Rendering WikiWords To Include Context

When building a big TWiki site it can be useful to have multiple contexts (which is how I think of a web). What I would like to do is to change the default rendering rules to show if the link goes to another web. Change of web can otherwise be confusing, as topics don't exist where people expect them to exist.

What I suggest is that links to people would always appear like Main.MartinCleaver rather than just as MartinCleaver. Selecting the word Main leads you to the WebHome of the Main context. Selecting MartinCleaver leads you to the topic.

-- MartinCleaver - 10 Mar 2001

This could be further expanded to include TopicClassification information. Something like Web.Topic{Classification}.

-- NicholasLee - 11 Mar 2001

Could be, but I'd be cautious as I imagine that would entail quite a performance hit (to open the topic to see what classification it has).

-- MartinCleaver - 19 Mar 2001

I like the Main.MartinCleaver rendering rule. Probably best to have this optional: on/off controlled by a preferences variable.

Not so sure about the classification, since the category table can have any type of categories - the TopicClassification is just what we use in this Codev web.

-- PeterThoeny - 19 Mar 2001

Would it be possible to do something like Main:MartinCleaver (note the ":" separator) to indicate a link that shows the web the link lives in and Main.MartinCleaver (using a ".") to indicate (as now) a link that does not show the name of the web the link lives in? Whatever the syntax, I think it's more useful to allow "web showing" on a per link basis and not on a preferences variable.

-- DavidLeBlanc - 20 Mar 2001

Hmm. Interesting. Why is that more useful? I am thinking to not show the context of the topic if it exists in the same context as the current topic.

-- MartinCleaver - 20 March 2001

WikiSyntax already allows you to make the web name visible, ex: type [[Main.MartinCleaver][Main.MartinCleaver]] to get Main.MartinCleaver.

-- PeterThoeny - 22 Mar 2001

I'm thinking more about changing the default to show the web for all non-local links. Within the same web, you would not want to show the web name as it adds nothing. Is there a reason why people would not want this?

-- MartinCleaver - 27 Mar 2001

It may clutter reading. I am not sure I would like to see Main.UserNames everywhere. What would be nice, however, is to show the non-local web if a topic of the same name exists in current web: ie, show Support.FooBar only if a Codev.FooBar exists.

-- ColasNahaboo - 11 Apr 2001

Very good point. Neither would I, but mainly because it riles me that Users are in a web called Main :^) Perhaps seeing such FullyQualifiedNames should be an option determined by the skin and web/user preferences.

See also: ImportingContexts

-- MartinCleaver - 12 Apr 2001

With my suggestion, you would still type Main.MartinCleaver, but only see MartinCleaver as long as there is be no MartinCleaver topic in current web... I think I like this proposal more and more

-- ColasNahaboo - 12 Apr 2001

I like the way Wiki words default now - no clutter. I have tried using the title tag to show the web where a Wiki word points to another web. I guess this doesn't work in all browsers, but it should degrade gracefully and is very easy to do. By doing this, I think it's easier and cleaner to always refer to the other web, regardless of presence of topic in local web.

Example: Assuming you are in LocalWeb and have Wiki word TopicX pointing to OtherWeb.

I think this could also be useful if linking to some other webs is automatic, ex: instead of typing Main.JohnTalintyre, you could just enter JohnTalintyre. Thought I'd slip in a rename from Main to People (we've done this with the TWiki at my company).

-- JohnTalintyre - 12 Apr 2001

Mmmm... 3 topics voting for some sort of rename on Main???

• PutUsersInUserWeb
• UsersWeb
• RenameTheMainWeb

-- EdgarBrown - 14 Apr 2001

Well, using my proposal in ImportingContexts, you could make every topic import the People context so names would always render without the "People" bit. I like the title idea - when you hover over the link, it shows the FullyQualifiedName - though I admit I had not worked out what you meant until I went to edit this page.

-- MartinCleaver - 18 Apr 2001

Thinking about this a bit more, I'd be happy if topic names in another webs were denoted differently from local ones. Perhaps a double underline or an icon before the link?

-- MartinCleaver - 05 Nov 2001

Me too. But my vote goes to show the web name: Main.MartinCleaver as it is more explicit and "WYSIWYG" than inventing yet another syntax...

-- ColasNahaboo - 05 Nov 2001

This "full name" makes more sense if and only if users register in each context. If you have, for example, Webs (?zones?) that are actually discussion forums for different topics and hence very likely different groups of users then things like Infosec.AntonAylward and Perlmongers.RandallSchwartz make sense. But this gets into the argument about the code-data separation and administrative model of TWiki, whihc I wrote one ... and then my browser crashed!

I'll try that again at another date.

-- AntonAylward - 27 Dec 2002

(refactored my last comment into SpacedWikiWordPluginNextGenDev) -- TomKagan - 10 Jun 2003