Taxonomy
Owen Winkler
switching the tag system to a taxonomy.
We've been talking about using "supertags" for tagging things with
purposes other than using the tags as key words. They could be used for
display purposes, for example. Using a taxonomy would codify this
process rather than hacking on a kludgy solution like using tags that
looked like "display:sidebar" or something.
Moving to a taxonomy would also allow us the opportunity to augment the
system to provide (optional) hierarchical tags/categories.
Obviously, this is a large-ish structural change. Fortunately, it'll be
before our 1.0 release, so we shouldn't have big migration problems.
I'd like opinions on the transition, and volunteers for design and
implementation.
Owen
Chris J. Davis
between a flat tagging system as we are using now, and a taxonomy?
Chris
Owen Winkler
> For everyones benefit could you briefly outline the differences
> between a flat tagging system as we are using now, and a taxonomy?
For starters, there need not be any differences. Applying a taxonomy
would allow the existing tag system to work just as it does. As far as
the API to access it, I suggest we keep what we have working, but make
it work with the database structures for the taxonomy instead of the
current tag2post system.
What a taxonomy would allow us to do in addition to that is have
additional characteristics that we could apply to posts or other objects.
Consider that we have a site that reviews software. Tags remain
keywords that are associated to posts. We might use "image" and
"editing" to tag a post about Photoshop. Tags are just one vertical of
categorization for posts. We could have another one, say "OS", that
would be used to describe specifically which operating systems the
post's software is relevant to.
A question you might ask is, "Why not just tag the post with 'Windows'
when it's Windows software instead of having a new tag type?" Because
you may talk about Windows in a post, but the post itself might not be
about Windows software. In that case, you could tag the post "Windows"
but use the OS "OSX.
This is a very simple example that I'm sure someone could imagine an
improvement for, but that is one potential use.
Additionally, if the taxonomy was coded to support it, the terms could
have relationships. A taxonomy term could be a parent or child of
another term, and API access would allow you to retrieve results based
on that relationship.
Also, because you could create multiple sets of these things, you could
associate them to any object in the system. You could have a set of
terms that relate to comments, for example. Your "comment" set of terms
could include terms like "insightful", "interesting", "informative", and
"funny", which you could use to tag your own comments.
There are many places that the taxonomy could be applied. I expect
plugins to fill that role using a well-implemented taxonomy API and
documentation.
Owen
Andrew da Silva
Would presets (of tags) be selectable from a scrollable box, and
manually entered tags be considered key words unless it contains
unquoted double-colon?
Example of a hierarchy:
os:"mac os x" os:windows os:linux "operating system":"windows xp"
There are several ways we can present tags to the user, what's the
preferred method?
Michael C. Harris
>
> What would be the interface presented to users when creating a post?
>
> Would presets (of tags) be selectable from a scrollable box, and
> manually entered tags be considered key words unless it contains
> unquoted double-colon?
>
> Example of a hierarchy:
> os:"mac os x" os:windows os:linux "operating system":"windows xp"
>
> There are several ways we can present tags to the user, what's the
> preferred method?
A change to a taxonomy system shouldn't affect the current tag
interface. Plugins could implement other taxonomies, and their UIs,
and that's likely where interesting things will happen.
I wouldn't mind a tag suggest plugin to help me avoid similar but
different tags but that's got nothing to do with changing to a
taxonomy.
Andrew da Silva
select presets (groups of tags).
What do you think of entering tags in the way I described previously?
Ultimately it would be possible to tag a post... os:linux:"debian
etch" or "operating system":"mac os x":leopard
On Dec 2, 8:00 pm, "Michael C. Harris" <michael.twof...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Michael C. Harris
>
> It would not change the way to enter tags, it would add a new box to
> select presets (groups of tags).
I am against adding any further tagging UI overhead to core.
> What do you think of entering tags in the way I described previously?
>
> Ultimately it would be possible to tag a post... os:linux:"debian
> etch" or "operating system":"mac os x":leopard
Personally, I would not use this. Hierarchical categories just get
confusing and broken and hurt my little brain.
cheers, Michael
Andrew da Silva
Unless you wouldn't use this kind of tagging system at all?
On Dec 2, 8:26 pm, "Michael C. Harris" <michael.twof...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Robin Adrianse
Owen Winkler
> How would you make it work then?
>
> Unless you wouldn't use this kind of tagging system at all?
The existing tag functionality would (hopefully) not be affected from
either the API or UI perspectives. Additional functionality would be
available for plugins to take advantage of for providing the UI you
described.
I think that people's preferences are going to be so varied on how this
works from that point of view that the only way to address it is to
allow plugins to evolve and choose the fittest for inclusion as
optionally-available core plugins.
Owen