Talk:Plugins

From BB4Win Wiki

[edit] Layout

Wow, this page is really nicely done, but I'm afraid that having a table format with the plugins unsorted is really confusing. --Malnilion 18:47, 23 March 2006 (PST)

Well...on second thought, it works pretty well, just like the xoblite plugins page only it's wikified :) --Malnilion 18:50, 23 March 2006 (PST)

Yeah that was the idea ;) Actually I copied it directly and used some RegExp to Wikify. Categories wouldn't be a bad idea if we wanted to figure them out :P --Tres`ni 11:10, 25 March 2006 (PST)

I'd like to see this list alphabetized, with only one version number of any given plugin listed. Maybe two or three categories and alphabetized within. Categorizing the plugins might become 'politicized', but here's how I'd do it:

1 Important major plugins that most people use and newbies have questions about: BBKeys, BBLeanBar, BBInterface, BBBroams, others.

2) Lesser but significant desktop widgets. Calendars, Controls. Stuff I might have in my plugins.rc but rarely load.

3) Stuff that might be cool but rarely practical (analog clocks, life game, etc.) Also flawed plugins go here. If the author never bothered to fix them they go here.

--Quidmeister 3:30, 27 March 2006 (CST)

I apologize for not using the plus sign to add my previous comment. I'm new to writing Wiki material. --Quidmeister

^Is this last comment you, Quidmeister? :) Ok, so I agree that there probably should be some categorization on this page, but the problem lies in how to split them up. Dividing them on such nebulous criteria as practicality and whether they work or not gets messy because some plugins work just fine for some people while they have problems for others and some people might consider some plugins more practical than others... --Malnilion 05:50, 27 March 2006 (PST)

Yeah, that last one was me. I thought it might magically append my username and date :). Well, I say "go for it, hack up the list and let people take issue if they will" Newbies will find what they need fast and old foggies won't bother reading the Wiki anyhow. I think the criterion is not nebulous in the broad sense. I mean, I don't use bbIconbox personally, but it belongs in the first category of my imaginary system. I use bbMuse more often, but it belongs in the second category--it's a control and it's not critical to my blackbox system. And we ought to admit that a lot of plugins simply don't merit a lot of attention from a new (or experienced, frankly) user. One purpose as I see it is to help guide a casual or new user by saying: "here, have a look at these twenty plugins first, see what you got here." And don't bog 'em down with a lot of fluff. It sounds like we both prefer some alpha-sorting, despite perhaps differing on categories and their worth.--Quidmeister 8:15, 27 March 2006 (CST)

Not grouping them according to importance, but rather function, and supplying a newbie guide along with that could work. For the categories I thought of visual enchancements, useful utilities, and powerful extensions. First would be the eyecandy, obviously, having not much function, just looking better. Basically anything that'd blackboxify Windows more could come here. Second would be the cool little programs that let you do various stuff that wasn't there in blackbox originally, like an RSS reader, a weather, calendar, or clock display. The third group would contain plugins that are usually small extensions, letting you perform certain things more effectively, but not really adding extra functionality. Key shortcuts, mouse gestures, command interpreters, BBI/TCL could fit in this category.--Pkt-zer0 12:35, 27 April 2006 (PDT)

It might be a good idea to reorganize the released table in alphabetical order. --Kapro 14:37, 28 September 2008 (PDT)

[edit] Content

Okay, so if noone else gets to it before me, I'll wikify thewayofzen's plugin guide - giving proper credit, of course. And, somewhat unrelated, a starter guide for blackbox would be nice, if there isn't one already. That's how I got started with foobar2000, through a wiki. That way it'll be possible to have both very basic, and highly specific information in one place. Because right now, the info on most plugins is pretty much "download it, and read the readme". Which is pretty obvious, but most people would prefer knowing in advance what plugins they should use to get something done, and not making their lives harder by screwing around with an outdated plugin. I know, I know, the info is already there on the forums and various other places, but still, it could be done so much better. I'd even go as far as to say that a link to a well-constructed starter's guide on BB4Win.org would lessen newbie problems greatly, or scare away less people, hopefully.

This turned into quite a lengthy rant. Oh well. Opinions are welcome.--Pkt-zer0

Right then, added a hundred million pages now. They could be expanded with whatever other info there is in the individual readmes or whatever.--Pkt-zer0 12:35, 27 April 2006 (PDT)

Can we have a Short Description column in the plugin list?--TiCL

We sure can, feel like starting to add them? --Tres`ni 23:28, 19 June 2006 (PDT)

It didn't look like it was going to happen any time soon, so I've started adding descriptions. <rant>I know a list of plugins with brief descriptions is something I've wanted since I started using *box. The names alone aren't enough, and going to a separate page for each plugin is inefficient. Now I'll never again have to lookup or download BBXO only to remember "oh yeah, it's just a silly tic-tac-toe game."</rant> --Jahandar 12:56, 11 November 2006 (PST)

Perhaps we should have just one entry per plugin, not for each version of each plugin? This should help reduce a lot of the clutter. Past versions are probably better off being listed just on the page for that plugin anyway. --Jahandar 12:56, 11 November 2006 (PST)