#4412 NORM Future : UI design for customized expanded entries in the journal

[Zarro Boogs per Child]

#4412: UI design for customized expanded entries in the journal
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  Reporter:  tomeu             |       Owner:  tomeu         
      Type:  defect            |      Status:  new           
  Priority:  normal            |   Milestone:  Future Release
 Component:  interface-design  |     Version:                
Resolution:                    |    Keywords:                
  Verified:  0                 |  
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Changes (by Eben):

  * owner:  Eben => tomeu


Comment:

 We have put some design thinking into this idea.  The extensible solution
 we've come up with is a means of exposing metadata directly to the user.
 This isn't as flexible as HTML, but it does allow us a consistent model
 for exposing useful information -- optionally making it modifiable -- that
 will integrate cleanly with the Journal design.

 Ideally we'll support a few basic primitive types of metadata.  All will
 be displayed in the customary key:value pairs, but the form of the display
 could differ depending on the type of metadata in question:  string,
 number, boolean.  Booleans, for instance, can be rendered as graphical
 checkbox controls;  numbers could appear as steppers; strings, of course,
 as text.  In this manner, an entry for an activity could expose it's
 author and it's version.  It could also have a checkbox which determines
 if it appears as an alias in the list of activities.  Anytime a friend is
 made we could add a "buddy" entry, which exposes name, age, address, etc,
 like an address book entry.  A song could expose artist, album, and title.

 I think that such a system, tied directly to the metadata for the entry,
 would provide a valuable resource both for gaining more information about
 the items, for adding meaningful metadata, and moreover understanding
 metadata as a tool for organization.

 I have some designs for this, but I'll need to integrate them into the
 newer Journal designs before I post them.  Marco, Tomeu, can you give me
 an idea of how much work this would be to implement?  There are two
 aspects to the implementation.  First, we need to be able to visualize the
 metadata using the mentioned controls, and hook it up appropriately to the
 actual values.  Second, we may need a system by which activities and/or
 the user can choose what keys get exposed in this manner, unless we define
 a basic list for known mime-types and leave it at that.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/4412#comment:2>
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