Allow touchstones in comments/private comments field for a work

ForumRecommend Site Improvements

Melde dich bei LibraryThing an, um Nachrichten zu schreiben.

Allow touchstones in comments/private comments field for a work

1worldlitup
Feb. 15, 2021, 10:44 am

I'm trying to add information about suggested prerequisites and follow-ups to some works in my catalogue. It would be awesome if touchstones were enabled in a field like comments/private comments so that the titles could automatically turn into clickable links, but that doesn't seem possible at the moment.

2birder4106
Feb. 16, 2021, 4:28 am

Very good idea!
Bump

3Ennas
Feb. 16, 2021, 5:14 am

Oh, yes, this would be nice!

4MarthaJeanne
Bearbeitet: Feb. 16, 2021, 5:29 am

If you want this to be a permanent record, I suggest you go to one of your topics from a few years ago and see how many touchstones are broken. In one of mine from a few years ago (2016) Time and Again now points to Harry Potter and the half-blood prince. This was the seventh one in the list, and there were plenty more. URLs might work better, but they change as works are combined and separated. Even with links, you need to have both title and author listed to be sure you can find it again. (LT has lots of works with the title 'Time and Again'.)

5gilroy
Feb. 16, 2021, 5:48 am

Wouldn't this work with the work to work relationship section of the book? Without changing code for another section?

6shadrach_anki
Feb. 16, 2021, 11:15 am

>5 gilroy: If the goal is to have the information showing in the member catalog, then using the work to work relationship section is not going to suffice. For one thing, that information is only available on the work pages. And while it is not in the main CK area, it is still work-level information, and editable by anyone who comes along.

Also, while the "suggested prerequisites and follow-ups" mentioned in the original post may have definite work to work relationships that could be enumerated in that section, it does not necessarily follow that this will be the case. They could be works that appear in a bibliography or "for further reading" section, but that do not share a material relationship beyond topical or thematic elements. I'm pretty sure the work to work relationship section isn't intended for textual linkages of that nature.

I like the idea of being able to use the touchstone system in comments (private or public), but it does seem like there would be a number of hurdles that would need to be overcome for it to work, and I would still want to have the author and title information listed in the comment in plain text, just in case something went squirrely with the touchstone link.

7worldlitup
Feb. 17, 2021, 1:19 pm

I agree with shadrach_anki, I'm thinking of this as a very personal thing. For example, for the Epic of Gilgamesh I'm thinking of follow-ups as diverse as The Rocks Don't Lie: a geologist investigates Noah's flood and Contact by Carl Sagan. I don't think it would be appropriate to put this into the common database of work-to-work relationships.

Also +1 to the author and title being in plain-text, which is how I understand the touchstone system to work anyway. It would just be really nice to be able to just click into the next book without having to go via the search widget.

8krazy4katz
Feb. 17, 2021, 1:56 pm

Without understanding the technical pros and cons, I would love to be able to use touchstones in Comments! It would really make going from one work to another much more efficient.