[Pmwiki-users] Suggestion: new "Attach:" behavior for existing attachments

Fabio Reis Cecin frcecin
Fri May 7 11:08:07 CDT 2004


I think the "Attach:" markup could render better when the 
uploaded file already exists. One common idiom for 
attachment links is:

  [[Attach:filename filename]]

which renders the filename link with the name of the file. 
But "lazy" users (most of them, including me, after editing the
1000th Attach: link) just use Attach:filename which renders as

  Attach:filename

as a link to the existing file, which doesn't look particularly 
good altough it leaves the "attachment" aspect explicit.

But I think it would be better if Attach:filename rendered 
like [[Attach:filename filename]] when the file aleady exists
(after upload), and to keep it explicit that it's a link to a file,
a small "diskette" or "file" icon could be rendered to the side
of the attachment link.

The behavior for not-yet uploaded files (non-existing files) 
would be to render Attach:filename exactly as it is now:

  Attach:filename?

with the clickable "?"; doesn't look as pretty but leaves it 
explicit that it is an upload link awaiting an upload (a 
downside of using [[Attach:filename filename]] for not-yet 
uploaded files, which hides the fact that the "?" is for a 
file upload instead of a page edit, the most common type 
of "?" link)

The file icon could even be hardcoded into the Pmwiki 
installation, no need to involve it with skins/templates. 

No need to display specific icons for file types, since the 
file extension remains visible on the link.

And some suggestions for icons from Google Images :-)
http://images.google.com/images?imgsz=icon&q=file+icon

- Fabio



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