Demise of FF TiddlyFox and my reluctance to tackle Node.

[Donald Bosart]

OK.  I finally became desperate enough to post here.

Background:

I'm a longtime TiddlyWiki user who started out with Classic long ago before it was "Classic" and have moved on to TW5 for some time now.  I won't bore everyone with all of the things I like about TW; but, it being file based with a simple markup and having easy Tiddler creation and being a "Guerrilla Wiki" that I could put on an Apache server to publish one-way content for my group at work are among the best things since apple pie...

Alas, file:// protocol seems dead; long live file protocol.  It was great; use it to author... put the file on a server and it is automatically protected via http.... wonderful... FF with TiddlyFox to author, scp to the server and use Chrome to view (most everyone at work uses Chrome).

With the imminent arrival of FF 57 I've been following the various threads here and trying to discern a way forward.  My immediate action both on my work machines and at home was to turn automatic updates of FF off before my authoring tool becomes caput.  But that's temporary... 

So what is the best course forward?  Should I bite the bullet and learn scary Node or try to keep it simple and find a way to save files without going insane with browsers that are intent on making themselves pains in the you know what.  I see a few threads that suggest there may be a way forward for us file users but I'm wondering what to do for the next few months and then I'm wondering if I should just bite the bullet and move to Node.

So Use Case 1 (work):

Use FF file:// to author content, scp to an Apache server, company sees the content via http.

So Use Case 2 (personal):

Ideally create an multi-user authoring solution that would allow users (and myself) to author content that I could deploy at my own URL via a hosting service.  The idea here is to "write" a collaborative piece of fiction with potentially many disparate paths... the ultimate interactive story experience essentially.

Alternatives to Use Case 1, just accept that Google Docs and Wordpress have won the day at work and stop making things hard for myself.

Alternatives to Use Case 2, just write my novel in Word (OK OpenOffice) and die an agonizing slow death.  ;-)

Looking for guidance... point me in a direction or two and then I'll go away for another decade.

Thanks.

[Mark S.]

Based on your description, BJ's tiddlysaver should do pretty much everything for you that TiddlyFox did.

So, use case #1 should be fine.

Use case #2 is about multi-user capabilities -- a whole other kettle of fish in a nutshell --, and doesn't really have anything to do with TiddlyFox. You might follow the recent threads Jed has posted about a possible multi-user solution.

Good luck!
Mark

[Leo Staley]

Consider doing what I did when Firefox broke some of the features on tiddlywiki classic, particularly "LessBackupsPlugin".

Firefox no longer allowed tiddlywiki to delete extra tiddlywiki backups.

So, I installed a portable, old version of firefox, entered gobblydygook into the proxy settings so that this would basically be a semi-sandboxed firefox that couldn't even connect to the internet, and voila, it works as basically a standalone tiddlywiki app. 

But of course, that's all it does. 

If you're writing a novel, I might suggest Scrivener. Scrivener 3 is coming out in the next few weeks, and it's everything I could ever dream. It's more useful on Mac than on Windows, so you'll have to wait a bit longer for the functionality to catch up. The 30 day trial version only counts days that you actually use it, which is pretty awesome.  

[PMario]

On Sunday, November 12, 2017 at 11:57:39 PM UTC+1, Donald Bosart wrote:

OK.  I finally became desperate enough to post here.

First of all: Welcome!

I don't know, if it's a good thing, that users need to be "desperate enough" to start posting. Or it is just a sign, that TiddlyWiki is so well designed, that it can be used for years, without the need to post here. .. I'll go with the second option ;)

Background:

I'm a longtime TiddlyWiki user who started out with Classic long ago before it was "Classic" and have moved on to TW5 for some time now.  I won't bore everyone with all of the things I like about TW; but, it being file based with a simple markup and having easy Tiddler creation and being a "Guerrilla Wiki" that I could put on an Apache server to publish one-way content for my group at work are among the best things since apple pie...

:)

 

Alas, file:// protocol seems dead; long live file protocol.  It was great; use it to author... put the file on a server and it is automatically protected via http.... wonderful... FF with TiddlyFox to author, scp to the server and use Chrome to view (most everyone at work uses Chrome).

Long live "file protocol"! ... There will be several options, to use the same workflow as with TiddlyFox. ... Not 100% the same, but imo close enough that it doesn't break yours.

 

With the imminent arrival of FF 57 I've been following the various threads here and trying to discern a way forward.  My immediate action both on my work machines and at home was to turn automatic updates of FF off before my authoring tool becomes caput.  But that's temporary... 

That's right. BJ did already publish a web-extension that you can test. I'm working hard to publish my approach very soon. I want to have a "backup options" that are similar to the classic "LessBackupsPlugin".

 

...

So Use Case 1 (work):

Use FF file:// to author content, scp to an Apache server, company sees the content via http.

I think, you can still go with this approach.

I'll post a link to the beta FF plugin here, when it's ready to be published ;)

 

have fun!

mario

[PMario]

Hi,

On Sunday, November 12, 2017 at 11:57:39 PM UTC+1, Donald Bosart wrote:

So Use Case 1 (work):

Use FF file:// to author content, scp to an Apache server, company sees the content via http.

I think you should try this approach: https://github.com/pmario/file-backups

Here's the intro thread: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/tiddlywiki/h0k7z62N79Y

Feedback is very welcome!

have fun!

mario

[Andrew Ashling]

Hi Donald,

I'm a writer too (https://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Ashling/e/B004ATYJQI). I write Epic Fantasy. I wrote most of my books in TWClassic. I work with a cluster of linked TWs: a main one for general notes and links to the other TWs, i.e. one for each book, one as a pseudo relational database for characters, ditto for locations and another one for a timeline of event. I added a theme I liked and the ForEachTiddler macro made things work. The nice thing about this setup is I can search through all my books and databases in one go.

I use PaleMoon, a Mozilla based browser, with TiddlyFox exclusively for TW. Of course if I have an external link somewhere PaleMoon can handle that too.

Screenshots:

On Sunday, November 12, 2017 at 11:57:39 PM UTC+1, Donald Bosart wrote: