
Revision r1.2 - 13 Feb 2004 - 09:09 GMT - TWikiPresenter This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platformCopyright © 1999-2024 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback
Note: Please contribute updates to this topic on TWiki.org at TWiki:TWiki.ATasteOfTWiki.
  • The Edit link takes you to an interactive page where you can change the page content
  • The Attach link lets you attach files
  • The other links invoke other, more complex, functions, mainly to do with revision tracking - they can safely be ignored for now

Slide 10: Editing Pages

  • You've read a page, and you disagree with it violently! It says:
    Everyone knows that the world is an OblateSpheroid
    But you know for a fact it is flat! wink
  • You've clicked the edit link, and an edit page has appeared. But it doesn't look much like what was on the page before - it's full of strange hieroglyphics!
_Everyone_ *knows* that =the world= is an OblateSpheroid
  • Now what?

Slide 11: What's in a page

  • The hieroglyphics are what's known as "TWiki Markup" or "formatting"
  • They are a really simple way of telling the browser how you want the page to look
  • You don't have to use them
    • TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine.

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

      appears as

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

Slide 12: Formatting just makes pages prettier

... and easier to read

_Actually_ it is *perfectly* and __absolutely__ flat

appears as

Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat
  • A full description of all the formatting can be found in the TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • The best thing to do is just to type until you get stuck
    • then follow the link on the edit page to the help.

Slide 13: Commonly used formatting

TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine, but you can jazz them up using some simple formatting shortcuts. Here are some of the more commonly used ones:
  • ---+ indicates a heading. Add more +'s for a deeper heading.
    You type You see
    ---+ This is a heading

    This is a heading

    ---++ And so is this

    And so is this

  • %TOC% will insert a table of contents

Slide 14: More common formatting

  • A blank line gives a paragraph break
  • --- on a line of its own gives a horizontal bar
  • Text in stars *like this* looks like this
  • Text in underscores _like this_ looks like this
  • Text in equals signs =like this= looks like this
  • Bulleted lists use three spaces followed by an asterisk (*) at the start of the line
    • The depth of the bullet is given by the number of spaces, in multiples of three
You type You see
   * Bullet
      * Sub-bullet
  • Bullet
    • Sub-bullet
  • Numbered lists use a number in place of the *. The list is numbered automatically, so you can just use a 1

Slide 15: Even more.....

  • You can create a table using vertical bars:
     | Cat | Feline |
     | Bear | Ursine |
     | Wolf | Lupine |
  • appears as
    Cat Feline
    Bear Ursine
    Wolf Lupine
  • %RED% .... %ENDCOLOR% will change the colour of the enclosed text. Lots of colours are available (%RED%, %GREEN%, %BLUE% etc)

WikiWords"> Slide 16: WikiWords

  • One special hieroglyph that is very important is a BumpyWord
    • a word that starts with uppercase, then some lowercase, then more uppercase (a.k.a CamelCase)
  • This has a special meaning to TWiki; if it matches the name of another topic, TWiki will automatically create a link to that page for you.
  • If there is no such page, then the word is highlighted with a red-link, LikeThis
  • If you click on the red-link, then TWiki will invite you to create that page.

  • This lets you enter the names of topics you think should exist, but don't yet
    • You, or someone else, can always come along later and click on the red-link!

Slide 17: Referencing other pages and URLs

  • BumpyWords automatically link to the target page
    • You can make these links easier to read using square brackets:
  • An ordinary URL pasted into text will appear as a link - http://www.google.com
    • You can also prettify URLs using square brackets:
      • [[http://www.google.com/][Google]] appears as Google
  • Use %SEARCH. This is an interface to a sophisticated search engine that embeds the results of the search in your page. See TWikiVariables for full details.

Slide 18: More formatting

  • There's lots more formatting available, see TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • If you are a real masochist, you can even enter raw HTML tags!
  • Important to disable unwanted formatting, use <nop>
    • <nop>_word_ appears as _word_

Slide 19: Creating new pages

  • Alternative ways:
    • Click on the red-link of a BumpyWord
    • Type in the name of the topic in the "Jump" box
    • Type in the name of the topic in the URL
  • Any time you try to visit a page that doesn't exist, TWiki will invite you to create it.
  • Make sure the names of topics are always BumpyWords.

Slide 20: Attachments

  • Attachments are files which have been uploaded and attached to a TWiki page using the 'Attach' function in the footer.
Attachment sort Action Size Date Who Comment
myco.gif manage 9.6 K 13 Feb 2004 - 18:41 MushroomMagicMan Attached image file
  • Attachments are simply files, in whatever format you want.
  • TWiki recognises some file formats, notably image files (.gif)
    • Write %ATTACHURL%/myco.gif to see this: myco.gif

Slide 21: Wiki Culture

Enough about mechanics; how is a wiki actually used ? Well, that's really up to you, but there are a number of tricks that the wiki community has developed for collaborative writing that work pretty well:
  • What can I edit?
    • Anything. But it's good etiquette to sign your contributions
    • If someone doesn't want you to edit a page, it's up to them to say so, clearly, on the page
  • But what if somebody doesn't like my edits?
    • In TWiki, they can always recover the old revision and re-instantiate it if they really want to
    • Otherwise they should regard your changes as an opportunity for discussion
  • Pages in wiki are (usually) in one of three "modes"
    • DocumentMode
    • ThreadMode
    • StructuredMode
TWiki doesn't automatically distinguish between these modes; they are purely semantic.

DocumentMode"> Slide 22: DocumentMode

  • A page in DocumentMode usually comprises a contribution which is written in the third person and left unsigned.
  • The piece of text is community property
    • It may have multiple and changing authors as it is updated to reflect the community consensus.

ThreadMode"> Slide 23: ThreadMode

  • Thread mode is a form of discussion where the community holds a conversation
  • The discussion usually starts out with a statement, at the top of the page, that is subsequently discussed
  • The page may be periodically "refactored" (edited) to remove some of the comments
    • As long as the comment is accurately reflected in what replaces it, nobody usually minds.
    • Remember to always maintain a complete list of contributors, though!
You may see a comment box on a page in ThreadMode that makes it easy to quickly add your inputs. Typing in a comment and adding it to a page this way is known as "blogging" wink
  • ThreadMode is rather like an e-mail thread
    • Except that new comments are usually added to the end
  • ThreadMode pages often get refactored into DocumentMode

StructuredMode"> Slide 24: StructuredMode

  • A page in StructuredMode follows some predefined structure for example
    • An agenda
    • A set of meeting minutes
    • A requirement description.
  • Pages in StructuredMode will usually have rules governing how they are edited.

Slide 25: Other Wiki tricks - Categories

  • A Wiki trick for grouping pages together
  • Example: to group together a set of pages all relating to the weather:
    1. Create a page called 'CategoryWeather'
    2. Put a SEARCH that contains the word 'CategoryWeather' into it
      • %SEARCH{"CategoryWeather" nosearch="on" nosummary="on"}%
    3. Put the BumpyWord 'CategoryWeather' on all the pages relating to the weather
      (usually at the bottom, below a horizontal bar)

Slide 26: Contributed features

Basic TWiki is rich with features, but is enriched even further by the addition of optional plug-in modules that may (or may not!) be installed in your TWiki. These are classified as either skins (modules that change the look-and-feel) and plugins (modules that enhance functionality).

Here's a brief description of some of the more common plugins, together with the tags you might expect to see in topics if they are used. You can find out more by visiting the plugin pages.

  • AutoCompletePlugin: Auto-complete for input fields of forms
  • CalendarPlugin: Show a monthly calendar with highlighted events %CALENDAR...%
  • CommentPlugin: Support rapid entry of short comments (also known as blogging) %COMMENT...
  • ChartPlugin: Create PNG or GIF charts to visualize data in TWiki tables %CHART...
  • EditTablePlugin: Edit TWiki tables using edit fields and drop down boxes %EDITTABLE...
  • InterwikiPlugin: Define shortcuts for links to common external sites

Slide 27: More plugins

  • RenderListPlugin: Render bullet lists in a variety of formats %RENDERLIST...
  • SlideShowPlugin: Create web based presentations based on topics with headings %SLIDESHOWSTART...
  • SpreadSheetPlugin: Add spreadsheet calculations like "$SUM( $ABOVE() )" to tables located in TWiki topics %CALC...
  • TablePlugin: Control presentation and sorting of tables %TABLE...
  • TWikiDrawPlugin: Add quick sketches to pages %DRAWING...
The following plugins are installed on this TWiki: SpreadSheetPlugin, BackupRestorePlugin, ColorPickerPlugin, CommentPlugin, DatePickerPlugin, EditTablePlugin, HeadlinesPlugin, InterwikiPlugin, JQueryPlugin, PreferencesPlugin, RedirectPlugin, SetGetPlugin, SlideShowPlugin, SmiliesPlugin, TWikiSheetPlugin, TablePlugin, TagMePlugin, TinyMCEPlugin, TwistyPlugin, WatchlistPlugin, WysiwygPlugin

There are many other plugins, see http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins

Slide 28: Credits and Acknowledgements

Related topics: WelcomeGuest, TWikiTutorial

Revision 82010-03-30 - TWikiContributor

 This is a short introductory training course for TWiki beginners.

Start Presentation

Slide 1: A Taste of TWiki

Hula girl The basic function of TWiki is a Wiki (if that helps!)

A Wiki is like a web site, except that you can edit the content in your browser

  • "Wiki" is short for "wiki wiki", the Hawaiian for "Quick"
  • The idea originates from Macintosh Hypercard, via Ward Cunningham
  • In Ward's words, Wiki is "the simplest online database that could possibly work"
  • A Wiki is basically a shared, online, persistent whiteboard

Slide 2: TWiki Wiki

Whiteboard TWiki implements the basic Wiki idea of a shared whiteboard

  • Anyone can add content
    ... or change what is written
    ... or change the organisation of the content
  • Whatever what you write is
    ... nicely presented
    ... remembered... and never forgotten

TWiki also acts as an "application platform" to integrate a number of other functions.

TWiki is an Open-Source development on TWiki.org

Slide 3: Where is it used?

TWiki is mainly used in commercial environments, often on corporate intranets
  • Examples: Disney, British Telecom, SAP, Wind River, Motorola, Epic Games
    Disney logo British Telecom logo SAP logo Motorola logo Epic Games logo

A number of public Wiki sites also use TWiki

Changed:
<
<
>
>
 

TWiki Features

TWiki builds on the original Wiki concept and adds a number of features that make it very useful in a business environment.
  • TWiki pages are fully revision controlled, so a record of every change to every page is kept
    r6 < r5 < r4
  • The look-and-feel is highly configurable, through use of templates
  • A "plugins" interface eases
    • customisation
    • extension
    • application integration

Applications of basic TWiki

Basic TWiki can be used as:
  • A whiteboard
  • A document repository
  • A collaborative authoring environment
  • A notebook / scrapbook
  • A chat room

Extended applications

TWiki-with-extensions has been used as:
  • A Content Management System (CMS) for websites
  • A presentation development tool
  • A Blog
  • A database
  • A project management system
  • A tracking tool
  • (truth is, we don't really know its limits!)

Structure of a TWiki page

TWiki pages are usually organised into three parts:
  • A header
  • A body
  • A footer

  • The header and the footer are generated by the system
  • The body contains the text of the page, as entered by you
TWiki is very configurable, and the look can change. However the essentials will all be there on the page (somewhere!)

The Page Header

The header of a TWiki page is generally highlighted in colour, and will usually contain an icon that gives you an idea of where you are, such as a company logo.
TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
It will also usually contain a number of 'links' that you can click on. You will generally see:
  • Changes - gives you a list of recent changes
  • Index - gives you a full index
  • Search - takes you to a search page, where you can search all the text
  • Go - lets you type in the name of a page you already know

The Page Header ... continued

TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
You may also see in the header (usually at the top right) a list of the TWiki "webs". A web is a collection of pages that are related closely together
  • For example, we might have a web called "Enemies", where we keep all we know about our enemies, and another called "Friends"
  • There's usually a safe play web called something like "Sandbox" or "Scratch", where you can create pages just to try things out
  • And some admin areas, like "Main" and "TWiki"

The Page Footer

The footer of the page is also highlighted in colour, and is usually where you will find the links that let you change the content.
Edit | Attach | Diffs | r2 > r1 | More
Revision r1.2 - 13 Feb 2004 - 09:09 GMT - TWikiPresenter This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platformCopyright © 1999-2024 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback
Note: Please contribute updates to this topic on TWiki.org at TWiki:TWiki.ATasteOfTWiki.
  • The Edit link takes you to an interactive page where you can change the page content
  • The Attach link lets you attach files
  • The other links invoke other, more complex, functions, mainly to do with revision tracking - they can safely be ignored for now

Editing Pages

  • You've read a page, and you disagree with it violently! It says:
    Everyone knows that the world is an OblateSpheroid
    But you know for a fact it is flat! wink
  • You've clicked the edit link, and an edit page has appeared. But it doesn't look much like what was on the page before - it's full of strange hieroglyphics!
_Everyone_ *knows* that =the world= is an OblateSpheroid
  • Now what?

What's in a page

  • The hieroglyphics are what's known as "TWiki Markup" or "formatting"
  • They are a really simple way of telling the browser how you want the page to look
  • You don't have to use them
    • TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine.

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

      appears as

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

Formatting just makes pages prettier

... and easier to read

_Actually_ it is *perfectly* and __absolutely__ flat

appears as

Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat
  • A full description of all the formatting can be found in the TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • The best thing to do is just to type until you get stuck
    • then follow the link on the edit page to the help.

Commonly used formatting

TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine, but you can jazz them up using some simple formatting shortcuts. Here are some of the more commonly used ones:
  • ---+ indicates a heading. Add more +'s for a deeper heading.
    You type You see
    ---+ This is a heading

    This is a heading

    ---++ And so is this

    And so is this

  • %TOC% will insert a table of contents

More common formatting

  • A blank line gives a paragraph break
  • --- on a line of its own gives a horizontal bar
  • Text in stars *like this* looks like this
  • Text in underscores _like this_ looks like this
  • Text in equals signs =like this= looks like this
  • Bulleted lists use three spaces followed by an asterisk (*) at the start of the line
    • The depth of the bullet is given by the number of spaces, in multiples of three
You type You see
   * Bullet
      * Sub-bullet
  • Bullet
    • Sub-bullet
  • Numbered lists use a number in place of the *. The list is numbered automatically, so you can just use a 1

Even more.....

  • You can create a table using vertical bars:
     | Cat | Feline |
     | Bear | Ursine |
     | Wolf | Lupine |
  • appears as
    Cat Feline
    Bear Ursine
    Wolf Lupine
  • %RED% .... %ENDCOLOR% will change the colour of the enclosed text. Lots of colours are available (%RED%, %GREEN%, %BLUE% etc)

WikiWords

  • One special hieroglyph that is very important is a BumpyWord
    • a word that starts with uppercase, then some lowercase, then more uppercase (a.k.a CamelCase)
  • This has a special meaning to TWiki; if it matches the name of another topic, TWiki will automatically create a link to that page for you.
Changed:
<
<
  • If there is no such page, then the word is highlighted and a question mark is put after the word, LikeThis
  • If you click on the question mark, then TWiki will invite you to create that page.
>
>
  • If there is no such page, then the word is highlighted with a red-link, LikeThis
  • If you click on the red-link, then TWiki will invite you to create that page.
 
  • This lets you enter the names of topics you think should exist, but don't yet
Changed:
<
<
    • You, or someone else, can always come along later and click on the question mark!
>
>
    • You, or someone else, can always come along later and click on the red-link!
 

Referencing other pages and URLs

  • BumpyWords automatically link to the target page
    • You can make these links easier to read using square brackets:
  • An ordinary URL pasted into text will appear as a link - http://www.google.com
    • You can also prettify URLs using square brackets:
      • [[http://www.google.com/][Google]] appears as Google
  • Use %SEARCH. This is an interface to a sophisticated search engine that embeds the results of the search in your page. See TWikiVariables for full details.

More formatting

  • There's lots more formatting available, see TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • If you are a real masochist, you can even enter raw HTML tags!
  • Important to disable unwanted formatting, use <nop>
    • <nop>_word_ appears as _word_

Creating new pages

  • Alternative ways:
Changed:
<
<
    • Click on the question mark after a BumpyWord
    • Type in the name of the topic in the "Go:" box
>
>
    • Click on the red-link of a BumpyWord
    • Type in the name of the topic in the "Jump" box
 
    • Type in the name of the topic in the URL
  • Any time you try to visit a page that doesn't exist, TWiki will invite you to create it.
  • Make sure the names of topics are always BumpyWords.

Attachments

  • Attachments are files which have been uploaded and attached to a TWiki page using the 'Attach' function in the footer.
Attachment sort Action Size Date Who Comment
myco.gif manage 9.6 K 13 Feb 2004 - 18:41 MushroomMagicMan Attached image file
  • Attachments are simply files, in whatever format you want.
  • TWiki recognises some file formats, notably image files (.gif)
    • Write %ATTACHURL%/myco.gif to see this: myco.gif

Wiki Culture

Enough about mechanics; how is a wiki actually used ? Well, that's really up to you, but there are a number of tricks that the wiki community has developed for collaborative writing that work pretty well:
  • What can I edit?
    • Anything. But it's good etiquette to sign your contributions
    • If someone doesn't want you to edit a page, it's up to them to say so, clearly, on the page
  • But what if somebody doesn't like my edits?
    • In TWiki, they can always recover the old revision and re-instantiate it if they really want to
    • Otherwise they should regard your changes as an opportunity for discussion
  • Pages in wiki are (usually) in one of three "modes"
    • DocumentMode
    • ThreadMode
    • StructuredMode
TWiki doesn't automatically distinguish between these modes; they are purely semantic.

DocumentMode

  • A page in DocumentMode usually comprises a contribution which is written in the third person and left unsigned.
  • The piece of text is community property
    • It may have multiple and changing authors as it is updated to reflect the community consensus.

ThreadMode

  • Thread mode is a form of discussion where the community holds a conversation
  • The discussion usually starts out with a statement, at the top of the page, that is subsequently discussed
  • The page may be periodically "refactored" (edited) to remove some of the comments
    • As long as the comment is accurately reflected in what replaces it, nobody usually minds.
    • Remember to always maintain a complete list of contributors, though!
You may see a comment box on a page in ThreadMode that makes it easy to quickly add your inputs. Typing in a comment and adding it to a page this way is known as "blogging" wink
  • ThreadMode is rather like an e-mail thread
    • Except that new comments are usually added to the end
  • ThreadMode pages often get refactored into DocumentMode

StructuredMode

  • A page in StructuredMode follows some predefined structure for example
    • An agenda
    • A set of meeting minutes
    • A requirement description.
  • Pages in StructuredMode will usually have rules governing how they are edited.

Other Wiki tricks - Categories

  • A Wiki trick for grouping pages together
  • Example: to group together a set of pages all relating to the weather:
    1. Create a page called 'CategoryWeather'
    2. Put a SEARCH that contains the word 'CategoryWeather' into it
      • %SEARCH{"CategoryWeather" nosearch="on" nosummary="on"}%
    3. Put the BumpyWord 'CategoryWeather' on all the pages relating to the weather
      (usually at the bottom, below a horizontal bar)

Contributed features

Basic TWiki is rich with features, but is enriched even further by the addition of optional plug-in modules that may (or may not!) be installed in your TWiki. These are classified as either skins (modules that change the look-and-feel) and plugins (modules that enhance functionality).

Here's a brief description of some of the more common plugins, together with the tags you might expect to see in topics if they are used. You can find out more by visiting the plugin pages.

Changed:
<
<
  • ActionTrackerPlugin: Support action tags in topics, with automatic notification of action statuses %ACTION...
>
>
  • AutoCompletePlugin: Auto-complete for input fields of forms
  Start Presentation
  • CalendarPlugin: Show a monthly calendar with highlighted events %CALENDAR...%
  • CommentPlugin: Support rapid entry of short comments (also known as blogging) %COMMENT...
  • ChartPlugin: Create PNG or GIF charts to visualize data in TWiki tables %CHART...
  • EditTablePlugin: Edit TWiki tables using edit fields and drop down boxes %EDITTABLE...
  • InterwikiPlugin: Define shortcuts for links to common external sites

Slide 1: More plugins

  • RenderListPlugin: Render bullet lists in a variety of formats %RENDERLIST...
  • SlideShowPlugin: Create web based presentations based on topics with headings %SLIDESHOWSTART...
  • SpreadSheetPlugin: Add spreadsheet calculations like "$SUM( $ABOVE() )" to tables located in TWiki topics %CALC...
  • TablePlugin: Control presentation and sorting of tables %TABLE...
  • TWikiDrawPlugin: Add quick sketches to pages %DRAWING...
The following plugins are installed on this TWiki: SpreadSheetPlugin, BackupRestorePlugin, ColorPickerPlugin, CommentPlugin, DatePickerPlugin, EditTablePlugin, HeadlinesPlugin, InterwikiPlugin, JQueryPlugin, PreferencesPlugin, RedirectPlugin, SetGetPlugin, SlideShowPlugin, SmiliesPlugin, TWikiSheetPlugin, TablePlugin, TagMePlugin, TinyMCEPlugin, TwistyPlugin, WatchlistPlugin, WysiwygPlugin

There are many other plugins, see http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins

Slide 2: Credits and Acknowledgements

Changed:
<
<
Related topics: WelcomeGuest, TWikiTutorial, ATasteOfTWikiTemplate
>
>
Related topics: WelcomeGuest, TWikiTutorial
Deleted:
<
<
 

Revision 72008-01-05 - TWikiContributor

 This is a short introductory training course for TWiki beginners.

Start Presentation

Slide 1: A Taste of TWiki

Hula girl The basic function of TWiki is a Wiki (if that helps!)

A Wiki is like a web site, except that you can edit the content in your browser

  • "Wiki" is short for "wiki wiki", the Hawaiian for "Quick"
  • The idea originates from Macintosh Hypercard, via Ward Cunningham
  • In Ward's words, Wiki is "the simplest online database that could possibly work"
  • A Wiki is basically a shared, online, persistent whiteboard

Slide 2: TWiki Wiki

Whiteboard TWiki implements the basic Wiki idea of a shared whiteboard

  • Anyone can add content
    ... or change what is written
    ... or change the organisation of the content
  • Whatever what you write is
    ... nicely presented
    ... remembered... and never forgotten

TWiki also acts as an "application platform" to integrate a number of other functions.

TWiki is an Open-Source development on TWiki.org

Slide 3: Where is it used?

TWiki is mainly used in commercial environments, often on corporate intranets
  • Examples: Disney, British Telecom, SAP, Wind River, Motorola, Epic Games
    Disney logo British Telecom logo SAP logo Motorola logo Epic Games logo

A number of public Wiki sites also use TWiki

Slide 4: TWiki Features

TWiki builds on the original Wiki concept and adds a number of features that make it very useful in a business environment.
  • TWiki pages are fully revision controlled, so a record of every change to every page is kept
    r6 < r5 < r4
  • The look-and-feel is highly configurable, through use of templates
  • A "plugins" interface eases
    • customisation
    • extension
    • application integration

Slide 5: Applications of basic TWiki

Basic TWiki can be used as:
  • A whiteboard
  • A document repository
  • A collaborative authoring environment
  • A notebook / scrapbook
  • A chat room

Slide 6: Extended applications

TWiki-with-extensions has been used as:
  • A Content Management System (CMS) for websites
  • A presentation development tool
  • A Blog
  • A database
  • A project management system
  • A tracking tool
  • (truth is, we don't really know its limits!)

Slide 7: Structure of a TWiki page

TWiki pages are usually organised into three parts:
  • A header
  • A body
  • A footer

  • The header and the footer are generated by the system
  • The body contains the text of the page, as entered by you
TWiki is very configurable, and the look can change. However the essentials will all be there on the page (somewhere!)

Slide 8: The Page Header

The header of a TWiki page is generally highlighted in colour, and will usually contain an icon that gives you an idea of where you are, such as a company logo.
TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
It will also usually contain a number of 'links' that you can click on. You will generally see:
  • Changes - gives you a list of recent changes
  • Index - gives you a full index
  • Search - takes you to a search page, where you can search all the text
  • Go - lets you type in the name of a page you already know

Slide 9: The Page Header ... continued

TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
You may also see in the header (usually at the top right) a list of the TWiki "webs". A web is a collection of pages that are related closely together
  • For example, we might have a web called "Enemies", where we keep all we know about our enemies, and another called "Friends"
  • There's usually a safe play web called something like "Sandbox" or "Scratch", where you can create pages just to try things out
Changed:
<
<
  • And some admin areas, like "Main" and "TWiki"
>
>
  • And some admin areas, like "Main" and "TWiki"
 

The Page Footer

The footer of the page is also highlighted in colour, and is usually where you will find the links that let you change the content.
Edit | Attach | Diffs | r2 > r1 | More
Revision r1.2 - 13 Feb 2004 - 09:09 GMT - TWikiPresenter This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platformCopyright © 1999-2024 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback
Note: Please contribute updates to this topic on TWiki.org at TWiki:TWiki.ATasteOfTWiki.
  • The Edit link takes you to an interactive page where you can change the page content
  • The Attach link lets you attach files
  • The other links invoke other, more complex, functions, mainly to do with revision tracking - they can safely be ignored for now

Editing Pages

  • You've read a page, and you disagree with it violently! It says:
    Everyone knows that the world is an OblateSpheroid
    But you know for a fact it is flat! wink
  • You've clicked the edit link, and an edit page has appeared. But it doesn't look much like what was on the page before - it's full of strange hieroglyphics!
_Everyone_ *knows* that =the world= is an OblateSpheroid
  • Now what?

What's in a page

  • The hieroglyphics are what's known as "TWiki Markup" or "formatting"
  • They are a really simple way of telling the browser how you want the page to look
  • You don't have to use them
    • TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine.

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

      appears as

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

Formatting just makes pages prettier

... and easier to read

_Actually_ it is *perfectly* and __absolutely__ flat

appears as

Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat
Changed:
<
<
>
>
 
  • The best thing to do is just to type until you get stuck
    • then follow the link on the edit page to the help.

Commonly used formatting

TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine, but you can jazz them up using some simple formatting shortcuts. Here are some of the more commonly used ones:
  • ---+ indicates a heading. Add more +'s for a deeper heading.
    You type You see
    ---+ This is a heading

    This is a heading

    ---++ And so is this

    And so is this

  • %TOC% will insert a table of contents

More common formatting

  • A blank line gives a paragraph break
  • --- on a line of its own gives a horizontal bar
  • Text in stars *like this* looks like this
  • Text in underscores _like this_ looks like this
  • Text in equals signs =like this= looks like this
  • Bulleted lists use three spaces followed by an asterisk (*) at the start of the line
    • The depth of the bullet is given by the number of spaces, in multiples of three
You type You see
   * Bullet
      * Sub-bullet
  • Bullet
    • Sub-bullet
  • Numbered lists use a number in place of the *. The list is numbered automatically, so you can just use a 1

Even more.....

  • You can create a table using vertical bars:
     | Cat | Feline |
     | Bear | Ursine |
Changed:
<
<
Wolf Vulpine
>
>
Wolf Lupine
 
  • appears as
    Cat Feline
    Bear Ursine
Changed:
<
<
Wolf Vulpine
>
>
Wolf Lupine
 
  • %RED% .... %ENDCOLOR% will change the colour of the enclosed text. Lots of colours are available (%RED%, %GREEN%, %BLUE% etc)

WikiWords

  • One special hieroglyph that is very important is a BumpyWord
    • a word that starts with uppercase, then some lowercase, then more uppercase (a.k.a CamelCase)
  • This has a special meaning to TWiki; if it matches the name of another topic, TWiki will automatically create a link to that page for you.
  • If there is no such page, then the word is highlighted and a question mark is put after the word, LikeThis
  • If you click on the question mark, then TWiki will invite you to create that page.

  • This lets you enter the names of topics you think should exist, but don't yet
    • You, or someone else, can always come along later and click on the question mark!

Referencing other pages and URLs

  • BumpyWords automatically link to the target page
    • You can make these links easier to read using square brackets:
  • An ordinary URL pasted into text will appear as a link - http://www.google.com
    • You can also prettify URLs using square brackets:
      • [[http://www.google.com/][Google]] appears as Google
Changed:
<
<
  • Use %SEARCH. This is an interface to a sophisticated search engine that embeds the results of the search in your page. See TWikiVariables for full details.
>
>
  • Use %SEARCH. This is an interface to a sophisticated search engine that embeds the results of the search in your page. See TWikiVariables for full details.
 

More formatting

Changed:
<
<
>
>
  Start Presentation
  • If you are a real masochist, you can even enter raw HTML tags!
  • Important to disable unwanted formatting, use <nop>
    • <nop>_word_ appears as _word_

Slide 1: Creating new pages

  • Alternative ways:
    • Click on the question mark after a BumpyWord
    • Type in the name of the topic in the "Go:" box
    • Type in the name of the topic in the URL
  • Any time you try to visit a page that doesn't exist, TWiki will invite you to create it.
  • Make sure the names of topics are always BumpyWords.

Slide 2: Attachments

  • Attachments are files which have been uploaded and attached to a TWiki page using the 'Attach' function in the footer.
Attachment sort Action Size Date Who Comment
myco.gif manage 9.6 K 13 Feb 2004 - 18:41 MushroomMagicMan Attached image file
  • Attachments are simply files, in whatever format you want.
  • TWiki recognises some file formats, notably image files (.gif)
    • Write %ATTACHURL%/myco.gif to see this: myco.gif

Slide 3: Wiki Culture

Enough about mechanics; how is a wiki actually used ? Well, that's really up to you, but there are a number of tricks that the wiki community has developed for collaborative writing that work pretty well:
  • What can I edit?
    • Anything. But it's good etiquette to sign your contributions
    • If someone doesn't want you to edit a page, it's up to them to say so, clearly, on the page
  • But what if somebody doesn't like my edits?
    • In TWiki, they can always recover the old revision and re-instantiate it if they really want to
    • Otherwise they should regard your changes as an opportunity for discussion
  • Pages in wiki are (usually) in one of three "modes"
    • DocumentMode
    • ThreadMode
    • StructuredMode
TWiki doesn't automatically distinguish between these modes; they are purely semantic.

DocumentMode"> Slide 4: DocumentMode

  • A page in DocumentMode usually comprises a contribution which is written in the third person and left unsigned.
  • The piece of text is community property
    • It may have multiple and changing authors as it is updated to reflect the community consensus.

ThreadMode"> Slide 5: ThreadMode

  • Thread mode is a form of discussion where the community holds a conversation
  • The discussion usually starts out with a statement, at the top of the page, that is subsequently discussed
  • The page may be periodically "refactored" (edited) to remove some of the comments
    • As long as the comment is accurately reflected in what replaces it, nobody usually minds.
    • Remember to always maintain a complete list of contributors, though!
You may see a comment box on a page in ThreadMode that makes it easy to quickly add your inputs. Typing in a comment and adding it to a page this way is known as "blogging" wink
  • ThreadMode is rather like an e-mail thread
    • Except that new comments are usually added to the end
  • ThreadMode pages often get refactored into DocumentMode

StructuredMode"> Slide 6: StructuredMode

  • A page in StructuredMode follows some predefined structure for example
    • An agenda
    • A set of meeting minutes
    • A requirement description.
  • Pages in StructuredMode will usually have rules governing how they are edited.

Slide 7: Other Wiki tricks - Categories

  • A Wiki trick for grouping pages together
  • Example: to group together a set of pages all relating to the weather:
    1. Create a page called 'CategoryWeather'
    2. Put a SEARCH that contains the word 'CategoryWeather' into it
      • %SEARCH{"CategoryWeather" nosearch="on" nosummary="on"}%
    3. Put the BumpyWord 'CategoryWeather' on all the pages relating to the weather
      (usually at the bottom, below a horizontal bar)

Slide 8: Contributed features

Basic TWiki is rich with features, but is enriched even further by the addition of optional plug-in modules that may (or may not!) be installed in your TWiki. These are classified as either skins (modules that change the look-and-feel) and plugins (modules that enhance functionality).

Here's a brief description of some of the more common plugins, together with the tags you might expect to see in topics if they are used. You can find out more by visiting the plugin pages.

  • ActionTrackerPlugin: Support action tags in topics, with automatic notification of action statuses %ACTION...
  • CalendarPlugin: Show a monthly calendar with highlighted events %CALENDAR...%
  • CommentPlugin: Support rapid entry of short comments (also known as blogging) %COMMENT...
  • ChartPlugin: Create PNG or GIF charts to visualize data in TWiki tables %CHART...
  • EditTablePlugin: Edit TWiki tables using edit fields and drop down boxes %EDITTABLE...
  • InterwikiPlugin: Define shortcuts for links to common external sites

Slide 9: More plugins

  • RenderListPlugin: Render bullet lists in a variety of formats %RENDERLIST...
  • SlideShowPlugin: Create web based presentations based on topics with headings %SLIDESHOWSTART...
  • SpreadSheetPlugin: Add spreadsheet calculations like "$SUM( $ABOVE() )" to tables located in TWiki topics %CALC...
  • TablePlugin: Control presentation and sorting of tables %TABLE...
  • TWikiDrawPlugin: Add quick sketches to pages %DRAWING...
The following plugins are installed on this TWiki: SpreadSheetPlugin, BackupRestorePlugin, ColorPickerPlugin, CommentPlugin, DatePickerPlugin, EditTablePlugin, HeadlinesPlugin, InterwikiPlugin, JQueryPlugin, PreferencesPlugin, RedirectPlugin, SetGetPlugin, SlideShowPlugin, SmiliesPlugin, TWikiSheetPlugin, TablePlugin, TagMePlugin, TinyMCEPlugin, TwistyPlugin, WatchlistPlugin, WysiwygPlugin

There are many other plugins, see http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins

Slide 10: Credits and Acknowledgements

Related topics: WelcomeGuest, TWikiTutorial, ATasteOfTWikiTemplate

Revision 62006-11-20 - TWikiContributor

 This is a short introductory training course for TWiki beginners.
Changed:
<
<
Start Presentation

>
>
Start Presentation

 

A Taste of TWiki

Changed:
<
<
>
>
Hula girl
Deleted:
<
<
Hula girl
 The basic function of TWiki is a Wiki (if that helps!)

A Wiki is like a web site, except that you can edit the content in your browser

  • "Wiki" is short for "wiki wiki", the Hawaiian for "Quick"
  • The idea originates from Macintosh Hypercard, via Ward Cunningham
  • In Ward's words, Wiki is "the simplest online database that could possibly work"
  • A Wiki is basically a shared, online, persistent whiteboard
Deleted:
<
<
 

TWiki Wiki

Changed:
<
<
Whiteboard
>
>
Whiteboard TWiki implements the basic Wiki idea of a shared whiteboard
Deleted:
<
<
TWiki implements the basic Wiki idea of a shared whiteboard
 
  • Anyone can add content
    ... or change what is written
    ... or change the organisation of the content
  • Whatever what you write is
    ... nicely presented
    ... remembered... and never forgotten
Deleted:
<
<
  TWiki also acts as an "application platform" to integrate a number of other functions.

TWiki is an Open-Source development on TWiki.org

Where is it used?

TWiki is mainly used in commercial environments, often on corporate intranets
  • Examples: Disney, British Telecom, SAP, Wind River, Motorola, Epic Games
    Disney logo British Telecom logo SAP logo Motorola logo Epic Games logo

A number of public Wiki sites also use TWiki

Changed:
<
<
>
>
 

TWiki Features

TWiki builds on the original Wiki concept and adds a number of features that make it very useful in a business environment.
  • TWiki pages are fully revision controlled, so a record of every change to every page is kept
    r6 < r5 < r4
  • The look-and-feel is highly configurable, through use of templates
  • A "plugins" interface eases
    • customisation
    • extension
    • application integration

Applications of basic TWiki

Basic TWiki can be used as:
  • A whiteboard
  • A document repository
  • A collaborative authoring environment
  • A notebook / scrapbook
  • A chat room

Extended applications

TWiki-with-extensions has been used as:
  • A Content Management System (CMS) for websites
  • A presentation development tool
  • A Blog
  • A database
  • A project management system
  • A tracking tool
  • (truth is, we don't really know its limits!)

Structure of a TWiki page

TWiki pages are usually organised into three parts:
  • A header
  • A body
  • A footer

  • The header and the footer are generated by the system
  • The body contains the text of the page, as entered by you
TWiki is very configurable, and the look can change. However the essentials will all be there on the page (somewhere!)

The Page Header

The header of a TWiki page is generally highlighted in colour, and will usually contain an icon that gives you an idea of where you are, such as a company logo.
TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
It will also usually contain a number of 'links' that you can click on. You will generally see:
  • Changes - gives you a list of recent changes
  • Index - gives you a full index
  • Search - takes you to a search page, where you can search all the text
  • Go - lets you type in the name of a page you already know

The Page Header ... continued

TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
You may also see in the header (usually at the top right) a list of the TWiki "webs". A web is a collection of pages that are related closely together
  • For example, we might have a web called "Enemies", where we keep all we know about our enemies, and another called "Friends"
  • There's usually a safe play web called something like "Sandbox" or "Scratch", where you can create pages just to try things out
  • And some admin areas, like "Main" and "TWiki"

The Page Footer

The footer of the page is also highlighted in colour, and is usually where you will find the links that let you change the content.
Edit | Attach | Diffs | r2 > r1 | More
Revision r1.2 - 13 Feb 2004 - 09:09 GMT - TWikiPresenter This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platformCopyright © 1999-2024 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback
Note: Please contribute updates to this topic on TWiki.org at TWiki:TWiki.ATasteOfTWiki.
  • The Edit link takes you to an interactive page where you can change the page content
  • The Attach link lets you attach files
  • The other links invoke other, more complex, functions, mainly to do with revision tracking - they can safely be ignored for now

Editing Pages

  • You've read a page, and you disagree with it violently! It says:
    Everyone knows that the world is an OblateSpheroid
    But you know for a fact it is flat! wink
  • You've clicked the edit link, and an edit page has appeared. But it doesn't look much like what was on the page before - it's full of strange hieroglyphics!
_Everyone_ *knows* that =the world= is an OblateSpheroid
  • Now what?

What's in a page

  • The hieroglyphics are what's known as "TWiki Markup" or "formatting"
  • They are a really simple way of telling the browser how you want the page to look
  • You don't have to use them
    • TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine.

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

      appears as

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

Formatting just makes pages prettier

... and easier to read

_Actually_ it is *perfectly* and __absolutely__ flat

appears as

Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat
  • A full description of all the formatting can be found in the TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • The best thing to do is just to type until you get stuck
    • then follow the link on the edit page to the help.

Commonly used formatting

TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine, but you can jazz them up using some simple formatting shortcuts. Here are some of the more commonly used ones:
  • ---+ indicates a heading. Add more +'s for a deeper heading.
    You type You see
    ---+ This is a heading

    This is a heading

    ---++ And so is this

    And so is this

  • %TOC% will insert a table of contents

More common formatting

  • A blank line gives a paragraph break
  • --- on a line of its own gives a horizontal bar
  • Text in stars *like this* looks like this
  • Text in underscores _like this_ looks like this
  • Text in equals signs =like this= looks like this
  • Bulleted lists use three spaces followed by an asterisk (*) at the start of the line
    • The depth of the bullet is given by the number of spaces, in multiples of three
You type You see
   * Bullet
      * Sub-bullet
  • Bullet
    • Sub-bullet
  • Numbered lists use a number in place of the *. The list is numbered automatically, so you can just use a 1

Even more.....

  • You can create a table using vertical bars:
     | Cat | Feline |
     | Bear | Ursine |
     | Wolf | Vulpine |
  • appears as
    Cat Feline
    Bear Ursine
    Wolf Vulpine
  • %RED% .... %ENDCOLOR% will change the colour of the enclosed text. Lots of colours are available (%RED%, %GREEN%, %BLUE% etc)

WikiWords

  • One special hieroglyph that is very important is a BumpyWord
    • a word that starts with uppercase, then some lowercase, then more uppercase (a.k.a CamelCase)
  • This has a special meaning to TWiki; if it matches the name of another topic, TWiki will automatically create a link to that page for you.
  • If there is no such page, then the word is highlighted and a question mark is put after the word, LikeThis
  • If you click on the question mark, then TWiki will invite you to create that page.

  • This lets you enter the names of topics you think should exist, but don't yet
    • You, or someone else, can always come along later and click on the question mark!

Referencing other pages and URLs

  • BumpyWords automatically link to the target page
    • You can make these links easier to read using square brackets:
  • An ordinary URL pasted into text will appear as a link - http://www.google.com
    • You can also prettify URLs using square brackets:
      • [[http://www.google.com/][Google]] appears as Google
  • Use %SEARCH. This is an interface to a sophisticated search engine that embeds the results of the search in your page. See TWikiVariables for full details.

More formatting

  • There's lots more formatting available, see TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • If you are a real masochist, you can even enter raw HTML tags!
  • Important to disable unwanted formatting, use <nop>
    • <nop>_word_ appears as _word_

Creating new pages

  • Alternative ways:
    • Click on the question mark after a BumpyWord
    • Type in the name of the topic in the "Go:" box
    • Type in the name of the topic in the URL
  • Any time you try to visit a page that doesn't exist, TWiki will invite you to create it.
  • Make sure the names of topics are always BumpyWords.

Attachments

  • Attachments are files which have been uploaded and attached to a TWiki page using the 'Attach' function in the footer.
Attachment sort Action Size Date Who Comment
myco.gif manage 9.6 K 13 Feb 2004 - 18:41 MushroomMagicMan Attached image file
  • Attachments are simply files, in whatever format you want.
  • TWiki recognises some file formats, notably image files (.gif)
    • Write %ATTACHURL%/myco.gif to see this: myco.gif

Wiki Culture

Enough about mechanics; how is a wiki actually used ? Well, that's really up to you, but there are a number of tricks that the wiki community has developed for collaborative writing that work pretty well:
  • What can I edit?
    • Anything. But it's good etiquette to sign your contributions
    • If someone doesn't want you to edit a page, it's up to them to say so, clearly, on the page
  • But what if somebody doesn't like my edits?
    • In TWiki, they can always recover the old revision and re-instantiate it if they really want to
    • Otherwise they should regard your changes as an opportunity for discussion
  • Pages in wiki are (usually) in one of three "modes"
    • DocumentMode
    • ThreadMode
    • StructuredMode
TWiki doesn't automatically distinguish between these modes; they are purely semantic.

DocumentMode

  • A page in DocumentMode usually comprises a contribution which is written in the third person and left unsigned.
  • The piece of text is community property
    • It may have multiple and changing authors as it is updated to reflect the community consensus.

ThreadMode

  • Thread mode is a form of discussion where the community holds a conversation
  • The discussion usually starts out with a statement, at the top of the page, that is subsequently discussed
  • The page may be periodically "refactored" (edited) to remove some of the comments
    • As long as the comment is accurately reflected in what replaces it, nobody usually minds.
    • Remember to always maintain a complete list of contributors, though!
You may see a comment box on a page in ThreadMode that makes it easy to quickly add your inputs. Typing in a comment and adding it to a page this way is known as "blogging" wink
  • ThreadMode is rather like an e-mail thread
    • Except that new comments are usually added to the end
  • ThreadMode pages often get refactored into DocumentMode

StructuredMode

  • A page in StructuredMode follows some predefined structure for example
    • An agenda
    • A set of meeting minutes
    • A requirement description.
  • Pages in StructuredMode will usually have rules governing how they are edited.

Other Wiki tricks - Categories

  • A Wiki trick for grouping pages together
  • Example: to group together a set of pages all relating to the weather:
    1. Create a page called 'CategoryWeather'
    2. Put a SEARCH that contains the word 'CategoryWeather' into it
      • %SEARCH{"CategoryWeather" nosearch="on" nosummary="on"}%
    3. Put the BumpyWord 'CategoryWeather' on all the pages relating to the weather
      (usually at the bottom, below a horizontal bar)

Contributed features

Basic TWiki is rich with features, but is enriched even further by the addition of optional plug-in modules that may (or may not!) be installed in your TWiki. These are classified as either skins (modules that change the look-and-feel) and plugins (modules that enhance functionality).

Here's a brief description of some of the more common plugins, together with the tags you might expect to see in topics if they are used. You can find out more by visiting the plugin pages.

Changed:
<
<
  • ActionTrackerPlugin: Support action tags in topics, with automatic notification of action statii %ACTION...
>
>
  • ActionTrackerPlugin: Support action tags in topics, with automatic notification of action statuses %ACTION...
  Start Presentation
  • CalendarPlugin: Show a monthly calendar with highlighted events %CALENDAR...%
  • CommentPlugin: Support rapid entry of short comments (also known as blogging) %COMMENT...
  • ChartPlugin: Create PNG or GIF charts to visualize data in TWiki tables %CHART...
  • EditTablePlugin: Edit TWiki tables using edit fields and drop down boxes %EDITTABLE...
  • InterwikiPlugin: Define shortcuts for links to common external sites

Slide 1: More plugins

  • RenderListPlugin: Render bullet lists in a variety of formats %RENDERLIST...
  • SlideShowPlugin: Create web based presentations based on topics with headings %SLIDESHOWSTART...
  • SpreadSheetPlugin: Add spreadsheet calculations like "$SUM( $ABOVE() )" to tables located in TWiki topics %CALC...
  • TablePlugin: Control presentation and sorting of tables %TABLE...
  • TWikiDrawPlugin: Add quick sketches to pages %DRAWING...
The following plugins are installed on this TWiki: SpreadSheetPlugin, BackupRestorePlugin, ColorPickerPlugin, CommentPlugin, DatePickerPlugin, EditTablePlugin, HeadlinesPlugin, InterwikiPlugin, JQueryPlugin, PreferencesPlugin, RedirectPlugin, SetGetPlugin, SlideShowPlugin, SmiliesPlugin, TWikiSheetPlugin, TablePlugin, TagMePlugin, TinyMCEPlugin, TwistyPlugin, WatchlistPlugin, WysiwygPlugin

There are many other plugins, see http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins

Slide 2: Credits and Acknowledgements

Related topics: WelcomeGuest, TWikiTutorial, ATasteOfTWikiTemplate

Added:
>
>
 

Revision 52005-03-27 - TWikiContributor

 This is a short introductory training course for TWiki beginners.

Start Presentation

Slide 1: A Taste of TWiki

Hula girl The basic function of TWiki is a Wiki (if that helps!)

A Wiki is like a web site, except that you can edit the content in your browser

Changed:
<
<
  • "Wiki" is short for "wiki wiki", the Hawaiian for "Quick"
  • The idea originates from Macintosh Hypercard, via Ward Cunningham
  • In Ward's words, Wiki is "the simplest online database that could possibly work"
  • A Wiki is basically a shared, online, persistent whiteboard
>
>
  • "Wiki" is short for "wiki wiki", the Hawaiian for "Quick"
  • The idea originates from Macintosh Hypercard, via Ward Cunningham
  • In Ward's words, Wiki is "the simplest online database that could possibly work"
  • A Wiki is basically a shared, online, persistent whiteboard
 

TWiki Wiki

Whiteboard TWiki implements the basic Wiki idea of a shared whiteboard
Changed:
<
<
  • Anyone can add content
    ... or change what is written
    ... or change the organisation of the content
  • Whatever what you write is
    ... nicely presented
    ... remembered... and never forgotten
>
>
  • Anyone can add content
    ... or change what is written
    ... or change the organisation of the content
  • Whatever what you write is
    ... nicely presented
    ... remembered... and never forgotten
 

TWiki also acts as an "application platform" to integrate a number of other functions.

TWiki is an Open-Source development on TWiki.org

Changed:
<
<
>
>
 

Where is it used?

TWiki is mainly used in commercial environments, often on corporate intranets
Changed:
<
<
  • Examples: Disney, British Telecom, SAP, Wind River, Motorola, Epic Games
    Disney logo British Telecom logo SAP logo Motorola logo Epic Games logo
>
>
  • Examples: Disney, British Telecom, SAP, Wind River, Motorola, Epic Games
    Disney logo British Telecom logo SAP logo Motorola logo Epic Games logo
  A number of public Wiki sites also use TWiki
Changed:
<
<
>
>
 

TWiki Features

TWiki builds on the original Wiki concept and adds a number of features that make it very useful in a business environment.
Changed:
<
<
  • TWiki pages are fully revision controlled, so a record of every change to every page is kept
    r6 < r5 < r4
  • The look-and-feel is highly configurable, through use of templates
>
>
  • TWiki pages are fully revision controlled, so a record of every change to every page is kept
    r6 < r5 < r4
  • The look-and-feel is highly configurable, through use of templates
 
Changed:
<
<
  • A "plugins" interface eases
    • customisation
    • extension
    • application integration
>
>
  • A "plugins" interface eases
    • customisation
    • extension
    • application integration
 

Applications of basic TWiki

Basic TWiki can be used as:
Changed:
<
<
  • A whiteboard
  • A document repository
  • A collaborative authoring environment
  • A notebook / scrapbook
  • A chat room
>
>
  • A whiteboard
  • A document repository
  • A collaborative authoring environment
  • A notebook / scrapbook
  • A chat room
 

Extended applications

TWiki-with-extensions has been used as:
Changed:
<
<
  • A Content Management System (CMS) for websites
  • A presentation development tool
  • A Blog
  • A database
  • A project management system
  • A tracking tool
  • (truth is, we don't really know its limits!)
>
>
  • A Content Management System (CMS) for websites
  • A presentation development tool
  • A Blog
  • A database
  • A project management system
  • A tracking tool
  • (truth is, we don't really know its limits!)
 

Structure of a TWiki page

TWiki pages are usually organised into three parts:
Changed:
<
<
  • A header
  • A body
  • A footer
>
>
  • A header
  • A body
  • A footer
 
Changed:
<
<
  • The header and the footer are generated by the system
  • The body contains the text of the page, as entered by you
>
>
  • The header and the footer are generated by the system
  • The body contains the text of the page, as entered by you
 TWiki is very configurable, and the look can change. However the essentials will all be there on the page (somewhere!)

The Page Header

The header of a TWiki page is generally highlighted in colour, and will usually contain an icon that gives you an idea of where you are, such as a company logo.
Changed:
<
<
TWiki home
MyCo.MyTopic
>
>
TWiki home
MyCo.MyTopic
 
Changed:
<
<
Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
>
>
Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
 
Changed:
<
<
Changes | Index | Search | Go
>
>
Changes | Index | Search | Go
 
It will also usually contain a number of 'links' that you can click on. You will generally see:
Changed:
<
<
  • Changes - gives you a list of recent changes
  • Index - gives you a full index
  • Search - takes you to a search page, where you can search all the text
  • Go - lets you type in the name of a page you already know
>
>
  • Changes - gives you a list of recent changes
  • Index - gives you a full index
  • Search - takes you to a search page, where you can search all the text
  • Go - lets you type in the name of a page you already know
 

The Page Header ... continued

Changed:
<
<
TWiki home
MyCo.MyTopic
>
>
TWiki home
MyCo.MyTopic
 
Changed:
<
<
Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
>
>
Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
 
Changed:
<
<
Changes | Index | Search | Go
>
>
Changes | Index | Search | Go
 
You may also see in the header (usually at the top right) a list of the TWiki "webs". A web is a collection of pages that are related closely together
Changed:
<
<
  • For example, we might have a web called "Enemies", where we keep all we know about our enemies, and another called "Friends"
  • There's usually a safe play web called something like "Sandbox" or "Scratch", where you can create pages just to try things out
  • And some admin areas, like "Main" and "TWiki"
>
>
  • For example, we might have a web called "Enemies", where we keep all we know about our enemies, and another called "Friends"
  • There's usually a safe play web called something like "Sandbox" or "Scratch", where you can create pages just to try things out
  • And some admin areas, like "Main" and "TWiki"
 

The Page Footer

The footer of the page is also highlighted in colour, and is usually where you will find the links that let you change the content.
Changed:
<
<
Edit | Attach | Diffs | r2 > r1 | More
>
>
Edit | Attach | Diffs | r2 > r1 | More
 
Changed:
<
<
Revision r1.2 - 13 Feb 2004 - 09:09 GMT - TWikiPresenter
>
>
Revision r1.2 - 13 Feb 2004 - 09:09 GMT - TWikiPresenter
 
Changed:
<
<
This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platformCopyright © 1999-2024 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback
Note: Please contribute updates to this topic on TWiki.org at TWiki:TWiki.ATasteOfTWiki.
>
>
This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platformCopyright © 1999-2024 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback
Note: Please contribute updates to this topic on TWiki.org at TWiki:TWiki.ATasteOfTWiki.
 
Changed:
<
<
  • The Edit link takes you to an interactive page where you can change the page content
  • The Attach link lets you attach files
  • The other links invoke other, more complex, functions, mainly to do with revision tracking - they can safely be ignored for now
>
>
  • The Edit link takes you to an interactive page where you can change the page content
  • The Attach link lets you attach files
  • The other links invoke other, more complex, functions, mainly to do with revision tracking - they can safely be ignored for now
 

Editing Pages

Changed:
<
<
  • You've read a page, and you disagree with it violently! It says:
    Everyone knows that the world is an OblateSpheroid
    But you know for a fact it is flat! wink
  • You've clicked the edit link, and an edit page has appeared. But it doesn't look much like what was on the page before - it's full of strange hieroglyphics!
>
>
  • You've read a page, and you disagree with it violently! It says:
    Everyone knows that the world is an OblateSpheroid
    But you know for a fact it is flat! wink
  • You've clicked the edit link, and an edit page has appeared. But it doesn't look much like what was on the page before - it's full of strange hieroglyphics!
 _Everyone_ *knows* that =the world= is an OblateSpheroid
Changed:
<
<
  • Now what?
>
>
  • Now what?
 

What's in a page

Changed:
<
<
  • The hieroglyphics are what's known as "TWiki Markup" or "formatting"
  • They are a really simple way of telling the browser how you want the page to look
  • You don't have to use them
    • TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine.

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

      appears as

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat
>
>
  • The hieroglyphics are what's known as "TWiki Markup" or "formatting"
  • They are a really simple way of telling the browser how you want the page to look
  • You don't have to use them
    • TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine.

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

      appears as

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat
 

Formatting just makes pages prettier

... and easier to read

_Actually_ it is *perfectly* and __absolutely__ flat

appears as

Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat
Changed:
<
<
  • A full description of all the formatting can be found in the TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • The best thing to do is just to type until you get stuck
    • then follow the link on the edit page to the help.
>
>
  • A full description of all the formatting can be found in the TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • The best thing to do is just to type until you get stuck
    • then follow the link on the edit page to the help.
 

Commonly used formatting

TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine, but you can jazz them up using some simple formatting shortcuts. Here are some of the more commonly used ones:
Changed:
<
<
  • ---+ indicates a heading. Add more +'s for a deeper heading.
    You type You see
    ---+ This is a heading

    This is a heading

    ---++ And so is this

    And so is this

  • %TOC% will insert a table of contents
>
>
  • ---+ indicates a heading. Add more +'s for a deeper heading.
    You type You see
    ---+ This is a heading

    This is a heading

    ---++ And so is this

    And so is this

  • %TOC% will insert a table of contents
 

More common formatting

Changed:
<
<
  • A blank line gives a paragraph break
  • --- on a line of its own gives a horizontal bar
  • Text in stars *like this* looks like this
  • Text in underscores _like this_ looks like this
  • Text in equals signs =like this= looks like this
  • Bulleted lists use three spaces followed by an asterisk (*) at the start of the line
    • The depth of the bullet is given by the number of spaces, in multiples of three
>
>
  • A blank line gives a paragraph break
  • --- on a line of its own gives a horizontal bar
  • Text in stars *like this* looks like this
  • Text in underscores _like this_ looks like this
  • Text in equals signs =like this= looks like this
  • Bulleted lists use three spaces followed by an asterisk (*) at the start of the line
    • The depth of the bullet is given by the number of spaces, in multiples of three
 
You type You see
   * Bullet
      * Sub-bullet
  • Bullet
    • Sub-bullet
Changed:
<
<
  • Numbered lists use a number in place of the *. The list is numbered automatically, so you can just use a 1
>
>
  • Numbered lists use a number in place of the *. The list is numbered automatically, so you can just use a 1
 

Even more.....

Changed:
<
<
  • You can create a table using vertical bars:
>
>
  • You can create a table using vertical bars:
 
Changed:
<
<
Cat Feline
Bear Ursine
Wolf Vulpine
>
>
Cat Feline
Bear Ursine
Wolf Vulpine
 
Changed:
<
<
  • appears as
    Cat Feline
    Bear Ursine
    Wolf Vulpine
  • %RED% .... %ENDCOLOR% will change the colour of the enclosed text. Lots of colours are available (%RED%, %GREEN%, %BLUE% etc)
>
>
  • appears as
    Cat Feline
    Bear Ursine
    Wolf Vulpine
  • %RED% .... %ENDCOLOR% will change the colour of the enclosed text. Lots of colours are available (%RED%, %GREEN%, %BLUE% etc)
 

WikiWords

Changed:
<
<
  • One special hieroglyph that is very important is a BumpyWord
    • a word that starts with uppercase, then some lowercase, then more uppercase (a.k.a CamelCase)
  • This has a special meaning to TWiki; if it matches the name of another topic, TWiki will automatically create a link to that page for you.
  • If there is no such page, then the word is highlighted and a question mark is put after the word, LikeThis
  • If you click on the question mark, then TWiki will invite you to create that page.
>
>
  • One special hieroglyph that is very important is a BumpyWord
    • a word that starts with uppercase, then some lowercase, then more uppercase (a.k.a CamelCase)
  • This has a special meaning to TWiki; if it matches the name of another topic, TWiki will automatically create a link to that page for you.
  • If there is no such page, then the word is highlighted and a question mark is put after the word, LikeThis
  • If you click on the question mark, then TWiki will invite you to create that page.
 
Changed:
<
<
  • This lets you enter the names of topics you think should exist, but don't yet
    • You, or someone else, can always come along later and click on the question mark!
>
>
  • This lets you enter the names of topics you think should exist, but don't yet
    • You, or someone else, can always come along later and click on the question mark!
 

Referencing other pages and URLs

Changed:
<
<
  • BumpyWords automatically link to the target page
    • You can make these links easier to read using square brackets:
  • An ordinary URL pasted into text will appear as a link - http://www.google.com
    • You can also prettify URLs using square brackets:
      • [[http://www.google.com/][Google]] appears as Google
  • Use %SEARCH. This is an interface to a sophisticated search engine that embeds the results of the search in your page. See TWikiVariables for full details.
>
>
  • BumpyWords automatically link to the target page
    • You can make these links easier to read using square brackets:
  • An ordinary URL pasted into text will appear as a link - http://www.google.com
    • You can also prettify URLs using square brackets:
      • [[http://www.google.com/][Google]] appears as Google
  • Use %SEARCH. This is an interface to a sophisticated search engine that embeds the results of the search in your page. See TWikiVariables for full details.
 

More formatting

Changed:
<
<
  • There's lots more formatting available, see TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • If you are a real masochist, you can even enter raw HTML tags!
  • Important to disable unwanted formatting, use <nop>
    • <nop>_word_ appears as _word_
>
>
  • There's lots more formatting available, see TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • If you are a real masochist, you can even enter raw HTML tags!
  • Important to disable unwanted formatting, use <nop>
    • <nop>_word_ appears as _word_
 

Creating new pages

Changed:
<
<
  • Alternative ways:
    • Click on the question mark after a BumpyWord
    • Type in the name of the topic in the "Go:" box
    • Type in the name of the topic in the URL
  • Any time you try to visit a page that doesn't exist, TWiki will invite you to create it.
  • Make sure the names of topics are always BumpyWords.
>
>
  • Alternative ways:
    • Click on the question mark after a BumpyWord
    • Type in the name of the topic in the "Go:" box
    • Type in the name of the topic in the URL
  • Any time you try to visit a page that doesn't exist, TWiki will invite you to create it.
  • Make sure the names of topics are always BumpyWords.
 

Attachments

Changed:
<
<
  • Attachments are files which have been uploaded and attached to a TWiki page using the 'Attach' function in the footer.
>
>
  • Attachments are files which have been uploaded and attached to a TWiki page using the 'Attach' function in the footer.
 
Attachment sort Action Size Date Who Comment
Changed:
<
<
myco.gif
>
>
myco.gif
 
Changed:
<
<
manage
>
>
manage
 
9.6 K 13 Feb 2004 - 18:41 MushroomMagicMan Attached image file
Changed:
<
<
  • Attachments are simply files, in whatever format you want.
  • TWiki recognises some file formats, notably image files (.gif)
    • Write %ATTACHURL%/myco.gif to see this: myco.gif
>
>
  • Attachments are simply files, in whatever format you want.
  • TWiki recognises some file formats, notably image files (.gif)
    • Write %ATTACHURL%/myco.gif to see this: myco.gif
 

Wiki Culture

Enough about mechanics; how is a wiki actually used ? Well, that's really up to you, but there are a number of tricks that the wiki community has developed for collaborative writing that work pretty well:
Changed:
<
<
  • What can I edit?
    • Anything. But it's good etiquette to sign your contributions
    • If someone doesn't want you to edit a page, it's up to them to say so, clearly, on the page
  • But what if somebody doesn't like my edits?
    • In TWiki, they can always recover the old revision and re-instantiate it if they really want to
    • Otherwise they should regard your changes as an opportunity for discussion
  • Pages in wiki are (usually) in one of three "modes"
    • DocumentMode
    • ThreadMode
    • StructuredMode
>
>
  • What can I edit?
    • Anything. But it's good etiquette to sign your contributions
    • If someone doesn't want you to edit a page, it's up to them to say so, clearly, on the page
  • But what if somebody doesn't like my edits?
    • In TWiki, they can always recover the old revision and re-instantiate it if they really want to
    • Otherwise they should regard your changes as an opportunity for discussion
  • Pages in wiki are (usually) in one of three "modes"
    • DocumentMode
    • ThreadMode
    • StructuredMode
 TWiki doesn't automatically distinguish between these modes; they are purely semantic.

DocumentMode

Changed:
<
<
  • A page in DocumentMode usually comprises a contribution which is written in the third person and left unsigned.
  • The piece of text is community property
    • It may have multiple and changing authors as it is updated to reflect the community consensus.
>
>
  • A page in DocumentMode usually comprises a contribution which is written in the third person and left unsigned.
  • The piece of text is community property
    • It may have multiple and changing authors as it is updated to reflect the community consensus.
 

ThreadMode

Changed:
<
<
  • Thread mode is a form of discussion where the community holds a conversation
  • The discussion usually starts out with a statement, at the top of the page, that is subsequently discussed
  • The page may be periodically "refactored" (edited) to remove some of the comments
    • As long as the comment is accurately reflected in what replaces it, nobody usually minds.
    • Remember to always maintain a complete list of contributors, though!
>
>
  • Thread mode is a form of discussion where the community holds a conversation
  • The discussion usually starts out with a statement, at the top of the page, that is subsequently discussed
  • The page may be periodically "refactored" (edited) to remove some of the comments
    • As long as the comment is accurately reflected in what replaces it, nobody usually minds.
    • Remember to always maintain a complete list of contributors, though!
 You may see a comment box on a page in ThreadMode that makes it easy to quickly add your inputs. Typing in a comment and adding it to a page this way is known as "blogging" wink
Changed:
<
<
  • ThreadMode is rather like an e-mail thread
    • Except that new comments are usually added to the end
  • ThreadMode pages often get refactored into DocumentMode
>
>
  • ThreadMode is rather like an e-mail thread
    • Except that new comments are usually added to the end
  • ThreadMode pages often get refactored into DocumentMode
 

StructuredMode

Changed:
<
<
  • A page in StructuredMode follows some predefined structure for example
    • An agenda
    • A set of meeting minutes
    • A requirement description.
  • Pages in StructuredMode will usually have rules governing how they are edited.
>
>
  • A page in StructuredMode follows some predefined structure for example
    • An agenda
    • A set of meeting minutes
    • A requirement description.
  • Pages in StructuredMode will usually have rules governing how they are edited.
 

Other Wiki tricks - Categories

Changed:
<
<
  • A Wiki trick for grouping pages together
  • Example: to group together a set of pages all relating to the weather:
    1. Create a page called 'CategoryWeather'
    2. Put a SEARCH that contains the word 'CategoryWeather' into it
      • %SEARCH{"CategoryWeather" nosearch="on" nosummary="on"}%
    3. Put the BumpyWord 'CategoryWeather' on all the pages relating to the weather
      (usually at the bottom, below a horizontal bar)
>
>
  • A Wiki trick for grouping pages together
  • Example: to group together a set of pages all relating to the weather:
    1. Create a page called 'CategoryWeather'
    2. Put a SEARCH that contains the word 'CategoryWeather' into it
      • %SEARCH{"CategoryWeather" nosearch="on" nosummary="on"}%
    3. Put the BumpyWord 'CategoryWeather' on all the pages relating to the weather
      (usually at the bottom, below a horizontal bar)
 

Contributed features

Basic TWiki is rich with features, but is enriched even further by the addition of optional plug-in modules that may (or may not!) be installed in your TWiki. These are classified as either skins (modules that change the look-and-feel) and plugins (modules that enhance functionality).

Here's a brief description of some of the more common plugins, together with the tags you might expect to see in topics if they are used. You can find out more by visiting the plugin pages.

Changed:
<
<
  • ActionTrackerPlugin: Support action tags in topics, with automatic notification of action statii %ACTION...
  • CalendarPlugin: Show a monthly calendar with highlighted events %CALENDAR...%
  • CommentPlugin: Support rapid entry of short comments (also known as blogging) %COMMENT...
  • ChartPlugin: Create PNG or GIF charts to visualize data in TWiki tables %CHART...
  • EditTablePlugin: Edit TWiki tables using edit fields and drop down boxes %EDITTABLE...
  • InterwikiPlugin: Define shortcuts for links to common external sites
>
>
  • ActionTrackerPlugin: Support action tags in topics, with automatic notification of action statii %ACTION...
  • CalendarPlugin: Show a monthly calendar with highlighted events %CALENDAR...%
  • CommentPlugin: Support rapid entry of short comments (also known as blogging) %COMMENT...
  • ChartPlugin: Create PNG or GIF charts to visualize data in TWiki tables %CHART...
  • EditTablePlugin: Edit TWiki tables using edit fields and drop down boxes %EDITTABLE...
  • InterwikiPlugin: Define shortcuts for links to common external sites
 

More plugins

Changed:
<
<
Start Presentation
  • RenderListPlugin: Render bullet lists in a variety of formats %RENDERLIST...
  • SlideShowPlugin: Create web based presentations based on topics with headings %SLIDESHOWSTART...
  • SpreadSheetPlugin: Add spreadsheet calculations like "$SUM( $ABOVE() )" to tables located in TWiki topics %CALC...
  • TablePlugin: Control presentation and sorting of tables %TABLE...
  • TWikiDrawPlugin: Add quick sketches to pages %DRAWING...
>
>
Start Presentation
  • RenderListPlugin: Render bullet lists in a variety of formats %RENDERLIST...
  • SlideShowPlugin: Create web based presentations based on topics with headings %SLIDESHOWSTART...
  • SpreadSheetPlugin: Add spreadsheet calculations like "$SUM( $ABOVE() )" to tables located in TWiki topics %CALC...
  • TablePlugin: Control presentation and sorting of tables %TABLE...
  • TWikiDrawPlugin: Add quick sketches to pages %DRAWING...
 The following plugins are installed on this TWiki: SpreadSheetPlugin, BackupRestorePlugin, ColorPickerPlugin, CommentPlugin, DatePickerPlugin, EditTablePlugin, HeadlinesPlugin, InterwikiPlugin, JQueryPlugin, PreferencesPlugin, RedirectPlugin, SetGetPlugin, SlideShowPlugin, SmiliesPlugin, TWikiSheetPlugin, TablePlugin, TagMePlugin, TinyMCEPlugin, TwistyPlugin, WatchlistPlugin, WysiwygPlugin

There are many other plugins, see http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins

Credits and Acknowledgements

Changed:
<
<
>
>
 %SLIDESHOWEND%

Related topics: WelcomeGuest, TWikiTutorial, ATasteOfTWikiTemplate

Revision 42005-03-27 - TWikiContributor

Added:
>
>
This is a short introductory training course for TWiki beginners.
 

Start Presentation

Slide 1: A Taste of TWiki

Added:
>
>
Hula girl
 The basic function of TWiki is a Wiki (if that helps!)
Changed:
<
<
A Wiki is like a normal web site, except that you can edit the content in your browser
>
>
A Wiki is like a web site, except that you can edit the content in your browser
 
  • "Wiki" is short for "wiki wiki", the Hawaiian for "Quick"
  • The idea originates from Macintosh Hypercard, via Ward Cunningham
  • In Ward's words, Wiki is "the simplest online database that could possibly work"
Changed:
<
<
  • A Wiki is basically a shared, online, persistant whiteboard
>
>
  • A Wiki is basically a shared, online, persistent whiteboard
 

TWiki Wiki

Changed:
<
<
TWiki implements the basic Wiki idea of a shared whiteboard
>
>
Whiteboard
Added:
>
>
TWiki implements the basic Wiki idea of a shared whiteboard
 
  • Anyone can add content
    ... or change what is written
    ... or change the organisation of the content
  • Whatever what you write is
    ... nicely presented
    ... remembered... and never forgotten
Changed:
<
<
>
>
Added:
>
>
 TWiki also acts as an "application platform" to integrate a number of other functions.

TWiki is an Open-Source development on TWiki.org

Where is it used?

Changed:
<
<
>
>
TWiki is mainly used in commercial environments, often on corporate intranets
  • Examples: Disney, British Telecom, SAP, Wind River, Motorola, Epic Games
    Disney logo
Added:
>
>
British Telecom logo SAP logo Motorola logo Epic Games logo
 
Added:
>
>
A number of public Wiki sites also use TWiki
 

TWiki Features

TWiki builds on the original Wiki concept and adds a number of features that make it very useful in a business environment.
Changed:
<
<
  • TWiki pages are fully revision controlled, so a record of every change to every page is kept
    r1.6 > r1.5 > r1.4
>
>
  • TWiki pages are fully revision controlled, so a record of every change to every page is kept
    r6 < r5 < r4
 
  • The look-and-feel is highly configurable, through use of templates
  • A "plugins" interface eases
    • customisation
    • extension
    • application integration
Changed:
<
<
>
>
 

Applications of basic TWiki

Basic TWiki can be used as:
  • A whiteboard
  • A document repository
  • A collaborative authoring environment
  • A notebook / scrapbook
Changed:
<
<
  • A chat room
>
>
  • A chat room
 

Extended applications

TWiki-with-extensions has been used as:
  • A Content Management System (CMS) for websites
  • A presentation development tool
  • A Blog
  • A database
  • A project management system
  • A tracking tool
  • (truth is, we don't really know its limits!)

Structure of a TWiki page

TWiki pages are usually organised into three parts:
  • A header
  • A body
  • A footer

  • The header and the footer are generated by the system
  • The body contains the text of the page, as entered by you
TWiki is very configurable, and the look can change. However the essentials will all be there on the page (somewhere!)

The Page Header

The header of a TWiki page is generally highlighted in colour, and will usually contain an icon that gives you an idea of where you are, such as a company logo.
TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
It will also usually contain a number of 'links' that you can click on. You will generally see:
  • Changes - gives you a list of recent changes
  • Index - gives you a full index
  • Search - takes you to a search page, where you can search all the text
  • Go - lets you type in the name of a page you already know
Changed:
<
<

The Page Header

>
>

The Page Header ... continued

 
TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
You may also see in the header (usually at the top right) a list of the TWiki "webs". A web is a collection of pages that are related closely together
  • For example, we might have a web called "Enemies", where we keep all we know about our enemies, and another called "Friends"
  • There's usually a safe play web called something like "Sandbox" or "Scratch", where you can create pages just to try things out
  • And some admin areas, like "Main" and "TWiki"

The Page Footer

The footer of the page is also highlighted in colour, and is usually where you will find the links that let you change the content.
Edit | Attach
Changed:
<
<
| Diffs | r1.2 > r1.1
>
>
| Diffs | r2 > r1
  | More
Revision r1.2 - 13 Feb 2004 - 09:09 GMT - TWikiPresenter This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platformCopyright © 1999-2024 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback
Note: Please contribute updates to this topic on TWiki.org at TWiki:TWiki.ATasteOfTWiki.
  • The Edit link takes you to an interactive page where you can change the page content
  • The Attach link lets you attach files
  • The other links invoke other, more complex, functions, mainly to do with revision tracking - they can safely be ignored for now

Editing Pages

  • You've read a page, and you disagree with it violently! It says:
    Everyone knows that the world is an OblateSpheroid
    But you know for a fact it is flat! wink
  • You've clicked the edit link, and an edit page has appeared. But it doesn't look much like what was on the page before - it's full of strange hieroglyphics!
_Everyone_ *knows* that =the world= is an OblateSpheroid
  • Now what?

What's in a page

  • The hieroglyphics are what's known as "TWiki Markup" or "formatting"
  • They are a really simple way of telling the browser how you want the page to look
  • You don't have to use them
    • TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine.

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

      appears as

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

Formatting just makes pages prettier

... and easier to read

_Actually_ it is *perfectly* and __absolutely__ flat

appears as

Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat
  • A full description of all the formatting can be found in the TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • The best thing to do is just to type until you get stuck
    • then follow the link on the edit page to the help.

Commonly used formatting

TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine, but you can jazz them up using some simple formatting shortcuts. Here are some of the more commonly used ones:
  • ---+ indicates a heading. Add more +'s for a deeper heading.
    You type You see
    ---+ This is a heading

    This is a heading

    ---++ And so is this

    And so is this

  • %TOC% will insert a table of contents

More common formatting

  • A blank line gives a paragraph break
  • --- on a line of its own gives a horizontal bar
  • Text in stars *like this* looks like this
  • Text in underscores _like this_ looks like this
  • Text in equals signs =like this= looks like this
  • Bulleted lists use three spaces followed by an asterisk (*) at the start of the line
    • The depth of the bullet is given by the number of spaces, in multiples of three
You type
<-- -->
Sorted ascending
You see
   * Bullet
      * Sub-bullet
  • Bullet
    • Sub-bullet
  • Numbered lists use a number in place of the *. The list is numbered automatically, so you can just use a 1

Even more.....

  • You can create a table using vertical bars:
     | Cat | Feline |
     | Bear | Ursine |
     | Wolf | Vulpine |
  • appears as
    Cat Feline
    Bear Ursine
    Wolf Vulpine
  • %RED% .... %ENDCOLOR% will change the colour of the enclosed text. Lots of colours are available (%RED%, %GREEN%, %BLUE% etc)

WikiWords

  • One special hieroglyph that is very important is a BumpyWord
    • a word that starts with uppercase, then some lowercase, then more uppercase (a.k.a CamelCase)
  • This has a special meaning to TWiki; if it matches the name of another topic, TWiki will automatically create a link to that page for you.
  • If there is no such page, then the word is highlighted and a question mark is put after the word, LikeThis
  • If you click on the question mark, then TWiki will invite you to create that page.

  • This lets you enter the names of topics you think should exist, but don't yet
    • You, or someone else, can always come along later and click on the question mark!

Referencing other pages and URLs

  • BumpyWords automatically link to the target page
    • You can make these links easier to read using square brackets:
  • An ordinary URL pasted into text will appear as a link - http://www.google.com
    • You can also prettify URLs using square brackets:
Changed:
<
<
      • [[http://www..google.com][google]] appears as google
>
>
      • [[http://www.google.com/][Google]] appears as Google
 
  • Use %SEARCH. This is an interface to a sophisticated search engine that embeds the results of the search in your page. See TWikiVariables for full details.

More formatting

  • There's lots more formatting available, see TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • If you are a real masochist, you can even enter raw HTML tags!
  • Important to disable unwanted formatting, use <nop>
    • <nop>_word_ appears as _word_

Creating new pages

  • Alternative ways:
    • Click on the question mark after a BumpyWord
    • Type in the name of the topic in the "Go:" box
    • Type in the name of the topic in the URL
  • Any time you try to visit a page that doesn't exist, TWiki will invite you to create it.
  • Make sure the names of topics are always BumpyWords.

Attachments

  • Attachments are files which have been uploaded and attached to a TWiki page using the 'Attach' function in the footer.
Attachment sort Action Size Date Who Comment
myco.gif manage 9.6 K 13 Feb 2004 - 18:41 MushroomMagicMan Attached image file
  • Attachments are simply files, in whatever format you want.
  • TWiki recognises some file formats, notably image files (.gif)
Changed:
<
<
    • Write %ATTACHURL%/myco.gif to see this: /internal/TWiki/ATasteOfTWiki/myco.gif
>
>
    • Write %ATTACHURL%/myco.gif to see this: myco.gif
 

Wiki Culture

Enough about mechanics; how is a wiki actually used ? Well, that's really up to you, but there are a number of tricks that the wiki community has developed for collaborative writing that work pretty well:
  • What can I edit?
    • Anything. But it's good etiquette to sign your contributions
    • If someone doesn't want you to edit a page, it's up to them to say so, clearly, on the page
  • But what if somebody doesn't like my edits?
    • In TWiki, they can always recover the old revision and re-instantiate it if they really want to
    • Otherwise they should regard your changes as an opportunity for discussion
  • Pages in wiki are (usually) in one of three "modes"
    • DocumentMode
    • ThreadMode
    • StructuredMode
TWiki doesn't automatically distinguish between these modes; they are purely semantic.

DocumentMode

  • A page in DocumentMode usually comprises a contribution which is written in the third person and left unsigned.
  • The piece of text is community property
    • It may have multiple and changing authors as it is updated to reflect the community consensus.

ThreadMode

  • Thread mode is a form of discussion where the community holds a conversation
  • The discussion usually starts out with a statement, at the top of the page, that is subsequently discussed
  • The page may be periodically "refactored" (edited) to remove some of the comments
    • As long as the comment is accurately reflected in what replaces it, nobody usually minds.
    • Remember to always maintain a complete list of contributors, though!
You may see a comment box on a page in ThreadMode that makes it easy to quickly add your inputs. Typing in a comment and adding it to a page this way is known as "blogging" wink
  • ThreadMode is rather like an e-mail thread
    • Except that new comments are usually added to the end
  • ThreadMode pages often get refactored into DocumentMode

StructuredMode

  • A page in StructuredMode follows some predefined structure for example
    • An agenda
    • A set of meeting minutes
    • A requirement description.
  • Pages in StructuredMode will usually have rules governing how they are edited.

Other Wiki tricks - Categories

  • A Wiki trick for grouping pages together
  • Example: to group together a set of pages all relating to the weather:
    1. Create a page called 'CategoryWeather'
Changed:
<
<
    1. Put a SEARCH that contain the word 'CategoryWeather' into it
>
>
    1. Put a SEARCH that contains the word 'CategoryWeather' into it
  Start Presentation
      • %SEARCH{"CategoryWeather" nosearch="on" nosummary="on"}%
    1. Put the BumpyWord 'CategoryWeather' on all the pages relating to the weather
      (usually at the bottom, below a horizontal bar)

Slide 1: Contributed features

Basic TWiki is rich with features, but is enriched even further by the addition of optional plug-in modules that may (or may not!) be installed in your TWiki. These are classified as either skins (modules that change the look-and-feel) and plugins (modules that enhance functionality).

Here's a brief description of some of the more common plugins, together with the tags you might expect to see in topics if they are used. You can find out more by visiting the plugin pages.

  • ActionTrackerPlugin: Support action tags in topics, with automatic notification of action statii %ACTION...
  • CalendarPlugin: Show a monthly calendar with highlighted events %CALENDAR...%
  • CommentPlugin: Support rapid entry of short comments (also known as blogging) %COMMENT...
  • ChartPlugin: Create PNG or GIF charts to visualize data in TWiki tables %CHART...
  • EditTablePlugin: Edit TWiki tables using edit fields and drop down boxes %EDITTABLE...
  • InterwikiPlugin: Define shortcuts for links to common external sites

Slide 2: More plugins

  • RenderListPlugin: Render bullet lists in a variety of formats %RENDERLIST...
  • SlideShowPlugin: Create web based presentations based on topics with headings %SLIDESHOWSTART...
  • SpreadSheetPlugin: Add spreadsheet calculations like "$SUM( $ABOVE() )" to tables located in TWiki topics %CALC...
  • TablePlugin: Control presentation and sorting of tables %TABLE...
  • TWikiDrawPlugin: Add quick sketches to pages %DRAWING...
The following plugins are installed on this TWiki: SpreadSheetPlugin, BackupRestorePlugin, ColorPickerPlugin, CommentPlugin, DatePickerPlugin, EditTablePlugin, HeadlinesPlugin, InterwikiPlugin, JQueryPlugin, PreferencesPlugin, RedirectPlugin, SetGetPlugin, SlideShowPlugin, SmiliesPlugin, TWikiSheetPlugin, TablePlugin, TagMePlugin, TinyMCEPlugin, TwistyPlugin, WatchlistPlugin, WysiwygPlugin

Changed:
<
<
There are many other plugins, see http://www.twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins
>
>
There are many other plugins, see http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins
 

Credits and Acknowledgements

%SLIDESHOWEND%

Related topics: WelcomeGuest, TWikiTutorial, ATasteOfTWikiTemplate

Deleted:
<
<
-- TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie - 17 Feb 2004

META FILEATTACHMENT attr="h" comment="" date="1079599072" name="hula.gif" path="C:\Data\Temp\hula.gif" size="8780" user="PeterThoeny" version="1.1"
META FILEATTACHMENT attr="h" comment="" date="1079598796" name="anarchy.gif" path="C:\Data\Temp\anarchy.gif" size="10363" user="PeterThoeny" version="1.1"
META FILEATTACHMENT attr="h" comment="" date="1079599120" name="lego.gif" path="C:\Data\Temp\lego.gif" size="4084" user="PeterThoeny" version="1.1"
META FILEATTACHMENT attr="h" comment="" date="1079599121" name="myco.gif" path="C:\Data\Temp\myco.gif" size="1833" user="PeterThoeny" version="1.1"
 

Revision 32004-08-22 - PeterThoeny

 This is a short introduction training course for TWiki beginners (newbies).

Start Presentation

Slide 1: A Taste of TWiki

The basic function of TWiki is a Wiki (if that helps!)

A Wiki is like a normal web site, except that you can edit the content in your browser

  • "Wiki" is short for "wiki wiki", the Hawaiian for "Quick"
  • The idea originates from Macintosh Hypercard, via Ward Cunningham
  • In Ward's words, Wiki is "the simplest online database that could possibly work"
  • A Wiki is basically a shared, online, persistant whiteboard

Slide 2: TWiki Wiki

TWiki implements the basic Wiki idea of a shared whiteboard
  • Anyone can add content
    ... or change what is written
    ... or change the organisation of the content
  • Whatever what you write is
    ... nicely presented
    ... remembered... and never forgotten
TWiki also acts as an "application platform" to integrate a number of other functions.

TWiki is an Open-Source development on TWiki.org

Slide 3: Where is it used?

Slide 4: TWiki Features

TWiki builds on the original Wiki concept and adds a number of features that make it very useful in a business environment.
  • TWiki pages are fully revision controlled, so a record of every change to every page is kept
    r1.6 > r1.5 > r1.4
  • The look-and-feel is highly configurable, through use of templates
  • A "plugins" interface eases
    • customisation
    • extension
    • application integration

Slide 5: Applications of basic TWiki

Basic TWiki can be used as:
  • A whiteboard
  • A document repository
  • A collaborative authoring environment
  • A notebook / scrapbook
  • A chat room

Slide 6: Extended applications

TWiki-with-extensions has been used as:
  • A Content Management System (CMS) for websites
  • A presentation development tool
  • A Blog
  • A database
  • A project management system
  • A tracking tool
Changed:
<
<
  • (truth is, we don't really know it's limits!)
>
>
  • (truth is, we don't really know its limits!)
 

Structure of a TWiki page

TWiki pages are usually organised into three parts:
  • A header
  • A body
  • A footer

  • The header and the footer are generated by the system
  • The body contains the text of the page, as entered by you
TWiki is very configurable, and the look can change. However the essentials will all be there on the page (somewhere!)

The Page Header

The header of a TWiki page is generally highlighted in colour, and will usually contain an icon that gives you an idea of where you are, such as a company logo.
TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
It will also usually contain a number of 'links' that you can click on. You will generally see:
  • Changes - gives you a list of recent changes
  • Index - gives you a full index
  • Search - takes you to a search page, where you can search all the text
  • Go - lets you type in the name of a page you already know

The Page Header

TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
You may also see in the header (usually at the top right) a list of the TWiki "webs". A web is a collection of pages that are related closely together
  • For example, we might have a web called "Enemies", where we keep all we know about our enemies, and another called "Friends"
  • There's usually a safe play web called something like "Sandbox" or "Scratch", where you can create pages just to try things out
  • And some admin areas, like "Main" and "TWiki"

The Page Footer

The footer of the page is also highlighted in colour, and is usually where you will find the links that let you change the content.
Edit | Attach | Diffs | r1.2 > r1.1 | More
Revision r1.2 - 13 Feb 2004 - 09:09 GMT - TWikiPresenter This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platformCopyright © 1999-2024 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback
Note: Please contribute updates to this topic on TWiki.org at TWiki:TWiki.ATasteOfTWiki.
  • The Edit link takes you to an interactive page where you can change the page content
  • The Attach link lets you attach files
  • The other links invoke other, more complex, functions, mainly to do with revision tracking - they can safely be ignored for now

Editing Pages

  • You've read a page, and you disagree with it violently! It says:
    Everyone knows that the world is an OblateSpheroid
    But you know for a fact it is flat! wink
  • You've clicked the edit link, and an edit page has appeared. But it doesn't look much like what was on the page before - it's full of strange hieroglyphics!
_Everyone_ *knows* that =the world= is an OblateSpheroid
  • Now what?

What's in a page

  • The hieroglyphics are what's known as "TWiki Markup" or "formatting"
  • They are a really simple way of telling the browser how you want the page to look
  • You don't have to use them
    • TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine.

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

      appears as

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

Formatting just makes pages prettier

... and easier to read

_Actually_ it is *perfectly* and __absolutely__ flat

appears as

Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat
  • A full description of all the formatting can be found in the TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • The best thing to do is just to type until you get stuck
    • then follow the link on the edit page to the help.

Commonly used formatting

TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine, but you can jazz them up using some simple formatting shortcuts. Here are some of the more commonly used ones:
  • ---+ indicates a heading. Add more +'s for a deeper heading.
    You type You see
    ---+ This is a heading

    This is a heading

    ---++ And so is this

    And so is this

  • %TOC% will insert a table of contents

More common formatting

  • A blank line gives a paragraph break
Changed:
<
<
  • --- on a line of it's own gives a horizontal bar
>
>
  • --- on a line of its own gives a horizontal bar
  Start Presentation
  • Text in stars *like this* looks like this
  • Text in underscores _like this_ looks like this
  • Text in equals signs =like this= looks like this
  • Bulleted lists use three spaces followed by an asterisk (*) at the start of the line
    • The depth of the bullet is given by the number of spaces, in multiples of three
You type You see
   * Bullet
      * Sub-bullet
  • Bullet
    • Sub-bullet
  • Numbered lists use a number in place of the *. The list is numbered automatically, so you can just use a 1

Slide 1: Even more.....

  • You can create a table using vertical bars:
     | Cat | Feline |
     | Bear | Ursine |
     | Wolf | Vulpine |
  • appears as
    Cat Feline
    Bear Ursine
    Wolf Vulpine
  • %RED% .... %ENDCOLOR% will change the colour of the enclosed text. Lots of colours are available (%RED%, %GREEN%, %BLUE% etc)

WikiWords"> Slide 2: WikiWords

  • One special hieroglyph that is very important is a BumpyWord
    • a word that starts with uppercase, then some lowercase, then more uppercase (a.k.a CamelCase)
  • This has a special meaning to TWiki; if it matches the name of another topic, TWiki will automatically create a link to that page for you.
  • If there is no such page, then the word is highlighted and a question mark is put after the word, LikeThis
  • If you click on the question mark, then TWiki will invite you to create that page.

  • This lets you enter the names of topics you think should exist, but don't yet
    • You, or someone else, can always come along later and click on the question mark!

Slide 3: Referencing other pages and URLs

  • BumpyWords automatically link to the target page
    • You can make these links easier to read using square brackets:
  • An ordinary URL pasted into text will appear as a link - http://www.google.com
    • You can also prettify URLs using square brackets:
      • [[http://www..google.com][google]] appears as google
  • Use %SEARCH. This is an interface to a sophisticated search engine that embeds the results of the search in your page. See TWikiVariables for full details.

Slide 4: More formatting

  • There's lots more formatting available, see TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • If you are a real masochist, you can even enter raw HTML tags!
  • Important to disable unwanted formatting, use <nop>
    • <nop>_word_ appears as _word_

Slide 5: Creating new pages

  • Alternative ways:
    • Click on the question mark after a BumpyWord
    • Type in the name of the topic in the "Go:" box
    • Type in the name of the topic in the URL
  • Any time you try to visit a page that doesn't exist, TWiki will invite you to create it.
  • Make sure the names of topics are always BumpyWords.

Slide 6: Attachments

  • Attachments are files which have been uploaded and attached to a TWiki page using the 'Attach' function in the footer.
Attachment sort Action Size Date Who Comment
myco.gif manage 9.6 K 13 Feb 2004 - 18:41 MushroomMagicMan Attached image file
  • Attachments are simply files, in whatever format you want.
  • TWiki recognises some file formats, notably image files (.gif)
    • Write %ATTACHURL%/myco.gif to see this: /internal/TWiki/ATasteOfTWiki/myco.gif

Slide 7: Wiki Culture

Enough about mechanics; how is a wiki actually used ? Well, that's really up to you, but there are a number of tricks that the wiki community has developed for collaborative writing that work pretty well:
  • What can I edit?
    • Anything. But it's good etiquette to sign your contributions
    • If someone doesn't want you to edit a page, it's up to them to say so, clearly, on the page
  • But what if somebody doesn't like my edits?
    • In TWiki, they can always recover the old revision and re-instantiate it if they really want to
    • Otherwise they should regard your changes as an opportunity for discussion
  • Pages in wiki are (usually) in one of three "modes"
    • DocumentMode
    • ThreadMode
    • StructuredMode
TWiki doesn't automatically distinguish between these modes; they are purely semantic.

DocumentMode"> Slide 8: DocumentMode

  • A page in DocumentMode usually comprises a contribution which is written in the third person and left unsigned.
  • The piece of text is community property
    • It may have multiple and changing authors as it is updated to reflect the community consensus.

ThreadMode"> Slide 9: ThreadMode

  • Thread mode is a form of discussion where the community holds a conversation
  • The discussion usually starts out with a statement, at the top of the page, that is subsequently discussed
  • The page may be periodically "refactored" (edited) to remove some of the comments
    • As long as the comment is accurately reflected in what replaces it, nobody usually minds.
    • Remember to always maintain a complete list of contributors, though!
You may see a comment box on a page in ThreadMode that makes it easy to quickly add your inputs. Typing in a comment and adding it to a page this way is known as "blogging" wink
  • ThreadMode is rather like an e-mail thread
    • Except that new comments are usually added to the end
  • ThreadMode pages often get refactored into DocumentMode

StructuredMode"> Slide 10: StructuredMode

  • A page in StructuredMode follows some predefined structure for example
    • An agenda
    • A set of meeting minutes
    • A requirement description.
  • Pages in StructuredMode will usually have rules governing how they are edited.

Slide 11: Other Wiki tricks - Categories

  • A Wiki trick for grouping pages together
  • Example: to group together a set of pages all relating to the weather:
    1. Create a page called 'CategoryWeather'
    2. Put a SEARCH that contain the word 'CategoryWeather' into it
      • %SEARCH{"CategoryWeather" nosearch="on" nosummary="on"}%
    3. Put the BumpyWord 'CategoryWeather' on all the pages relating to the weather
      (usually at the bottom, below a horizontal bar)

Slide 12: Contributed features

Basic TWiki is rich with features, but is enriched even further by the addition of optional plug-in modules that may (or may not!) be installed in your TWiki. These are classified as either skins (modules that change the look-and-feel) and plugins (modules that enhance functionality).

Here's a brief description of some of the more common plugins, together with the tags you might expect to see in topics if they are used. You can find out more by visiting the plugin pages.

  • ActionTrackerPlugin: Support action tags in topics, with automatic notification of action statii %ACTION...
  • CalendarPlugin: Show a monthly calendar with highlighted events %CALENDAR...%
  • CommentPlugin: Support rapid entry of short comments (also known as blogging) %COMMENT...
  • ChartPlugin: Create PNG or GIF charts to visualize data in TWiki tables %CHART...
  • EditTablePlugin: Edit TWiki tables using edit fields and drop down boxes %EDITTABLE...
  • InterwikiPlugin: Define shortcuts for links to common external sites

Slide 13: More plugins

  • RenderListPlugin: Render bullet lists in a variety of formats %RENDERLIST...
  • SlideShowPlugin: Create web based presentations based on topics with headings %SLIDESHOWSTART...
  • SpreadSheetPlugin: Add spreadsheet calculations like "$SUM( $ABOVE() )" to tables located in TWiki topics %CALC...
  • TablePlugin: Control presentation and sorting of tables %TABLE...
  • TWikiDrawPlugin: Add quick sketches to pages %DRAWING...
The following plugins are installed on this TWiki: SpreadSheetPlugin, BackupRestorePlugin, ColorPickerPlugin, CommentPlugin, DatePickerPlugin, EditTablePlugin, HeadlinesPlugin, InterwikiPlugin, JQueryPlugin, PreferencesPlugin, RedirectPlugin, SetGetPlugin, SlideShowPlugin, SmiliesPlugin, TWikiSheetPlugin, TablePlugin, TagMePlugin, TinyMCEPlugin, TwistyPlugin, WatchlistPlugin, WysiwygPlugin

There are many other plugins, see http://www.twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins

Slide 14: Credits and Acknowledgements

Related topics: WelcomeGuest, TWikiTutorial, ATasteOfTWikiTemplate

-- TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie - 17 Feb 2004

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Revision 22004-08-15 - PeterThoeny

Changed:
<
<
This is a short introduction training course for TWiki beginners (newbies).

Start Presentation

Slide 1: A Taste of TWiki

The basic function of TWiki is a Wiki (if that helps!)

A Wiki is like a normal web site, except that you can edit the content in your browser

  • "Wiki" is short for "wiki wiki", the Hawaiian for "Quick"
  • The idea originates from Macintosh Hypercard, via Ward Cunningham
  • In Ward's words, Wiki is "the simplest online database that could possibly work"
  • A Wiki is basically a shared, online, persistant whiteboard

Slide 2: TWiki Wiki

TWiki implements the basic Wiki idea of a shared whiteboard
  • Anyone can add content
    ... or change what is written
    ... or change the organisation of the content
  • Whatever what you write is
    ... nicely presented
    ... remembered
    ... and never forgotten
TWiki also acts as an "application platform" to integrate a number of other functions.

TWiki is an Open-Source development on TWiki.org

Slide 3: Where is it used?

Slide 4: TWiki Features

TWiki builds on the original Wiki concept and adds a number of features that make it very useful in a business environment.
  • TWiki pages are fully revision controlled, so a record of every change to every page is kept
    r1.6 > r1.5 > r1.4
  • The look-and-feel is highly configurable, through use of templates
  • A "plugins" interface eases
    • customisation
    • extension
    • application integration

Slide 5: Applications of basic TWiki

Basic TWiki can be used as:
  • A whiteboard
  • A document repository
  • A collaborative authoring environment
  • A notebook / scrapbook
  • A chat room

Slide 6: Extended applications

TWiki-with-extensions has been used as:
  • A Content Management System (CMS) for websites
  • A presentation development tool
  • A Blog
  • A database
  • A project management system
  • A tracking tool
  • (truth is, we don't really know it's limits!)

Slide 7: Structure of a TWiki page

TWiki pages are usually organised into three parts:
  • A header
  • A body
  • A footer

  • The header and the footer are generated by the system
  • The body contains the text of the page, as entered by you

TWiki is very configurable, and the look can change. However the essentials will all be there on the page (somewhere!)

Slide 8: The Page Header

The header of a TWiki page is generally highlighted in colour, and will usually contain an icon that gives you an idea of where you are, such as a company logo.
TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic
Webs

Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
It will also usually contain a number of 'links' that you can click on. You will generally see:
  • Changes - gives you a list of recent changes
  • Index - gives you a full index
  • Search - takes you to a search page, where you can search all the text
  • Go - lets you type in the name of a page you already know

Slide 9: The Page Header

TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic
Webs

Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
You may also see in the header (usually at the top right) a list of the TWiki "webs". A web is a collection of pages that are related closely together
  • For example, we might have a web called "Enemies", where we keep all we know about our enemies, and another called "Friends"
  • There's usually a safe play web called something like "Sandbox" or "Scratch", where you can create pages just to try things out
  • And some admin areas, like "Main" and "TWiki"

Slide 10: The Page Footer

The footer of the page is also highlighted in colour, and is usually where you will find the links that let you change the content.
Edit | Attach | Diffs | r1.2 > r1.1 | More
Revision r1.2 - 13 Feb 2004 - 09:09 GMT - TWikiPresenter This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platformCopyright © 1999-2024 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback
Note: Please contribute updates to this topic on TWiki.org at TWiki:TWiki.ATasteOfTWiki.
  • The Edit link takes you to an interactive page where you can change the page content
  • The Attach link lets you attach files
  • The other links invoke other, more complex, functions, mainly to do with revision tracking - they can safely be ignored for now

Slide 11: Editing Pages

  • You've read a page, and you disagree with it violently! It says:
    Everyone knows that the world is an OblateSpheroid
    But you know for a fact it is flat! wink
  • You've clicked the edit link, and an edit page has appeared. But it doesn't look much like what was on the page before - it's full of strange hieroglyphics!
_Everyone_ *knows* that =the world= is an OblateSpheroid
  • Now what?

Slide 12: What's in a page

  • The hieroglyphics are what's known as "TWiki Markup" or "formatting"
  • They are a really simple way of telling the browser how you want the page to look
  • You don't have to use them
    • TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine.
      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat
      appears as

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

Slide 13: Formatting just makes pages prettier, and easier to read

_Actually_ it is *perfectly* and __absolutely__ flat
appears as

Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

  • A full description of all the formatting can be found in the TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • The best thing to do is just to type until you get stuck
    • then follow the link on the edit page to the help.

Slide 14: Commonly used formatting

TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine, but you can jazz them up using some simple formatting shortcuts. Here are some of the more commonly used ones:
  • ---+ indicates a heading. Add more +'s for a deeper heading.
You type You see
---+ This is a heading

This is a heading

---++ And so is this

And so is this

  • %TOC% will insert a table of contents

Slide 15: More common formatting

  • A blank line gives a paragraph break
  • --- on a line of it's own gives a horizontal bar
  • Text in stars *like this* looks like this
  • Text in underscores _like this_ looks like this
  • Text in equals signs =like this= looks like this
  • Bulleted lists use three spaces followed by an asterisk (*) at the start of the line
    • The depth of the bullet is given by the number of spaces, in multiples of three
You type You see
   * Bullet
      * Sub-bullet
  • Bullet
    • Sub-bullet
  • Numbered lists use a number in place of the *. The list is numbered automatically, so you can just use a 1

Slide 16: Even more.....

  • You can create a table using vertical bars:
| Cat | Feline |
| Bear | Ursine |
| Wolf | Vulpine |
appears as
Cat Feline
Bear Ursine
Wolf Vulpine
  • %RED% .... %ENDCOLOR% will change the color of the enclosed text. Lots of colours are available (%GREEN% etc)

WikiWords"> Slide 17: WikiWords

  • One special hieroglyph that is very important is a BumpyWord
    • a word that starts with uppercase, then some lowercase, then more uppercase
  • This has a special meaning to TWiki; if it matches the name of another topic, TWiki will automatically create a link to that page for you.
  • If there is no such page, then the word is highlighted and a question mark is put after the word, LikeThis
  • If you click on the question mark, then TWiki will invite you to create that page.

  • This lets you enter the names of topics you think should exist, but don't yet
    • You, or someone else, can always come along later and click on the question mark!

Slide 18: Referencing other pages and URLs

  • BumpyWords automatically link to the target page
    • You can make these links easier to read using square brackets:
  • An ordinary URL pasted into text will appear as a link - http://www.google.com
    • You can also prettify URLs using square brackets:
      • [[http://www..google.com][google]] appears as google
  • Use %SEARCH. This is an interface to a sophisticated search engine that embeds the results of the search in your page. See TWikiVariables for full details.

Slide 19: More formatting

  • There's lots more formatting available, see TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • If you are a real masochist, you can even enter raw HTML tags!
  • Important to disable unwanted formatting, use <nop>
    • <nop>_word_ appears as _word_

Slide 20: Creating new pages

  • Alternative ways:
    • Click on the question mark after a BumpyWord
    • Type in the name of the topic in the "Go:" box
    • Type in the name of the topic in the URL
  • Any time you try to visit a page that doesn't exist, TWiki will invite you to create it.
  • Make sure the names of topics are always BumpyWords.

Slide 21: Attachments

  • Attachments are files which have been uploaded and attached to a TWiki page using the 'Attach' function in the footer.
Attachment sort Action Size Date Who Comment
myco.gif manage 9.6 K 13 Feb 2004 - 18:41 MushroomMagicMan Attached image file
  • Attachments are simply files, in whatever format you want.
  • TWiki recognises some file formats, notably image files (.gif)
    • Write %ATTACHURLPATH%/myco.gif to see this: /internal/TWiki/ATasteOfTWiki/myco.gif

Slide 22: Wiki Culture

Enough about mechanics; how is a wiki actually used ? Well, that's really up to you, but there are a number of tricks that the wiki community has developed for collaborative writing that work pretty well:
  • What can I edit?
    • Anything. But it's good etiquette to sign your contributions
    • If someone doesn't want you to edit a page, it's up to them to say so, clearly, on the page
  • But what if somebody doesn't like my edits?
    • In TWiki, they can always recover the old revision and re-instate it if they really want to
    • Otherwise they should regard your changes as an opportunity for discussion
  • Pages in wiki are (usually) in one of three "modes"
    • DocumentMode
    • ThreadMode
    • StructuredMode

TWiki doesn't automatically distinguish between these modes; they are purely semantic.

DocumentMode"> Slide 23: DocumentMode

  • A page in DocumentMode usually comprises a contribution which is written in the third person and left unsigned.
  • The piece of text is community property
    • It may have multiple and changing authors as it is updated to reflect the community consensus.

ThreadMode"> Slide 24: ThreadMode

  • Thread mode is a form of discussion where the community holds a conversation
  • The discussion usually starts out with a statement, at the top of the page, that is subsequently discussed
  • The page may be periodically "refactored" (edited) to remove some of the comments
    • As long as the comment is accurately reflected in what replaces it, nobody usually minds.
    • Remember to always maintain a complete list of contributors, though!
You may see a comment box on a page in ThreadMode that makes it easy to quickly add your inputs. Typing in a comment and adding it to a page this way is known as "blogging" wink
  • ThreadMode is rather like an e-mail thread
    • Except that new comments are usually added to the end
  • ThreadMode pages often get refactored into DocumentMode

StructuredMode"> Slide 25: StructuredMode

  • A page in StructuredMode follows some predefined structure for example
    • An agenda
    • A set of meeting minutes
    • A requirement description.
  • Pages in StructuredMode will usually have rules governing how they are edited.

Slide 26: Other Wiki tricks - Categories

  • A Wiki trick for grouping pages together
  • Example: to group together a set of pages all relating to the weather:
    1. Create a page called 'CategoryWeather'
    2. Put a SEARCH that contain the word 'CategoryWeather' into it
      • %SEARCH{"CategoryWeather" nosearch="on" nosummary="on"}%
    3. Put the BumpyWord 'CategoryWeather' on all the pages relating to the weather
      (usually at the bottom, below a horizontal bar)

Slide 27: Contributed features

Basic TWiki is rich with features, but is enriched even further by the addition of optional plug-in modules that may (or may not!) be installed in your TWiki. These are classified as either skins (modules that change the look-and-feel) and plugins (modules that enhance functionality).

Here's a brief description of some of the more common plugins, together with the tags you might expect to see in topics if they are used. You can find out more by visiting the plugin pages.

  • ActionTrackerPlugin: Support action tags in topics, with automatic notification of action statii %ACTION...
  • CalendarPlugin: Show a monthly calendar with highlighted events %CALENDAR...%
  • CommentPlugin: Support rapid entry of short comments (also known as blogging) %COMMENT...
  • ChartPlugin: Create PNG or GIF charts to visualize data in TWiki tables %CHART...
  • EditTablePlugin: Edit TWiki tables using edit fields and drop down boxes %EDITTABLE...
  • InterwikiPlugin: Define shortcuts for links to common external sites

Slide 28: More plugins

  • RenderListPlugin: Render bullet lists in a variety of formats %RENDERLIST...
  • SlideShowPlugin: Create web based presentations based on topics with headings %SLIDESHOWSTART...
  • SpreadSheetPlugin: Add spreadsheet calculations like "$SUM( $ABOVE() )" to tables located in TWiki topics %CALC...
  • TablePlugin: Control presentation and sorting of tables %TABLE...
  • TWikiDrawPlugin: Add quick sketches to pages %DRAWING...

The following plugins are installed on this TWiki: The INSTALLEDPLUGINS variable is no longer supported. You can set the Plugins execution order using the configure interface.

There are many other plugins, see http://www.twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins

Slide 29: Credits and Acknowledgements

>
>
This is a short introduction training course for TWiki beginners (newbies).

Start Presentation

Slide 1: A Taste of TWiki

The basic function of TWiki is a Wiki (if that helps!)

A Wiki is like a normal web site, except that you can edit the content in your browser

  • "Wiki" is short for "wiki wiki", the Hawaiian for "Quick"
  • The idea originates from Macintosh Hypercard, via Ward Cunningham
  • In Ward's words, Wiki is "the simplest online database that could possibly work"
  • A Wiki is basically a shared, online, persistant whiteboard

Slide 2: TWiki Wiki

TWiki implements the basic Wiki idea of a shared whiteboard
  • Anyone can add content
    ... or change what is written
    ... or change the organisation of the content
  • Whatever what you write is
    ... nicely presented
    ... remembered... and never forgotten
TWiki also acts as an "application platform" to integrate a number of other functions.

TWiki is an Open-Source development on TWiki.org

Slide 3: Where is it used?

Slide 4: TWiki Features

TWiki builds on the original Wiki concept and adds a number of features that make it very useful in a business environment.
  • TWiki pages are fully revision controlled, so a record of every change to every page is kept
    r1.6 > r1.5 > r1.4
  • The look-and-feel is highly configurable, through use of templates
  • A "plugins" interface eases
    • customisation
    • extension
    • application integration

Slide 5: Applications of basic TWiki

Basic TWiki can be used as:
  • A whiteboard
  • A document repository
  • A collaborative authoring environment
  • A notebook / scrapbook
  • A chat room

Slide 6: Extended applications

TWiki-with-extensions has been used as:
  • A Content Management System (CMS) for websites
  • A presentation development tool
  • A Blog
  • A database
  • A project management system
  • A tracking tool
  • (truth is, we don't really know it's limits!)

Slide 7: Structure of a TWiki page

TWiki pages are usually organised into three parts:
  • A header
  • A body
  • A footer

  • The header and the footer are generated by the system
  • The body contains the text of the page, as entered by you
TWiki is very configurable, and the look can change. However the essentials will all be there on the page (somewhere!)

Slide 8: The Page Header

The header of a TWiki page is generally highlighted in colour, and will usually contain an icon that gives you an idea of where you are, such as a company logo.
TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
It will also usually contain a number of 'links' that you can click on. You will generally see:
  • Changes - gives you a list of recent changes
  • Index - gives you a full index
  • Search - takes you to a search page, where you can search all the text
  • Go - lets you type in the name of a page you already know

Slide 9: The Page Header

TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic Webs:
Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
You may also see in the header (usually at the top right) a list of the TWiki "webs". A web is a collection of pages that are related closely together
  • For example, we might have a web called "Enemies", where we keep all we know about our enemies, and another called "Friends"
  • There's usually a safe play web called something like "Sandbox" or "Scratch", where you can create pages just to try things out
  • And some admin areas, like "Main" and "TWiki"

Slide 10: The Page Footer

The footer of the page is also highlighted in colour, and is usually where you will find the links that let you change the content.
Edit | Attach | Diffs | r1.2 > r1.1 | More
Revision r1.2 - 13 Feb 2004 - 09:09 GMT - TWikiPresenter This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platformCopyright © 1999-2024 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback
Note: Please contribute updates to this topic on TWiki.org at TWiki:TWiki.ATasteOfTWiki.
  • The Edit link takes you to an interactive page where you can change the page content
  • The Attach link lets you attach files
  • The other links invoke other, more complex, functions, mainly to do with revision tracking - they can safely be ignored for now

Slide 11: Editing Pages

  • You've read a page, and you disagree with it violently! It says:
    Everyone knows that the world is an OblateSpheroid
    But you know for a fact it is flat! wink
  • You've clicked the edit link, and an edit page has appeared. But it doesn't look much like what was on the page before - it's full of strange hieroglyphics!
_Everyone_ *knows* that =the world= is an OblateSpheroid
  • Now what?

Slide 12: What's in a page

  • The hieroglyphics are what's known as "TWiki Markup" or "formatting"
  • They are a really simple way of telling the browser how you want the page to look
  • You don't have to use them
    • TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine.

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

      appears as

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

Slide 13: Formatting just makes pages prettier

... and easier to read

_Actually_ it is *perfectly* and __absolutely__ flat

appears as

Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat
  • A full description of all the formatting can be found in the TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • The best thing to do is just to type until you get stuck
    • then follow the link on the edit page to the help.

Slide 14: Commonly used formatting

TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine, but you can jazz them up using some simple formatting shortcuts. Here are some of the more commonly used ones:
  • ---+ indicates a heading. Add more +'s for a deeper heading.
    You type You see
    ---+ This is a heading

    This is a heading

    ---++ And so is this

    And so is this

  • %TOC% will insert a table of contents

Slide 15: More common formatting

  • A blank line gives a paragraph break
  • --- on a line of it's own gives a horizontal bar
  • Text in stars *like this* looks like this
  • Text in underscores _like this_ looks like this
  • Text in equals signs =like this= looks like this
  • Bulleted lists use three spaces followed by an asterisk (*) at the start of the line
    • The depth of the bullet is given by the number of spaces, in multiples of three
You type You see
   * Bullet
      * Sub-bullet
  • Bullet
    • Sub-bullet
  • Numbered lists use a number in place of the *. The list is numbered automatically, so you can just use a 1

Slide 16: Even more.....

  • You can create a table using vertical bars:
     | Cat | Feline |
     | Bear | Ursine |
     | Wolf | Vulpine |
  • appears as
    Cat Feline
    Bear Ursine
    Wolf Vulpine
  • %RED% .... %ENDCOLOR% will change the colour of the enclosed text. Lots of colours are available (%RED%, %GREEN%, %BLUE% etc)

WikiWords"> Slide 17: WikiWords

  • One special hieroglyph that is very important is a BumpyWord
    • a word that starts with uppercase, then some lowercase, then more uppercase (a.k.a CamelCase)
  • This has a special meaning to TWiki; if it matches the name of another topic, TWiki will automatically create a link to that page for you.
  • If there is no such page, then the word is highlighted and a question mark is put after the word, LikeThis
  • If you click on the question mark, then TWiki will invite you to create that page.

  • This lets you enter the names of topics you think should exist, but don't yet
    • You, or someone else, can always come along later and click on the question mark!

Slide 18: Referencing other pages and URLs

  • BumpyWords automatically link to the target page
    • You can make these links easier to read using square brackets:
  • An ordinary URL pasted into text will appear as a link - http://www.google.com
    • You can also prettify URLs using square brackets:
      • [[http://www..google.com][google]] appears as google
  • Use %SEARCH. This is an interface to a sophisticated search engine that embeds the results of the search in your page. See TWikiVariables for full details.

Slide 19: More formatting

  • There's lots more formatting available, see TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • If you are a real masochist, you can even enter raw HTML tags!
  • Important to disable unwanted formatting, use <nop>
    • <nop>_word_ appears as _word_

Slide 20: Creating new pages

  • Alternative ways:
    • Click on the question mark after a BumpyWord
    • Type in the name of the topic in the "Go:" box
    • Type in the name of the topic in the URL
  • Any time you try to visit a page that doesn't exist, TWiki will invite you to create it.
  • Make sure the names of topics are always BumpyWords.

Slide 21: Attachments

  • Attachments are files which have been uploaded and attached to a TWiki page using the 'Attach' function in the footer.
Attachment sort Action Size Date Who Comment
myco.gif manage 9.6 K 13 Feb 2004 - 18:41 MushroomMagicMan Attached image file
  • Attachments are simply files, in whatever format you want.
  • TWiki recognises some file formats, notably image files (.gif)
    • Write %ATTACHURL%/myco.gif to see this: /internal/TWiki/ATasteOfTWiki/myco.gif

Slide 22: Wiki Culture

Enough about mechanics; how is a wiki actually used ? Well, that's really up to you, but there are a number of tricks that the wiki community has developed for collaborative writing that work pretty well:
  • What can I edit?
    • Anything. But it's good etiquette to sign your contributions
    • If someone doesn't want you to edit a page, it's up to them to say so, clearly, on the page
  • But what if somebody doesn't like my edits?
    • In TWiki, they can always recover the old revision and re-instantiate it if they really want to
    • Otherwise they should regard your changes as an opportunity for discussion
  • Pages in wiki are (usually) in one of three "modes"
    • DocumentMode
    • ThreadMode
    • StructuredMode
TWiki doesn't automatically distinguish between these modes; they are purely semantic.

DocumentMode"> Slide 23: DocumentMode

  • A page in DocumentMode usually comprises a contribution which is written in the third person and left unsigned.
  • The piece of text is community property
    • It may have multiple and changing authors as it is updated to reflect the community consensus.

ThreadMode"> Slide 24: ThreadMode

  • Thread mode is a form of discussion where the community holds a conversation
  • The discussion usually starts out with a statement, at the top of the page, that is subsequently discussed
  • The page may be periodically "refactored" (edited) to remove some of the comments
    • As long as the comment is accurately reflected in what replaces it, nobody usually minds.
    • Remember to always maintain a complete list of contributors, though!
You may see a comment box on a page in ThreadMode that makes it easy to quickly add your inputs. Typing in a comment and adding it to a page this way is known as "blogging" wink
  • ThreadMode is rather like an e-mail thread
    • Except that new comments are usually added to the end
  • ThreadMode pages often get refactored into DocumentMode

StructuredMode"> Slide 25: StructuredMode

  • A page in StructuredMode follows some predefined structure for example
    • An agenda
    • A set of meeting minutes
    • A requirement description.
  • Pages in StructuredMode will usually have rules governing how they are edited.

Slide 26: Other Wiki tricks - Categories

  • A Wiki trick for grouping pages together
  • Example: to group together a set of pages all relating to the weather:
    1. Create a page called 'CategoryWeather'
    2. Put a SEARCH that contain the word 'CategoryWeather' into it
      • %SEARCH{"CategoryWeather" nosearch="on" nosummary="on"}%
    3. Put the BumpyWord 'CategoryWeather' on all the pages relating to the weather
      (usually at the bottom, below a horizontal bar)

Slide 27: Contributed features

Basic TWiki is rich with features, but is enriched even further by the addition of optional plug-in modules that may (or may not!) be installed in your TWiki. These are classified as either skins (modules that change the look-and-feel) and plugins (modules that enhance functionality).

Here's a brief description of some of the more common plugins, together with the tags you might expect to see in topics if they are used. You can find out more by visiting the plugin pages.

  • ActionTrackerPlugin: Support action tags in topics, with automatic notification of action statii %ACTION...
  • CalendarPlugin: Show a monthly calendar with highlighted events %CALENDAR...%
  • CommentPlugin: Support rapid entry of short comments (also known as blogging) %COMMENT...
  • ChartPlugin: Create PNG or GIF charts to visualize data in TWiki tables %CHART...
  • EditTablePlugin: Edit TWiki tables using edit fields and drop down boxes %EDITTABLE...
  • InterwikiPlugin: Define shortcuts for links to common external sites

Slide 28: More plugins

  • RenderListPlugin: Render bullet lists in a variety of formats %RENDERLIST...
  • SlideShowPlugin: Create web based presentations based on topics with headings %SLIDESHOWSTART...
  • SpreadSheetPlugin: Add spreadsheet calculations like "$SUM( $ABOVE() )" to tables located in TWiki topics %CALC...
  • TablePlugin: Control presentation and sorting of tables %TABLE...
  • TWikiDrawPlugin: Add quick sketches to pages %DRAWING...
The following plugins are installed on this TWiki: SpreadSheetPlugin, BackupRestorePlugin, ColorPickerPlugin, CommentPlugin, DatePickerPlugin, EditTablePlugin, HeadlinesPlugin, InterwikiPlugin, JQueryPlugin, PreferencesPlugin, RedirectPlugin, SetGetPlugin, SlideShowPlugin, SmiliesPlugin, TWikiSheetPlugin, TablePlugin, TagMePlugin, TinyMCEPlugin, TwistyPlugin, WatchlistPlugin, WysiwygPlugin

There are many other plugins, see http://www.twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins

Slide 29: Credits and Acknowledgements

Related topics: WelcomeGuest, TWikiTutorial, ATasteOfTWikiTemplate

-- TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie - 17 Feb 2004

Deleted:
<
<

%SLIDESHOWEND%

Related topics: WelcomeGuest, TWikiTutorial, ATasteOfTWikiTemplate

-- TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie - 17 Feb 2004

 
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Revision 12004-03-18 - PeterThoeny

 This is a short introduction training course for TWiki beginners (newbies).

Start Presentation

Slide 1: A Taste of TWiki

The basic function of TWiki is a Wiki (if that helps!)

A Wiki is like a normal web site, except that you can edit the content in your browser

  • "Wiki" is short for "wiki wiki", the Hawaiian for "Quick"
  • The idea originates from Macintosh Hypercard, via Ward Cunningham
  • In Ward's words, Wiki is "the simplest online database that could possibly work"
  • A Wiki is basically a shared, online, persistant whiteboard

Slide 2: TWiki Wiki

TWiki implements the basic Wiki idea of a shared whiteboard
  • Anyone can add content
    ... or change what is written
    ... or change the organisation of the content
  • Whatever what you write is
    ... nicely presented
    ... remembered
    ... and never forgotten
TWiki also acts as an "application platform" to integrate a number of other functions.

TWiki is an Open-Source development on TWiki.org

Slide 3: Where is it used?

Slide 4: TWiki Features

TWiki builds on the original Wiki concept and adds a number of features that make it very useful in a business environment.
  • TWiki pages are fully revision controlled, so a record of every change to every page is kept
    r1.6 > r1.5 > r1.4
  • The look-and-feel is highly configurable, through use of templates
  • A "plugins" interface eases
    • customisation
    • extension
    • application integration

Slide 5: Applications of basic TWiki

Basic TWiki can be used as:
  • A whiteboard
  • A document repository
  • A collaborative authoring environment
  • A notebook / scrapbook
  • A chat room

Slide 6: Extended applications

TWiki-with-extensions has been used as:
  • A Content Management System (CMS) for websites
  • A presentation development tool
  • A Blog
  • A database
  • A project management system
  • A tracking tool
  • (truth is, we don't really know it's limits!)

Slide 7: Structure of a TWiki page

TWiki pages are usually organised into three parts:
  • A header
  • A body
  • A footer

  • The header and the footer are generated by the system
  • The body contains the text of the page, as entered by you

TWiki is very configurable, and the look can change. However the essentials will all be there on the page (somewhere!)

Slide 8: The Page Header

The header of a TWiki page is generally highlighted in colour, and will usually contain an icon that gives you an idea of where you are, such as a company logo.
TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic
Webs

Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
It will also usually contain a number of 'links' that you can click on. You will generally see:
  • Changes - gives you a list of recent changes
  • Index - gives you a full index
  • Search - takes you to a search page, where you can search all the text
  • Go - lets you type in the name of a page you already know

Slide 9: The Page Header

TWiki home MyCo.MyTopic
Webs

Myco | Main | TWiki | Sandbox
Changes | Index | Search | Go
You may also see in the header (usually at the top right) a list of the TWiki "webs". A web is a collection of pages that are related closely together
  • For example, we might have a web called "Enemies", where we keep all we know about our enemies, and another called "Friends"
  • There's usually a safe play web called something like "Sandbox" or "Scratch", where you can create pages just to try things out
  • And some admin areas, like "Main" and "TWiki"

Slide 10: The Page Footer

The footer of the page is also highlighted in colour, and is usually where you will find the links that let you change the content.
Edit | Attach | Diffs | r1.2 > r1.1 | More
Revision r1.2 - 13 Feb 2004 - 09:09 GMT - TWikiPresenter This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platformCopyright © 1999-2024 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback
Note: Please contribute updates to this topic on TWiki.org at TWiki:TWiki.ATasteOfTWiki.
  • The Edit link takes you to an interactive page where you can change the page content
  • The Attach link lets you attach files
  • The other links invoke other, more complex, functions, mainly to do with revision tracking - they can safely be ignored for now

Slide 11: Editing Pages

  • You've read a page, and you disagree with it violently! It says:
    Everyone knows that the world is an OblateSpheroid
    But you know for a fact it is flat! wink
  • You've clicked the edit link, and an edit page has appeared. But it doesn't look much like what was on the page before - it's full of strange hieroglyphics!
_Everyone_ *knows* that =the world= is an OblateSpheroid
  • Now what?

Slide 12: What's in a page

  • The hieroglyphics are what's known as "TWiki Markup" or "formatting"
  • They are a really simple way of telling the browser how you want the page to look
  • You don't have to use them
    • TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine.
      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat
      appears as

      Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

Slide 13: Formatting just makes pages prettier, and easier to read

_Actually_ it is *perfectly* and __absolutely__ flat
appears as

Actually it is perfectly and absolutely flat

  • A full description of all the formatting can be found in the TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • The best thing to do is just to type until you get stuck
    • then follow the link on the edit page to the help.

Slide 14: Commonly used formatting

TWiki understands pages in plain text just fine, but you can jazz them up using some simple formatting shortcuts. Here are some of the more commonly used ones:
  • ---+ indicates a heading. Add more +'s for a deeper heading.
You type You see
---+ This is a heading

This is a heading

---++ And so is this

And so is this

  • %TOC% will insert a table of contents

Slide 15: More common formatting

  • A blank line gives a paragraph break
  • --- on a line of it's own gives a horizontal bar
  • Text in stars *like this* looks like this
  • Text in underscores _like this_ looks like this
  • Text in equals signs =like this= looks like this
  • Bulleted lists use three spaces followed by an asterisk (*) at the start of the line
    • The depth of the bullet is given by the number of spaces, in multiples of three
You type You see
   * Bullet
      * Sub-bullet
  • Bullet
    • Sub-bullet
  • Numbered lists use a number in place of the *. The list is numbered automatically, so you can just use a 1

Slide 16: Even more.....

  • You can create a table using vertical bars:
| Cat | Feline |
| Bear | Ursine |
| Wolf | Vulpine |
appears as
Cat Feline
Bear Ursine
Wolf Vulpine
  • %RED% .... %ENDCOLOR% will change the color of the enclosed text. Lots of colours are available (%GREEN% etc)

WikiWords"> Slide 17: WikiWords

  • One special hieroglyph that is very important is a BumpyWord
    • a word that starts with uppercase, then some lowercase, then more uppercase
  • This has a special meaning to TWiki; if it matches the name of another topic, TWiki will automatically create a link to that page for you.
  • If there is no such page, then the word is highlighted and a question mark is put after the word, LikeThis
  • If you click on the question mark, then TWiki will invite you to create that page.

  • This lets you enter the names of topics you think should exist, but don't yet
    • You, or someone else, can always come along later and click on the question mark!

Slide 18: Referencing other pages and URLs

  • BumpyWords automatically link to the target page
    • You can make these links easier to read using square brackets:
  • An ordinary URL pasted into text will appear as a link - http://www.google.com
    • You can also prettify URLs using square brackets:
      • [[http://www..google.com][google]] appears as google
  • Use %SEARCH. This is an interface to a sophisticated search engine that embeds the results of the search in your page. See TWikiVariables for full details.

Slide 19: More formatting

  • There's lots more formatting available, see TextFormattingRules and TextFormattingFAQ
  • If you are a real masochist, you can even enter raw HTML tags!
  • Important to disable unwanted formatting, use <nop>
    • <nop>_word_ appears as _word_

Slide 20: Creating new pages

  • Alternative ways:
    • Click on the question mark after a BumpyWord
    • Type in the name of the topic in the "Go:" box
    • Type in the name of the topic in the URL
  • Any time you try to visit a page that doesn't exist, TWiki will invite you to create it.
  • Make sure the names of topics are always BumpyWords.

Slide 21: Attachments

  • Attachments are files which have been uploaded and attached to a TWiki page using the 'Attach' function in the footer.
Attachment sort Action Size Date Who Comment
myco.gif manage 9.6 K 13 Feb 2004 - 18:41 MushroomMagicMan Attached image file
  • Attachments are simply files, in whatever format you want.
  • TWiki recognises some file formats, notably image files (.gif)
    • Write %ATTACHURLPATH%/myco.gif to see this: /internal/TWiki/ATasteOfTWiki/myco.gif

Slide 22: Wiki Culture

Enough about mechanics; how is a wiki actually used ? Well, that's really up to you, but there are a number of tricks that the wiki community has developed for collaborative writing that work pretty well:
  • What can I edit?
    • Anything. But it's good etiquette to sign your contributions
    • If someone doesn't want you to edit a page, it's up to them to say so, clearly, on the page
  • But what if somebody doesn't like my edits?
    • In TWiki, they can always recover the old revision and re-instate it if they really want to
    • Otherwise they should regard your changes as an opportunity for discussion
  • Pages in wiki are (usually) in one of three "modes"
    • DocumentMode
    • ThreadMode
    • StructuredMode

TWiki doesn't automatically distinguish between these modes; they are purely semantic.

DocumentMode"> Slide 23: DocumentMode

  • A page in DocumentMode usually comprises a contribution which is written in the third person and left unsigned.
  • The piece of text is community property
    • It may have multiple and changing authors as it is updated to reflect the community consensus.

ThreadMode"> Slide 24: ThreadMode

  • Thread mode is a form of discussion where the community holds a conversation
  • The discussion usually starts out with a statement, at the top of the page, that is subsequently discussed
  • The page may be periodically "refactored" (edited) to remove some of the comments
    • As long as the comment is accurately reflected in what replaces it, nobody usually minds.
    • Remember to always maintain a complete list of contributors, though!
You may see a comment box on a page in ThreadMode that makes it easy to quickly add your inputs. Typing in a comment and adding it to a page this way is known as "blogging" wink
  • ThreadMode is rather like an e-mail thread
    • Except that new comments are usually added to the end
  • ThreadMode pages often get refactored into DocumentMode

StructuredMode"> Slide 25: StructuredMode

  • A page in StructuredMode follows some predefined structure for example
    • An agenda
    • A set of meeting minutes
    • A requirement description.
  • Pages in StructuredMode will usually have rules governing how they are edited.

Slide 26: Other Wiki tricks - Categories

  • A Wiki trick for grouping pages together
  • Example: to group together a set of pages all relating to the weather:
    1. Create a page called 'CategoryWeather'
    2. Put a SEARCH that contain the word 'CategoryWeather' into it
      • %SEARCH{"CategoryWeather" nosearch="on" nosummary="on"}%
    3. Put the BumpyWord 'CategoryWeather' on all the pages relating to the weather
      (usually at the bottom, below a horizontal bar)

Slide 27: Contributed features

Basic TWiki is rich with features, but is enriched even further by the addition of optional plug-in modules that may (or may not!) be installed in your TWiki. These are classified as either skins (modules that change the look-and-feel) and plugins (modules that enhance functionality).

Here's a brief description of some of the more common plugins, together with the tags you might expect to see in topics if they are used. You can find out more by visiting the plugin pages.

  • ActionTrackerPlugin: Support action tags in topics, with automatic notification of action statii %ACTION...
  • CalendarPlugin: Show a monthly calendar with highlighted events %CALENDAR...%
  • CommentPlugin: Support rapid entry of short comments (also known as blogging) %COMMENT...
  • ChartPlugin: Create PNG or GIF charts to visualize data in TWiki tables %CHART...
  • EditTablePlugin: Edit TWiki tables using edit fields and drop down boxes %EDITTABLE...
  • InterwikiPlugin: Define shortcuts for links to common external sites

Slide 28: More plugins

  • RenderListPlugin: Render bullet lists in a variety of formats %RENDERLIST...
  • SlideShowPlugin: Create web based presentations based on topics with headings %SLIDESHOWSTART...
  • SpreadSheetPlugin: Add spreadsheet calculations like "$SUM( $ABOVE() )" to tables located in TWiki topics %CALC...
  • TablePlugin: Control presentation and sorting of tables %TABLE...
  • TWikiDrawPlugin: Add quick sketches to pages %DRAWING...

The following plugins are installed on this TWiki: The INSTALLEDPLUGINS variable is no longer supported. You can set the Plugins execution order using the configure interface.

There are many other plugins, see http://www.twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins

Slide 29: Credits and Acknowledgements

Related topics: WelcomeGuest, TWikiTutorial, ATasteOfTWikiTemplate

-- TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie - 17 Feb 2004

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This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platform Powered by Perl This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platformCopyright © 1999-2024 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback
Note: Please contribute updates to this topic on TWiki.org at TWiki:TWiki.ATasteOfTWiki.