Places: Difference between revisions

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Places is a system for storing bookmarks, history, and other information about the Web. It is currently enabled in trunk builds, and debuted in Firefox 3. This document covers the design and user-interface of Places.
Places is a system for storing bookmarks, history, and other user information about the Web, intended to improve developer access to this data and make it easier for people to Bookmark pages. Places is currently enabled for Firefox 3 and greater, powering History and Bookmarks, as well as providing plumbing for Livemarks, Annotations and Microsummaries and the Awesomebar.


Quick links:
= Quick Links =
* [http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Places Developer documentation] on MDC
 
Documentation
* [http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Places Developer documentation] on MDN
* [http://people.mozilla.org/~dietrich/places/ Doxygen-generated API documentation]
* [http://people.mozilla.org/~dietrich/places/ Doxygen-generated API documentation]
* [http://people.mozilla.org/~dietrich/places-erd.png Database schema ERD]
* [http://people.mozilla.org/~dietrich/places-erd.png Database schema ERD]
* [[Places/Places_SQL_queries_best_practices]] for code contributors and internal developers
* [[Places/Places_Branch]] Places branch annotations
* [[Places/Coding_Style]] Places coding style
Communication:
* [news://news.mozilla.org/mozilla.dev.apps.firefox mozilla.dev.apps.firefox newsgroup]
* [news://news.mozilla.org/mozilla.dev.apps.firefox mozilla.dev.apps.firefox newsgroup]
* [irc://irc.mozilla.org/#places #places] on irc.mozilla.org
* [irc://irc.mozilla.org/#places #places] on irc.mozilla.org
* Weekly meetings on Monday at '''9'''am PST in [irc://irc.mozilla.org/#places #places]. See [[Places/Status_Meetings]] for meeting notes.
= Timeline and History =


* Initial Places implementation slated for Firefox 2. Landed for early alphas and then backed out and eventually cut from the release. [TODO: proper links and dates needed]
Source:
* Project re-initialized in fall 2007, slated for Firefox 3.
* Firefox front-end code: [http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/browser/components/places/ mozilla/browser/components/places/]
* History-on-Places was enabled on the trunk in January 2007, first released in Gran Paradiso Alpha 2.
* Toolkit backend code: [http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/toolkit/components/places/ mozilla/toolkit/components/places/]
* Bookmarks-on-Places was enabled in May 2007, first released in Gran Paradiso Alpha 5.


= Goals & Objectives =
Current work:
* See the [[Places:Plan]] for current work.


The primary objectives:  
Active module peers:
* [http://autonome.wordpress.com/ Dietrich Ayala] (MO)
* [http://shawnwilsher.com/ Shawn Wilsher]
* [http://www.bonardo.net/ Marco Bonardo]


* Improve access to History and Bookmarks
= Design =
* Make it easier for people to Bookmark pages


Secondary objectives:
* Contemporary design information is on the [http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Places Places developer wiki].
* [[Places:Design Overview]] contains much of the original design documentation from Firefox 2 and 3 work on Places.
* [[Places:Performance]]
* [[Places:SecurityReview|Places Security Review]]


* Consolidating user data formats
= Compatibility =
* Providing a platform for using interesting per-URL metadata
* Improving the capabilities of Live Bookmarks
* Providing a solid architecture for bookmark sync and remote storage


= Overview =
As of Firefox 3, the APIs for accessing Bookmarks and History have been replaced. Some history APIs remain the same. See the [http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Places Places developer wiki] for more information.


Implemented new back ends for Bookmarks and History using the mozStorage wrapper for SQLite. Developed newer, more usable front-end components to display results, emphasizing simple search and categorization.
= Extensions =


== Background ==
The APIs for accessing and manipulating Bookmarks and History have been replaced entirely in Firefox 3, and are incompatible. Almost all Bookmarks and History user interface components have been replaced or updated significantly. Any extension that does anything with History or Bookmarks will almost certainly have to be rewritten, at the very least to use the new APIs.


Studies from the late 1990s show that while revisitations of pages previously seen counted for roughly 39% of all page navigations (see [http://scholar.google.com/ Google Scholar]), Bookmarks and History usage was low (1-3%), despite the fact that roughly 20% of those revisitations were to pages seen > 10 URLs ago (and thus outside the usefulness range of the Back button or menu).
= Timeline and History =


Autocomplete in the URL bar is a useful tool but fails to address some common desires when looking up visited pages. There is a gulf between the capabilities of that tool, the capabilities of the Bookmarks and History systems today, and the desired capabilities of those systems.
* Initial Places implementation slated for Firefox 2. Landed for early alphas and then backed out and eventually cut from the release. [TODO: proper links and dates needed]
 
* Project re-initialized in fall 2007, slated for Firefox 3.
== Use Cases ==
* History-on-Places was enabled on the trunk in January 2007, first released in Gran Paradiso Alpha 2.
 
* Bookmarks-on-Places was enabled in May 2007, first released in Gran Paradiso Alpha 5.
* [[Places:History Use Cases]]
* [[Bookmarks Use Cases]] (not specific to places)
 
== Functional Requirements ==
 
The original requirements for Places in Firefox 3 are detailed in the [[Firefox3/Product_Requirements_Document#Places|Firefox 3 PRD]]
 
= Design =
 
* [[Places:User Interface]]
* [[Places:Design Overview]]
 
* [[Places:URL Store]]
* [[Places:Bookmarks]]
* [[Places:place URIs]]
* [[Places:Results]]
* [[Places:Controller]]
* [[Browser History]]
* [[Places:AutoComplete]]
* [[Places:Transactions]]
* [[Places:Drag & Drop]]
* [[Places:Manager]]
 
More design information is on the [http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Places Places developer wiki].
 
= Implementation =
 
Places is currently enabled for Firefox 3 and greater, powering History and Bookmarks, as well as providing plumbing for Livemarks, Annotations and Microsummaries and the Awesomebar.
 
== Code Location ==


* Firefox front-end: [http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/browser/components/places/ mozilla/browser/components/places/]
= Credits =
* Toolkit backend: [http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/toolkit/components/places/ mozilla/toolkit/components/places/]


== Team ==
Past core contributors:


* [http://dietrich.ganx4.com/ Dietrich Ayala]
* Asaf Romano
* Asaf Romano
* [http://www.xulplanet.com/ndeakin/ Neil Deakin]
* [http://www.xulplanet.com/ndeakin/ Neil Deakin]
Line 83: Line 59:
* [http://blog.mozilla.com/sspitzer/ Seth Spitzer]
* [http://blog.mozilla.com/sspitzer/ Seth Spitzer]


With help and guidance from:
Help and guidance from:


* [http://maxradi.us/ Brett Wilson] (former backend contributor)
* [http://maxradi.us/ Brett Wilson] (former back-end contributor)
* [http://www.melez.com/mykzilla/ Myk Melez] (microsummaries)
* [http://www.melez.com/mykzilla/ Myk Melez] (microsummaries)
* [http://www.franklinmint.fm/ Robert Sayre] (feeds)
* [http://www.franklinmint.fm/ Robert Sayre] (feeds)
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* [http://blog.mozilla.com/faaborg Alex Faaborg]
* [http://blog.mozilla.com/faaborg Alex Faaborg]


See the Places [http://tinyurl.com/2lm8z3 bug list] for current work.
= Discussion & Research =
 
== Meetings/Discussion ==
 
* [http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.apps.firefox mozilla.dev.apps.firefox]
* [irc://irc.mozilla.org/#places #places] on irc
* Weekly meetings on Thursday at '''2'''pm PST in [irc://irc.mozilla.org/#places #places].  See [[Places/StatusMeetings]] for the logs of the past meetings.
 
== API Changes ==
 
The APIs for accessing Bookmarks have been replaced. Some history APIs remain the same. See the [http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Places Places developer wiki] for more information.
 
* [http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Places:History_Service Places: History Service]
* [http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Places:Bookmarks_Service Places: Bookmarks Service]
* [http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Places:Annotation_Service Places: Annotation Service]
* [http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Places:Livemark_Service Places: Livemark Service]
* [http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Places:Favicon_Service Places: Favicon Service]
* [http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Places:Tagging_Service Places: Tagging Service]
 
== Special Containers ==
 
XXXdietrich - move to developer wiki, replace with an design page for extensibility
 
* [[Places:Bookmarks Containers]]
* [[Places:Live Bookmarks]]
* [[Places:File System Container]]
 
= Impact =
 
== Extensions ==
The APIs for accessing and manipulating Bookmarks and History are being replaced with new ones, and almost all Bookmarks and History user interface will be replaced or updated significantly. Any extension that does anything with History or Bookmarks will almost certainly have to be rewritten, at the very least to use the new APIs.
 
== Performance ==


See [[Places:Performance]] for more information.
In-depth discussion is in the original design documents, linked from [[Places:Design Overview]].
 
= Discussion & Implications =
 
* [[Places:SecurityReview|Places Security Review]]
 
== Discussion Elsewhere ==


* [http://robert.accettura.com/archives/2005/08/01/intelligent-bookmarking-draft/ Intelligent Bookmarking (Draft) - Robert Accettura]
* [http://robert.accettura.com/archives/2005/08/01/intelligent-bookmarking-draft/ Intelligent Bookmarking (Draft) - Robert Accettura]
* [http://pubnotes.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/evolution-of-bookmarking/ The Evolution of Bookmarking -- Bookmarks, Firefox, del.icio.us, Tagging, and Information Management]
* [http://pubnotes.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/evolution-of-bookmarking/ The Evolution of Bookmarking -- Bookmarks, Firefox, del.icio.us, Tagging, and Information Management]
* [http://www.ra.ethz.ch/CDstore/www5/www185/overview.htm Automatically Organizing Bookmarks per Contents], Fifth International World Wide Web Conference, May 6-10, 1996, Paris, France.  ([http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=5092164817324641042 Google Scholar search for the article] if it moves)
* [http://www.ra.ethz.ch/CDstore/www5/www185/overview.htm Automatically Organizing Bookmarks per Contents], Fifth International World Wide Web Conference, May 6-10, 1996, Paris, France.  ([http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=5092164817324641042 Google Scholar search for the article] if it moves)
* [[User:Dria/On Tagging|Deb Richardson's "On Tagging"]]
* [[User:Dria/On Tagging|Deb Richardson's "On Tagging"]]



Latest revision as of 19:32, 15 December 2016

Places is a system for storing bookmarks, history, and other user information about the Web, intended to improve developer access to this data and make it easier for people to Bookmark pages. Places is currently enabled for Firefox 3 and greater, powering History and Bookmarks, as well as providing plumbing for Livemarks, Annotations and Microsummaries and the Awesomebar.

Quick Links

Documentation

Communication:

Source:

Current work:

Active module peers:

Design

Compatibility

As of Firefox 3, the APIs for accessing Bookmarks and History have been replaced. Some history APIs remain the same. See the Places developer wiki for more information.

Extensions

The APIs for accessing and manipulating Bookmarks and History have been replaced entirely in Firefox 3, and are incompatible. Almost all Bookmarks and History user interface components have been replaced or updated significantly. Any extension that does anything with History or Bookmarks will almost certainly have to be rewritten, at the very least to use the new APIs.

Timeline and History

  • Initial Places implementation slated for Firefox 2. Landed for early alphas and then backed out and eventually cut from the release. [TODO: proper links and dates needed]
  • Project re-initialized in fall 2007, slated for Firefox 3.
  • History-on-Places was enabled on the trunk in January 2007, first released in Gran Paradiso Alpha 2.
  • Bookmarks-on-Places was enabled in May 2007, first released in Gran Paradiso Alpha 5.

Credits

Past core contributors:

Help and guidance from:

Discussion & Research

In-depth discussion is in the original design documents, linked from Places:Design Overview.