Implemented: Smaller usability enhancements on the file attachment table

1. Link label changed from 'action' to 'manage'
2. The colons are omitted from the headers, as they are also omitted from other tables
3. Allow for up to 256 characters in the comment box
4. The size column indicates the number of kilobytes instead of bytes, e.g. 28.8 K instead of 29490
5. png attachments gets now the correct picture iscon instead of the generic document icon

-- ArthurClemens - 09 Jan 2004
-- PeterThoeny - 12 Jan 2004

Original request and discussions

A few requests bundled on one page:

1. Change the link label 'action' to 'edit' as worded in AttachmentActionLinkBadName
   • Done on TWiki.org, but see comment below -- PTh - 09 Jan 2003
2. The colons (:) can be omitted from the headers, as they are also omitted from other tables
   • Done in Beta and TWiki.org -- PTh - 09 Jan 2003
3. Allow for some more characters in the comment box. Now there is often not enough room to write one sentence (I can exactly write: "Amazon breadcrumbs are a good example of usability" but not more).
   • Now set to 256 chars, up from 50 chars -- PTh - 09 Jan 2003
4. Let the size parameter indicate the number of kilobytes instead of bytes. 29490 reads worse than 28.8. Indicate Kb or K for short, but preferably leave out the K for readability.
   • No indication is confusing, added a K -- PTh - 09 Jan 2003
5. Small thing: a png attachment gets the generic document icon, instead of the picture icon.
   • Done in Beta and TWiki.org -- PTh - 09 Jan 2003

-- ArthurClemens - 09 Jan 2004

Sensible enhancements, good to have you on board Arthur

I did all suggested changes and rolled it out on TWiki.org. It is not yet checked-in into TWikiAlphaRelease:

I find 'edit' highly confusing since some document management systems like eRoom have an edit link to actually edit an attachment. That is, you click on 'edit', change the Word doc, save & quit and you are done. (A browser Plugin stores the file temporarily on the computer, intercepts the file save and re-uploads the doc to the server.)

Not sure which label is better, see AttachmentActionLinkBadName. Possibly 'update' since this is close to the change properties and re-upload file functionality.

-- PeterThoeny - 09 Jan 2004

See my comments in AttachmentActionLinkBadName - I agree that 'edit' is confusing. I prefer 'manage' since that implies the sort of 'ancillary operations' available under that link.

-- RichardDonkin - 10 Jan 2004

My argument to keep 'edit': see AttachmentActionLinkBadName.

Further, I think we need to start thinking about making the wordings of captions and link labels language independent. For instance in a german or french installation this should be changed easily.

• This needs to be done as part of the InternationalisationEnhancements, possibly after CairoRelease -- PTh - 12 Jan 2004

-- ArthurClemens - 10 Jan 2004

Still pending issues with attachment table: AttachedImageDefaultAltText and BugWithQuotesInAttachmentComment.

Related issue: SecuringAttachments

-- ArthurClemens - 11 Jan 2004

In AttachmentActionLinkBadName we agreed on calling the link 'manage' instead of 'edit'.

Changes are now in TWikiAlphaRelease and TWiki.org.

-- PeterThoeny - 12 Jan 2004

One thing I accidentily noticed is that the first link in the header row links to a topic. When you click that link to sort the table on attachment name, you loose the topic and a new topic is loaded. This is inconsistent with the other header links. And if people are wondering about attachments or need help, its not likely that they will find that link.

I would suggest to remove the topic link, and to use the link for sorting only.

Hmm, strange that this is hardcoded in the TablePlugin.

-- ArthurClemens - 11 Apr 2004

See also the pipe bug (see table below).

-- ArthurClemens - 11 Apr 2004

Another suggestion: create a new first column for the file icons, so they don't mess up the attachment name layout, and you can use the column header to sort on fily type.

FYI: In a twiki for my work I've created a column for attachment classification. The classification types can be entered with a dropdown box, that is populated from a topic. I needed to change quite some files to get this...

-- ArthurClemens - 11 Apr 2004

I have attached the patch to put the file type icon in a separat first column. The header is a capital I, to minimize visual fuzz. The enhancement is purely visual - sorting of this column is not yet fixed.

-- ArthurClemens - 11 Apr 2004

For the classification field I have misused the description field: I have used a separator to split the string in an array of 2 parts. I will post details later.

-- ArthurClemens - 15 Jun 2004

Bear in mind that if TemplatesForMetaDataPresentation is applied, most of these changes would be made in template files instead of code. The attachment classification code would also obviously have to be different......

-- CrawfordCurrie - 16 Jun 2004

Some subsequent discussion refactored into MetaDataIsData - CC

Note that since Sven merged TemplatesForMetaDataPresentation Arthur's patch is no longer applicable. Rather than a code patch, it should be done by a change to the standard attachment table template.

-- CrawfordCurrie - 18 Jun 2004

Since the original requirements for this feature have been met, I have moved impl progress to 100%.

-- CrawfordCurrie - 01 Jul 2004

continued in BetterAttachmentTableForDakarRelease -- ArthurClemens - 19 Jul 2004