Fundamentals
MT operates through two over-arching two principles:
items and
collections. Items are the individual texts that are kept in the system; these can be original texts or ones added by the user. These items are kept in collections, the repositories that bind all the items of a single topic. Items are never shared between collections, as all relationships are intended to be represented within the collection.
Important to the organization of collections are
tags and
notes. Tags allow natural language categorization of items, offering organizational flexibility beyond the standard set of metadata. Notes are text memos that can be attached to both items and collections. If they are attached to shared items or collections, then they can be used for communicative purposes.
The final fundamental of the MT design is
processes. This is the name given to actions that can be run on collections and items; a process is when the computer "does stuff". As the API is a vital part of Mashing Texts, the system needs to support built-in (native) process and third-party processes similarly.
Dashboard
Upon logging into their account, a user arrives at a
dashboard summarizing the most recent activity related to their account. A similar dashboard is shown at the main screen of a collection, though only summarizing events related to the selected collection.
The dashboard shows the most recent items, notes, and processes, 'most recent' referring both to modifications of these entities or creation of new ones. These are displayed module-like, with sections cleanly compartmentalized. From the dashboard a user can either go directly to entity's page –by clicking on that item, note or process– or expand to a larger list view by clicking on the compartment header. "Most Recent Items", for example, will exists in a summarized and possibly truncated state on the dashboard, but by clicking the title, a user will go to a full-page, chronologically organized list of all items. This allows a user to freely browse the history of their account, particularly useful for users with lots of activity or who have not logged in for a considerable time.
Notes
Notes are a minimal annotation and communication tool. They consist of a message and optional message title. Also included are three types of system data: datestamp, author, and location. Mashing Texts also remembers a flag of read / unread status, which does not exist in the note's metadata
per se but nonetheless rounds out the six parts of a note that are seen by a user.
The minimalism of the system is because the notes system does not intend to replace email. Rather, it more closely follows metaphor of a Post-it message stuck onto the page of a book. The datestamp allows Mashing Texts to offer chronology functionality, and the author is remembered for the ease of users with shared collections. Finally, the location is a part of the note architecture within MT. From the system's view, notes exists similar to items. While items are bundled in collections, notes are kept together in their own special list. Rather than existing as a part of an item, notes exist in their own realm with their relationship specified in their metadata. A note, then, can be attached to a number of different entities. It can have a collection, item, or even a user as its "location". Each of these entities has a section that gathers all notes attached to them. Notes can be seen by anybody who has access to what they are attached to. If an item is shared between two users, both users will see its notes.
Navigation
The design of Mashing Texts is based closely on common application design practices, moreso than on website design mainstays. Resultant features include a full-page dynamic design and a navigation gently reliant on familiarity. There are two primary navigation areas: a top navigation bar and a sidebar. The navigation bar is the
permanent navigation: it consists of drop-down menus with static, consistent choices. The top options offer links to the primary start pages (i.e.
Home,
Collections,
Tools,
Notes) while their drop-downs offer quick access to popular actions (e.g.
create new collection,
write note). The far right of the navigation bar holds another form of navigation that is constant: the search bar.
In contrast to the top bar, the sidebar offers
contextual navigation: options that are directly related to the page that is in view at the time. These include the actions from the dropdown menu featured more prominently, as well as lower priority actions and actions that can only be applied to specified entities. For example, being in a collection list screen, the sidebar would show general collection actions (e.g.
create new collection) as well as specific collection actions (e.g.
create report,
sort collection by...). The sidebar is not purely reserved for actions, and also can include regular navigation if the context requires; one such example is a
jump to option that lists and links to all the items on a list screen.
Item Screen
The item editing screen is split up into two parts: the document and metadata. Most basically, an item has the primary content, a title, author, date, and source (i.e. how the item was created or gathered).
List Screen
The primary collection browsing state is the
list view, a collection of entities represented as list objects. The list screen is used for all lists, regardless of what it is viewing. The sidebar of any list screen has a "sort by" option, for changing the display priorities of the list. There is also a "jump to" option, which functions as a sort of linked table of contents, quickly jumping the page to the location of a list item. This helps avoid excessive pagination by making more items on a page manageable.
List objects generally show abbreviated versions of what they represent. Long notes and items are truncated to the size of the list objects box, and only the most important item metadata is shown. A number of features are included in order to make lists more comfortable for a user to browse and process information. The first is that list objects are collapsible into small slips, a features which helps manage screen space and, for some users, can be adopted into one's reading flow by hiding items when they're no longer needed. Another feature is that list objects can include basic editing functionality, such as title and tag editing.
API
The API is an vital part of Mashing Texts. It allows third-party developers to create tools that interact with the data from a user's account. While external tools are possible through the API, the primary emphasis is on allowing developers to add processes to be used
within the Mashing Texts environment. This approach, popularized recently by APIs such as Facebook Platform, allow tools to be added that augment the website from within. This is done with an API that offers connection points within the interface. A tool that translates an item, for example, could add an item to the processes menu of individual items.
(Insert mockup of adding process to item)
To augment a user's account, a user will need to approve a tool to do so. They will be able to do so in the processes directory, which will serve the additional purpose of simplifying and encouraging discover of processes. The native
JiTR processes will exist similar to third-party processes, developed using the same features of the public API, but will be activated by default.
