Rewrite the application - Grant#438

An update on my side.

• I’m now working full-time on You need a wiki
• Support response times are now at 24 hours for most inquiries.
• I’m currently rewriting the codebase, with the goal of stability, removing bugs and speed. I’m aiming for the end of first quarter of 2023 for the beta release and will provide updates here and on twitter https://twitter.com/youneedawiki

• Stability will be the primary focus, and once stability is achieved I will be putting effort into improving speed. Specifically:

  • I want the wiki to load instantly (this may require storing some data in a temporary server cache at the edge, but If I can find a way to do this via the users Drive I will do that).
  • All interactions will be <100ms. Currently we perform an action and then wait, this requirement will require performing actions up front, running the request in the background, then showing a sync status and/or showing a message on failure. Similar to how editing a doc works.

• Following the release of the new codebase, I intend to set up a monthly release cadence to release a single feature per month that will be determined by the highest vote count in the backlog.
  https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/top

Tickets to include as part of the rewrite:

• https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/15
• https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/437
• https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/289
• https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/211
• https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/422
• https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/74
• https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/430
• https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/449
• Private wikis using custom domains are not working correctly by default for firefox and safari, it requires turning off enhanced tracking protection for firefox and “Prevent cross-site tracking” in safari.
• https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/442
• https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/450

• Store the open/closed value in the users appdatafolder and make closed the default. https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/242

• Open source: https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/341

*Note that I’m trying to avoid new functionality as part of the rewrite and make updates to existing functionality.

Potentially will add:

• https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/33
• https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/273
• Shift click to open and close all arrows beneath the arrow: https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/232
• Permissions: https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/86
• Permission invite: https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/50

While definitely still a work in progress, here’s an example of the current vs. new loading speed.

It probably seems like not a big deal in this video, but for large wikis you can start editing and navigating immediately instead of waiting.

Import by move/copy will be replaced by an add shortcut button. The add shortcut button will let you select a folder/file in Drive from the picker and it will generate a shortcut to that folder/file.

As per: https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/368

The new version has great support for shortcuts so it will render the folder/files of the shortcut.

Will re-add the import by move if people ask for it.

Will add inline editing as an option in settings.
https://feedback.youneedawiki.com/54

Hey Grant, I have been trying to contact without luck, how can I communicate with you?

Here’s an informal video update that covers some of the new features in the upcoming version.

An overview of the remaining work:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EyA3WmBjcYgD2DAovUYHz5eoNkFhA4rSeIYz0rq13Gs/edit

I will do a more polished video update before the new version is rolled out 🙂

Hi Grant! Super excited about all the new features. I made some comments on your Loom video. Breadcrumbs is something I’m really excited to see introduced.

Some things I would like to see eventually is some form of version control. If I’m working on a document I don’t always want those changes to be live so I’d like to be able to control when changes are published and be able to pull a list of documents with pending changes. Controlling that on a case-by-case basis would be ideal as some files should be able to update live and other can have version control. Also being able to see my pending changes and all pending changes from all users.

Custom background colors and images by page would be great too.

Have you thought of creating a library of templates where people can share Google Docs? I created something like that for my company so people can focus on content rather than the design of the document and we can have a cohesive looking wiki.

Great work. This is becoming a really best in class product.

Curious, with the status of this ticket set to unassigned, has the rewrite been paused, or abandoned?

I’m curious about the status on this as well. The video looked like there was some exciting changes coming.

@Mark Mikulec @Michael Arndt I decided to take a different approach.

I am rolling out the new functionality piece by piece, which allows testing various wikis on a per-feature basis. This is a lot safer than just deploying a complete rewrite as different wikis need to be tested.

The new search seen in this video will be available to all users this month.

Nice. If you could put my wiki as an early adopter of these features I’d love it. I can provide feedback.

Sounds like a smart move @Grant Kiely ! Happy to be an early adopter as well, we’d just need some notice and also a release version report.