Developing online outliners
Developing online outliners  
  •   Portable data. OPML is inadequate.
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        • [+] 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.
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      • 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.
      • ATOM and RSS  
        • [+] Widespread adoption  
        • [-] No accepted hierarchical data structures  
      • ATOM and RSS  
        • [+] Widespread adoption  
        • [-] No accepted hierarchical data structures  
      • 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?  
  • Design issues  
    • Server side   Lightweight. Connectivity not required.
      • This is the first line  
      •   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.
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        • rtzrzrtz  
        • rtz  
        • rtz  
        • r  
        • hfghfghfghfgh  
          • dghgfhfdhgfgh  
      • Minimal configuration required   Ideally, just unzip and copy some files, tweak a configuration parameter or two.
    • Png files  
    • Gif files  
      • Cat  
    • Dog  
    • Storage strategy   File or database?
      • File  
        • [+] Simple and familiar  
        • [-] Rather limited regarding application functionality  
      • Database  
        • [-] 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.
    • 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?
      • 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.
    • 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?
    • Transclusion   On-page transclusion of outlines between domains.
      • Another form of collaboration   This form of collaboration has well-defined boundaries.
  • 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.
  • Outliners  
  • Live applications  
  • Discussion