TWiki Glossary

TWiki uses a handful of general computer and Internet terms in a TWiki-specific way. This could get confusing, but it actually works out fine in use. The TWikiGlossary is also a quick way to get familiar with the overall TWiki set-up...

(Under...construction: this is a rough draft)

Attachment aka File Attachment - upload files by browser and attach them to any page, where they can be viewed, edited, downloaded; accessed by clicking Attach at page bottom (FileAttachments)

Plugin - a TWiki feature add-on; a Perl module that enhances TWiki, through the Plugin API spec; named <_>Plugin.pm, ex: SomePlugin.pm (TWikiPlugins)

Plugin API - specs for building TWiki Plugins with Perl modules (TWikiPlugins)

Preference - a customizable TWiki parameter; settings site-wide, by the web, by the topic on TWikiPreferences and WebPreferences pages, also on Plugins, user and regular topic pages.

site - a TWiki installation consisting of one or more TWiki webs

topic aka WikiTopic - a single TWiki page, it has a WikiName that's unique within its home web

TWiki - based on "Wiki", from the original WikiWikiWeb, first OF this style of edit-anything-anywhere Web environment; by chance, also the name of a robot (as in, the robo-head in the TWiki logo) in the old Buck Rogers TV series (TWikiSite)

TWiki.org (twiki.org) - official home site, center of all development, housed on SourceForge.com

variable - text-strings of the form %VARIABLE% that are expanded on the fly into text, image, or any other type of embedded content; predefined variables are coded into the main TWiki package, Plugins variables, and user-specified variables are created in TWikiPreferences, WebPreferences, or single topics

web - with a small "w", as opposed to the Web, World Wide; a collection of TWiki topics under a common name; topics share Preference settings, disk file structure, and are handled as a group by search

WikiTopic - see: topic

-- MikeMannix - 09 Sep 2001