Elements/Components/Add-ons organization

The current resource repository has worked pretty well, but it definitely worked better when there were fewer items. With that in mind, I think it’s probably time for us to create some category/buckets in which we can group things, instead of relying on every tag under the sun as the categorization tool of choice. Suggestions for buckets before I start running my mouth with my redneck ideas?

A search specific to the repository would be nice. Have more items displayed per page to make it easier to browse. Maybe rearrange the display to make it more compact like having the description in collapsible containers.

I agree with Shane, a powerfull advanced search should be welcome.

Some ideas :

1/ It could be interesting to find the recently updated add-ons.

2/ And may be as example for whose are starting with Modx, a first list of add-ons to build a "basic" website (wayfinder, ditto, maxigallery, ajaxsearch, breadcrumbs,jot).

3/ An another criteria for add-ons could be also the use of javascript / ajax and/or the full compatibility with browsers


Not fully linked with the question of Ryan, but what’s the meaning of "core team audited" in the "filter view by". How somebody could ask for an audit of the core team for his add-on ?

I think we should basically ignore how it is now and think about it from scratch. We really need some categories, and definitely a search. We never really got around to core team audited so that should go away honestly. Recently updated and dedicated add-on search are great ideas too.

Is anyone going to post any suggest categories for add-ons? E.g.,

[*] Navigation
[*] Blogging Tools and Repurposing Content
[*] Search
[*] Images & Video
[*] SEO, Analytics, Hit counters & Content counters/tracking
[*] E-commerce
[*] eMarketing & Newsletters
[*] YAPS: Polls, foo, bar
[*] Multiple Websites and Subdomains
[*] Languages, i18n and l10n
[*] User Systems, Personalization & Authentication
[*] Rich Text Editors (RTEs) & Content Editing
[*] Forms, Form Processing & Anti-Spam

Are you considering specifying categories instead of the current tag system? Or a combination of the two? Categories are a good way to group items, but tags can be more flexible. Maybe have more general categories and use tags to fine tune it. What happens if an add-on does not fit in any category? Will there be an "other" category?

It would be cool to isolate modules, plug-ins and snippets. Not only will it make it easier to locate these but also could help enforce that they are different things.

As for category ideas...I think you have a good set going but I would break a few apart like SEO and Analytical tools should be isolated, Repurposing Content is a clever term but it took me a while to figure it out and it is not really related strictly to Blogging Tools so it could be confusing.

I would add:
Themes & Templates
Manager (stuff related to the manager)
3rd Party Integration (integrating with 3rd arty forums and blogs etc..)

Quote from: dev_cw at Apr 02, 2008, 10:52 AM

Are you considering specifying categories instead of the current tag system? Or a combination of the two? Categories are a good way to group items, but tags can be more flexible. Maybe have more general categories and use tags to fine tune it. What happens if an add-on does not fit in any category? Will there be an "other" category?

There needs to be an ’other’ or ’misc’ category for sure. The problem with the tags is that it’s just unwieldy once you get more than few hundred add ons as a primary source. I suppose it would make sense to have user-generated tags (by anyone not just the author) as a secondary taxonomy.

It would be cool to isolate modules, plug-ins and snippets. Not only will it make it easier to locate these but also could help enforce that they are different things.

I’m not sure I agree with this but I certainly could be wrong. If you need a solution to a problem, or you need certain functionality, does it really matter what it is? What it it involves all three items for the solution, for example. Wouldn’t the description field suffice for telling what the solution is comprised of?

As for category ideas...I think you have a good set going but I would break a few apart like SEO and Analytical tools should be isolated, Repurposing Content is a clever term but it took me a while to figure it out and it is not really related strictly to Blogging Tools so it could be confusing.

Repurposing Content is indeed tricky... Ditto can be used for so many purposes, not just for blogs for example. We need to find the right balance of "chunks" to put in each resource. Maybe we allow more than one category for each resource, but not more than 2 or 3.

I would add:
Themes & Templates
Manager (stuff related to the manager)
3rd Party Integration (integrating with 3rd arty forums and blogs etc..)

MODx Templates should probably be a separate system entirely I think ... similar to the site showcase. Manager Templates probably should be part of the add ons repository though. Like the other two suggestions too (Manager + Integrations).

Thanks for taking the time to offer feedback.

Sorry Ryan I missed that thread I just got back at home/office and I’ll go eat !

Tomorrow morning I’ll offer some additionnal feedback

It would be cool to isolate modules, plug-ins and snippets. Not only will it make it easier to locate these but also could help enforce that they are different things.

I’m not sure I agree with this but I certainly could be wrong. If you need a solution to a problem, or you need certain functionality, does it really matter what it is? What it it involves all three items for the solution, for example. Wouldn’t the description field suffice for telling what the solution is comprised of?

I see your point. What is important is the solution not the method. The description is enough.

I’m a huge supporter of tags and would prefer to stick with them exclusively. With a small change to the "submit resource" user interface it might be possible to solve the issue of hundreds of tags that fit one "category" (such as "plugin", "plugins", "add-on"). An idea that just sparked in my head was to have a managed list of tags (created by the admin) and an input box below the list for additional tags made by the submitter. Upon saving the managed-list would just be merged with the user-generated list.

Keeping the tag philosophy means that a single resource could belong to any number of "categories". I shudder when I hear the word "category" because in my mind it means a resource can only belong to one "category". When users hear the word "tag" they immediately know that it can be found in various ways.

The display of the Resources would still remain extremely flexible, simply display the managed list of tags for the start page, adding an "Other" link to the bottom of the list that goes to a view showing the next most popular tags in a list (no clouds).

I created a mockup of what I have in my mind to be the start page for Resources. It might merit some explanation: I tried to avoid using the word "categories" for the reason stated above; tags should only be one word (managed tags have a summary shown on the home page). Update: Also, ignore all the design elements, I’m just working on content.

Here’s the mockup: MODx Resource Repository Mockup