GTDTiddlyWikiPlus for FARR (alias pack)

[mouser]

As of June 13, 2008 the Latest versions of FARR include the GTDTiddlyWikiPlus Alias Pack.

I couldn't resist adding this just because it's such a fun example of using html view with FARR.

Trigger the alias by typing: gwp


From the readme in the alias pack i made:

This alias simply executes the GTDTiddlyWikiPlus page as downloaded from
http://www.checkettsweb.com/tw/gtd_tiddlywiki.htm

To use this from FARR just type: gwp [THEN HIT ENTER]

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE: Your edits are saved inside the file gtd_tiddlywiki.htm which is
stored in this directory.  Deleting this file will delete all of your
edits(!).  You can move this file if you like, just change the alias
to point to the new location.

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The version included in this version is from 6/13/08,
which is built from TiddlyWiki 2.1.3.

If you wish to reset your gtd wiki to blank and erase all of your
edits, you can replace the file gtd_tiddlywiki.htm with the blank
one in OriginalBlankFile, or better yet download the latest
blank file from the website above, direct link:
 http://checkettsweb.com/tw/gtd_tiddlywiki.htm

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[mouser]

I'd appreciate any feedback regarding whether it works for people.
I had to turn off skinning for now on all forms but main form. I may turn it back on for options forms later.

[mouser]

Tips for using GTDTiddlyWiki Plus:

• turn on autosave and savebackups.
• i have no idea about anything else this is the first i've tried it.

Should we make an alias pack for normal TiddlyWiki?

[mouser]

I've reuploaded with an added alias pack for the standard TiddlyWiki:

Trigger the alias by typing: tiwi

From Readme:

This alias simply executes the TiddlyWiki page as downloaded from
http://tiddlywiki.com/

To use this from FARR just type: tiwi [THEN HIT ENTER]

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE: Your edits are saved inside the file MyTiddlyWiki.htm which is
stored in this directory.  Deleting this file will delete all of your
edits(!).  You can move this file if you like, just change the alias
to point to the new location.

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The version included in this version is from 6/13/08,
which is  TiddlyWiki 2.4.0.

If you wish to reset your gtd wiki to blank and erase all of your
edits, you can replace the file gtd_tiddlywiki.htm with the blank
one in OriginalBlankFile, or better yet download the latest
blank file from the website above, direct link:
  http://tiddlywiki.com/empty.html
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[kartal]

Mouser thanks for adding these. I think these are tremendous additions and I am sure many people will find it useful. I will check it out asap

[kartal]

I am having a font and size problem. Here is the screenshot

[mouser]

and exit farr and start your normal Internet Explorer and open the file.. see if the fonts are still small and if so enlarge them from internet explorer to how you want them.  then exit internet explorer and try farr again.

by the way, does anyone else have this problem?

[kartal]

Ie shows them fine. I am under 64bit and I tried both 64 and 32bit versions of Ie. Both tiddlywikis suffer from the same issue btw.

[mouser]

if you load other websites inside farr is the font size ok?
if load load other local web pages inside farr is the font size ok?
are you using vista? what version of IE?
anyone else have this problem?

[kartal]

Other websites and local files do not show this bad of a problem. They may look tiny smaller but they seem normal.

I am under 64bit xp, IE v7

[mouser]

on a separate matter.. it's pretty clear we need some way of saving FARR htmlview window sizes -- it's annoying for the window to be too small to display these pages properly.

[kartal]

I already asked for that also and wanted that to be part of alias definition(ie fixed size in alias definition)

Btw as far as tiddlywiki goes, it could be best at some point if we can make a modified version that is optimized for Farr. I have no javascript or html skills so I will passon this one but maybe someone with skills could do it in short amount of time.

Again thanks for including this.

[mouser]

Just thought of a potential problem with this alias pack -- it will OVERWRITE your wiki file with new installs. Not good.
So please just use this for testing until I figure out a good fix for that.

I have added a new subdirectory to the FARR install: MyLocalData\
This will be the recommended location for all FARR alias packs (and maybe plugin options files) to store user-specific data files.
The files here will NOT be overwritten on program update but can be initialized if they dont exist (which is what was needed to make tiddlywiki work).
In the future I will add the easy ability for users to move this directory anywhere they want on their pc.

So, you can now safely use the tiddlywiki aliases without worrying about our files being erased on update.
And you can add the FARR directory MyLocalData\ to your backup jobs if you want to backup the files here (note: this may not work with VISTA yet).

[mouser]

Well before we start trying to make custom versions we have to figure out why this is happening to you and not me and it shouldnt be happening to anyone, without any changes.

[s.newave]

on a separate matter.. it's pretty clear we need some way of saving FARR htmlview window sizes -- it's annoying for the window to be too small to display these pages properly.

+10. It is quickly becoming apparent how powerful this html viewer is/will be and this type of functionality is definitely needed. I vote that the alias/plugin should have the ability to set the size of the window although just as the with all other plugins the user should be able to overide this setting. As you suggested earlier the ability to set the sizing for a specific url would be even better

If going down this path i would suggest some type of html options page where the user could save a specific regex url mask with the following options:

-window size & position
-keyboard focus
-pre-processing file (file/script to send html to which would in turn return html that would be displayed. greasemonkey style)
-post processing file (file/script to run after launching url)

More options could be added/removed as needed along with a set of default standards.

[nitrix-ud]

just a reminder, i know from experience that some script need to be run on a web server
this wiki seems to work nicely, but let's not forget that some could need a web server therefore instead of having :
htmlviewurl file://%FARRDIR%MyLocalData/webtool
we would have :
htmlviewurl http://localhost/webtool
and a web server running 

@mouser,
i'm really happy that you are starting to enjoy the html viewer a lot
(no, it is not just an new view for plugins  )

+1, for specifying windows size in alias, regex mask and what not

but

+10 for address bar (this is an absolute must)

+10 to be able to close FARR, then activate it again and switch to htmlviewurl with the last url re-loaded (very useful for GTDs, quick look up, etc.)
to keep things simple, and as a first step why not have a special variable in FARR : %lasturl%, so one could quickly build an alias :
dosearch htmlviewurl %lasturl% (we could then associate it with a FARR hotkey or in FARR toolbar)

+9 for mini-toolbarr (with those 2 special buttons : copy url to search box, open url in default browser)

idea : at some point people will not change font-size in browser anymore, because everything graphic does not change
there is much better way now with zooming (firefox has it, internet explorer has it, ...) BTW very useful when surfing on a full-hd screen...
maybe it is possible to have a special command in an alias to tell FARR to auto-zoom the webpage width to FARR width ? (by increments specified by the user ?)
of course once again this has to be optionnal, i personnaly won't use it (since i'm in full hd and my FARR windows is around 900px wide;)) but i think it could be a cool feature

[mouser]

I think we are going to need a mini toolbar/addressbar for html mode.  the only question is whether to let it be toggled on/off and how.  We can start collecting features you think should be on the toolbar now (addressbar for url, open in external browser, save current url in alias, font size maybe).

The idea of a command and hotkey to switch into html view and load last page is a good one.

I guess i probably need to add ability to set view size in alias as well.


I am still troubled by the idea that we are getting dangerously near the precipice of making FARR a "browser with some extras" which is not what we want.  We want FARR to be a launcher with some extras including a mini browser for specific tasks.  If people want to use a nice big browser, they should use their browser.  We don't want FARR to try to be competing with real browsers in terms of surfing features.

[kartal]

I hope that Farr  wont have much memory footprint after all these new features. I really like new features but I guess speed of Farr should be the most ultimate priority.

[nitrix-ud]

I am still troubled by the idea that we are getting dangerously near the precipice of making FARR a "browser with some extras" which is not what we want.  We want FARR to be a launcher with some extras including a mini browser for specific tasks.  If people want to use a nice big browser, they should use their browser.  We don't want FARR to try to be competing with real browsers in terms of surfing features.

100% agree, i suggested the idea of an html view for FARR just after you made the showfile command
precisely to use quick and dirty tools, to look up words, to create opera speed-dialog startup page, to use single-page wiki, etc.

FARR should not become a full-blown browser...
i personnaly don't see too much benefit in having regex pattern to know whether one url should be launch internaly or in the default browser...
i don't see benefit in choosing font-size, ...
i don't think implementing any kind of popup killer, ad-killer, ... is a good idea
if you do it without adding to much memory footprint then fine, i will not complain as long as every new feature can be disabled...

FARR is a launcher and should stay a launcher... you want to google something, fine you can do it in the internal browser then somehow you fire the results in you full-blown browser
opera speed-dial like startup page would act as an advanced menu, definition lookup is ultra quick...
this is very fast browsing...
that's really the way i see it, FARR will be used for specific browsing tasks that takes less than a minute
of course some will use it for more than a minute, but somehow i think features to be implemented should be chosen with that 1-minute browsing rule in mind

Having said that and bearing the one-minute rule in mind :
address bar is a must
so are some buttons to "use" the current url
and %lasturl% is a must too

i already suggested the following but i do think this is important (for keeping FARR a launcher)
there should be a way to click on a link to that it would open your default browser AND closes FARR (so that it really acts as a launcher)
i would suggest shift+click (since it is the default hotkey to open a new tab/window in major browsers)
i noticed shift+click was working great when having ie7 as the default browser, but nowadays i'm using firefox3 as my default browser.. and shift+click opens a new ie7 window each time i do it 

the only question is whether to let it be toggled on/off and how

i suggest :
in options you could set default behaviour : either on or off
through alias or plugin you could force one or the other (htmlviewurltoolbar and htmlviewurlnotoolbar, or switches)
when in the internal browser, we could toggle it using a function key (or maybe a button in status bar if it's possible)

[bug report]

pb of focusing
if you do:
igo www.donationcoder.com
then neither the search box nor the html view is focused

however if you do :
igo www.google.com
it works ok (there is a javascript script to focus the search box...so the htmlview is focused)

[TucknDar]

I hope that Farr  wont have much memory footprint after all these new features. I really like new features but I guess speed of Farr should be the most ultimate priority.

Agreed. Haven't noticed any problems so far, I should add, but this is an important point.

[kartal]

It looks like standard IE zoom in and out shortcuts are not working in internal viewer. Maybe if we can have them enabled I might be able to adjust font sizes?

[Nod5]

Some thoughts:

There's a very real risk that some users will also want more and more advanced browser related tools, plugins, aliases and add-ons (ad-blockers and so on). It could go downhill to bloat city from there...

I say stick to the core functionality of doing small tasks as quickly and as easily as possible. Primarily to ultraquickly find and operate on files, folders, programs, bookmarks, processes and system settings. Html View Mode adds the functionality of quickly displaying small webpages or local html documents. But that is in line with the core when used for small, clean pages displayed briefly (to check email, rss, tv-schedule, todo and so on). Not so for other heavy-duty, full screen and long time browsing tasks.

To get more specific, here are some possible features for Html View Mode:
1. adress field
2. toolbar buttons: back, forward, home...
3. various browser add-ons
4. full blown adblocker
5. greasemonkey/proxomitron style page manipulation tools
6. alias specific window position, size and focus options
7. tabbed browsing

I'm for 5 & 6 since they can enhance the core by simplifying pages before display and make interaction between Html View Mode and FARR easier through farr:// links.

I'm unsure if 1-4 and 7 would be needed for anything that a regular browser isn't already better suited for. Can you guys give some good examples for why they would be good in FARR? (I can see the point of a %lasturl% variable though)

Another thought: the Html View Mode risks shifting FARR from a very keyboard centric program (which is a great thing when it comes to speed) to something that may require both mouse and keyboard. Adding toolbars could increase that shift even more. The Html View Mode would "fit in" more with the rest of FARR if keyboard navigation for it could be enhanced somehow. For example, when navigating webpage elements with Tab/shift-tab can the selected element be more strongly marked visually through a larger and distinctly colored border? Can FARR take control of the up and down keys for the webpage so that page elements can be navigated that way too? Can FARR similarly control the number keys to click the 1st, 2nd and so on element the displayed html page?


So in summary, I hope that future Html View Mode enhancements are keyboard centric and stick to what I've called the core functionality. But of course in the end it is up to Mouser to set the course for FARR.

[nitrix-ud]

i pretty much agree with everything you said Nod5 

except i think 1 and 2 are needed
and more than that i think 1 is an absolute must

and i don't think it will be too much work for mouser and i'm sure you will be able to toggle it on and off... 

[herojoker]

Why do you want an adress field? In my opinion it's already there! There's only an "igo " before every URL...
Or do you actually want to see the current URL? Then one could easily write a little wrapper page with JS which shows the URL. I guess a full adress bar could be realized this way too (is it possible to retrieve the current URL of a page which is shown in an IFrame?).

[nitrix-ud]

There's only an "igo " before every URL...

what if you navigate a bit ?
what if you do not use igo directly ?
consider this simple alias :
regex : ^php (.*)
php.net | dosearch htmlviewurl http://www.php.net/$$1
you never see the url in FARR search box, you'll see : php explode (for instance)

Or do you actually want to see the current URL?

yes i want to see the current URL and i'd like to be able to change it

you never changed a url by hand ? to change langage, pages, ... to select only the domaine name... and so on and on and on

Then one could easily write a little wrapper page with JS which shows the URL. I guess a full adress bar could be realized this way too (is it possible to retrieve the current URL of a page which is shown in an IFrame?)

yes this can be done, but current url of the activex web object is already here
why overcomplexify a simple problem

plus... i understand that mouser will make it optional so i don't think there should be any debate concerning address bar and mini-toolbar

the real debate concerns add-blocker, add-ons, ...
and for that i vote no