Source: global.ideas [edit]

WubHub Ideas

This page maintains a prioritized (top = most important in each category) wish-list for WubHub. WubHub Members, please edit the page to add your thoughts. Developers, feel free to contribute implementations for ideas on this page!

Specific ideas

WubHub Commands

  • movies out this week -> list, with "imdb" and "add to netflix queue" button
  • Restaurant search (OpenTable).
  • Notify person command, that can be used in conjunction with others, such as map(restaurants(italian)) > girish
  • Tutorial Page
  • Survey & Voting
  • Some functions may require too many arguments (such as reserving a plane ticket). Maybe the commands syntax should allow for named arguments (e.g. expedia(arrival="sfo", destination="sjc", date="12/22/2005", maxPrice="300")). This way, providing values for all arguments can be made optional and maybe a more interactive interface can be used to ask for mandatory arguments.
  • Add XML (or soap) API to commands.
  • A command to search for available commands based on command name or description (as there may be too many global commands)
  • comment(page): Be able to add comments on any page (or subpage)? Useful for blogs, etc.

User Interface

  • Portlet interface that lets you combine results from multiple commands on a single page [in progress, see ajaxGroup.ajaxGroup]
  • More support for wubvars as a scratchpad, where you can store results and then chain commands together
  • Use AJAX to allow typing in the shortest possible command and autocompleting
  • Make CSS files WubHub data pages so communities can edit look/feel [Adam]
  • How to leverage tools like Konfabulator or Laszlo -> WebHub as widget factory [David]
  • Better home page: multiple columns, portlets, etc. [Ken Nitz] -- in progress, see ajaxGroup.ajaxGroup
  • Automatically list user's top five commands on home page [Girish]

WubHub Environment

  • Change Render function for viewing source code so that functions are clickable. Clicking on a function shows user that function's definition.
  • Interactive debugging
  • Type system (microformats), with associated renderers
  • Mandatory, optional, hidden parameters to functions
  • Allow "_" character in identifiers
  • Use WebL timers to schedule commands [Didier]
  • New page type: WSDL (automatically interfaces with SOAP) [John]
  • Versioning [David]
  • API layer open to external calls [David]
  • Add notion of "current directory" to path mechanism [Adam]
  • Make types community sharable, documentable, searchable

Miscellaneous

  • RSS Reader
  • Local instance of WubHub (for integration of desktop sources) that is extended by WubHub.com (for collaboration)
  • Plugin toolbar for IE/Firefox
  • Target some domain, and set of users. What domains?
  • Prearranged/programmable structural elements, i.e. as seen on backpackit.com, or Google Store.

Bugs

  • Remove edit links (add view ones instead?) for pages when user does not have edit permission on ls command, "Source:" link etc.
  • The edit link on a command that has a render function edits the render function and not the command itself. This is particularly confusing when a user doesn't have permission to edit the render function, but does have permission to edit the function itself. [bear]
  • Error handling could be improved.

"Big picture" ideas

New platform directions

  • Client-end execution (scales better, fewer abuse incentives) - using applets?
  • Support more langauges -- perhaps other scripting languages on Java platform: Javascript (Rhino), JRuby, Jython, ... -- in progress for Javascript
  • XPath and DOM support

Some ideas that have been implemented

  • Single signon vault ...