I'm back and I think I finally know how I'm going to proceed. However, I only just came to this verdict yesterday. During my vacation, I thought long and hard about it and was very confused. I actually became a bit discouraged, thinking that I might not be able to come to a solid decision. From the beginning, I've wanted Idea's structure to be solid and logical. I didn't want there to be anything left unsure about it. Fortunately, we're still on track.
If you haven't read my previous post, I'll update you. When ideas are linked to each other, the user will be able to attach some data to the links. It won't be limited to a simple caption. There can basically be an entire "idea" attached to it. These will act similar to standalone ideas. They will have a blueprint much like an idea type.
My dilemma had to do with how the blueprint was treated. Were the blueprints to be standalone and reusable? In other words, when you are creating a column in an idea type, would there be a list of link types to choose from? Or would the user create the link data fields from scratch every time he created a link column? I didn't know which method was best.
Yesterday, I stopped thinking like a programmer and decided to look at it from a user's perspective. If a single link type was used in multiple different idea types, the user could get confused. It would be much simpler to understand if each idea type was completely cohesive. While making them reusable could be nifty and save a little time, it would add complexity. Besides, creating the link types from scratch won't be too hard.
Long story short, creating them from scratch every time makes things more simple without removing any important functionality. Now that I have made my decision, I can comfortably move forward.
Hopefully next time I post, I can say that I've completed this step. Thanks for reading!
clevceo
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