I think you're following similar thought processes to us. It's possible to imagine a UI based on flipping between the private and public tiddlers, but the details get quite complicated and confusing. In contrast, the simpler model of a tiddler being either public or private lends itself to a very simple, natural user interface.
I think that the scenarios where one would want private and public siblings are all around creating a space that presents a different environment to visitors and members. I think we can bottle up the important use cases into handy plugins that allow us to continue using the simple public/private model.
For example, I can imagine a plugin that makes it appear to me as though my space had tiddlers called
I think that the scenarios where one would want private and public siblings are all around creating a space that presents a different environment to visitors and members. I think we can bottle up the important use cases into handy plugins that allow us to continue using the simple public/private model.
For example, I can imagine a plugin that makes it appear to me as though my space had tiddlers called
PublicViewTemplate, PublicStyleSheet etc, which would automatically be substituted for the associated private tiddlers when the space is visited by a non-member. I like the way that plugins that support specific scenarios can simplify the user interface compared to a truly general purpose user interface.