Following this topic:
And also trying to really understand what this actually means, because above that we already have the word “Restrict”:
Here’s my 2 cents:
The issue to me is that the confusion starts in the tag groups panel.
- Each tag group could have an option to make that group
exclusiveor not. What I mean by exclusive is that the group has to be explicitly in a category in order to be used. So basically, what this paragraph is saying “Tags and tag groups specified above will only be available in this category and other categories that also specify them. They won’t be available for use in other categories.” So, when I create a tag group, tick that option, and add the category/categories I want it to be exclusive to, I automatically know that the group won’t be available by default in any other categories. - When the word “Restrict” is used in each category’s Tags panel, that’s where it gets confusing. Does it mean that when I use those tags or tag groups, I’m restricting them to that category and no other category can use them? Because that’s what restrict means, even if that paragraph explains what it is. If we can still use those tags and tag groups, then that’s not what restricting means, even if the paragraph exists at the bottom. It’s just adding layers of confusion and misinterpretation.
- We have the “restrict” word on both tags and tag groups, but then we also have “Also allow other tags”. So what’s the point in restricting, when then we allow other tags? That’s confusing.
- Let’s say I have 50 categories. According to this: “Tags and tag groups specified above will only be available in this category and other categories that also specify them. They won’t be available for use in other categories.” that means that if I add a certain tag to a category, that means that automatically all other 49 categories will be restricted from that tag. With one action, I’m affecting 49 categories. If we change the behavior from “restrict” to “only show”, we only work on the categories and tags/tag groups we need to affect.
Here’s what I propose:
- Each tag group is just that, a group that contains tags, but we can make them exclusive or not to one or more categories.
- Maybe put all tags not being used by any group in a group called “Ungrouped” or something like that. Right now, there’s no easy way to see this anywhere. Being able to see tags that belong to one or more groups versus tags not in any group, would be helpful
- In each category, instead of “Restrict”, use something like “Only show these tags in this category”. So, instead of restricting, we are saying that only those tags are visible, not any other tag. Having tags in those dropdown menus have no influence on how those tags or tag groups behave in other categories.
- Why not merge the “Restrict these tags to the ‘XYZ’ category:” and “Restrict these tag groups to the ‘XYZ’ category:” dropdown menus? A single dropdown menu could take care of this. If I type “ABC” and there’s a tag with that name, it shows it as
#ABC. If there’s a group with that name it shows an icon before ABC so we know it’s a group. It can even show both, if both exist. - This eliminates the “Also allow other tags” and the confusion from having 2 dropdown menus for tags and tag groups.
- The user always rely on creating groups for tags that are exclusive to a particular category. They can also create groups just to group tags, to make it easier to add a bunch of tags without having to add them one by one.
- In the tag groups, all Exclusive tag groups would be either 1) separated by non exclusive groups, or 2) have an icon that shows they are exclusive
I hope this makes sense…?
Maybe this helps:
And since we set a certain tag group to a certain category (or multiple categories), those tag groups would be automatically shown in the Category. The user can then decide to keep it or remove it, even though it doesn’t make sense to remove it, if they just said it’s exclusive to that category, but… to each their own, right?