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