This is a short introductory training course for TWiki beginners.
|
A Taste of TWiki |
|
|
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 1 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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 2 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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
A number of public Wiki sites also use TWiki
|
|
Slide 3 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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
- The look-and-feel is highly configurable, through use of templates
- A "plugins" interface eases
- customisation
- extension
- application integration
| |
|
|
Slide 4 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
Structure of a TWiki page |
|
|
TWiki pages are usually organised into three parts:
- 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 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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.
It will also usually contain a number of 'links' that you can click on. You will generally see:
|
|
Slide 8 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
The Page Header ... continued |
|
|
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 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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
|
Copyright � 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 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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!
- 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
|
|
Slide 11 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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
- Numbered lists use a number in place of the *. The list is numbered automatically, so you can just use a
1
|
|
Slide 15 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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)
|
|
Slide 16 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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 17 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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 20 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
Attachments |
|
|
- Attachments are files which have been uploaded and attached to a TWiki page using the 'Attach' function in the footer.
- 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:
|
|
Slide 21 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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.
|
|
Slide 22 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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.
|
|
Slide 23 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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"
- 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
|
|
Slide 24 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
Other Wiki tricks - Categories |
|
|
- A Wiki trick for grouping pages together
- Example: to group together a set of pages all relating to the weather:
- Create a page called 'CategoryWeather'
- Put a SEARCH that contains the word 'CategoryWeather' into it
-
%SEARCH{"CategoryWeather" nosearch="on" nosummary="on"}%
- Put the BumpyWord 'CategoryWeather' on all the pages relating to the weather
(usually at the bottom, below a horizontal bar)
|
|
Slide 26 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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 27 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
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, AlbumOfSnapsPlugin, ApprovalPlugin, AttachmentListPlugin, CaptchaPlugin, CommentPlugin, CounterPlugin, EditTablePlugin, EmptyPlugin, ImageGalleryPlugin, ImagePlugin, InterwikiPlugin, NewsPlugin, PreferencesPlugin, RenderListPlugin, SendEmailPlugin, SlideShowPlugin, SmiliesPlugin, TablePlugin, TagMePlugin, TinyMCEPlugin, TopicTranslationsPlugin, TwistyPlugin, WysiwygPlugin
There are many other plugins, see http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins
|
|
Slide 28 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
|
Credits and Acknowledgements |
|
|
Slide 29 of 29 |
COPYRIGHT © 2024 by the contributing authors |
Related topics: WelcomeGuest,
TWikiTutorial,
ATasteOfTWikiTemplate?
This topic: TWiki
> ATasteOfTWiki
Topic revision: r7 - 05 Jan 2008 - 04:59:24 -
TWikiContributor
Copyright � 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