Re: Remove multi-level bookmarks?

[Glen Mazza <gl...@gmail.com>]

Hi Dave and others, I didn't realize that we are already using the table 
structure that would support (B) below:  separate [bookmark-]folder and 
bookmark tables.  So unless I hear any objections from the team I will 
go ahead and move us from (C) to (B), namely prohibit bookmark folders 
from themselves containing bookmark folders (basically, remove the path 
and parentid columns from the folder table and make all bookmark folders 
top-level.) From my experience in getting rid of subcategories this will 
considerably simplify the Roller code in this area.

Also, for bookmarks I would like to get rid of the unimplemented 
"priority" column and replace it with the "position" column added to the 
Category table (same meaning, a 0-based location of the blogroll item in 
its list.)  Further, the bookmark "weight" column used to change the 
class used to generate the link item, as used in weblog.vm:

<a href="$bookmark.url"
    title="$bookmark.description"
    class="rBookmark$bookmark.weight">$bookmark.name</a>

...is arguably overkill and a rare need.  (I suspect we could refer such 
users needing this to doing template modifications instead.) I wonder if 
it would be better to simplify the bookmark management UI and bookmark 
table by removing this "weight" option?  But either way is fine for me.

Regards,
Glen


On 01/12/2014 04:36 PM, Glen Mazza wrote:
> OK, a design which allows for named bookmark categories/folders while 
> not allowing subfolders underneath them would be acceptable. I.e., a 
> user creates three categories of bookmarks: Sports, Travel, News, with 
> several links underneath each, but no need for additional 
> subcategories under those top-level categories.
>
> So, my suggestion, vetoed by you, is (A):
>
>  --- nhl.com
>  --- nba.com
>  --- nfl.com
>  --- visit Florida
>  --- visit Las Vegas
>  --- visit Hawaii
>
> You would accept this instead:
>
> Sports
>  --- nhl.com
>  --- nba.com
>  --- nfl.com
>
> Travel
>   --- visit Florida
>   --- visit Las Vegas
>   --- visit Hawaii
>
> What we currently have is C:
>
> Sports
>    --- general sports link #1
>    --- general sports link #2
>    Football
>       --- football link #1
>       --- football link #2
>       College Football
>           --- college football link #1
>           --- college football link #2
>    Basketball
>       --- basketball link #1
>       --- basketball link #2
> Travel
>     North America
>      --- Las Vegas travel!
>      --- California travel!
>     South America
>     ---  Argentina travel!
>
> So you would accept an architectural change from from (C) to (B) but 
> not (C) to (A).  I agree that (B) is better than (C), but (B) to be 
> done right, should probably use two tables instead of one (bookmark 
> and bookmark-category).  While (C) should probably be reimplemented as 
> (B), there's not much of a difference between the two for me to put in 
> the effort; so I think I'll pass on this for the time being and look 
> at other issues instead.  While (B) looks nicer than (A), I just would 
> never use the Bookmarks page personally to implement (B), again, I 
> just directly modify the template and add/maintain my links there 
> directly in however many different groups I want.
>
> Thanks,
> Glen
>
> On 01/12/2014 03:06 PM, Dave wrote:
>> -1 to removing the ability to group bookmarks.  I think it's very 
>> useful to
>> be able to have named groups of links. I rely on that feature in several
>> themes that I have developed.
>>
>> I think we need a way to group bookmarks in "folders" but we do not need
>> the ability to have sub-folders, i.e. folders within folders.
>>
>> - Dave
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Jan 11, 2014 at 8:05 PM, Glen Mazza <gl...@gmail.com> 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi team, once Gaurav's patch removing blog subcategories is in 
>>> place, and
>>> the simplifications this switch incurs realized, I'd like us to do 
>>> the same
>>> with our blogroll page--namely, remove sub-bookmarks (bookmark 
>>> folders) and
>>> incorporate blogitem ordering in its place.  I imagine the blogroll 
>>> page
>>> will look closely similar to the (upcoming) category page -- a straight
>>> list of top-level blogroll items and up-and-down arrows of some sort to
>>> facilitate ordering of them.  As part of this switch, we'll be 
>>> pulling out
>>> the "Import bookmarks via OPML" option, as few use OPML and its 
>>> value is
>>> greatly shrunk once we move from a tree to a list for blogroll 
>>> items.  This
>>> change will also result in the bookmark table being simplified from a
>>> hierarchical to a flat structure (i.e., no more parent bookmark 
>>> column),
>>> just as is being done with categories.
>>>
>>> The blogroll page is primarily for novice and intermediate bloggers and
>>> nearly all of them would be fine with a single-list of blogroll 
>>> items, as
>>> indeed virtually all blogrolls are formatted as lists anyway. The 
>>> handful
>>> of more advanced users looking into maintaining a tree of blogroll 
>>> links
>>> can still accomplish that via template modifications (manually 
>>> adding the
>>> HTML links into the side-column template), an approach many would be 
>>> taking
>>> even if trees continue to be supported in the blogroll page. (I 
>>> never use
>>> the blogroll page myself, I just manually configure my blogroll 
>>> links in
>>> the side column template anyway along with the formatting I 
>>> desire.)  So I
>>> think this change will nicely tighten up and further simplify the 
>>> Roller
>>> code and UI, helping increase its adoption, while not preventing 
>>> blogroll
>>> trees for the relative few wanting them.
>>>
>>> WDYT?
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Glen
>>>
>>>
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