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Abstract

You can upload any type of content to a Roller weblog and include that content on weblog entries as images or Podcasts, but the tools for doing so are lacking. The interface that allows you to browse your file uploads does not display thumbnails, it is not sortable and not pagable. Once you have uploaded an image or Podcast, you have to cut and paste the URL into your blog post. This project will replace that old File Upload user interface with a more interactive and modern UI for browsing and choosing media and automatically adding the correct HTML markup to blog entries.

Requirements

Basic requirements:

Replace Roller's existing File Upload pages with:

• Sortable, searchable, hierarchical and tabular display of uploaded files
• Auto-generate and display small thumbnails for all images
• Ability to specify metadata for uploads including title, filename, content-type and tags
  • Support for new metadata in Roller's AtomPub implementation
• Support for media blogging features from both Weblog Entry Editor and File Uploads page:
  • Ability to add to any entry an enclosure (i.e. a podcast)
  • Ability to add to any entry images with optional title and thumbnail
• Support for external media files

Detailed requirements:

File upload interface

• Ability to specify more information about the file being uploaded.
  • Capture these metadata file name, description, tags.
• Enhanced view of uploaded files.
  • Hierarchical display (show all folders with expand/collapse buttons, no thumbnail)
  • Tabular display (shows just one folder at a time, with links for other folders)
    • Display thumbnail for images
    • Display thumbnail for videos (with play/pause buttons)
    • Display icon for other kind of files.
    • Have pagination
  • Have the ability to switch between hierarchical and tabular display.
• Manage uploaded files
  • Move files across folders.
  • Delete files.
  • Edit metadata (add/modify tags, modify file name, modify description)
• Ability to define security level for the uploaded file (Public/private)
  • Ones made "public" will be made available as a library to other bloggers. (This will lead to a whole new functionality of media
    library which can be browsed by any other blogger)
  • Force blogger to make a private file public, when they try to publish a blog post after adding a private file.
• Ability to sort from tabular display.
• Ability to filter file lists by
  • file name
  • file type (audio, video etc)
  • file extension
  • uploaded date range
  • Size
  • tag
• Ability to create a blog post out of uploaded files.
  • After a file is uploaded, provide option to create a blog post out of it.
  • Ability to select one or more files from the list and create a blog post out of the selected files.

Create blog post interface

• Ability to add media from uploaded files
  • Browse and choose uploaded file
    • Allow search by file name, description and tag.
  • If it is an image, specify dimension and layout to be used in the blog post.

• Ability to add media directly (upload file as part of this)
  • Browse the file to be uploaded
  • Input file name, description and tags
  • If it is an image, specify dimension and layout to be used in the blog post.

• Ability to add media directly, pointing to an external source (youtube video, images.google.com picture etc)

• Ability to add media from media library (library built from all files uploaded and shared by user communiity)
  • search by tag, name and description.
  • pick the selected one to be displayed.
  • If it is an image, specify dimension and layout to be used in the blog post.

• Other enhancements to "create post" interface
  • Choose text in the post and insert links easily.

Others

• ATOM publishing protocol for uploaded files - change the structure to be hierarchical and add the metadata information (name, description tags) for each file.
• Support ATOM feed for "latest images that you uploaded".

Issues

Not yet discussed

Design

To be added.

Comments

Please comment on the Roller-dev mailing list.