From

IzEncodeNodeTypesInWikiNames

Type

Argument (Con)

Name

APzWikiNameEncodingIsCryptic

Text

Wiki Name Encoding Is Cryptic.

Context:

QzHowShouldAnIbisWikiBeImplemented
IzEncodeNodeTypesInWikiNames
APzWikiNameEncodingIsUnambiguous
ACzWikiNameEncodingIsCryptic < - < YOU ARE HERE

If we're already going to put a pile of declarations at the top of each node page, why do we have to encumber the names with prefixes? It isn't that hard to build tables and such, and they can show the complete type information:

-- RichMorin - 22 Aug 2000

I have to work a lot with VB-Code and must say that I dislike the idea to put Type or Meta-Information in Names, especially at the beginning of the name. For me it's quite natural to sort names alphabetically. If I do this with crptic-prefixed names I have a hard time to find the concept the name deals with.

I think the Meta Information should be stored and shown separate from the name. A presentation could look like :

-- NorbertKlamann - 27 Aug 2000

Should this be an icon? QuestMap uses icons which become meaningful pretty quickly. We overuse icons, but here, with both color and very distinctive shapes, they can be convenient and expressive and remain quite separable from the text.

-- DickKarpinski - 28 Aug 2000

Norbert, there's a distinction to be made between storage and presentation. Plugins.TWikiDrawPlugin is ideal for this. The Plugins.TWikiDrawSvgPluginDev plugin doesn't seem ready yet. Storage and presentation are not dependent, they are definately not synonymous in all cases. Now the nodes could be regular topics and the relations can be stored with modern TWiki.TWikiMetaData. I think the shapes/colors/icons is a wonderful idea. QuestMap is great. I attended a Jeff Conklin workshop on this with Douglas Engelbart about a year and a half ago. Robert Horn knows something about this area.

Extra Credit: an actual node from a QuestMap data file - very easy to write into meta data fields.

( ArgumentNode
 ( ID 1803 )
 ( Author "Single User" )
 ( CreationDate 995259865 )
 ( ModificationDate 995259865 )
 ( Label "on the beach" )
 ( Detail "" )
 ( XPos 51 )
 ( YPos 276 ) )

I'll have to look for some source for icons similar to those I've used in QuestMap. Icons would be nice since my attempts aren't great. That yellow thing is supposed to be a light bulb. The red negative and green positive icons are recognizable if you know what you're looking for! The background colors themselves can convey the meaning for now pretty clearly, I think. I'll edit the other topic with a legend.

It worked pretty darn well. I also see from the attached files that the drawing document can probably be manipulated by a script to add objects (from TWikiMetaData) and rendered. So the basic building blocks from a technical standpoint seem to be ready to go. Very interesting. One addition might be adding an image map behind the rendering to all functionality to take place by clicking on different parts of the picture.

So now it's all about UI design and building the necessary functionality.

-- GrantBow - 11 Jan 2003

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