Hi,
I am sorry about a delay in answering requests. I think it would be quite easy to implement variables, but you would help me a lot by suggesting, which variables would be useful.
The syntax I was thinking about would be e.g.
[$currentPageName]
[$currentPageTitle]
etc.
However this can only work with variables that are determined at the compilation of a page. Things like total number of users would have to be introduced in another way… (I am thinking about the server-side implementation — the syntax could be the same, e.g. [$membersCount]). However we are currently redesigning the caching mechanisms so I am afraid that I can not do the "global" variables in an easy and usable way…
Another thing I was thinking about is scripting. It would work like this:
++ List of all members:
[[script]]
{foreach from=Members->getMembers() item=member}
* {$member->getName()}
{/foreach}
[[/script]]
We have [[script]]{Members->getMemberCount()}[[/script]] members so far.
Scripts would output wiki-code that would be processed by the parser. However this idea needs a lot of work, but is really universal. The syntax for scripts is based on Smarty processor. Eventually it would allow developing embedded applications within Wikidot - we could add controls (like buttons, forms) and process submitted data too!
Having this in mind I would have to think how to implement "static variables". In fact I have been quite busy recently with implementing AdSense and I have to get up-to-date with the community and so on. I will keep you informed!