[pmwiki-users] Utility links, Fox forms, and PmForms
Randy
randy at brownragfilms.com
Wed Apr 16 17:10:08 CDT 2008
Forms are an important aspect of making my wiki user friendly. I've
discovered some limits that it would be great to overcome.
Imagine a sidebar that has a utility link that lets the user post
notes to his or her profile while browsing through the wiki. The note-
entry form shows information based on conditional tests, and has its
own >>wikistyle<< markup. The form allows the user to enter several
paragraphs, and can provide input error messages. When the user has
submitted or cancelled the note-entry form, he or she ends up on the
original current page.
A typical user interface would provide a modal pop up form to enter
the notes. But modal pop up forms don't exist in PmWiki.
I've tried the next best approach using Fox forms, by sending the user
to the form page and then returning him or her to the current page.
But Fox doesn't work well when the form is not included on a calling
page (which isn't feasible in the sidebar). Even if I included the
form on the sidebar or in the footer of the current page, its
conditional logic and wikistyles could interfere with the including
page or vice versa - so being forced to include the form severely
limits the form. Besides, inclusion is not a very user-friendly
solution if the including page and form are both long. For example,
they compete for the user's attention, and it's difficult to make sure
the user doesn't end up scrolled somewhere else on the long page after
an input error is detected.
How would you provide a note-taking utility link? Will PmForms or Fox
forms ever be able to handle forms that aren't included on the calling
page?
Randy
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