WebHelp portlet

[Jan Tošovský, modificado hace 9 años.]

Dear All,

I've implemented WebHelp like functionality by overriding the Wiki portlet. The content is imported using the ZIP package containing the set of html pages, graphics, the page hierarchy and metadata used for categorization. The front-end is reduced just for viewing the pages but enhanced with the navigation tree.

This approach prevents using both WebHelp (read-only documentation) and Wiki at once so I am considering refactor it completely. My idea is to clone entire Wiki portlet and then tweak several classes. I think this portlet could be useful for anybody distributing documentation online in the classic way (no content contribution from end users, but they still can comment) and could be the integral part of Liferay distribution. This would be beneficial also for future maintenance as more than 90% of code is Wiki based so any improvements could be done at once in both places and keep both code in sync.

Would Liferay be interested to incorporate it this way? What is the best way to provide my code to you in that case?

Thanks, Jan

[Juan Gonzalez, modificado hace 9 años.]

Hi Jan,

thanks for you interest in contributing your idea.

This process should be explained properly here:

https://www.liferay.com/es/community/ideas

Thanks again!

[Jorge Ferrer, modificado hace 9 años.]

Hey Jan,

How is the content presented to the users? Is it different that the way the wiki does it? If yes, that's the part I'm most interested in. If not, why was it necessary to fork the wiki portlet?

[Jan Tošovský, modificado hace 9 años.]

Dear Jorge,

the main problem in the current WIKI is inability to control the page order. And it is a must when you need advanced navigation in your documentation, see the attached image.

While this feature could be added (Confluence or MindTouch offer this), I still prefer a separate portlet for the read-only webhelp:
* no action should be listed in activities ('the page has been added' when importing the content)
* both types could be distinguished in the search
* it would be easier to hook both portlets independently

Btw, what system is currently used for LR User Guide? And why it is used instead of WIKI? I think this is a typical target for the new WebHelp component :-)
https://www.liferay.com/documentation/liferay-portal/6.2/user-guide

Jan

[Jorge Ferrer, modificado hace 9 años.]

Hey Jan,

For Liferay's documentation we just use Web Content and an importer that creates the web content structure (and a TOC) based on a set of freemarker files (previously it was an OpenDocument doc).

However we are currently working on a completely new solution which is actually more similar to your screenshot. We considered using the wiki as a base for it but we ended up deciding against it because we've learned that when a portlet tries to do too much the user experience is not so good (and we are investing a lot in UX for 7.0 )

So we are using the Knowledge Base portlet as a base instead. Since that portlet is a plugin we are also planning to release the new version for 6.2. Sergio González and his team is leading the effort and I'm pretty sure he will welcome your contributions if you decide to join the effort instead of creating a new portlet