GUI Ideas for ePub3 MetaData Editor

[KevinH]

All ....

I would like to pick your brain for how a compact but useful metadata editor graphical user interface should look for epub3 metadata.

As epub3 metadata allows multiple titles (one main plus others), multiple authors while specifying author order, and creator and contributor specifiers, file-as, roles, etc, it requires that each metadata entry have its own "id" attribute and that "refines" to that "id" can be done as well as "refines" on "refines", "refines" on manifest ids (used for "SMIL") and even more complex things.

So I am trying to think about a good way to allow the user to specify a current metadata item, and then open a gui window that would allow the logical refinements for that item. Meanwhile it has to support creating metadata items from scratch while keep track of all of the "ids" in the content.opf to prevent duplication and then allow the refinements to be made.

Frankly, I am horrible at gui design so I am looking for help, guidance, mock-ups etc of what a nice epub3 metadata gui editor should look like to be simple and effective.

So if anyone has any ideas of jpeg mock-ups or anything like that, I would love for people to post their ideas in this thread. If anyone is interested the QtCreator and QtDesigner software can be used to help mock-up a viable layout.

Thanks!

KevinH

[Doitsu]

Since I couldn't get QtCreator to work, I've attached a photoshopped version of the proposed Metadata Editor dialog box changes.

Since it's hard to predict which of the new metadata elements will actually be used, I'd suggest implementing only minimal changes:

1. I'd add a Number in series text box right of the Title text box that would be saved as group-position.

2. I'd add Refine... buttons right of the Title and Author text boxes.

For example the title Refine... button would open a dialog box with the following items:

• Title: text box
• Title type: drop-down list-box with the following entries: main, subtitle, short, collection, edition and expanded
• Display sequence: text box or drop-down list-box (this control could be omitted if the display-seg value is automatically set whenever the arrow buttons are clicked)
• Add: push button

This dialog box would also display existing title values in a table like the original Metadata Editor dialog with the same controls (copy, remove, up, down etc.).

[BetterRed]

Kevin - I've long admired the user interface in Hindsight Software's Meta Machine for maintaining image metadata. In particular I 'love' the way it handles hierarchical keywords via defined taxonomies (a.k.a controlled vocabularies).

This link has a .mov video ==>> http://hsltd.us/metamachine/index.html#.

Be wary of installing the software as it comes with image library management 'baggage'. I have a suspicion Hindsight Software is 'moribund'.

BR

[KevinH]

Hi Doitsu,

Thanks! I plan to keep the current Metadata Editor for epub2, so this design will be for epub3 only. So I would really like to be able to add any number of titles, any number of authors, any number of contributors and not just the main one.

So I was thinking something like your window without the 3 lines at the top, and instead an Add button where you could select from author, title, and all of the basic rest.

And then once an item of that is added you can highlight that entry and click on the refinement button and then only get the options that are viable refinements for the item you have highlighted. For title is can by set to main, language, file-as, etc. For author, very similar to what we have now, but done as refinements, etc.

These refinements would show up as sub-entries of the meta data item they refine.

The only problem is that you can add metadata to refine a manifest id as well so somehow the list of current manifest ids and hrefs will need to be created on the fly so you can choose that item to add a refinement to.

Thanks!

KevinH

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Since I couldn't get QtCreator to work, I've attached a photoshopped version of the proposed Metadata Editor dialog box changes.

Since it's hard to predict which of the new metadata elements will actually be used, I'd suggest implementing only minimal changes:

1. I'd add a Number in series text box right of the Title text box that would be saved as group-position.

2. I'd add Refine... buttons right of the Title and Author text boxes.

For example the title Refine... button would open a dialog box with the following items:

• Title: text box
• Title type: drop-down list-box with the following entries: main, subtitle, short, collection, edition and expanded
• Display sequence: text box or drop-down list-box (this control could be omitted if the display-seg value is automatically set whenever the arrow buttons are clicked)
• Add: push button

This dialog box would also display existing title values in a table like the original Metadata Editor dialog with the same controls (copy, remove, up, down etc.).