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Labels Instead of Categories

FreedmanFreedman
edited July 2006 in Vanilla 1.0 Help
I mentioned this in another discussion and thought it warranted its own. Not sure if this has been suggested in the past, but I think it should be discussed here. Please throw in any feedback you have.

Institute a labeling system instead of categories (similar to Gmail's). When users create a new discussion, they can label it with none, one or multiple labels.

There would be admin settings to restrict it to either no labels, only one label, etc. Restricting it to none would essentially make it only a "discussions" forum and remove the "Labels" tab (which replaces "Categories"). Restricting it to one would basically give it the same functionality as the current Vanilla (basically, Labels would function as the current Categories do).

If a discussion is given multiple labels, then viewing any of the label pages its labeled with will display that conversation. Again, there should be limits to this set by admin, so users don't just flag a discussion with 7 or 8 labels unless you want them to.

Notes: Labels would replace categories--multiple labels can be given to each discussion. Admins can restrict functionality to one label per discussion, which would keep things working as they do in Vanilla currently--so no one is losing any functionality by this feature

Comments

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    BergamotBergamot
    They're called tags, and every time they come up a few people chime in about how easy it would be, and then nothing gets done.
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    KrakKrak New
    \o/ for nothing gettin done! lol

    I thought I've seen tags mentioned somewheres.
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    SavoryMediaSavoryMedia
    Actually, instead of replacing categories, code a tagging extension and just don't create any categories.
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    nathannathan
    Tag have been mentioned in a few places, you are right. Do a quick search for them.
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    lechlech Chicagoland ✭
    tagging and nothing getting done... hey at least we're consistent in this area!
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    rdlomasrdlomas
    Sounds great! I agree with you Savory...

    Sounds like a perfect extension idea..

    Anyone want to work on it?
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    ianpullingerianpullinger
    I think the idea of supporting some sort of tag/label has merit. When discussions become very active, a discussion can easily fall onto the second or third page very quickly, hardly ever getting read. Having the ability to filter you view would allow you to view the discussion of interest. Perhaps a simpler approach (but may be a code headache for Mark) would be to support a 1:M relationship between discussions and categories, therefore adding the functionality to the current implementation, without taking the code away from the current discussion-centric view. You could then flatten out the category drop-down to the left (or an ordered list, etc.) therefore allowing the user to filter their view.
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    BergamotBergamot
    "Perhaps a simpler approach (but may be a code headache for Mark) would be to support a 1:M relationship between discussions and categories, therefore adding the functionality to the current implementation, without taking the code away from the current discussion-centric view. You could then flatten out the category drop-down to the left (or an ordered list, etc.) therefore allowing the user to filter their view."

    Well yes, that's the idea, but in practice it's a bit of a hassle, and requires new tables, and ideally new UI.
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    ianpullingerianpullinger
    Yes, you would need a join table to support that relationship. I guess that rather than have hundreds of categories, you could install multiple forums (sharing the LUM_user table) and then be able to segment discussions across forums. Not as clean a solution though ...

    I wonder if such features are on the development wishlist for Mark ..
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    MinisweeperMinisweeper New
    I was under the impression tagging was on the wishlist at some point. I think it was a v2 thing though.
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    KrakKrak New
    Theres a wishlist for v2!?!?
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    ithcyithcy New
    BergamotThey're called tags, and every time they come up a few people chime in about how easy it would be, and then nothing gets done.
    well, it would be.
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    BergamotBergamot
    Oh I know, I'm one of the people :D
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    BluesharkBlueshark New
    Labelling for categories strikes me as a great idea.
    Essentially it is just a pre-defined search filter (on an invisible tag). That is all.

    There would be *no* categories.
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    Thomas HeathThomas Heath
    I think the term "label" is more common-sense vanilla than is "tag". If roles could view/not view different labels, we'd get a better permissions system for vanilla in the same feature/add-on. If this is ever (!) written, I think each label should have the option whether or not it should be listed on a categories-type page. With lots of tags, things might get a little overwhelming on that page otherwise.
This discussion has been closed.