[ANN] Instiki 0.7.0: Flavors of Expression

[David_Heinemeier_Ha2 (David Heinemeier Hansson)]

What’s new in Instiki 0.7.0?

···

============================

Instiki now speaks two additional markup languages: Markdown and RDoc.
The default is still Textile, but by choice of the command-line
settings, you can get it to speak the flavor of your liking.

Besides the new languages, 0.7 is the release of the polish. There’s a
bunch of small tweaks, such as wanted/orphaned page lists, proper RSS
feeds, bug fixes, and much, much more.

Full change list:

• Added Markdown (BlueCloth 0.2.0b) and RDoc [Mauricio Fernández] as
  command-line markup choices
• Added wanted and orphan page lists to All pages (only show up if
  there’s actually orphan or wanted pages)
• Added ISO-8859-1 as XML encoding in RSS feeds (makes FeedReader among
  others happy for special entities)
• Added proper links in the RSS feed (but the body links are still
  relative, which NNW and others doesn’t grok)
• Added access keys: E => Edit, H => HomePage, A => All Pages, U =>
  Recently Revised, X => Export
• Added password-login through URL (so you can subscribe to feed on a
  protected web)
• Added web passwords to the feed links for protected webs, so they
  work without manual login
• Added the web name in small letters above all pages within a web
• Polished authors and recently revised
• Updated to RedCloth 2.0.6
• Changed content type for RSS feeds to text/xml (makes Mozilla Aggreg8
  happy)
• Changed searching to be case insensitive
• Changed HomePage to display the name of the web instead
• Changed exported HTML pages to be valid XHTML (which can be
  preprocessed by XSLT)
• Fixed broken recently revised

Instiki is running its official website on Instiki itself:
http://instiki.nextangle.com

P.S.: The server running that website is down until tomorrow – so is
my ingoing email

What is Instiki?

Admitted, it’s Yet Another Wiki Clone[1], but with a strong focus
on simplicity of installation and running:

Step 1. Download
Step 2. Run "instiki.rb"
Step 3. Chuckle… “There’s no step three!” ™

You’re now running a perfectly suitable wiki on port 2500
that’ll present you with a textarea for the home page on
http://localhost:2500.

Instiki lowers the barriers of interest for when you might consider
using a wiki. It’s so simple to get running that you’ll find yourself
using it for anything – taking notes, brainstorming, organizing a
gathering.

Instiki reserves a separate WikiSpace for each port number, so
you can run more than one wiki by keeping them on separate ports.
It also means that you can’t access the same wiki on another port
than the one you started it on (unless you move the directory in
storage).

Features:

• Regular expression search: Find deep stuff really fast
• Revisions: Follow the changes on every page from birth. Rollback to
  an earlier rev
• Export to HTML in a zip: Take the entire wiki with you home or for
  reference
• RSS feeds to track recently revised pages
• Multiple webs: Create separate wikis with their own namespace
• Password-protected webs: Keep it private
• Authors: Each revision is associated with an author, so you can see
  who changed what
• Reference tracker: Which other pages are pointing to the current?
• Speed: Using Madelein for persistence (all pages are in memory)
• Three markup choices: Textile (default / RedCloth), Markdown
  (BlueCloth), and RDoc
• Embedded webserver: Through WEBrick

Missing:

• File attachments

Command-line options:
Run “ruby instiki.rb --help”

History:

• 0.7.0: Added Markdown (BlueCloth) and RDoc [Mauricio Fernández] as
  command-line markup choices
  Added wanted and orphan page lists to All pages (only show up
  if there’s actually orphan or wanted pages)
  Added ISO-8859-1 as XML encoding in RSS feeds (makes
  FeedReader among others happy for special entities)
  Added proper links in the RSS feed (but the body links are
  still relative, which NNW and others doesn’t grok)
  Added access keys: E => Edit, H => HomePage, A => All Pages, U
  => Recently Revised, X => Export
  Added password-login through URL (so you can subscribe to feed
  on a protected web)
  Added web passwords to the feed links for protected webs, so
  they work without manual login
  Added the web name in small letters above all pages within a
  web
  Polished authors and recently revised
  Updated to RedCloth 2.0.6
  Changed content type for RSS feeds to text/xml (makes Mozilla
  Aggreg8 happy)
  Changed searching to be case insensitive
  Changed HomePage to display the name of the web instead
  Changed exported HTML pages to be valid XHTML (which can be
  preprocessed by XSLT)
  Fixed broken recently revised
• 0.6.0: Fixed Windows compatibility [Florian]
  Fixed bug that would prevent Madeleine from taking snapshots
  in Daemon mode
  Added export entire web as HTML in a zip file
  Added RSS feeds
  Added proper getops support for the growing number of options
  [Florian]
  Added safe mode that forbids style options in RedCloth
  [Florian]
  Updated RedCloth to 2.0.5
• 0.5.0: NOTE: 0.5.0 is NOT compatible with databases from earlier
  versions
  Added revisions
  Added multiple webs
  Added password protection for webs on multi-web setups
  Added the notion of authors (that are saved in a cookie)
  Added command-line option for not running as a Daemon on Unix
• 0.3.1: Added option to escape wiki words with \
• 0.3.0: Brought all files into common style (including Textile help on
  the edit page)
  Added page locking (if someone already is editing a page
  there’s a warning)
  Added daemon abilities on Unix (keep Instiki running after you
  close the terminal)
  Made port 2500 the default port, so Instiki can be launched by
  dobbelt-click
  Added Textile cache to speed-up rendering of large pages
  Made WikiWords look like "Wiki Words"
  Updated RedCloth to 2.0.4
• 0.2.5: Upgraded to RedCloth 2.0.2 and Madeleine 0.6.1, which means the
  Windows problems are gone. Also fixed a problem with wikiwords
  that used part of other wikiwords.
• 0.2.0: First public release

Download latest from:
http://
rubyforge.org/project/showfiles.php?group_id=186

Visit the official Instiki wiki:
http://instiki.nextangle.com/

License is the same as Ruby’s

[1] http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?
WikiWikiClones
[2] Textile Syntax: http://www.textism.com/
tools/textile/

David Heinemeier Hansson,
david@loudthinking.com
http://www.loudthinking.com/

[Mauricio_Fernndez]

diff -r -u5 -N instiki-0.7.0.orig/libraries/rdocsupport.rb instiki-0.7.0/libraries/rdocsupport.rb
— instiki-0.7.0.orig/libraries/rdocsupport.rb 2004-04-20 11:25:36.000000000 +0200
+++ instiki-0.7.0/libraries/rdocsupport.rb 2004-04-20 11:26:40.000000000 +0200
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
begin

• case RUBY_VERSION
• when /(^1.8.[2-9])|(^1.9)/

•  require "rdoc/markup/simple_markup"
  

•  require 'rdoc/markup/simple_markup/to_html'
  

• else

•  require 'markup/simple_markup'
  

•  require 'markup/simple_markup/to_html'
  

• end

• begin
• require “rdoc/markup/simple_markup”
• require ‘rdoc/markup/simple_markup/to_html’
• rescue LoadError

• try with an older version

• require ‘markup/simple_markup’
• require ‘markup/simple_markup/to_html’
• end

module RDocSupport

A simple +rdoc+ markup class which recognizes some additional

formatting commands suitable for Wiki use.

@@ -156,6 +156,6 @@

end

rescue LoadError

RDoc support isn’t available

-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end

···

On Tue, Apr 20, 2004 at 06:59:50AM +0900, David Heinemeier Hansson wrote:

What’s new in Instiki 0.7.0?

Instiki now speaks two additional markup languages: Markdown and RDoc.
The default is still Textile, but by choice of the command-line
settings, you can get it to speak the flavor of your liking.

Besides the new languages, 0.7 is the release of the polish. There’s a
bunch of small tweaks, such as wanted/orphaned page lists, proper RSS
feeds, bug fixes, and much, much more.

Full change list:

• Added Markdown (BlueCloth 0.2.0b) and RDoc [Mauricio Fernández] as
  command-line markup choices

–
Running Debian GNU/Linux Sid (unstable)
batsman dot geo at yahoo dot com

“You, sir, are nothing but a pathetically lame salesdroid!
I fart in your general direction!”
– Randseed on #Linux

[StephenSykes]

David Heinemeier Hansson david@loudthinking.com wrote in message news:DD9DE336-924C-11D8-844F-000A958E6254@loudthinking.com…

What’s new in Instiki 0.7.0?

Instiki now speaks two additional markup languages: Markdown and RDoc.
The default is still Textile, but by choice of the command-line
settings, you can get it to speak the flavor of your liking.

Besides the new languages, 0.7 is the release of the polish. There’s a
bunch of small tweaks, such as wanted/orphaned page lists, proper RSS
feeds, bug fixes, and much, much more.

I notice that author pages are marked as orphaned, even though they
are of course referenced from every page that the author has written.

Stephen.
± S.D.Sykes - www.stephensykes.com +

···

“Microsoft should be really anxious that to the own company
something does not remain sticking from the Gestank of the SCO”
– computer translation of german news article

[Curt_Hibbs3 (Curt Hibbs)]

David Heinemeier Hansson wrote:

• Added Markdown (BlueCloth 0.2.0b) and RDoc [Mauricio Fernández] as
  command-line markup choices

Minor problem: the edit quick-help for Markdown formatting says the text
is bolded text when, in fact, both text and text are emphasis (italic).

I can’t find any way to specify bold text in Markdown, does anyone out there
know how to do this?

Curt

[Andreas_S2 (Andreas S.)]

David Heinemeier Hansson wrote:

What’s new in Instiki 0.7.0?

I’ve got a proposition for the next version: remove CamelCase and use
links like this: [[Wiki Page]].

Cons:

• more to type

Pros:

• no accidental linking
• no need to escape WikiWords
• no need to invent stupid names for wiki pages: having to write
  “CeeLanguage” if you mean “C” sucks big time
• wiki pages get a higher page rank: for most search engines the URL
  “…/show/WikiPage” doesn’t contain the word “Wiki”, so the page is
  ranked lower in a search for “Wiki” as it would if the words in the
  Url were seperated by " " or “_”
• Wikipedia does it

Please tell me what you think about it.

[Its_Me]

• Added Markdown (BlueCloth 0.2.0b) and RDoc [Mauricio Fernández] as
  command-line markup choices

Can a page started in Markdown be subsequently edited in RDoc? [This would
probably mean storing some normalized representation of both; I am guessing
XML would suffice, and that there are ways of doing this without loss of
information e.g. pass through things that won’t translate as straight XML
strings].

It not already there, would this structure be a good idea?
input_filter–>normalized–>output_filter

[Curt_Hibbs3 (Curt Hibbs)]

Andreas Schwarz wrote:

David Heinemeier Hansson wrote:

What’s new in Instiki 0.7.0?

I’ve got a proposition for the next version: remove CamelCase and use
links like this: [[Wiki Page]].

Cons:

• more to type

Pros:

• no accidental linking
• no need to escape WikiWords
• no need to invent stupid names for wiki pages: having to write
  “CeeLanguage” if you mean “C” sucks big time
• wiki pages get a higher page rank: for most search engines the URL
  “…/show/WikiPage” doesn’t contain the word “Wiki”, so the page is
  ranked lower in a search for “Wiki” as it would if the words in the
  Url were seperated by " " or “_”
• Wikipedia does it

Please tell me what you think about it.

I would be in strong favor of this.

I have a lot of wikis that I run and I set up every one of them to use [[My
Wiki Page]] and specifically not allow MyWikiPage for all of the reasons
listed above.

Curt

[Michael_Granger]

From the Markdown syntax definition page
(Daring Fireball: Markdown Syntax Documentation):

Text wrapped with one * or _ will be wrapped with an HTML tag;
double *’s or _’s will be wrapped with an HTML tag.

···

On Apr 20, 2004, at 5:36 AM, Curt Hibbs wrote:

David Heinemeier Hansson wrote:

• Added Markdown (BlueCloth 0.2.0b) and RDoc [Mauricio Fernández] as
  command-line markup choices

Minor problem: the edit quick-help for Markdown formatting says the
text
is bolded text when, in fact, both text and text are emphasis
(italic).

I can’t find any way to specify bold text in Markdown, does anyone out
there
know how to do this?

–
Michael Granger ged@FaerieMUD.org
Rubymage, Believer, Architect
The FaerieMUD Consortium http://www.FaerieMUD.org/

[Jean-Hugues_ROBERT]

Remove CamelCase ?

I’d rather not. Because of an additional, subtle, cons:

Thanks to CamelCase new “concepts” are popularized.
Here is why:

When a couple of words (or slightly more) go together
well and if the underlying concept is successful
enough, then the CamelCase name for the concept will
pop up frequently and chances are that it becomes an idiom.

CamelCase is an example of this.

Having “names” for “things” is a good thing, it
structures the mind and facilitate communication.
Regular names are already overloaded with meaning.
CamelCase open a new name space for CamelNames.

You may agree that the success of acronyms is another
indication of the deep need for new name spaces. So, help
fulfill that need and promote CamelNames

BTW: Do we remember how we used to describe a name
in CamelCase before CamelCase became so widely accepted ?
Personnaly I discovered that name, CamelCase, browsing
www.c2.com, the original Wiki. That way… despites having
been exposed to SmallTalk years before (where I believe
CamelCase was used a lot for the first time).

An additional benefit of CamelCase is that while Wikis becomes
increasingly popular, it will become possible to use
a CamelName in a mail message. People will understand
that one is referring to an already defined concept
that they can find information about in some Wiki.

Now, if you want to do something that will promote
CamelCase names, provide a feature whereby one can
easily provide a CamelLink to a WikiPage in an external
wiki and then you get another WWW (WorldWideWiki).
See also InterWikiLinks,
on Meatball (Top 15 Trang Cá Cược, Cá Độ Bóng Đá Uy Tín Nhất Việt Nam)

Yours,

Jean-Hugues Robert

PS: If you want to support [[such links]], make it possible
to have CamelCaseLinks too (at the same time). My 2 Cents.

···

At 21:39 20/04/2004 +0900, you wrote:

David Heinemeier Hansson wrote:

What’s new in Instiki 0.7.0?

I’ve got a proposition for the next version: remove CamelCase and use
links like this: [[Wiki Page]].

Cons:

• more to type

Pros:

• no accidental linking
• no need to escape WikiWords
• no need to invent stupid names for wiki pages: having to write
  “CeeLanguage” if you mean “C” sucks big time
• wiki pages get a higher page rank: for most search engines the URL
  “…/show/WikiPage” doesn’t contain the word “Wiki”, so the page is
  ranked lower in a search for “Wiki” as it would if the words in the
  Url were seperated by " " or “_”
• Wikipedia does it

Please tell me what you think about it.
in the
Url were seperated by " " or “_”

• Wikipedia does it

Please tell me what you think about it.

---

Web: @jhr is virteal, virtually real
Phone: +33 (0) 4 92 27 74 17

[Takashi_Kayoko_Sano]

Hi,

I’ve got a proposition for the next version: remove CamelCase and use
links like this: [[Wiki Page]].

I’m all for it. I’m Japanese, so I want to use Japanese for writing
page titles. But ovbiously, Japanese has no upper case…
Please change to or add this style!

Pros:

• no accidental linking
• no need to escape WikiWords
• no need to invent stupid names for wiki pages: having to write
  “CeeLanguage” if you mean “C” sucks big time
• wiki pages get a higher page rank: for most search engines the URL
  “…/show/WikiPage” doesn’t contain the word “Wiki”, so the page is
  ranked lower in a search for “Wiki” as it would if the words in the
  Url were seperated by " " or “_”
• Wikipedia does it
  Plus,

• Any language can be used for link titles.

Takashi Sano

···

Andreas Schwarz usenet@andreas-s.net wrote:

[Its_Me]

“Its Me” itsme213@hotmail.com wrote in message
news:mNnhc.2669$Dn1.31@fe2.texas.rr.com…

• Added Markdown (BlueCloth 0.2.0b) and RDoc [Mauricio Fernández] as
  command-line markup choices

Can a page started in Markdown be subsequently edited in RDoc? [This would
probably mean storing some normalized representation of both; I am
guessing
XML would suffice, and that there are ways of doing this without loss of
information e.g. pass through things that won’t translate as straight XML
strings].

IF not already there, would this structure be a good idea?
input_filter–>normalized–>output_filter

One big advantage might be that semantic units in the browser can be
scripted (cross-browser). Hence one can implement a wiki editing mode where,
rather than the entire wiki page being edited, you simply open an in-place
text area to edit just the one semantic element you clicked to edit.

[Matt_Pattison2 (Matt Pattison)]

• Curt Hibbs (curt@hibbs.com) [040420 23:17]:

Andreas Schwarz wrote:

David Heinemeier Hansson wrote:

What’s new in Instiki 0.7.0?

I’ve got a proposition for the next version: remove CamelCase and use
links like this: [[Wiki Page]].

Cons:

• more to type

Pros:

• no accidental linking
• no need to escape WikiWords
• no need to invent stupid names for wiki pages: having to write
  “CeeLanguage” if you mean “C” sucks big time
• wiki pages get a higher page rank: for most search engines the URL
  “…/show/WikiPage” doesn’t contain the word “Wiki”, so the page is
  ranked lower in a search for “Wiki” as it would if the words in the
  Url were seperated by " " or “_”
• Wikipedia does it

Please tell me what you think about it.

I would be in strong favor of this.

I have a lot of wikis that I run and I set up every one of them to use [[My
Wiki Page]] and specifically not allow MyWikiPage for all of the reasons
listed above.

Curt

I support this also. I’ve hacked together support for [[Word]] instead of
WordAnotheruselessword in my copy of Instiki-0.6.0, based on
http://ruby-talk.org/97395 , as it was annoying me. I think at least the option
of this proposal should be in the official version, if David is agreeable, if
only because I don’t like the idea of reapplying my hack to a rapid succession
of new releases.

Matt

[Rich_Kilmer]

Maybe just have a --wikiwords option that does the CamelCase thing?

Without that, you have to [[hard link]].

BTW, this is a really nice wiki, great work!

-rich

···

On Apr 20, 2004, at 11:41 AM, Matt Pattison wrote:

I support this also. I’ve hacked together support for [[Word]] instead
of
WordAnotheruselessword in my copy of Instiki-0.6.0, based on
http://ruby-talk.org/97395 , as it was annoying me. I think at least
the option
of this proposal should be in the official version, if David is
agreeable, if
only because I don’t like the idea of reapplying my hack to a rapid
succession
of new releases.

Matt

[David_Heinemeier_Ha2 (David Heinemeier Hansson)]

I support this also. I’ve hacked together support for [[Word]] instead
of
WordAnotheruselessword in my copy of Instiki-0.6.0, based on
http://ruby-talk.org/97395 , as it was annoying me. I think at least
the option
of this proposal should be in the official version, if David is
agreeable, if
only because I don’t like the idea of reapplying my hack to a rapid
succession
of new releases.

I’m certainly open to a pretty patch that makes the double-bracket
style optionable. Include the appropriate test cases in
app/model/revision_test.rb and you’re almost guaranteed a quick release

···

–
David Heinemeier Hansson,
http://instiki.nextangle.com/ – A No-Step-Three Wiki in Ruby
http://www.basecamphq.com/ – Web-based Project Management
http://www.loudthinking.com/ – Broadcasting Brain

[Gawnsoft]

On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 00:41:06 +0900, Matt Pattison
mfp@students.cs.mu.OZ.AU wrote (more or less):

Andreas Schwarz wrote:

I’ve got a proposition for the next version: remove CamelCase and use
links like this: [[Wiki Page]].
…
I support this also. I’ve hacked together support for [[Word]] instead of
WordAnotheruselessword in my copy of Instiki-0.6.0, based on
http://ruby-talk.org/97395 , as it was annoying me. I think at least the option
of this proposal should be in the official version, if David is agreeable, if
only because I don’t like the idea of reapplying my hack to a rapid succession
of new releases.

While I like to be able to avoid CeeLanguage-isms, I also like the
ability to make pages via UpperCamelCase.

If links or [] links become possible, please leave it
possible to mix bracketted and UpperCamelCase within a wiki, and
preferably within a page.

Cheers,
Euan
Gawnsoft: http://www.gawnsoft.co.sr
Symbian/Epoc wiki: http://html.dnsalias.net:1122
Smalltalk links (harvested from comp.lang.smalltalk) http://html.dnsalias.net/gawnsoft/smalltalk