User:Auk/Tag Model

With all the tagging "hype" going around, I thought I'd put in my forty-two cents.

Main principles:

• Worse is better (in terms of user organization, not implementation)
• Multiple descriptors (tags) for each tagged page (bookmark)
• Keep the bookmarks functioning as closely to the current model as possible; make it bookmarks, but in "many folders at once".

Tag Page/Add Bookmark (dialog)

The Tag Page dialog should present both a text and a mouse interface. Keep text box and checklist in sync. Clear tags button.

The Tag With text box should present 'tag autocompletion from the created tags

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UI elements in approximate order (left to right, top to bottom):

• Name: or Title: text field
• Tag With: or Tags: text field
• Clear Tags button *
• checklist expand/contract toggle
• tags checklist
• New Tag button
• Cancel button
• Add, Tag or Tag Page button

\* debatable order

Tag suggest

When tagging a new page, Firefox should scan the page for frequently used words and attempt to match those to the user's tags.

At a loss of sufficient existing tag match, Firefox should generate/suggest tags based upon it's text scan.

The word frequency limit should have a static absolute minimum, and a dynamic upper limit depending on several factors; is the browser a fresh install,

[...]

Tag management

I am equally divided between a seperate Tag Manager window and an in-browser interface. In both cases, the following should apply.

• Page previews (more about this in the appropriate section)
• Drag-and-drop tagging

Page preview

I think an excellent way to ease recognition is with graphical previews of a page.

[...]

Bookmarks/Tags menu

Title: Tags or Bookmarks? Tags is takes up less space, and is kewler! Bookmarks keeps in line with the current model, though. (Imagine grandma "Firefox lost my bookmarks!" After the next automatic upgrade.)

The content of the menu should be almost identical to now, but only completely untagged items (or perhaps a threshold of two tags) show in the main space.

Custom-orderable? No. Worse is better in user organization effort. Alphabetically is the way to go, so it doesn't break user's spatial memory.

On hierarchy

In effect there are three options:

• User-mandated manual hierarchy (like F-Spot)
• Generated pseudo-hierarchy (like the proposed Epiphany patch)
• Sheer flat-file tags (why bother?)

User-mandated

Hierarchy text-delimitor

When typing in the Tag With text field, a user (likely a power user, but possibly a novice if we have a good autocomplete) may want to tag something Computers → Programming. What is the best method for this? Suggestions:

• Computers->Programming (hyphen-greaterThan)
• Computers:Programming (single-colon)
• Computers::Programming (double-colon)
• Computers/Programming (forward slash)
• Computers\Programming (backslash)
• Computers.Programming (dot)
• Visitors add more here.

Tag bumping

When a user decides their Computers tag has grown too full, they may want to split it up into several smaller levels. All the pages previously tagged with Computers will now be tagged with Computers → Programming or Computers → Usability. There needs to be a detector for tagging something with both a sub tag and that sub tag's parent, and revert to the sub tag only.

Or do we want to prevent this at all?

Auto-generated pseudo-heirarchy

This brings up fewer issues than the manual user method, but brings up one very important issue — confusing the user. I can see this method utterly baffling Uncle Joe or Grandma Sally: in the Tag Manager, they're one way, but in the Tags menu, they're never in the same place!

Metadata

This info should be used in search rankings. Stuff to be stored:

• Datetime added
• Datetime last visited
• Visit Frequency
• Decription (Pull from <meta/> on web page, but also make user editable)
• Visitors put suggestions on talk page.

Bookmarks toolbar

Best implemented with a special flag. Placing this tag (checkbox, DnD?) on a parent tag (e.g. Computers) would make all of it's children visible (Programming, Mozilla, Usability) under the Computers drop down on the toolbar. Placing this flag on Programming or Mozilla directly, however, would make those tags visible as drop downs on the toolbar root level.

Why not have a "meta-tag"? Because you cannot tag other tags. There would consequently be no way to show several tag drop downs in the bookmarks folder. (Akin to placing a folder in the Bookmarks Toolbar Folder w/ current system).

History integration

See User:Auk/History_Model#Bookmarks_integration.

Trash can

Instead of permanently deleting a URL, that was potentially selected by accident, the "Remove" command should ship that bookmark/tag off to the trash can.

Entries should be deleted permanently from the trash can when (I'm not sure which):

• they have sat for a certain length of time
• a prescribed number or memory (because of preview thumbnails) limit runs over
• have a pref between the above
• Visitors put suggestions on talk page.

Terminology

"Tag" applies to the descriptors for tagged pages; "tagged page" & variations are cumbersome; what is a good noun for a page that is in the tag index? Possibilities:

• bookmark
• page
• Visitors add more here.

References

• Epiphany Hierarchical Bookmarks Patch
• F-Spot, a image manager with manual heirarchal tags