abubnic's dashboard

abubnic asked a question in PBwiki on January 09, 2009 18:10:

Why can't I edit in PB wiki?

I suddenly can't edit anything in PB wiki. Is there a problem? (I'm in the middle of doing a workshop, wouldnt you know!) Edit mode brings up a blank page and inability to type.

abubnic asked a question in PBwiki on December 16, 2008 21:27:

Color pallette: way too extreme

The color pallette that you currently offer for wiki backgrounds is not very helpful. The choices are way too extreme. Some of the options are barely visible at all. And the ones that do add color to the sidebar etc are way too bright. You almost need sunglasses to view the pinks, yellows and greens.

Are there any plans to do an update?

abubnic asked a question in PBwiki on December 10, 2008 21:32:

My sidebar disappeared. How do I get it back?

A comment on the question "How do I delete a folder?" in PBwiki:

Hi Rachel. Doesn't work for me. Please go to this page and tell me how I delete these two folders. They show up on the home page and I don't want teachers to use them. See: http://kentfieldplc.pbwiki.com/browse...=ViewFolder¶m=Middle%20School%2FKent – abubnic, on December 02, 2008 21:08

abubnic started following the question "How do I delete a folder?" in PBwiki.

abubnic started following the question "Clone wiki" in PBwiki.

abubnic asked a question in PBwiki on October 23, 2008 16:28:

Any plans to offer a "duplicate wiki" or "copy wiki" tool?

Are there any plans to offer a "duplicate wiki" or "copy wiki" tool for PB Wiki 2.0?

I often am making wikis for educators that have the exact same content but are customized with their name and school district logo. We have a standard format and a set of content that works and we would like everyone's wiki to be uniform at the start.

It's tedious to set up over and over again, particularly when many pages are involved. It would be so much easier if an account administrator could have privileges that allowed them to duplicate a site and change the 2nd site to a new name.

Please add this feature!

abubnic asked a question in PBwiki on June 10, 2008 21:38:

Changing owner email address to a different one.

How do you change the primary email address of the wiki owner to a different email address for the same owner?

abubnic asked a question in Twitter on April 10, 2008 21:00:

Using Twitter for BackChanneling a workshop session.

How do I set up Twitter for backchanneling at a workshop without others seeing the tweets?

I opened up a twitter account for my agency. We want everyone who attends our upcoming workshop to be able to tweet to that account. But we don't want their conversation ending up in an open network, where it will make no sense.

How do I do this?

abubnic replied on March 31, 2008 16:50 to the idea "Cool trick for logging into a wiki without an account." in PBwiki:

I agree with Dave. Not everyone wants a PBWiki Account. Some may be one-time users. Or perhaps, it's the wiki that has a limited, finite purpose. People may be accessing a wiki for a workshop, for instance.

Most education workshops are tightly timed. I think it's extremely important to have some method that allows access to a wiki without sending invites to someone's email account or forcing registration because THAT is a workshop-killer! You can't even begin to imagine what trouble it causes or how much time it wastes.

Many people never even get the invites because the PB wiki invite is seen as spam. And we are forced to spend a lot of time problem-solving. So this means you've lost valuable time -- and you're starting a workshop with a lot of angry, frustrated people. Not a good place to be!

I thought the "magic URL" idea was a great feature. Can we persuade you guys at PB Wiki to keep it?

abubnic replied on March 16, 2008 16:12 to the idea "Educators' Space" in PBwiki:

I use PB wiki with multiple users all of the time. The trick is to give each user or team separate pages. Set up the individual pages and then use your SIDEBAR to create links to the pages. Then, users will be able to access the pages, no matter where they are on the wiki.

If you have multiple assignments, you can name them A-1, A-2, A-3, B-1, B-2, B3, C-1, C-2, C-3 etc., where 1 is always the same team.

abubnic shared an idea in PBwiki on March 15, 2008 04:01:

Cool trick for logging into a wiki without an account.

If you’ve ever done a workshop that requires teachers (or students) to use GOOGLE, you know how chaotic things get because most teachers come into the workshops without Google Accounts. And you lose valuable class time setting them up.

Even if you create a “public wiki,” the new PB wiki now models a behavior similar to Google. The moment workshop participants try to edit a page, it throws everyone onto a page that requires them to log in or create an account.

But the wise people at PB Wiki left a work-around that saves the day!!!!

It’s called MAGIC URL. If you go into wiki settings and click on “SHARING”, you will see a very long URL. I took that URL and converted it to TINY URL. Then, I pasted it on the opening page of my workshop wiki.

When it came time for teams to write on the wiki, I simply had them click on that URL. It gave them immediate access without ever having to create a PB Wiki account.

This tip could save your day!

Remember, however, this will leave no paper trail on who did the editing. So it's best used when participants will only have one-time use.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bonus Tip:

I create a lot of wiki "templates" for my workshops. Each team is assigned a page that they can write on. They can also click through the other team pages to see how others have responded. If I want to give the same workshop a month from now to an entirely different group, I simply revert to the last revision I made before the workshop started. And in an instant, I get a clean slate!

Anne

abubnic replied on March 15, 2008 03:54 to the idea "I'm a teacher. How can I get my students logged into a wiki when they don't have e-mail addresses?" in PBwiki:

If you’ve ever done a workshop that requires teachers (or students) to use GOOGLE, you know how chaotic things get because most teachers come into the workshops without Google Accounts. And you lose valuable class time setting them up.

Even if you create a “public wiki,” the new PB wiki now models a behavior similar to Google. The moment workshop participants try to edit a page, it throws everyone onto a page that requires them to log in or create an account.

But the wise people at PB Wiki left a work-around that saves the day!!!!

It’s called MAGIC URL. If you go into wiki settings and click on “SHARING”, you will see a very long URL. I took that URL and converted it to TINY URL. Then, I pasted it on the opening page of my workshop wiki.

When it came time for teams to write on the wiki, I simply had them click on that URL. It gave them immediate access without ever having to create a PB Wiki account.

This tip could save your day!

Remember, however, this will leave no paper trail on who did the editing. So it's best used when participants will only have one-time use.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bonus Tip:

I create a lot of wiki "templates" for my workshops. Each team is assigned a page that they can write on. They can also click through the other team pages to see how others have responded. If I want to give the same workshop a month from now to an entirely different group, I simply revert to the last revision I made before the workshop started. And in an instant, I get a clean slate!

Anne

abubnic replied on March 15, 2008 02:26 to the question "Has anyone been able to successfully add a column to a table?" in PBwiki:

Yes, I have left clicked. As I explained, it's not that I don't know what to do. The table simply does not respond. The only work-around I've been able to come up with is to create a brand new table with more columns than I really need -- and then cut and paste everything from the old table into it. As you might imagine, that's a pretty tedious solution!

abubnic replied on March 13, 2008 02:18 to the question "Has anyone been able to successfully add a column to a table?" in PBwiki:

BTW ... I am using Firefox Browser. I tried it on numerous machines, both Mac & PC.

I'm not the only one experiencing the problem. At least three other colleagues at work have struggled with it. We have not found a solution. The only solution for me has been a most-tedious one -- to create a brand new table and cut-n-paste all the data into it.

abubnic replied on March 13, 2008 02:16 to the question "Has anyone been able to successfully add a column to a table?" in PBwiki:

Hi Vu

Sure, "Insert Column" shows up when you are constructing a new table and it's easy to add another one. That's not the problem. I have tables that are filled with data and I want to add a new column, but I never can. I can add rows, but not columns. The table simply does not respond. Makes me crazy!

abubnic marked one of Clif's replies in PBwiki as useful. Clif replied to the problem "Why is the red line under my links still there when the pages have been made?".

abubnic replied on February 29, 2008 02:45 to the question "I want my QuickStart Edit. No access!" in PBwiki:

Arg's solution worked! Who would have ever figured this out on their own!

Now, the problem I just mentioned with the blank Quick Start page (even after I had entered content) is gone.

And the Quick Start edit button is right where it should be.

Life is good!

abubnic replied on February 29, 2008 02:32 to the problem "How can I edit Quick Start? I've done the three intro tasks, but it keeps telling me I've only done 2 of 3!" in PBwiki:

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I had this problem too and this solution worked. Even the edit button is where it should be, now. I don't have to resort to "show all pages."

abubnic asked a question in PBwiki on February 29, 2008 01:59:

Has anyone been able to successfully add a column to a table?

Has anyone figured out how to ADD A COLUMN to a table?

Now, I know what the directions say, but I can't get it to actually work.

I can add rows. I can delete rows.

I can delete columns.

I cannot ADD a column. This is EVERY table...EVERY time.

Mac or PC ... same problem.

So I've resorted to rebuilding my tables in their entirety and adding columns I don't really need, "just in case...". I can't tell you the number of tables I've had to rebuild from scratch just to get a new column!

Surely, there's a better solution!