[dokuwiki] Re: [GSoC 2011] Plugin and template manager enhancement
- From: Andreas Gohr <andi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: dokuwiki@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2011 13:28:00 +0100
Hi
> http://www.piyushmishra.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/plugin_manager_demo.png
I like the general appearance.
> Pagination to keep the page smaller and easier to manage.
I'd try to keep the interface simple so I'd not use pagination.
Instead I'd just show minimal information in the list and expand the
item to reveal more information when clicked. This way it should be
fine show 50 or even 100 plugins on a page.
Info should also contain links to the bugtracker, source repo and
donation link for the plugins.
> The Info box is moved form the right side to a hovering JQuery plugin
> (thickbox) which will default to a div if something goes wrong.
Good thinking. As a general note: all functionality needs to be
available without JavaScript. JavaScript can be used to enhance the
experience though.
On JQuery: we do have a JQuery project going on but it is not clear
when that is ready to merge. So if we can do without JQuery, that is
preferred IMHO.
> Plugins are downloaded as disabled by default.
Hmm that changes behaviour from the current implementation. I'm not
sure that's a good idea.
> Active plugins come up in green and on top for highest interactivity.
I like that.
> Probably adding a filter for active and inactive plugins will help.
If they are sorted and differently colored already I don't think a
filter is necessary.
Another note: keeping the interface simple make it easier to
understand and requires less labels that need translation.
> Plugins with Missing Dependencies or high security issues come up in red.
good
> A rating /feed back system on the side for users with online Wikis to
> help in giving out better search results.
Not sure about this. We'd need additional infrastructure in the
backend. It might be a good addition later on, for now I suggest using
popularity data instead.
> Auto checking updates from plugin repo (pseudo cron) daily.
> Downloading a full list of plugins every day / 2 days and searching/
> browsing from local cache to speed up local search and lower load on
> DokuWiki.org server.
A note on updates: The update available check should compare the date
returned by the installed plugin with the date stored in the plugin
repo. Both should be shown somewhere on the plugin info. Plugin
authors sometimes forget to update their plugin date when shipping a
new version, this way users can notice (when a plugin stays
out-of-date after upgrading).
Also: the plugin manager should always update by using the URL
provided by the plugin repo, but should warn the user when the URL
changed from the last install or update.
> They can be searched from the Search tab
> [Connecting to the repository plugin on dokuwiki.org (Not shown here)]
As said before the search should be done on a cached copy of the repo
XML. A button to refresh the cache should be provided (together with
info on the cache age)
> The Browse tab is so that people can browse from their cached plugin
> list from the server.
I'd not differentiate between browse and search.
One more thing: I'd like to still have the option to install a plugin
via URL (as we have now) and additionally it would be nice to have a
way to upload a plugin package to have it installed (for wiki's behind
restrictive firewalls).
Andi
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