From: dsc Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2012 17:45:56 +0000 (-0700) Subject: Copies README to the wiki. X-Git-Url: http://git.less.ly:3516/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=64a29d5b6009f276025e03d3975cd53dfbbb09d4;p=limn.wiki.git Copies README to the wiki. --- diff --git a/Home.md b/Home.md index 9c5cdb0..e514985 100644 --- a/Home.md +++ b/Home.md @@ -1 +1,78 @@ -Welcome to the limn wiki! \ No newline at end of file +Limn is a GUI for constructing beautiful visualizations without needing programming skills. + +
[![Limn Screenshot][limn_screenshot]][wmf_reportcard]
+ +[Play with it!][limn_sample_graph] The [the Wikimedia Reportcard][wmf_reportcard] site is powered by Limn — check it out! + + +## Features + + * Graphical interface to create and customize visualizations + * Beautiful results, easy to use + * Easily added to any existing project as either a single script tag, or via [node][nodejs] middleware + * Works with a simple data format that is agnostic to the backing data-source + +Check out the [Feature Walkthrough][limn_features] for more info! + + +## Why Limn? + +There are a great many JavaScript graphing libraries, and Limn isn't one: if you're a programmer looking to stick some graphs on your site, you already have a ton of options (ps. use [d3.js][d3]). + +But what about your non-programmers? They don't have many options: they email somebody, maybe try some shoddy web tools, and eventually reach for Excel. Ew. Worse, the time and energy expended in getting a single chart is so great that they're seriously discouraged from playing around. In the age of big data, this is a big problem. Exploration is a huge component of success. You need to iterate. You need to be open to inspiration. If you think you know what you're looking for, you're probably wrong. + +This is the niche Limn aims to fill: a drop-in component that enables self-service visualizations for your team. + +The "drop-in" part is important: we want it to be easy for programmers to enable these features in existing applications with minimal changes. If you already have a datasource that provides data in CSV or JSON format (be it files on disk or a REST API) you're mostly good to go. Limn can run entirely as a client-side application simply by including `limn.js`, or as [node.js][nodejs] middleware using either [Connect][connect] or [Express][express], in which case graphs can be persisted on disk. The only real work is to [configure Limn to know about your datasources][limn_datasource], though in the future we aim for the client to be able introspect this information from the data. + + +## Work in Progress + +Limn is a work-in-progress. This means it some things are harder than they should be (though it's still pretty easy to use!); it means it's missing some otherwise sensible features and configuration options; it means there's some code that probably needs to be cleaned up. When you find these things, help us out by [opening a ticket][limn_issues] (or, if you're feeling ambitious, a pull request `;)`). It means you probably shouldn't use Limn in production unless you're ready to submit patches. + + +## Learn More + +Excited? Here are some good places to go from here: + + - Curious how Limn could help your team visualize data? Check out the [Feature Walkthrough][limn_features] for a better idea of what Limn can do, or the [Roadmap][limn_roadmap] for where we're going. + - Want to run Limn? Read over the docs available on [the Limn wiki][limn_wiki]. "[Getting Started][limn_getting_started]" seems like it might be a good place to start. + - Once you've done that, [the source][wmf_reportcard_github] to WMF's production instance of Limn, [the monthly Reportcard][wmf_reportcard], might serve as a useful guide. + - Finally, if you're interested in hacking on Limn (♥!), check out the notes on [Contributing][limn_contributing] and on [Project Internals][limn_internals]. + + +## Feedback + +Limn is made with love by [the Wikimedia Foundation's Analytics team][wmf_analytics], and [we'd love to hear from you][dsc_email], whether it's because you found a bug, have suggestions, or want to contribute! For mundane things, open a ticket (or fork the project!) on [GitHub][limn]. You can also send Dave a charming email at [dsc@wikimedia.org][dsc_email]. + + +-- + +Limn is open-source software, freely available under the MIT License. + + + +[limn]: https://github.com/wikimedia/limn "Limn on GitHub" +[limn_sample_graph]: http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/sample_graph/edit "Limn Sample Graph" +[limn_screenshot]: https://github.com/wikimedia/limn/master/blob/raw/static/img/limn-screenshot.png "Limn Screenshot" +[limn_issues]: https://github.com/wikimedia/limn/issues +[limn_wiki]: https://github.com/wikimedia/limn/wiki "Limn Wiki" +[limn_getting_started]: https://github.com/wikimedia/limn/wiki/Getting-Started "Getting Started with Limn" +[limn_features]: https://github.com/wikimedia/limn/wiki/Feature-Walkthrough "Limn Feature Walkthrough" +[limn_roadmap]: https://github.com/wikimedia/limn/wiki/Roadmap "Limn Development Roadmap" +[limn_contributing]: https://github.com/wikimedia/limn/wiki/Contributing "Contributing to Limn" +[limn_internals]: https://github.com/wikimedia/limn/wiki/Internals "Limn Internals" +[limn_middleware]: https://github.com/wikimedia/limn/wiki/Middleware "Using Limn Middleware" +[limn_datasource]: https://github.com/wikimedia/limn/wiki/Datasource-Metadata "Describing DataSources" +[dsc_email]: mailto:dsc@wikimedia.org "dsc@wikimedia.org" + +[wmf_analytics]: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Analytics "Wikimedia Analytics team" +[wmf_reportcard]: http://reportcard.wmflabs.org "The Wikimedia Foundation Monthly Reportcard" +[wmf_reportcard_github]: https://github.com/wikimedia/reportcard "WMF Reportcard on GitHub" + + +[nodejs]: http://nodejs.org/ "node.js" +[npm]: http://npmjs.org/ "npm" +[d3]: http://d3js.org "d3.js" +[express]: http://expressjs.com "Express" +[connect]: http://senchalabs.org/connect "Connect"