Re: tags vs albums

[patanjali <patanjali codito com>]

Hi, 

I'd earlier submitted a patch for grouping by directory: 
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/f-spot-list/2004-June/msg00000.html

A screenshot is here - 
http://www.geocities.com/patanjalisomayaji/Screenshot.png

Unfortunately I didn't get the time to re-do the patch with Larry's
suggestions, so it never went in. However I thought the feature would be
a good one to discuss in these f-spot UI-related discussions. 

cheers,
Patanjali 

On Wed, 2004-10-20 at 16:32 +0200, Jakub Steiner wrote:
> Hi Folks,
> 
> *food for thought*
> 
> I want to put the concept of tags, as we have them now in F-Spot, in
> question and propose a more natural interface concept. The suggestion
> comes from thinking about various tasks we came up for F-Spot [1],
> taking export functionality in particular consideration [2].
> 
> Tags
> ====
> 
> As it stands, the user has a flat library of photos. Each photo can have
> a set of tags assigned to it, such as what place the image was taken,
> what event that was, who/what appears on the image. 
> 
> Query Logic
> -----------
> Tags enable the user to limit the view to images containing a specific
> tag. The user can also select multiple tags at once. Contrary to my
> point of view, this doesn't limit the query further, but enhances the
> view by adding images containing tags using the OR operand. How many
> times have you queried the library for "Photos from Boston or Tuomas"?
> "Images of Dogs or Favourite Images?".
> 
> With the current interface, it is not possible to query for Event AND
> Person so that one could get images of a person appearing while at an
> Event.
> 
> Human Language
> --------------
> There is no clear metaphoric link to tags. In the physical world, we
> structure our photos in albums or piles. It is not physically possible
> to have one image appear in multiple albums.
> 
> Reuse
> -----
> With the tag interface to the library is not possible to store a certain
> query. One has to manually deselect the current "filter" and apply a new
> one.
> 
> Metadata
> --------
> We do want to have additional metadata associated with an image. It is
> confusing to use this concept for some, and another for the rest (name,
> caption...)
> 
> Export Implementation
> ---------------------
> While it is theoretically possible to come up with a dynamic web system
> for exporting photos on the web, retaining the same concepts as applied
> on F-Spot alone with tags, it relies heavily on server side scripting
> and doesn't sound trivial to do. Generating static HTML pages with the
> tag interface is hardly doable with way too many permutations to deal
> with.
> 
> Proposal - Albums
> =================
> I propose we use a concept of Albums and Virtual Albums (similar to
> vFolders in Evolution) instead of tags.
> 
> 
> Human Language
> --------------
> Album is a real world object that easy to understand. The term Virtual
> Album clearly exhibits the difference from the physical Album.
> 
> Reuse & Consistency
> -------------------
> The concept of stored queries isn't new. We have them in Evolution and
> hopefully thanks to beagle it will appear in the file-manager, file
> dialogs and elsewhere on the desktop.
> 
> Metadata
> --------
> Image attributes (including the stuff that's done with tags now) is
> defined at one place in the UI.
> 
> Export Implementation
> ---------------------
> Mostly every web image gallery is structured in albums. Even stored
> queries (Virtual Albums) could be generated as static HTML. 
> 
> 
> Further Mindbender:
> ===================
>       * Should we include Time in the queries? Or have time as a
>         separate concept to further limit whatever you have selected in
>         albums? That could give new options to the timeline scale - You
>         select an album and the the time scale changes accordingly
>         giving you options to further limit the selection by time.
> 
> cheers
> 
> [1] http://primates.ximian.com/~glesage/wiki/doku.php?id=f-spot:use_cases
> [2] http://primates.ximian.com/~glesage/wiki/doku.php?id=f-spot:web_export
> 
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