Top 10 Features Not To Miss In The XWiki Open Source 3.x Cycle

30 May 2012 5 min read

The XWiki Enterprise 3.x cycle has introduced an amazing array of new features. Today we want to outline ten of the top features the XWiki community has developed during this cycle.

Application Within Minutes

Application Within Minutes allows people that are not tech experts to create their own applications with as little steps as possible.

http://www.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/ReleaseNotes/ReleaseNotesXWikiEnterprise33RC1/AppWithinMinutes%2DStep2.png

XWiki Workspaces

XWiki Enterprise Manager has adopted the XWiki Workspaces Application which allows you to create workspaces and collaborate with other users. XWiki Workspaces is the new XEM.

http://xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/ReleaseNotes/ReleaseNotesXWikiEnterprise32RC1/workspaceDirectory.png

Messaging and networking inside the wiki

With the User Status feature, users can now post status messages which will be visible on the main dashboard and on the user profile page. Users can follow each other's activity streams.

http://xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/ReleaseNotes/ReleaseNotesXWikiEnterprise30/messageStream.png

Gallery Macro and Office Presentation Viewer

The Gallery Macro helps you create a simple image gallery where images are displayed using a slide-show view. The Office Macro has been improved to use the gallery macro when displaying office presentations:

http://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Extension/Office+Macro/presentation.png

User Dashboards

After wiki and space-wide dashboards, XWiki supports User Dashboards. Each user can define their own dashboard in their profile document, and they can use it either in their profile document, or display it instead of the homepage default dashboard.

http://xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/ReleaseNotes/ReleaseNotesXWikiEnterprise32M2/userdashboard.png

Customizable PDF Export

If you export a wiki page to PDF using the Export menu you'll get a page where you can configure some PDF export options. These options are defined in the PDF velocity templates and were previously available only as query string parameters to the PDF export URL.

http://xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/ReleaseNotes/ReleaseNotesXWikiEnterprise31M1/pdfExportOptions.png

New color themes

XWiki Enterprise 3.4 comes with a new default color theme and other three (Mint, Ruby and Dusk) that you can choose from. All four use CSS3 rules and new color variables in order to be able to have gradients. 

http://xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/ReleaseNotes/ReleaseNotesXWikiEnterprise34RC1/colorthemes34.png

Revamped Administration UI

We have redesigned the Administration Application providing a new layout and new icons (the icons are designed by Ciprian Amaritei). Administration sections are now grouped in several categories displayed using a vertical menu. 

The WYSIWYG content editor can now be easily configured from the wiki administration. Look for the WYSIWYG Editor section under Applications category.

http://xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/ReleaseNotes/ReleaseNotesXWikiEnterprise30/administration.png

Live suggestions for the search input

The suggestions proposed come from several sources, configurable in the wiki administration under the Search Suggest section. The sources configured by default include "Document name", "Document content", "Attachment name", "Attachment content" and "Users".

http://xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/ReleaseNotes/ReleaseNotesXWikiEnterprise30M3/searchSuggest.png

Extension Manager (Experimental)

Extension Manager allows users to install new applications to their wiki. The Extension Manager is a feature for installing, uninstalling and upgrading XWiki extensions.

http://xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/ReleaseNotes/ReleaseNotesXWikiEnterprise3xCycle/EMCoreExtensions.png

For more information on the above features make sure you visit the dedicated page on xwiki.org. To download XWiki Open Source visit this page. 

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