case-sensitivity in tags: Firefox extension vs. web interface

[ace_noone]

Hello,

As a new user, I just realized that, while the del.icio.us service does
allow capital letters in tags (e.g. "CamelCase";
http://del.icio.us/fridemar/CamelCase), the Firefox extension*
(del.icio.us Bookmarks v1.5.44) displays all tags in lowercase
letters. Also, when using the tag auto-suggestion, tags are always
transformed to lowercase letters.

I understand (and agree) that case should not make a difference when
browsing tags - but it can make visualizing the list of tags much easier.

Are there any plans to fix this inconsistency?

Thanks!


* by the way: The initial Getting Started guide had me install the old
extension (del.icio.us buttons v1.2.1), which was quite annoying.

[Andrew Black]

Post by ace_noone
I understand (and agree) that case should not make a difference when
browsing tags - but it can make visualizing the list of tags much easier.

Funnily enough, I was discussing a similar issue with Flickr this
evening. I find it useful to enter long tags in Camel Case (in
Delicious and in other similar places like flickr) and it would be nice
if delicious were to allow me to use the tag in TheSameCaseAsIEnteredIt.

[Larson, Timothy E.]

Post by Andrew Black

Post by ace_noone
I understand (and agree) that case should not make a difference when
browsing tags - but it can make visualizing the list of tags much easier.

Funnily enough, I was discussing a similar issue with Flickr this
evening. I find it useful to enter long tags in Camel Case (in
Delicious and in other similar places like flickr) and it would be
nice if delicious were to allow me to use the tag in
TheSameCaseAsIEnteredIt.

When I use del, tag suggestions ARE TheSameCaseAsIEnteredIt. If you're
using an extension or a third-party interface, I dunno about that.
Maybe this is not exposed in the API. But I just click my "post to
del.icio.us" button and it works great.


Tim

[thefangmonster]

Post by Larson, Timothy E.

Post by Andrew Black

Post by ace_noone
I understand (and agree) that case should not make a difference when
browsing tags - but it can make visualizing the list of tags much easier.

[snip]

Post by Larson, Timothy E.

Post by Andrew Black
nice if delicious were to allow me to use the tag in
TheSameCaseAsIEnteredIt.

When I use del, tag suggestions ARE TheSameCaseAsIEnteredIt.

If you are using a tag for the very first time, all you have to do is
make sure to capitalize it correctly. Subsequently when you use that
tag, it will always "inherit" the right capitalization.

For tags you're already using, change their capitalization with the
"rename tags" feature (back up your bookmarks first).
1. Select an offending tag from the "old tag" drop-down menu.
2. Then enter the /same/ tag, properly capitalized, into the "one
or more new tags" field.
3. Click "replace tags."
After that, the tag will always show up with your preferred
capitalization, even on bookmarks you add later.

I speculate that, when del.icio.us displays one of your tags,
it grabs the earliest database entry for that tag, and prints that
string verbatim. That would explain why a tag always defaults to the
same capitilization as it had the first time you used it. And it
would also explain why you can change that "default" capitilization by
renaming the tag.

[Giacomo Lacava]

Post by thefangmonster
If you are using a tag for the very first time, all you have to do is
make sure to capitalize it correctly. Subsequently when you use that
tag, it will always "inherit" the right capitalization.

This might be right for the extension, but if you do it from the web,
every post will be saved with the exact capitalization used in the
post. E.g. if you tag one url as "ToDo", another as "todo", and then
retrieve the posts from the api, you will see the two different
capitalizations.

Plus, to me it looks like the list of tags retrieved by API is
incomplete; I always have to retrieve the actual posts to be sure to
have all the tags.

just my $0.02.

cheers

[ace_noone]

Post by Larson, Timothy E.
When I use del, tag suggestions ARE TheSameCaseAsIEnteredIt. If you're
using an extension or a third-party interface, I dunno about that.

The extension's author is "Yahoo! Inc.", and it is available from the
delicious site (http://del.icio.us/help/firefox/extensionnew) - so
it's not a third-party module.

However, it turns out that there is a separate group for this extension:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/delicious-firefox-extension/
So let's move this issue there then...

[ace_noone]

Post by Andrew Black

Post by ace_noone
I understand (and agree) that case should not make a difference when
browsing tags - but it can make visualizing the list of tags much easier.

Funnily enough, I was discussing a similar issue with Flickr this
evening. I find it useful to enter long tags in Camel Case (in
Delicious and in other similar places like flickr) and it would be nice
if delicious were to allow me to use the tag in TheSameCaseAsIEnteredIt.

Just to be safe: I'm totally with you on that.
What I meant in my original post was that "CamelCase" and "camelcase"
should be treated as the same when *retrieving* bookmarks (to prevent
confusion/fragmentation).

I've tried looking at the XPI's code, but it's a surprisingly complex
extension, so I couldn't find a simple way to fix this.