OpenWetWare talk:Software/My OWW Links

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  • BC 16:57, 26 July 2008 (UTC): Thanks Bill, this is very clearly specified. What you are describing appears to have similar functionality to the watchlist feature, specifically the option to view all pages in your watchlist rather than just those with recent changes.
    • WJF 20:29, 27 July 2008 (UTC) Thanks for your comments, Barry. I agree: there may be some overlap on the information presented but not in the function provided. Storing a link and watching a page are different activities. There is a HUGE number of watched pages in the system. Given this, the 'noise' associated with monitoring responses from the changes can be a lot of effort for some viewers. Getting a simple list of links is all we're discussing here. We've been burnt by trying to take too big a step for a development item. I think living with the possibility of some cross-talk is acceptable until we can see how OWW members use this feature and inform what our next steps should be.
    • WJF Here are some of the differences that I found significant in writing up the spec.
      • The watchlist allows for a consolidated view of all pages that an OWW member wants to monitor for changes.
      • There's no way to add personal comments/annotations to watched pages.
      • There's no way to place them in categories
      • There's no way to track the last time an OWW member visted the link
      • There's no way to go from viewing an OWW member's own watchlist to then look at all watchlists for all members.
      • There's no way to see how many other OWW members are watching a given page
      • There's no immediate plan to use this as a way to provide for alerts based upon linked document changes
  • Should we view this project as putting a more powerful and user-friendly front-end on the watchlist?
    • WJF 20:29, 27 July 2008 (UTC)I didn't personally see it as such but did consider it. In no places was the goal to augment the page watch features.
      • In this particular phase, I would suggest we constrain this to viewing a page of an OWW member's list of links or all OWW member's collective list of links.
  • Would this reduce the development time required?
    • WJF 20:29, 27 July 2008 (UTC)Assuming the goal of this task is the creation of a new special page to allow OWW members to view a list of their pages of interest, I'd suggest we constrain this project to this goal.
    • I would prefer not to modify the "Watched pages" list until we have evidence that users can access and use the "My OWW Links" page(s).
      • The spec I've written reflects my understanding of what is being asked for and what I know we can implement in a timely manner.
      • I can provide a development estimate based upon this task. But adding or merging the watch features will add to the specification time and ultimately push out the delivery date of the "My OWW Links" page.
  • BC 20:45, 28 July 2008 (UTC): Thanks for your responses Bill.
  • I think the most interesting aspect of this project is providing a simple way for people to make links
    • wjf 22:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)I used your spec as the basis.
      • I eliminated some of the complexity of combining this with Austin's page history by implementing it as an extension a few weeks ago.
      • That feature is now online
  • ...and also the possibility of better exposing what pages are linked to by people.
    • wjf 22:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)Agreed. To do this, it's very difficult to just gather items as text in a wiki page.
      • This is the reason I suggest implementing as a 'Special Page'
  • I think that making an easily editable link library/browser (Delicious for OWW) is less interesting.
    • wjf 22:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)Agreed. Nothing in your original doc suggested this.
      • The doc I prepared was a response to your doc.
      • This is not intended to be Delicious.
  • Given that, I think the "My OWW Links" page doesn't need a lot of attention.
  • wjf 22:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)By attention I assume you mean that I should not invest a lot of time in it.
    • Until we're clear on the features, it's difficult to provide a time estimate for implementation.
    • I agree re: not investing dev. time on overly complicated efforts that may not deliver what was originally asked for.
  • At a first pass, it could simply be a wiki page with a list of links, no labeling, no text entry, no check boxes, just a page of links that can be edited via the normal page editing mechanisms.
  • A wiki page
    • wjf 22:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)I assume that this will be a single page.
      • wjf 22:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)As cited above, it cannot be a wiki page if it will be used to display common links among OWW members.
    • wjf 22:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)OK
  • no labeling
    • wjf 22:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)This was put in as a response to a feature request.
  • no text entry
    • wjf 22:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)Comments can be removed as a feature
  • no check boxes,
    • wjf 22:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)Need a way to delete items.
    • wjf 22:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)Check boxes are simply a way to do it in a page.
  • a page of links that can be edited via the normal page editing mechanisms.
    • wjf 22:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)Again, will make common link listing between OWW members much more complicated to implement.
  • "Create a "My OWW Links" entry when on another page"
    • wjf 22:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)I assume this means to copy a this page line to the end of the "My Links" page.
    • wjf 22:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)No other text on the "My Links" page would be needed.
  • later on a "Who links here" indicator
    • wjf 22:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)No common OWW member links are therefore required.
  • the exception might be protocols and materials
    • wjf 22:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)Since we're discussing a single page, do you suggest we use a page section for each?


Example:


<html> <b>My Links</b><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <b>My Protocols</b> [edit]<br />

  • [[protocol link 1]]<br />
  • ...<br />
  • [[protocol link n]]<br />

<br /> <br /> <b>My Materials</b> [edit]<br />

  • [[Materials link 1]]<br />
  • ...<br />
  • [[Materials link n]]<br />

<br /> <br /> <b>My OWW Links</b> [edit]<br />

  • [[Link 1]]<br />
  • ...<br />
  • [[Link n]]<br />

<br /> <br /> </html>


  • "since it would be good to motivate people to tag protocols and materials so that we can automatically populate the community protocol/material pages."
    • wjf 22:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)I'm not clear on how using an unstructured approach to storing text lines containing formatted wiki links can further this goal.
    • I'm not suggesting it's antithetical to it
      • It's not clear to me how a adding a line of text (containing an OWW link) to a per-user page will do anything to provide structured information needed to do this.
  • focusing on the generation of links rather than the subsequent curation of a user's links.
    • wjf 22:49, 28 July 2008 (UTC)Understood.
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