[wp-hackers] Re: Blogroll, Bookmarks, Links?

[Marci O'Daffer]

I did a little research, because all this talk of bookmarks being a better
term than links just hasn't seemed logical to me, but I wasn't sure why.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookmark_%28computers%29
Tells me that computer bookmarks (as opposed to paper bookmarks :)) are URLs
stored for easy access later (in a browser or online document), and social
bookmarks are the same thing, but public. This does not begin to describe
what we can do with the links/bookmarks/blogroll in WP.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperlink
Explains hyperlinks, or links for short, and their ability to help the user
navigate the web. This precisely defines the core of what we have in WP:
links around the web, with all their useful attributes.

http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html
Tells me that "links" is the common name for HTML anchors, and that they are
indeed links, no matter how many attributes they may have (title, rel, img,
XFN, etc).  Links are capable of much more than hrefs, but calling them
bookmarks seems insufficient, since bookmarks (at least the ones I've seen
so far) only do a handful of the things links can do.

Bookmarks are URLs stored in your browser or on a social bookmarking site.

Links are dynamic entities that take you from one web page to another, or
help you navigate around a page or a site.

Everyone can use and display their links in whatever way they want (as
bookmarks, social or private, just plain hrefs, XFN, images) But they are
hyperlinks at their very core, and IMHO renaming them bookmarks will lead to
more confusion, not less.

The term links may be as old as the web, but that is an advantage. Seems to
me that a platform as universal as WP should use terminology as universal as
"links".

Calling them Links affords an opportunity for newbies to LEARN all that
links are capable of (when they click the "Links" tab and discover all these
extra settings they didn't expect), and then be able to transfer that
knowledge to other situations.

If we call them Links on the admin tab, I think MOST users, even the total
newbies, will KNOW intuitively what they are for, because everyone knows
what a link is. There will be fewer support requests, not more.

Bottom line: I'm not seeing Bookmarks as the correct term for what we have
in WP. That they aren't "just plain hrefs" I definitely agree -- but denying
they are "links" denies all that links have evolved into, and elevates
bookmarks to a status they haven't really earned. I think it also creates
unnecessary end-user confusion, and more frustration for newbies trying to
learn WP.

That's my $.02. I will now go sit in the bikeshed.

Marci :)