Developing online outliners
  • 6 Developing online outliners  
    Modified:
    Created:
    • 6 Portable data. OPML is inadequate.
      • 6
        • 6 asdasdasd  
          • • [+] Other tools use it   Radioland and numerous other utilities readily create and consume OPML files.
          • • [-] It's missing descriptions as a standard data element   For example, it'd be nice to be able to create outlines of blog entries. Not nicely crowbarred into OPML.
        • • asdasdasd  
        • • asdasdasd  
        • • asdasdasd  
        • • asdasdasd  
        • • asdasd  
        • • asdasd  
        • • asdasd  
        • • asdasd  
        • •
        • •
        • 6 Use topic maps  
          • • [+] Very powerful for declaring relationships between items   And rather chic these days.
          • • [-] Difficult to extract information from   Developing a script to render a topic map on a web page requires a small development staff. Too complicated.
          • • [-] Overkill1111   We just want to do outlines.
        • 6 ATOM and RSS  
          • • [+] Widespread adoption  
          • • [-] No accepted hierarchical data structures  
        • 6 ATOM and RSS  
          • • [+] Widespread adoption  
          • • [-] No accepted hierarchical data structures  
        • 6 Create something new   My leading proposal is for a hierarchical RSS. Many of the same fields, plus a few more to support outline rendering (eg. expansion state).
          • • [+] Aim to create something fresh and useful, yet familiar and accessible  
          • • [+] Merge RSS and OPML?  
    • 6 Design issues  
      • 6 Server side   Lightweight. Connectivity not required.
        • • This is the first line  
        • 6 Many people write and think while not connected to the net. Seems like disconnected editing is important, so it should be installable on a laptop.
          • •
          • • rtzrzrtz  
          • • rtz  
          • • rtz  
          • • r  
          • 6 hfghfghfghfgh  
            • • dghgfhfdhgfgh  
        • • Minimal configuration required   Ideally, just unzip and copy some files, tweak a configuration parameter or two.
      • • Png files  
      • 6 Gif files  
        • • Cat  
      • • Dog  
      • 4 Storage strategy   File or database?
        • 6 File  
          • • [+] Simple and familiar  
          • • [-] Rather limited regarding application functionality  
        • 6 Database  
          • 6 [-] More difficult to design, build, install, and use  
            • • Harder to manage data   Requires insertion/extraction processes, which can be cumbersome and obscure.
            • • Installation and portability   Platform limitations. More restrictive system requirements. Administration complexities.
          • • [+] More powerful functionality is possible   Allows for the development of more sophisticated features: User tracking, archiving, auditing, item reuse, access control.
      • 4 Outline data structures   What does an outline item consist of? What ways can items be related to one another, beside parent-child? How do you represent transclusion relationships?
        • 6 Editable fields in Dynamic List  
          • • Title  
          • • URL  
          • • Description  
          • • Subnodes collapsed   Dave's expansion state, but stored properly--as an item attribute.
        • • User-defined fields?   Separate the outline node data structures from the outline item data structures. This would allow for multiple types of items. Some examples: contacts, web log entries, scheduled events, locations.
      • 4 Collaboration   One outline with multiple contributors.
        • • People who trust one another sharing outlines   For example, a list of project resources should be editable by any of the project's team members.
        • • Input from random anonymous users   Perhaps my list of pointers to web resources is out of date. Should I allow you to update it for me, a la wikis?
      • 4 Transclusion   On-page transclusion of outlines between domains.
        • • Another form of collaboration   This form of collaboration has well-defined boundaries.
    • 4 Applications   Test
      • • Utility for content creation in personal web log sites   Content creation tool for creating dense, well-organized, easily maintained hierarchical lists of information.
      • • Personal information management   For those who need online access to their PIM content.
    • 6 Outliners  
    • 6 Live applications  
    • 6 Discussion