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FileSystemAlternatives got my gears rolling. (See PageAnchor Top4726 in that topic.) After struggling trying to find a sufficiently-flexible WCMS recommendation for a customer, who chewed out our team for being too rigid, I've been kicking ideas around for something more organic than the existing tools. I'm providing a semi-concrete description in order to trigger a friendly debate about what, how, and why should be included and/or excluded.

Here is a starting/draft "god record" for object attributes for reference:
* Domain  // name-space domain
* ID  // auto-key
* parentID
* title
* type // object type. Possible values are as follows:
** "content"  // similar to a file
** "folder"   // this object is a "parent" to a set of other objects
** "link"     // serves as a link to another object (via URL/URI)
** "related"  // "See also", suggested links to similar or related objects/folders
** "other"    // custom or misc. Generally treated the same as "content" if special handling not applied or known
* subType     // custom or type-specific sub-type
* synopsis
* content     // file content or data bytes
* contentType // generally is the file extension 
* contentSubType // implementation- or content-specific
* category    // implementation- or content-specific 
* criteria    // query text. See note about "queried links".
* linkPath    // URL or URI
* thumbnail   // path to image
* byLine      // sub-title or small text often found in news summaries, such as city name and/or date
* displayDate  // display-date/time. Often same as modifDate, per convention. "Soft error" if missing.
* createDate
* modifDate
* origAuthior
* modifAuthor
* template // default "synopsis" display template for self, leave blank to inherit
* childTemplate // default "synopsis" display template for sub-items
* priority   // Numeric, generally higher values mean higher priority
* sequence   // Numeric sequence number, if applicable
* custom01..custom10 // 10 custom text columns (Specific implementations may add more)
* status
* hideType 
** "Draft" - only the author or designated reviewers can see
** "System" - system file/object that is intended only for technicians or a system
** "Work" - working files intended for authors or designers, not general viewers
** "Other" - hidden for custom use
** "None" or blank - Normal, all can view
* priceEst  // for quick-and-dirty online catalogs or price search engines
* shippingEst
* taxEst
* currency  // currency domination, such as "Yuan", "Dollar", etc.
* keyWords  // alternative search words
* [more coming]

For "link" and "related" types, if there is text in the "criteria" field, it's considered a "content query" as described in the "DOS-like" example on FileSystemAlternatives. If there is also a path in "linkPath", an error or warning is triggered. (We probably don't want a "hard" error; for web/organic philosophy is "limp" in LimpVersusDie.)


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Notes

An author or WCMS can generally use the predefined columns for whatever they want to, with the caveat that generic tools/settings won't necessarily recognize custom uses.