Advice for choosing correct architecture/tech for a hobby project

[Aseem Bansal]

I am working on a hobby project - a Bookmarker https://github.com/anshbansal/Bookmarker.

Basically bookmarks like in webbrowser stored in a app. The twist is storage by categories. I have spent some time on choosing the correct tech for making this project but it seems it would be better to take some advice on this after I went through this discussion on django forums https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/django-users/rSqSftkl5mg.


I want to be able to add bookmarks to the app through browser. I want a front-end from which I am able to browse the bookmarks. The browsing front-endshould have a search option(search for category) for filtering the bookmarks.

As per these requirements that I have framed so far I thought that a web framework would be a good choice and so I chose Django. The reason being the capability to add bookmarks through browser can be done easily through JavaScript. But I hit a snag today that webbrowser's won't allow client to openhyperlinks with file protocol. I have both offline and online bookmarks sothat was a problem for me.

Now I am at my experience's ends. I have spent 15-20 days' spare time trying to decide the technology and now this snag. Can someone advice on this? Am I using correct technology?

 

[John Gordon]

But I hit a snag today that webbrowser's won't allow client to open
hyperlinks with file protocol. I have both offline and online bookmarks
so that was a problem for me.

What do you mean by saying "webbrowser's won't allow client to open
hyperlinks with file protocol"? Of course they do.

My web browser works just fine with links such as this:

<a href="file:///C:/Users/gordonj/Documents/foo.html">foo.html</a>

 

[Mark H Harris]

I am working on a hobby project - a Bookmarker{snip}

hi, no django is not really the correct tool-set. Django is for
server-side content management, but who knows, you might come up with a
great hack (I don't want to discourage you). But, a straight python
trimmed down app would probably be better... what led you to django?

It seems from your descriptions, which don't make sense by the way, that
you are attempting to create your own 'browser' within your app (web
api) and you want to use a standard browser (like firefox or chrome) to
'front-end' the apps bookmarks. So, your app needs to be able to read
your browser's bookmarks file.

Browsers most certainly can read http:// https:// file:// etc. (and many
more). Your api may not be able to read local file:// urls, but I'm
skeptical about that (most web api(s) have no trouble with file:// either).

Provide some more info, somebody will help.


marcus

 

[Ian Kelly]

What do you mean by saying "webbrowser's won't allow client to open
hyperlinks with file protocol"? Of course they do.

My web browser works just fine with links such as this:

<a href="file:///C:/Users/gordonj/Documents/foo.html">foo.html</a>

It works if the document that contains the link is also opened from
the local filesystem, but browsers will refuse to follow the link if
it was served over http.

 

[John Gordon]

It works if the document that contains the link is also opened from
the local filesystem, but browsers will refuse to follow the link if
it was served over http.

Aha! I didn't know that. Now that I think about it, I suppose it makes
sense.

Perhaps the OP could write a separate application for handling local
files, something like:


<a href="process_local_bookmark.cgi?filename=/dir/foo.html">

 

[Ethan Furman]

I am working on a hobby project - a Bookmarker https://github.com/anshbansal/Bookmarker.

Take a look at delicio.us -- it seems to be a similar type of experience.

 

[Ian Kelly]

hi, no django is not really the correct tool-set. Django is for server-side
content management

That's a common misconception. Django is a feature-rich web framework
aimed at developing database-driven web apps. It's a popular choice
for implementing content management systems but is not at all limited
to that scope. It should be fine for the sort of app that the OP is
writing, although a bit on the heavy side.

 

[Aseem Bansal]

The project is not a browser but a app for managing the bookmarks. Only managing by categories. A replacement for the bookmarks made in webbrowser. I wanted to make bookmarks easier to use. Hierarchical structure of bookmarksgives a lot of problems. I wanted to solve that for my use.

 

[Aseem Bansal]

I know that there are many online ways to do what I am trying to do but this was something I wanted to make.

I have learnt Python myself and wanted to learn a way to make apps in Python. GUI development in Python has given a lot of headache while trying to find an appropriate framework with the addons(community, designer tool, documentation, open source etc.). The only nearly viable solution that I found was Kivy but the current project idea that I had was this bookmarker projectwhich needed to have a way to add bookmarks easily through browser so I settled on the most popular web framework present.