[wp-testers] Links aka Bookmarks

[Ryan Boren]

Kaf Oseo wrote:
> I'm still getting my head around the changes being implemented with
> Links/Link Categories so I'm holding off on passing any judgment,
> especially as I get much of the logic. However there's a few things
> which are pretty clear to me at this point:
> 
> 1. In regards to categories this is going to confuse a large number
> of the current WordPress user base. Not that they haven't gotten used
> to that.
> 
> I know, we can always educate them...

Well, let's discuss what's confusing about it.  So far, it's received 
mixed reviews, but so does everything.

> 2. Assuming this was not missed or just yet to be added, without
> Link Category options and formatting I consider get_links_list() and
> wp_get_links() to be broken, as they no longer work as advertised.

I'm going to add some upgrade code that pulls the old settings out of 
linkcategories and uses them in get_links_list and wp_get_links for back 
compat.  Of course, if the new widget code descends into WP core, the 
Bookmarks list configuration widget will tidily replace most of the 
options in linkcategories.  From my brief audit of themes, the only one 
of the old options that really had an impact on get_links_list() was the 
show description toggle.  It defaults to true in get_links() whereas 
many people turned it off with the linkcategories option.

Anyway, this is the links rework we've been talking about seemingly 
forever.  We finally got around to it the other day and iterated through 
a preliminary design and implementation.  See bug #2499.

http://trac.wordpress.org/ticket/2499

The main goal was to remove or at least clean up the Link Categories. 
They were full of formatting options, and the options were per link 
category rather than global.  Most templates ignore the formatting 
options because they want to control how things are layed out.  So, we 
have lots of per link category options that are largely being ignored. 
Since formatting is the domain of the template/theme, out the door those 
options go.

Since we already have a category system with lots of code behind it, 
unifying the post and link categories seemed appealing. A link2cat table 
  relates links to one or more categories, just like post2cat does with 
posts. Manage->Categories list how many posts and links/bookmarks are 
associated with each category.  By default, template functions hide 
categories that don't have any posts or links associated.  When listing 
links, categories that don't have links associated are not listed.  Same 
with posts.

Ryan