four Wagn headlines

[Ethan McCutchen]

1. Wagn 1.13 is out!

OK, technically we pushed out the Wagn 1.13 gem at the end of July, but we (ok, I) never got around to documenting the changes and writing up the blog post, I never got to write you guys about it so it never felt fully out until today.

Wagn 1.13 was a big release that moved all of our account handling into cards, moved all of our JavaScript handling into cards and rules, and was the first minor release distributed as a gem. I posted the blog post about 1.13 down below.  But there's also been more recent progress...

2. Wagn 1.14 is out!

This one's more legitimate; we just built the gem today.  This is also a big release, as it includes a major overhaul of our card history system, makes it so that all emails are configurable as cards, and considerably upgrades our follower notification handling.  I pasted this blog post below, too.

Note that sites hosted on Cloudstore have been upgraded to 1.14 already, and Wikirate.org has been field testing most of the new code for some time.  Speaking of which...

3. Wikirate.org introduces voting

Wikirate is pioneering lots of new things for and with Wagn, and the latest feature is particularly cool.  It's a voting system implemented entirely with the Card API.  If you haven't checked out the site lately, you should really have a look.

And if you're interested in seeing the code for any of their modifications, you can have a look at that, too; it's all on GitHub.  But, I know what you're thinking: "I don't just want to read about all this great Wagn stuff; I want to talk about it..."

4. Wagn Circles are back

After a little hiatus, we're bringing back the weekly calls about all things Wagn.  We're looking for a new time slot and for now have tentatively proposed a Circle next Tuesday at 1pm US eastern (6pm UTC).  Let us know if you'd like to come but the time slot is a problem.

Our 34th Wagn Circle will be all about the new account handling introduced in Wagn 1.13 and sharpened in Wagn 1.14. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wagn 1.13 - card-carrying accounts

Wagn 1.13 was released on July 31, 2014.  Today it's November 17, 2014.  We're a little behind on our blogging.

 

So the real action is in Wagn 1.14, which only a few hours away from release.  But 1.13 was a big deal, and so even if you decide (wisely) to skip straight to 1.14, it's worth noting some of the great things that this poor unheralded release brought into the world.

 

Wagn as a gem

 

Though there were several earlier point releases (starting with 1.12.7), 1.13 was the first minor release of Wagn in the form of a ruby gem. This new architecture more cleanly separates the framework code (shared by all Wagn sites) from the application code (distinct for each Wagn site), which is a huge step forward in Wagn's quest to become the first true wiki-based developer framework.  It also makes installing and upgrading Wagn much easier.  At the time of writing, the wagn gem has already been downloaded over 3200 times.

 

Accounts as cards

 

Wagn 1.13 made a lot of progress in terms of greater fidelity to the principle that everything is a card, but the greatest of these is with accounts.  Not only is all account data now stored in cards, but all account-related transactions  are conducted by creating, reading, updating, and deleting cards.  The interface for all this is quite conventional (don't worry).  If anything signing up for a Wagn site has gotten simpler and safer, now that the default sign-up process is mediated by verification links rather than the old system that mailed out passwords.  The benefits of this new system include:

• we now track history changes to account data
• all account transformations are exposed to the Wagn API and can be easily customized
• account data can be queried with WQL
• you can reuse and display account data (to those with permission) as flexibly as any other card

See the accounts card for more information on how it works.

JavaScript in cards, too

 

Prior to 1.13, all system JavaScript was hard-coded, and custom JavaScript was laborious to add.  Now, with the addition of JavaScript and CoffeeScript cards (as well as *script rules to organize them), JavaScript is now handled in cards like everything else.  As with accounts, this has the benefits of exposure to the API, WQL, views, history, etc. But it also makes custom JavaScript much faster to load, because Wagn automatically compiles, concatenates, and compresses all JavaScript associate with a give *script rule.  More about JavaScript.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wagn 1.14 - the future of history

Cards' revision histories have long been among Wagn's strengths.  And the more we make it that everything is a card – skins in version 1.12,  accounts and JavaScript in 1.13, and now email templatesin version 1.14 were all recently converted to cards) – the more useful those revisions have become as a log of your creative work.

 

But the revision system had some key flaws.  For example, Wagn didn't track name or type changes, and it didn't group together edits to multiple cards that took place as part of one submission.  It was also very difficult to navigate changes for structured cards; you had to look through one field card at a time.

 

Wagn 1.14 fixes all of those issues and adds a much more compelling interface to boot.  Now you can...

• review and revert changes to a card's name and/or type in addition to content.
• browse through lists of acts on a card, each of which might include actions on multiple cards.  You can then expand actions to see more detail.
• load changes to content-heavy pages much more quickly.
• view all changes to included cards as part of the same revision list.

In parallel, we began an overhaul of the system for following cards (receiving notifications for changes).  Now you can:

• see the actual content changed in the email (emails will include diffs in Wagn 1.15)
• view and edit the list of cards that you're following by editing your card name+*following.
• customize follower notification emails

In fact, not just follower emails but all Wagn emails are now handled in cards and fully customizable, including:

• verification emails, which are sent out to verify emails used for sign ups.
• signup alert emails, which are sent to notify interested users of a new signup. 
• password reset emails, which are sent out when someone has lost a password and clicks "RESET PASSWORD" on the Sign in page.

A bit more on the geeky side, it's also worth noting that Wagn 1.14 marks a major milestone for Wagn in that it's the first release in which all actions can be accomplished via our RESTful Web API.  That is to say that every server action you'll ever take on Wagn, from signing up to signing in to opening a card to following it to anything else will involve a simple CRUD (create, read, update, or delete) operation on a card.

--

Ethan McCutchen

One of the Wagneers, Wagn.org

Wagn. How pioneers roll.

s: ethan.mccutchen

t: @intogreater

[Tom Brooke]

I've missed Wagn and 1:00 Tuesday works for me

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[John Abbe]

Fantastic development over these two releases - congratulations!

No conflicts on Tuesday, so barring family thanksgiving related things
I'm unaware of, I will be on the wagn circle.

Life,
John

--
http://johnabbe.wagn.org/Great_March_for_Climate_Action

"If you don't like the news, go out and make some of your own."
--Wes Nisker

On Wed, Nov 19, 2014, at 09:45 PM, Tom Brooke wrote:
> I've missed Wagn and 1:00 Tuesday works for me
>
> On Mon, Nov 17, 2014 at 9:24 PM, Ethan McCutchen <et...@grasscommons.org>
> wrote:
>

> > 1. Wagn 1.13 <http://wagn.org/wagn_1_13> is out!

> >
> > OK, technically we pushed out the Wagn 1.13 gem

> > <http://rubygems.org/gems/wagn> at the end of July, but we (ok, I) never

> > got around to documenting the changes and writing up the blog post

> > <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_13_card_carrying_accounts>, I never got to write

> > you guys about it so it never felt fully out until today.
> >

> > Wagn 1.13 <http://wagn.org/wagn_1_13> was a big release that moved all of
> > our account handling <http://wagn.org/accounts> into cards, moved all of
> > our JavaScript <http://wagn.org/JavaScript> handling into cards and

> > rules, and was the first minor release distributed as a gem.

> > <http://rubygems.org/gems/wagn> I posted the blog post about 1.13
> > <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_13_card_carrying_accounts> down below. But

> > there's also been more recent progress...
> >
> >

> > 2. Wagn 1.14 <http://wagn.org/wagn_1_14> is out!

> >
> > This one's more legitimate; we just built the gem

> > <http://rubygems.org/gems/wagn> today. This is *also* a big release, as
> > it includes a major overhaul of our card history <http://wagn.org/history>

> > system, makes it so that all emails are configurable

> > <http://wagn.org/email_templates> as cards, and considerably upgrades our follower
> > notification <http://wagn.org/following> handling. I pasted this blog
> > post <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_14_the_future_of_history> below, too.

> >
> > Note that sites hosted on Cloudstore have been upgraded to 1.14

> > <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_14+upgrade_notes> already, and Wikirate.org has

> > been field testing most of the new code for some time. Speaking of which...
> >
> >
> > 3. Wikirate.org introduces voting
> >

> > Wikirate <http://wikirate.org> is pioneering *lots* of new things for and

> > with Wagn, and the latest feature is particularly cool. It's a voting
> > system implemented entirely with the Card API. If you haven't checked out

> > the site lately, you should really have a look <http://wikirate.org>.

> >
> > And if you're interested in seeing the code for any of their
> > modifications, you can have a look at that, too; it's all on GitHub

> > <https://github.com/wagn/wikirate>. But, I know what you're thinking: "I
> > don't just want to *read* about all this great Wagn stuff; I want to
> > *talk* about it..."
> >
> >
> > 4. Wagn Circles <http://wagn.org/Wagn_Circle> are back

> >
> > After a little hiatus, we're bringing back the weekly calls about all

> > things Wagn <http://wagn.org/Wagn_Circle>. We're looking for a new time

> > slot and for now have tentatively proposed a Circle next Tuesday

> > <http://wagn.org/Circle_34_new_account_handling> at 1pm US eastern (6pm
> > UTC). *Let us know if you'd like to come but the time slot is a problem*.
> >
> > Our 34th Wagn Circle <http://wagn.org/Circle_34_new_account_handling> will

> > be all about the new account handling introduced in Wagn 1.13

> > <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_13>and sharpened in Wagn 1.14
> > <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_13>.

> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> > Wagn 1.13 - card-carrying accounts

> > <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_13_card_carrying_accounts>
> >
> > Wagn 1.13 <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_13> was released on July 31, 2014.

> > Today it's November 17, 2014. We're a little behind on our blogging.
> >
> >
> >

> > So the real action is in Wagn 1.14 <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_14>, which
> > only a few hours away from release. But 1.13 <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_13> was

> > a big deal, and so even if you decide (wisely) to skip straight to 1.14

> > <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_14>, it's worth noting some of the great things

> > that this poor unheralded release brought into the world.
> >
> >
> > Wagn as a gem
> >
> >
> >

> > Though there were several earlier *point releases* (starting with
> > 1.12.7), 1.13 was the first *minor release* of Wagn in the form of a ruby
> > gem <http://rubygems.org/gems/wagn>. This new architecture more cleanly

> > separates the framework code (shared by all Wagn sites) from the
> > application code (distinct for each Wagn site), which is a huge step

> > forward in Wagn's quest to become the *first true wiki-based developer
> > framework*. It also makes installing and upgrading Wagn much easier. At

> > the time of writing, the wagn gem has already been downloaded over 3200
> > times.
> >
> >
> > Accounts as cards
> >
> >
> >

> > Wagn 1.13 <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_13> made a lot of progress in terms of
> > greater fidelity to the principle that *everything is a card*, but the
> > greatest of these is with accounts <http://wagn.org/accounts>. Not only

> > is all account data now stored in cards, but all account-related
> > transactions are conducted by creating, reading, updating, and deleting
> > cards. The interface for all this is quite conventional (don't worry). If
> > anything signing up for a Wagn site has gotten simpler and safer, now that
> > the default sign-up process is mediated by verification links rather than
> > the old system that mailed out passwords. The benefits of this new system
> > include:
> >

> > - we now track history changes to account data
> > - all account transformations are exposed to the Wagn API and can be
> > easily customized
> > - account data can be queried with WQL <http://wagn.org/WQL>
> > - you can reuse and display account data (to those with permission) as

> > flexibly as any other card
> >

> > See the accounts <http://wagn.org/accounts> card for more information on

> > how it works.
> >
> >
> > JavaScript in cards, too
> >
> >
> >

> > Prior to 1.13 <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_13>, all system JavaScript was

> > hard-coded, and custom JavaScript was laborious to add. Now, with the

> > addition of JavaScript <http://wagn.org/JavaScript> and CoffeeScript
> > <http://wagn.org/CoffeeScript> cards (as well as *script
> > <http://wagn.org/*script> rules to organize them), JavaScript is now
> > handled in cards <http://wagn.org/cards> like everything else. As with

> > accounts, this has the benefits of exposure to the API, WQL, views,
> > history, etc. But it also makes custom JavaScript much faster to load,
> > because Wagn automatically compiles, concatenates, and compresses all

> > JavaScript associate with a give *script <http://wagn.org/*script> rule. * More
> > about JavaScript. <http://wagn.org/JavaScript>*

> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> >
> > Wagn 1.14 - the future of history

> > <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_14_the_future_of_history>
> >
> > Cards' <http://wagn.org/Cards> revision histories
> > <http://wagn.org/histories> have long been among Wagn's strengths. And
> > the more we make it that *everything is a card* – skins
> > <http://wagn.org/skins> in version 1.12 <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_12>,
> > accounts <http://wagn.org/accounts> and JavaScript
> > <http://wagn.org/JavaScript> in 1.13 <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_13>, and now email
> > templates <http://wagn.org/email_templates>in version 1.14
> > <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_14> were all recently converted to cards) – the

> > more useful those revisions have become as a log of your creative work.
> >
> >
> >
> > But the revision system had some key flaws. For example, Wagn didn't
> > track name or type changes, and it didn't group together edits to multiple
> > cards that took place as part of one submission. It was also very
> > difficult to navigate changes for structured cards; you had to look through
> > one field card at a time.
> >
> >
> >

> > Wagn 1.14 <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_14> fixes all of those issues and adds

> > a much more compelling interface to boot. Now you can...
> >

> > - review and revert changes to a card's name and/or type in addition
> > to content.
> > - browse through lists of *acts* on a card, each of which might
> > include *actions* on multiple cards. You can then expand actions to
> > see more detail.
> > - load changes to content-heavy pages much more quickly.
> > - view all changes to included cards as part of the same revision list.

> >
> > In parallel, we began an overhaul of the system for following

> > <http://wagn.org/following> cards (receiving notifications for changes).
> > Now you can:
> >
> > - see the actual content changed in the email (emails will include
> > diffs in Wagn 1.15 <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_15>)
> > - view and edit the list of cards that you're following by editing *your
> > card name+*following*.
> > - customize follower notification emails
> > <http://wagn.org/follower_notification_emails>
> >
> > In fact, not just follower emails but *all* Wagn emails are now handled

> > in cards and fully customizable, including:
> >

> > - verification emails <http://wagn.org/verification_emails>, which are
> > sent out to verify emails used for sign ups <http://wagn.org/sign_ups>.
> > - signup alert emails <http://wagn.org/signup_alert_emails>, which are

> > sent to notify interested users of a new signup.

> > - password reset emails <http://wagn.org/password_reset_emails>, which

> > are sent out when someone has lost a password and clicks "RESET PASSWORD"

> > on the Sign in page <http://wagn.org/*signin>.

> >
> > A bit more on the geeky side, it's also worth noting that Wagn 1.14

> > <http://wagn.org/Wagn_1_14> marks a major milestone for Wagn in that it's
> > the first release in which *all actions* can be accomplished via our RESTful
> > Web API <http://wagn.org/RESTful_Web_API>. That is to say that every

[pieter vijfvinkel]

Hi Ethan,

Proficiat! Good news.

Best regards,

Pieter Vijfvinkel

[pieter vijfvinkel]

Ethan,

Tuesday works for mee too!

Best regards,

Pieter

On Tue, Nov 18, 2014 at 3:24 AM, Ethan McCutchen <et...@grasscommons.org> wrote:

[Brandon WilliamsCraig]

Amazing stuff all 'round!

Appreciating you more publicly than usual,

:-)

Brandon

from Brandon WilliamsCraig Ph.D.
bra...@culturesmith.com
Skype bdwilliamscraig (510) 962-3921
Association Building Community (866) 236-0346 fax/voice