CMT interim update
Some highlights from recent weeks that I think I forgot to mention:
More soon...
Read moreCMT w09 update - D6 is 25 characters leaner, the reward of mucking about in core code
As a result of ripping off the taxonomy module to make community managed taxonomy, I noticed some extra SQL in there. And it's been removed. I find this quite exciting, affecting core... even if just removing a few unnecessary letters.
As for Community Managed Taxonomy itself, the editing of community-managed vocabularies and necessary administration options that weren't even mentioned in any posted plans. Pushing through with node-based term adding and arranging as outlined in previous posts continues.
Read moreCMT w08: I have found my people
At the United States Social Forum I met a linguist and Drupal user who told me that taxonomy could implement any kind of classification he could imagine.
Now I think I'm beginning to see what he means. CMT just might unleash a latent, awesome power in taxonomy (if it does I'll be sure to tell the Drupal for Evil group).
Taxonomy doesn't have to be hierarchical or flat. Categorization can be mesh, lattice, or called most simply, network.
Read morecmt w07: initial checkin
The code doesn't actually quite do anything yet, but almost all the pieces are in place for community-managing of your taxonomy while browsing content. And, you can look at the code if you're very brave. An initial release will be coming to the CMT project page soon.
The cmt.module file is almost 1,000 lines long, plus an include file for the repetitive information of a form dropdown and the .info and .install files (I've been using install and uninstall a lot!)
Settings etc. work and an initial form for adding terms. Lots of thoughts and decisions documented at Agaric's project site.
Read moreCMT w06: Drupal Camp NYC!
Coded all the days before, during, and after Drupal camp weekend and have made good progress. Continuing to borrow heavily from taxonomy.module itself for the structure of tables and some functions, tweaked to make them community-managed, and from community_tags, especially for how to add a form on node view pages (in CMT's case, for endorsing and suggesting arrangements and terms).
Best thing, as far as CMT goes, was meeting more people who will actually want to use the module!
Read moreCMT w04 interim updates for Community Managed Taxonomy
The only update of interest to the general populace is the creation, together with Matthias Hutterer of the Taxonomy Manager GSOC project, of the Taxonomy Drupal Group on this site.
Read morew03 Community Managed Taxonomy UI breakthrough
(Apologies for the long delay in actually posting this.) Here's the user interface breakthrough - a breakthrough at least until I try to implement and use it, at least - for node-centric community taxonomy management.
Read moreCMT w02: UI and data model initial spec for Community Managed Taxonomy
User Interface
On any CMT-eligible node page, you have three operations.
The first, add term, applies to the node itself, and so can always be present.
The second and third apply to terms, and so have to have a user interface for each term a node has (if any).
Each operation can stand alone, but the latter operations can also be seen as subtasks of the above.
term[s] node | | | | | |_> add new or existing term | |______L_> position term |_L______L_> add new or existing synonym and flag which gets naming rightsRead more
CMT w01: Initial plan for Community Managed Taxonomy
This project, like the rest of my life in general, is dedicated to my father, John Melançon, 1928–2007.
I'm a week [or two] behind on GSOC updates. I'll try to catch up with a couple in the next few days, and then be on report-back schedule every Friday. Less focused data dumps have been and will continue to be posted to Agaric Design Collective's site (desperately in need of an overhaul).
The Community Managed Taxonomy (CMT) vision, to recap, is the option to put taxonomy vocabularies under the control of your site's user community. Huge free tagging vocabularies can become consolidated and even hierarchical without giving up any of the openness of community tags. Categorization of content and even site structure can be put in the hands of users. Instead of trying to imagine in advance what categories ought to exist, or re-filing everything later, you, the admin, can spend your time on more important things, like reading Summer of Code posts about what's on its way for Drupal!
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