some advise on themes

[Jamie]

Hello all,

I would like to ask for some advise on TW themes and personalisation.
I've had a search through the group, but I suspect my lack of
knowledge is hindering my search success. So I hope I am not asking
the same questions as all newbies do. I am running TW 2.4.1 with no
plugins so far.

Firstly I have applied a theme (from tiddlythemes.com) for my TW. I
found a theme I liked the look of and followed the instructions on
site to install the selected theme (GTD). The installation
instructions directed me to use the 'back stage' applet. I sucessfully
installed the theme. How ever it has not worked well with my TW. The
general layout doesn't work well on my native screen resolution. The
menu bar and the tiddler viewing pane are only occupying approximately
half of the browser space.

Can any one advise how I can modify the page layout to have percentage
width instead of the fixed width I appear to have?

I have scanned through the shadow tiddlers (page layout, style sheet)
and to be honest I couldn't see any obvious code segments to modify. I
don't know much about CSS other than there functionality.

Secondly can someone advise how I can remove the theme or roll back to
the default while keeping all the tiddlers intact? Also is there a
plugin that can manage installing and removing themes? I have seen
some interesting changes to the default TW layout, such as a menu of
tiddlers across the top of the page (below the SiteTitle and
SiteSubtitle), is that added through a theme or a plugin.

I'm in a new job and have created a TW to document all the little
details I am likely to forget. My boss has seen it and likes it a lot.
I have been asked if I can make it public so it can be used as a
training tool. I am getting to the stage with my TW where I have
increasing amounts tiddlies and I would like to be more organised (I
know the search facility is more than capable of sorting through), I
would like to have some structure to help my thoughts, and to identify
the key aspects of the TW. Can any one offer some advise or direct me
to some howto's?

Apologies for the structure of this post. I'm so impressed with the TW
functionality that I have so many ideas and thoughts on TW that this
post has become a tad convoluted.

Thanks in advance,
Jamie
P.S. I am also new to Google groups and I would just like to say this
is a very friendly and helpful group. I hope I can answer questions
also once I have more experience.

[wolfgang]

Welcome Jamie,

take a look at 'Changing Themes' Tiddlywiki:

http://change.tiddlyspot.com/download

It incorporates more than hundreds themes, color palettes and style
adaptations (therefore not a direct - but a download link - to this
3.7 MB TiddlyWiki)

In its 'About' tiddler you'll find some - though not complete -
installation instructions.

> Can any one advise how I can modify the page layout to have percentage
> width instead of the fixed width I appear to have?
>

Theme changes are usually added to the 'StyleSheet' shadowed tiddler.
You should find the css for fixed width layout to modify in there.

> Secondly can someone advise how I can remove the theme or roll back to
> the default while keeping all the tiddlers intact?

Simply delete 'StyleSheet' and 'PageTemplate' shadowed tiddlers, and
these will automatically revert to their default content and style.

> Also is there a
> plugin that can manage installing and removing themes? I have seen
> some interesting changes to the default TW layout, such as a menu of
> tiddlers across the top of the page (below the SiteTitle and
> SiteSubtitle), is that added through a theme or a plugin.

Take a look at above mentioned TW how it's implemented with
SwitchThemePlugin there. You're welcome for any further question.

Regards,

W.

http://www.tiddlytools.com/#SwitchThemePlugin

[Ken Girard]

The parts you need to change are:
(located under Header rules - near top of stylesheet)
#contentWrapper {
margin: 0 auto;
width: 59em;
position: relative;
}

(Located under Tiddler display rules)
#displayArea {
width: 39.75em;
margin: 0 0 0 17em;
}


Change the widths to something like 90%.

Ken Girard

[Jamie]

Thank you for the swift response.

One small question if I may, are the plugins and themes tiddlers
imported into my host file? I'm just trying to understand the
mechanics behind the interface.

I'll check out the links and make sure I understand it all before I
ask my new questions. I didn't realise there was so much extra
functionality available. TW is truely a marvel :)

Once again thanks.
J

[Eric Weir]

On 8/20/2008 Jamie wrote:

> I am getting to the stage with my TW where I have
> increasing amounts tiddlies and I would like to be more organised (I
> know the search facility is more than capable of sorting through), I
> would like to have some structure to help my thoughts, and to identify
> the key aspects of the TW. Can any one offer some advise or direct me
> to some howto's?

I would be interested in how others deal with this, too. I've finally
started actually using TW, and have a fair collection of notes on a
pretty broad topic -- it will end up either being a long article or a
book -- within which there are subtopics that I'd like to be able to
life up somehow. E.g., I'd like to be able to send my partner in this
project a TW and be able to call his attention to a particular group of
tiddlers, e.g., by referring him to a tiddler containing a list of the
tiddlers.

I started this project in CognyWiki but don't think it's going to work
for me. It's focus is on a psychological structure -- short-term,
long-term, and working memories -- while I need a logical structure.
Also, it seems to be set up to use only those three broad categories.
It's not clear how structuring within them can be carried out. I'm also
intrigued by MPTW, and imagine that TagglyTagging would be extremely
helpful along these lines, but I've only been "studying" it. Haven't
actually tried it, yet.

Something else that might better have been put in a separate message. Is
there a way to force separate listings of TW tiddlers -- plugins, etc.
-- and content tiddlers in the sidebar? And related to the question
above, might there be a way to introduce structure in the listing of
content tiddlers in the sidebar?

Thanks,
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eric Weir
Decatur, GA USA
eew...@bellsouth.net
Near as I can tell, it has

[Jamie]

Thanks Ken, thats going to allow me to tweak it until I can take the
time to learn CSS.

Do you know what the 59em defines exactly? Is that specifying 59 pixel
width?

Cheers
J

[wolfgang]

> One small question if I may, are the plugins and themes tiddlers
> imported into my host file? I'm just trying to understand the
> mechanics behind the interface.

You need only to import SwitchThemePlugin, tag it 'systemConfig' save
and reload as with any plugin install. For installing one theme you
have to install only one 'systemTheme' tagged tiddler,

Then you'll need any additional tiddlers indicated in the systemTheme
tiddler, which varies from theme to theme. Watch out, for example - in
the StyleSheet or templates sections of the one systemTheme tiddler -
for any tiddlers with double braclets, ie [[...]], which means that
tiddlers has to be included too.

W.

[Eric Shulman]

> site to install the selected theme (GTD). The installation

> Can any one advise how I can modify the page layout to have percentage
> width instead of the fixed width I appear to have?
>
> I have scanned through the shadow tiddlers (page layout, style sheet)
> and to be honest I couldn't see any obvious code segments to modify. I
> don't know much about CSS other than there functionality.
>
> Secondly can someone advise how I can remove the theme or roll back to
> the default while keeping all the tiddlers intact?

One very simple method: rename [[StyleSheet]] and [[PageTemplate]]
(e.g., by adding a "GTD" prefix to the tiddler titles). This will
permit the shadow (default) tiddlers to be applied.

> Also is there a plugin that can manage installing and removing themes?

It depends upon the theme. Old-style themes were simply a set of
related tiddlers that have to use special titles, i.e., StyleSheet,
PageTemplate, etc. in order to be applied. New-style themes are
defined using tiddlers tagged with "systemTheme" that contain
specially-formatted tables that refer to the individual stylesheets
and templates that make up the theme.

To switch between 'systemTheme' tiddlers, try this:
http://www.TiddlyTools.com/#SwitchThemePlugin
http://www.TiddlyTools.com/#SwitchThemePluginInfo
It provides an easy-to-use droplist control so you can quickly select
from among the themes that are defined in your document. The plugin
can also be used to embed individual command links for specific
themes, so that you can simply click a link to switch to a particular
theme. There is also a 'select random theme at startup' option that
can automatically switch to a different theme each time the document
is loaded, just for a bit of variety.

> some interesting changes to the default TW layout, such as a menu of
> tiddlers across the top of the page (below the SiteTitle and
> SiteSubtitle), is that added through a theme or a plugin.

That's part of the PageTemplate definition, and is done by adding
something like this just after the DIV containing the site header:

<div id='siteMenu' class='siteMenu' refresh='content'
tiddler='SiteMenu'></div>

> increasing amounts tiddlies and I would like to be more organised (I

> would like to have some structure to help my thoughts, and to identify

As a first step, I would start using *tags* to add semantic categories
to the tiddlers. This can help greatly when trying to find tiddlers
with related information that may not have been explicitly linked in
the tiddler content.

There are numerous plugins that provide enhanced tools for working
with tags... among them:
http://www.TiddlyTools.com/#TagCloudPlugin
http://www.TiddlyTools.com/#TagGridPlugin
http://www.TiddlyTools.com/#MatchTagsPlugin
http://www.TiddlyTools.com/#AutoTaggerPlugin

You might also want to try the following non-tag related tools:
http://www.TiddlyTools.com/#SearchOptionsPlugin
http://www.TiddlyTools.com/#TableOfContentsPlugin
http://www.TiddlyTools.com/#RelatedTiddlersPlugin

enjoy,
-e
Eric Shulman
TiddlyTools / ELS Design Studios

[wolfgang]

Hi Eric W.,

> Is there a way to force separate listings of TW tiddlers -- plugins, etc.
> -- and content tiddlers in the sidebar? And related to the question
> above, might there be a way to introduce structure in the listing of
> content tiddlers in the sidebar?

Beside the plugins Eric S. already mentioned for this purpose, you can
always create a custom Index tiddler and place it in the SideBarTabs
shadowed tiddler (in the example below tiddled TabTags):

<<tabs txtMainTab
"Index" "All tags" TabTags
"Timeline" "Timeline" TabTimeline
"All" "All tiddlers" TabAll
"More" "More lists" TabMore>>

You can see this example in above mentioned http://change.tiddlyspot.com/download
TiddlyWiki.

This TW also uses DividedListsPlugin, which is really useful with too
many tiddlers since it breaks tabs (TabTags, TabAll and TabMore) down
into further tabs sorted alphabetically:

http://yann.perrin.googlepages.com/twkd1.html#DividedListsPlugin

Further there is also TagsTreePlugin, with which you easily create
custom sliding menus in the left MainMenu:

http://visualtw.ouvaton.org/VisualTW.html#TagsTreePlugin

Regards,

W.

[Ken Girard]

ems are based on text size, so they are effected by people using the
browsers ability to adjust text size.
Look at: http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/css2em.htm for a better description.

Ken Girard

[Eric Weir]

On 8/20/2008 Eric Shulman wrote:

> As a first step, I would start using *tags* to add semantic categories
> to the tiddlers. This can help greatly when trying to find tiddlers
> with related information that may not have been explicitly linked in
> the tiddler content.
>
> There are numerous plugins that provide enhanced tools for working
> with tags... among them:
> http://www.TiddlyTools.com/#TagCloudPlugin
> http://www.TiddlyTools.com/#TagGridPlugin
> http://www.TiddlyTools.com/#MatchTagsPlugin
> http://www.TiddlyTools.com/#AutoTaggerPlugin
>
> You might also want to try the following non-tag related tools:
> http://www.TiddlyTools.com/#SearchOptionsPlugin
> http://www.TiddlyTools.com/#TableOfContentsPlugin
> http://www.TiddlyTools.com/#RelatedTiddlersPlugin

Thanks, Eric. For every request regarding TW, so many options. I'm
checking them out. My primary problem is lack of experience. In this
case, only one solution. I'm working on it.

A question. You suggest tagging for locating tiddlers that have not been
linked to specific content. My limited experience tells me that linking
with WikiWords links all tiddlers to an original tiddler, not to each
other, i.e., a WikiWord link doesn't allow me to navigate through all
tiddlers with the same WikiWord. Is that right. [I guess in many/most
instances that is not the way people would want to link tiddlers.]

[Ken Girard]

If you tag 'Tiddler A', 'Tiddler B' & 'Tiddler C' with 'Index' and
then create a link to 'Index' you will see a list containing those
three tiddler titles in the Index tiddler (even if it doesn't exist).

If you go even further you could install the TagglyTaggingPlugin
(http://mptw.tiddlyspot.com/#TagglyTagging). It let's you do all kinds
of fun sorting of tagged tiddlers.

Another option is custom fields combined with ForEach... more control
and options, but also harder to use.

Ken Girard

> eew...@bellsouth.net- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Eric Weir]

Thanks, Ken. That's one of the things I wanted -- a tiddler with a list
of tiddlers on a topic.

I've graduated from GognyWiki to MPTW. TagglyTagging was the appeal,
though I understand that's now standard in TW -- or am I mistaken about
that. In addition to being harder to use -- I'll take your word on that
-- I don't think fields would be very useful for my purposes --
organizing extended text.

Sincerely,

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eric Weir
Decatur, GA USA
eew...@bellsouth.net

[Eric Weir]

Thanks, wolfgang. The TagsTreePlugin definitely looks like something
that would be helpful to me in organizing content tiddlers.

I'm not sure how the first and second suggestions are different, since
the source site for the DividedListsPlugin doesn't provide an example.

I suspect I know the answer, but I'm moved again to ask whether there's
a way to display TW tiddlers -- plugins, etc. -- and content tiddlers
separately. [My guess is that since they're all tiddlers there is not.
But you never know here. People always seem to be able to do the
unexpected.]

Sincerely,

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eric Weir
Decatur, GA USA
eew...@bellsouth.net

[Ken Girard]

Now that I caught the need for extended text navigation, take a look
at:
http://tw.lewcid.org/#NavigationMacro

Next and Previous buttons to help you navigate along a set path of
tiddlers.

Ken Girard

[Eric Shulman]

> Now that I caught the need for extended text navigation, take a look
> at:http://tw.lewcid.org/#NavigationMacro
> Next and Previous buttons to help you navigate along a set path of
> tiddlers.

See also:
http://www.TiddlyTools.com#StoryViewerPlugin
http://www.TiddlyTools.com#StorySaverPlugin

enjoy,
-e

[wolfgang]

> I'm not sure how the first and second suggestions are different, since
> the source site for the DividedListsPlugin doesn't provide an example.
>
> I suspect I know the answer, but I'm moved again to ask whether there's
> a way to display TW tiddlers -- plugins, etc. -- and content tiddlers
> separately. [My guess is that since they're all tiddlers there is not.
> But you never know here. People always seem to be able to do the
> unexpected.]

Well, at my example site I keep out certain tags in my front tab
(contrary to the second suggestion with the DevidedListsPlugin) by
manually indicating only those I would want to appear there, as
example:

<<tag txt {{"1 - texts ("+store.getTaggedTiddlers("txt").length
+")"}}>>
&nbsp;&nbsp; <<tag cmt {{"- comments
("+store.getTaggedTiddlers("cmt").length +")"}}>>

TagglyTagging has an other approach by having 2 different tabs for
tags, one with only system tags (all lower case only) and one with all
of them (lower and upper case mixed).


A straight forward further possibility would be the use of
AllTagsExceptMacro by Saq:

usage: <<allTagsExcept systemConfig systemTiddlers>> This will show
all tags but those listed (e.g. systemConfig and systemTiddlers

http://tiddlystyles.com/#AllTagsExceptMacro

W.

[wolfgang]

> A straight forward further possibility would be the use of
> AllTagsExceptMacro by Saq:
>

Sorry, that's by Clint Checketts.

W.

[Eric Weir]

Thanks, Ken. And to Eric for his followup to this. In addition to
organizing tiddlers for myself, I was also looking for help in
organizing selections of tiddlers for presentation to others, e.g., to
my partner in this project, my first to try to make serious use of TW.
Both this suggestion and Eric's strike me as likely useful in this regard.

Sincerely,
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eric Weir
Decatur, GA USA
eew...@bellsouth.net

[Eric Weir]

Thanks, wolfgang. I don't understand code at all. Maybe with more
experience with TagglyTagging I'll be able to ask more pointed
questions. The AllTagsExcept macro [plugin? what's the difference?]
looks very useful. Sincerely, Eric

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[wolfgang]

> The AllTagsExcept macro [plugin? what's the difference?]
> looks very useful. Sincerely, Eric
--

> usage: <<allTagsExcept systemConfig systemTiddlers>> This will show
> all tags but those listed (e.g. systemConfig and systemTiddlers

Since it doesn't seem clear what would be clear to a regular
TiddlyWiki user - I try to explain it from ground up:

Every macro / plugin (not much of a distinction there; called plugin
it might include a number of different macros) is installed by
importing the plugin tiddler through the backstage import function or
by copying the content of the plugin tiddler in edit mode in a new
tiddler, titled with the plugin name and adding a 'systemConfig' tag
before clicking 'done' in the tiddler edit toolbar. Finally one has to
save and reload the whole TiddlyWiki for having the additional plugin
function starting to work.

A plugin or macro provides at least one macro call for invoking the
particular function the plugin was written for, usually already
indicated by its name, and in some cases provides some additional
parameters with which to run that particular function.

In the case of the AllTagsExcept macro it's intended function is to
display a list of all tags - opening a list of tiddlers tagged with
that particular tag in a popup - as the ordinary TabTags in the right-
hand side-bar tag tab display does. With the difference of excluding
and not listing tags indicated by the additional parameters. So if you
look at the above macro call:

> usage: <<allTagsExcept systemConfig systemTiddlers>> This will show
> all tags but those listed (e.g. systemConfig and systemTiddlers

# it calls the function for which the AllTagsExcept macro was written
for with the first part of the macro call: <<allTagsExcept
# and its second part: systemConfig systemTiddlers>> lists the tags
you don't want to have included in the list of tags as its parameters.

Now to have this function - a list of tags except those you wouldn't
want to be listed - in the regular right-hand side bar, you have to
open the TabTags shadowed tiddler and replace the existing macro call
in there: <<allTags excludeLists>> with:
<<allTagsExcept systemConfig systemTiddlers>> - You'll find the
TabTags shadowed tiddler in the right-hand sidebar under the tab
'More' and than 'Shadowed'. You also could add the macro call itself
in any other tiddler where you would want that list of tags to be
displayed.

Now the difference between the default macro call in TabTags tiddler
and the one of AllTagsExcept macro is:

The former also excludes all tiddlers in the list of tags which have
been tagged with 'excludeLists', but one still can access those
tiddlers with the now additionally listed tag 'excludeLists'. - For
excluding also the 'excludeLists' tag from appearing in the default
<<allTags excludeLists>> list of tags, one would have to tag the
excludeList tag with 'excludeLists' too.

The AllTagsExcept macro makes that a bit more straight forward, by
allowing to only write <<allTagsExcept systemConfig systemTiddlers>>
without having to tag the systemConfig and systemTiddlers tag with
'excludeLists' and again tagging excludeLists tag with the
'excludeLists' tag.
This will only display tiddlers tags in a list except 'systemConfig'
and 'systemTiddlers' tag. Effectively hiding those tiddler in its tag
list.

Now you can exclude any tag from the list by simply writing the tags
to exclude as parameter in the macro call:
<<allTagsExcept anyTag anyOtherTag whatsoever>>

Amazing to what extent other things could become involved in such a
simple thing as explaining a simple plugin. I could write on and on...

A tip for testing new plugins: See that you have a backup made, and
just go ahead installing the plugin and adding its macro call, which
you usually find in the plugin tiddler under: 'usage:' as in the
AllTagsExcept macro - this will show exactly what it does. And if that
new macro breaks something, because it maybe isn't compatible with the
recent TiddlyWiki version, just revert to its backup and ask for
assistance.

W.

[Eric Weir]

Thanks, Wolfgang. I've printed this out, along with the other responses
to my requests on this thread. My TiddlyWiki education is beginning in
earnest. [Well, maybe not as earnest as most of you guys, including the
nonprogrammers among you.] While I'm at it, I noticed in your response
to the interesting comment on the utility of TiddlyWiki that you're not
a programmer and that your field is social work. Does that mean you're a
social worker? Regards, Eric W.

[Amzg]

A different angle to answer your question Jamie:

On Aug 20, 4:12 pm, Jamie <jpm...@gmail.com> wrote:
> found a theme I liked the look of and followed the instructions on

> site to install the selected theme (GTD). ...

If it actually is GTD you're looking for, as opposed to merely a
theme; you know of
http://monkeygtd.tiddlyspot.com/#Demo
, right?

Best

/Mat

[Jamie]

Thanks Mat. Although initially I was looking for an alternate theme
only. The link you provided has nifty functionality.

Thx very much :)
Jamie

On Aug 25, 12:59 am, Amzg <matiasg...@gmail.com> wrote:
> A different angle to answer your question Jamie:
>
> On Aug 20, 4:12 pm, Jamie <jpm...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > found a theme I liked the look of and followed the instructions on
> > site to install the selected theme (GTD). ...
>
> If it actually is GTD you're looking for, as opposed to merely a

> theme; you know ofhttp://monkeygtd.tiddlyspot.com/#Demo
> , right?
>
> Best
>
> /Mat

[schilke]

> Thanks Mat. Although initially I was looking for an alternate theme
> only. The link you provided has nifty functionality.

just to make it complete: (in case you are interested into a GTD
solution rather than just a theme) the current version resides here:
http://monkeygtd.tiddlyspot.com/demo3.html

And there's also the GTD TiddlyWiki Group which might be a better
better place for that topic:
http://groups.google.com/group/GTD-TiddlyWiki

HTH

--s.