The Weblinks component in Joomla 1.5 provides a very basic level of functionality. In order to give Joomla users more flexibility in the display of link content, a few minor tweaks/additions can be made. Also, since the functionality is so limited, all Joomla link sections look virtually identical and is a tell-tale sign due to it's limitations.
2. SCOPE
With just a few minor changes, the Weblinks component can be used in a far more flexible fashion.
- 1) The ability to show all categories with links on a single page. Currently, when a user wants to see the links, they have to click through the category they want to view. If a site only has one category or a small number of links in two categories, this is an unnecessary step for the user. The Mootools accordian would be implemented here in order to allow users to reveal the various categories. See reference example below to show how category headings are retained above each category of links.
2) Move the dropdown showing the number of items to the parameters. Users won't care about being able to show only a certain number of links on the front end. Having this in the component parameters will allow the site admin to determine the number of links shown, which is more important than the user in this particular case.
3) Add ordering to the menu item parameters. This is a no-brainer. Right now there's only a default ordering of items and there should be similar options to the display of content.
4) Option to remove the numbers next to each link. Another no-brainer. Very few will actually want them so there should be a way to turn them off just like the link icons.
5) Snapshot integration. Users love them because they give a tiny preview of the site before they click on it. There are a lot of options for site admins to use them in various ways. More info at: http://www.snap.com/
6) Google Maps integration. It would be great if site admins could enter their Google API key and start using Google Maps right away for their links.
Items affected would be the core Weblinks component and the Weblinks menu item view. The Weblinks table would need to be updated to accommodate the above information.
4. IMPACTS
None known.
5. DEPENDENCIES
Due to core changes, this component will likely only work with 1.5+
6. REFERENCES
The Bookmarks component has a decent level of functionality but it's a usability nightmare. An example of it's implementation is here:
http://www.playshakespeare.com/componen ... temid,606/
It's not compatible with Joomla 1.5 and may never be so there's a sizable user base looking for a 1.5 solution.