PicoWiki Blog

Added Captcha to demo

admin — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:28:16 +0000

Bots were cluttering the demo with spam and I was tired of cleaning it. I couldn’t block IP addresses fast enough, so I added a captcha to the save action, but only on the demo. I might make it an option of everyone’s PicoWiki if anyone wants it.

Paul

Added IP filtering

admin — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 17:01:16 +0000

I’ve added IP filtering in an attempt to control the abuse by spammers of the demo. I’ll have to add more automation, but it’s already had an effect. The demo wiki is not as out of control as it once was. I’ve expanded these same filtered addresses to all hosted wikis, so in the event that a user keeps their wiki public, it will at least be protected from spammers I’ve identified. The IP display feature is only enabled on the demo site.

New login page

admin — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:59:16 +0000

Some users seemed to be trying to log in to their wikis from the home page using the create a PicoWiki form. To make it a bit clearer, I’ve added a link to a login page off the home page. You can access your wiki from that page and if you’ve forgotten the name of your wiki, you can access it using your email address. I hope that helps to reduce confusion.

Change your privacy setting

admin — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 07:05:16 +0000

I’ve just added a feature that allows users to change their privacy settings, making their PicoWiki public or private. Later, I plan to add the ability to apply permissions to individual pages.

Application changes

admin — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:08:33 +0000

There was some issue with creating accounts on a Sidekick. I don’t have a Sidekick to test on, will someone tell me if it’s fixed now?

Also, I added a settings page where users can change their passwords.

Wiki creation video

admin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:24:35 +0000

Now you can delete a page

admin — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:45:50 +0000

Frank Kaufmann asked me to add a delete a page feature this morning, so I did. You can now delete a wiki page from the edit page.

Thanks for the suggestion, Frank!

New Features

admin — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:51:56 +0000

PicoWiki had a good weekend. It was blogged by WebWorkerDaily and LifeHacker, got hundreds of new members, a few generous donations (thank you!), and some good feedback.

In response to the feedback, I’ve added the following new features:

A submit button on the password form for users of Opera on mobile phones
Nicer-looking login page
Bigger icons for easier use on iPhone by thick-fingered users
A password reminder option
A graphical editor so users don’t have to learn the markdown syntax if they don’t want to (disabled in some mobile browsers that don’t support it)
Live Preview (disabled in mobile browsers due to screen size limitations)
Export feature - one button exports all your PicoWiki pages to text files, zips them up, and sends them via http.

As a result, PicoWiki is now more friendly on more platforms and really rather nice in a laptop or desktop browser.

Some good ideas that I have not implemented yet, but will are:

The ability to change the password
The ability to toggle public/private settings
The ability to upload text files (or a zipped collection of text files)
The ability to synchronize your PicoWiki with with a local folder (no promises on this one - tricky)

I’ll try to work on these features next weekend. I do have a pretty demanding day job.

My thoughts on preserving change history are mixed. PicoWiki is really intended to be a simple personal tool. There are great wikis out there for group collaboration. I am not convinced that a personal wiki needs history. I worry that would complicate the application. What do you think?

Please keep the suggestions coming.

Scrolling in text boxes with your iPhone

admin — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:56:08 +0000

The iPhone browser doesn’t display a scroll bar in text boxes, to save space. To scroll within a text box on an iPhone, just use two fingers to drag the display. I mention this because a few people have asked.

Some user requests

admin — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:14:51 +0000

A few users made some excellent requests today.

1) Create a feature to allow a user to download a backup of all wiki data.

2) Add a submit button for the password form (only an issue on Opera).

3) Allow a user to change the password or to change the public/private settings.

I’ve already done #2, #1 is in testing, and I’ll try to do #3 tomorrow or later tonight.

Keep the comments coming!