There are often ideas mooted that don't really fit with the mission, or are too far out for most people. These could be student projects for a motivated MSc (or even grad) student. This page is to capture such ideas. Add them as you think of them!

• *HTTP server.* Use something like HTTP::Daemon to create a server that doesn't need Apache or and other webserver. It would be super-neat if it also implemented DAV - CrawfordCurrie - 16 Oct 2004
• Phrase linking. As well as wikiwords, link using phrases. Even when they are mis-splet, or incorrect grammatically. - CrawfordCurrie - 16 Oct 2004
• Automatic keywords. Create new concept indexes by frequency analysis of words in text. - CrawfordCurrie - 16 Oct 2004
• ...which could lead to What's Related search, based on overlap of topic content, not just page titles. This would alleviate the problem of users having to manually maintain related pages link farms which rapidly become outdated. An added bonus is that it would aid discovery of pages which are related but that you didn't know existed (helping to alleviate TopicsThatDie). -- MattWilkie - 17 Oct 2004
• Proximity Graph, use the what's related data as source material for TouchGraph
• *Multisite* - merging changes in multiple peer installations (ReadWriteOfflinePlugin does this) -- CrawfordCurrie - 24 Nov 2005
• *DB store implementation* -- CrawfordCurrie - 24 Nov 2005
• Refactoring tools - merge, split topics, collapse threads. This is an interesting and exciting project, but very challenging - no current wiki comes close to this sort of capability. -- CrawfordCurrie - 24 Nov 2005
• Sticky notes -- CrawfordCurrie - 24 Nov 2005
• Mail notification managing tool, who is registered to what, etc... do some global mangement, remove dead users from being notified, avoid having to edit all notification pages by hand etc... -- MichelBuffa - 25 Nov 2005
  • MailerContrib has an API, and SubscribePlugin already does a lot of this
• Write a skin to better see discussion pages, highlight in color each contribution by users etc... -- MichelBuffa - 25 Nov 2005
• Application Management : à la Jotspot... -- MichelBuffa - 25 Nov 2005
  • We made a start in configure, but a lot more work is needed
• Integrate a synchronous editor like jotlive or SynchroEdit -- MichelBuffa, Legacy.PTh - 11 Dec 2006 Fun idea, would be cool to see what a studen comes up with. Probably doable with public APIs, but I really don't know wrt how on earth you map the concurrency issues of real-time vs session based editing. Suspect they would need to ping WysiwygPlugin (perl) for TML translation examples; current topic locking mechanisms might require modification of core/public API - PH
• Ajax wizard for inserting local links at cursor position, during page edition. Local links are the major problem when editing. regular or wysiwyg editing. -- MichelBuffa - 25 Nov 2005 Main.EugenMayer already did TinyMCEUsabilityUpgradePlugin, we need something similar for TinyMCEPlugin based on 3.3, I started a new plugin and roughly know how I'd go about it, but got distracted especially after I found our existing JS integration of TinyMCE (the EditorAPI) quite lacking and in need of TLC - PH
• XML Export of topic content, probably as a Plugin. -- PeterThoeny - 19 Jan 2006 Actually this is really trivial with FormFieldListPlugin + custom view template... hardest part isn't dumping XML, it's understanding what standards it should be in - and no, there is no reason why 99% of foswiki data structures could not be represented using existing standards - PH
• Legacy.J2EE integration so that WikiApplications and J2EE applications can communicate. -- PeterThoeny - 19 Jan 2006
• A Mashup application or framework that integrates content from more than one source on the web into a WikiApplication (see Wikipedia definition). -- PeterThoeny - 20 Jan 2006 Actually, I would be very interested in collaborating with a student on this. Apart from the vast array of semantic/linked data sources to cope with, issues include locally caching external data and managing updates, notifying updates exist, diff'ing updates, doing a dashboard interface to manage, and coming up with a UI to easily or automatically present external data next to a Kb type topic based on naming rules or topic metadata such as in BioKbPlugin, which is one implementation. I am also working on something a little more modular -- PaulHarvey - 12 Mar 2010
• Checkout application - a Wiki applicaiton that can list equipment that is shared, and track who is using what equipment, and for how long. Useful for teams that share lab equipment, for example. -- SteveHall - 27 Mar 2006 Although it sounds easy, such an app would be greatly appreciated I'm sure (have been putting off doing it myself) - PH
• Content annotation - to annotate content in topics, in the form of an AnnotationPlugin -- PeterThoeny - 28 Mar 2006 JS Heavy, and could be Perl heavy too. Student may or may not find existing Meta API sufficient. Google wave makes a very clear separation of data vs standoff annotations, and there are rewards to be had with that approach; on the other hand, annotations could be bolted onto Foswiki with what we have already - PH
  • Suspect this is the same as sticky notes (above)?
• Conversation Management Tools for example ~ AsynchronousConversationPlugin -- KeithHelfrich - 13 Dec 2006 JS Heavy, would need some Perl (public API) - PH
• Signing - support legally valid, unforgeable, signatures on contributions, for example for peer review of patentable ideas, sign off of project steps. Would require probably require content encryption. -- CrawfordCurrie - 22 Aug 2007 Perl and maybe JS; public API should be enough? - PH
• Personalized RSS/ATOM Feeds - like the mail notify system but uses the a news feed instead of eMail. User gets to "Add Topic to PersonalizedNewsFeed" with associated ability to remove a topic from the feed as well. A user could have more than one PNF. -- DewayneVanHoozer - 22 Aug 2007 Perl, should be doable with standard API. Solution will need to consider CPU overhead from many aggressive RSS Clients - PH
• In search results, display the topic life in the age and activity of each topic, for example in sparklines (SupportSparklines). Users should be able to sort and filter based on topic life. -- ArthurClemens - 22 Aug 2007 Perl, should be doable with public API. Foswiki topics are versioned using RCS files; student may need to work with caching or incremental updates of sparkline data - PH
• Convert the core to UseUTF8 - this is a well defined project that would be really good for someone interested in internationalisation and multi-language support. -- CrawfordCurrie - 12 Mar 2010
• A skin made from Javascript with the absolute minimum of server-side templates. Learn JS, jQuery, make heavy use of AJAX and existing client-side plugins. Create a client-side framework for extension, theming, and customisation. -- CrawfordCurrie - 12 Mar 2010
• SafeCommentPlugin - an anonymous commenting system suitable for an enterprise wiki. AJAX/JS based hopefully, as with disqus and friends, but contained in Foswiki with comment management front-end. New COMMENT access control as implemented in MetaCommentPlugin. JS heavy; student will want to know about DB options; hopefully if they know perl they can study MetaCommentPlugin for an example on implementing custom access controls. -- PaulHarvey - 12 Mar 2010
• Add capability to paste images into the WYSIWYG editor. This is a major pain point for novice users. The current method of attaching images and then linking urgently requires a rethink. Better still allow seamless copy from Word-> WYSIWYG editor -- PadraigLennon - 16 Mar 2010
• Build an exchange framework that supports the free exchange of structured content with other wikis. This might transform via a "neutral wiki format" necessitating research into such a format, or might be point to point. A neutral wiki format might also provide a way to integrate WYSIWYG editors. -- CrawfordCurrie - 17 Mar 2010

See also BrainStorming for other less well defined ideas, including background on some of the above projects.