Wagn 1.3 - Friendly settings

Have you ever noticed how many different kinds of configurations you have to learn to manage a website?  Or how every different configuration comes with its own set of rules?

Wagn hasn't been all that different from most wikis and CMS applications in this way.  Some configurations (like layout) applied to the entire site, some (like table of contents) to a single card, some (like autoname) to a specific type of cards, etc.  Learning to "Wagneer" meant learning the boundaries of each setting.

Our new Wagn 1.3 changes that by taking advantage of our everything-is-a-card approach.  Now any Setting can be applied to any Set of cards.  The set of cards can be as inclusive as all cards or as narrow as just one card, so you can be as general or as specific as you like.

Take layouts for example. When we introduced custom layouts in 1.2, you could only change the layout for the entire site.  Now you can apply layouts to any set of cards.  So I can a special layout for all User cards, or all cards ending in +address, or for that one card with the huge image.  This means you can now create special areas of your Wagn site for administrators or any other role.

In Wagn 1.3 we're introducing the first round of sets and settings by converting several of the simplest site configurations into Wagn's new system.  Captchas, edit help, tables of contents, autonaming, and several pointer configurations (like input type and options) are now all controlled by settings. In the process, almost all of those settings became more powerful.  For example, you can now specify the minimum number of headings needed to autogenerate a table of contents --- for any set of cards!

If you want to try these new settings out, click on the "Options" tab on any card, and then click on the "settings" subtab.  (Sandbox.wagn.org is a great place to try out new features).  There you'll see the current settings for that card.  If you open any given setting, you can see all the sets that the card is in and change the setting value as narrowly or broadly as you like.

These few settings are just the beginning.  In coming releases we'll be converting all kinds of card configurations into Setting cards, from favicons to formatting to permissions.  Not only will this greatly increase your power as a Wagneer, but it will also make it easier for wagn developers to create elegant interfaces for controlling this elegant settings sytem.