Help:Tasks

From CSDMS

To do list

The CSDMS Wiki was launched in March 2008. It is not a fully editable wiki in the sense that not everybody is able to contribute to all the CSDMS pages. It differs also from other wiki's (like Wikipedia) as the appearance of the site is different from any other wiki, but it has the same functionality as any other wiki!


And like how that goes with many other new features, there are still a few "hick ups" that we need to work on to get this Wiki operating flawless. The following list shows were the CSDMS-IF is working on. We encourage people to add new tasks to this list, as it will only make the Wiki more robust and user friendlier!

Please add your new task/suggestion at the top of this list, starting with a "*" and ending with your name & date:



  • Look into video web conferencing with dimdim. Looks promising. --WikiSysop 17:27, 12 June 2009 (MDT).
    • Done (11/2009), CSDMS choose to go with gotomeeting software as it provided greater capability and has better performance as to dimdim software. Usability was tested during a WG meeting with ~7 online people. Audio was still arranged through phone.
  • Incorporate this tool to 1) let people join the wiki and 2) let people sign up for one of the workinggroups. The form contains fields that then can be listed for the different working group members so tables are updated automatically. See: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:SemanticSignup
    • Done (11/2009), User creating account and join a WG or FRG is now intergrated with SMW software (SemanticSignup & SemanticForms). --WikiSysop 09:57, 19 November 2009 (MST)
  • Change the front and back end of the "create account" such that people understand that they log in to the CSDMS Wiki, not that they become part of one of the WG's / FRG's. --WikiSysop 14:37, 26 May 2009 (MDT)
    • Oops, this is done already for some time(7/2009). User that signs up will be redirected to a page that describes that he/she only has signed up for the CSDMS wiki, not to any WG yet.--WikiSysop 15:07, 4 October 2009 (MDT)
  • Add parser functions functionality to wiki (makes it possible to make the questionnaire for example complete automatic) (maybe with boilerplates?; or maybe using Inputbox).--WikiSysop 10:22, 20 May 2009 (MDT)
    • Done (9/2009), parser functionality is added by implementing semantic mediawiki together with semantic forms. See for example the model questionnaire. Each field in the model questionnaire is now a variable that can be queried throughout the wiki. --WikiSysop 14:55, 4 October 2009 (MDT)
  • Add maillist functionality to server so chairs can send mail to groups [1]. (this is not wiki functionality) --WikiSysop 09:42, 30 April 2009 (MDT)
    • Done (7/22/09). Mailing lists are in place through CU mailing lists services. The executive assistant will maintain the lists. Chairs are also able to send messages through this list. --WikiSysop 12:03, 25 July 2009 (MDT)
  • Add "Welcome new CSDMS member" message / link after people have signed up to become a CSDMS member; request from WG and FRG chairs (5/01/09)..
    • Done (7/22/09). Link/redirect is made through the form. --WikiSysop 12:03, 25 July 2009 (MDT)
  • Adjust URL to simple URL (take out the index.php/); Request from Eric Hutton, 5/10/09.
    • Done (5/13/09). URL's are all shorter now, easier to copy in a email or paper (the ugly index.php is removed). --kettner@colorado.edu 18:29, 13 May 2009 (MDT)
  • Adjust the word length of the "search" capability of the wiki to 3 characters--kettner@colorado.edu 18:26, 13 May 2009 (MDT).
    • Done (5/13/09). In this way model words that are 3 characters can be searched as well.--kettner@colorado.edu 18:26, 13 May 2009 (MDT)
  • Check RSS feed. Doesn't seem to work properly (Eric, --WikiSysop 10:54, 14 October 2008 (MDT))
    • Done (5/12/09). The RSS feed was probably restricted only to login members.... The feed provided pages without any change reported since you can not login through a RSS.
  • Include ConfirmAccount to reduce spam attacks (Is this what we want?).
    • Not done (5/7/09). This is not what we want. As long as the spam isn't to bad, we won't include this tool. We added some security although: 1) notification is sent when new users are signing up, 2) people need to authenticate with email verification if they want to make edits to the page.--WikiSysop 16:14, 7 May 2009 (MDT)
  • Add email notification when a certain page is edit (Request from Peter Burgess).
    • Done (5/7/09). Now you can turn this on in your preference, E-mail me when a page I'm watching is changed. Make sure you have set your email address. 2nd thing to do is to mark pages you want to 'watch'. This option is in the 'Page edit toolkit' on the right side of the page. Have fun --WikiSysop 16:10, 7 May 2009 (MDT)
  • Add automated email notification as soon as a new wiki account is created
    • Done (5/7/09). The extension [2] is implemented. Emails are send to the webmaster --WikiSysop 10:49, 7 May 2009 (MDT)
  • Add the next extension: [[3]]. It will make it possible to show external program results in the wiki as if the user made the changes through a login --WikiSysop 09:40, 30 April 2009 (MDT).
    • Done (5/7/09). The extension :AddPageService is not applied in this wiki as it limits the possibility to use displayed information in other pages (through dynamic linking). The Wiki API is implemented using python scripts that run in the background --WikiSysop 08:23, 7 May 2009 (MDT)
  • Add ftp site counter to trace downloads (--WikiSysop 11:44, 5 November 2008 (MST)). See: ccounter or drupal.
    • Done (1/7/09). None of the above counters are used. A script is made that runs in the background to count download hits.--WikiSysop 08:23, 7 May 2009 (MDT)
  • Allow external images to be embedded in the wiki (Eric, Oct. 29, 08)
    • Done (10/29/08). External images can be embedded now in the wiki; however use this with care. Links will get corrupt if the embedded link isn't valid anymore.
  • Change Geshi stylesheet such that there is more space on the edges (Eric, Oct. 2, 08).
    • Done (10/05/08). The main style sheet of the Geshi code highlight tool is changed such that there is some more space around the code text and the box.
  • Add possibility to play a movie in the wiki (Eric, Oct. 2, 08).
    • Done (10/05/08). See wave height movie example [[4]]. See also Help:Movies.
  • Change font, Times doesn't look good on web applications. The Verdana/Arial family seems to be much easier to read. (Alexey, Aug. 28, 08).
    • Done (09/05/08). The previous font-family was harder to read, that's why we changed the font-family. Some more layout changes were made while working on that.
  • Add a "how to chose a license" for models.
  • Add secured password login (https).
    • Done (08/29/08). Login is now secured, and does contain a license certificate.
  • Table of contents doesn't show up when people are not logged in and for some people it doesn't show up even if they are logged in.
    • Done (08/26/08). You can set the Table Of Contents (TOC) to be on/off in your preferences, MISC. For all new users, this is default set 'on'. Also for if users are not logged in.
  • Add "ForcePreview" so people who make changes to the page are forced to first 'preview' their changes before saving the page. This will reduce the number of 'mistakes'.
    • Done (08/26/08). Installed extension. Works.
  • Upgrade from Mediawiki 1.11.0 to 1.12.0 for security reasons.
    • Done (08/26/08). Upgrade went well. There should be less of a security risk for the CSDMS website now.
  • Add "pagesidebar extension, will increase this website by having the 3rd level toolbar (left menu what sometimes appears on certain pages) taken out of the main skin.
    • Done (08/16/08). Now, if you want to create a 3rd level sidebar, use Template:NAME, and than on the page refer to that template by {{NAME}}.
  • Bad URL message page will show up if you hit one of the white navigation bars, right after you log in.
    • Done (08/15/08). Redirected links for 1st start up screen.
  • Add random image selection option to make the CSDMS site more attractive.
    • Done (08/14/08). Implemented extension and created a template {{Randomimage}} with over 140 images.
  • Add "Footnote extension"(http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Cite).
  • Incorporate the Geshi extension. Extension is meant to highlight source code.
    • Done (08/11/08). See the table in Help:Formatting, "Source code highlight" for example.
  • Incorporate wiki extension that can create pdf documents out of any wiki page (http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Pdf_Export).
    • Done (08/11/08). See extra button in the Toolbox Print as PDF)
  • Create a "help" or "how to" wiki manual to provide inside in how to edit pages, format text, log in, etc.
    • Done (08/11/08). See added button in the Toolbox (Wiki Help)