2-way links

[wordmuse]

I don't know if this is even possible, but it would be so cool if you could create it.

2-way internal links - where I create a link from one item to another item and in the other item a link appears at the very end of the item linking back to the originating item. The look of the link should be a little different from a regular one-way link.

I'd like to be able to establish more than one two-way link to a given item. For example, I might have an item that is used on multiple projects.

Ideally, I'd be able to differentiate between an outbound link and the returning link. I think this could be a very easy thing to visually imagine:

==> central item | project 1 item
central item | project 1 item ==>

==> central item | project 2 item
central item | project 2 item ==>

etc.

This would provide a very elegant way to set up a "central area" that could be accessed from many project areas without having to think about how to "get back" to the project area proper.

- Bal

[quant]

I'm not sure I completely understand your suggestion.
I think it might be close to the "links pane" I suggested some time ago, ie. one should be able to see all the items that have internal link(s) to the current one ... at the moment this is possible to do by creating a search for item title (if you don't change links name), I do this for my library items for finding all the places where my library item is referenced.

[wordmuse]

could you elaborate on your method please? It sounds like it might work for me.

Thanks.
- Bal

[quant]

Example:
I have library with library items.
Say I have an article "Nice Article by Good Author"
Now I work on 2 projects, and in both of them I use some ideas from "Nice Article by Good Author", so I create internal links in both projects linking back to "Nice Article by Good Author".

Now, ideally, when I'm at "Nice Article by Good Author", I think I should be able to see all items where I cite "Nice Article by Good Author". I think the best way to do it is by having "Internal Links Pane" (in the same way we have for example "Item Parents Pane" where we can see all parents of the current item).

As this is not possible at the moment, I create search item as a child of "Nice Article by Good Author", searching for the text matching the current item title. It's not elegant, but works (with some limitations).

The "internal links pane" should be easy to create, cause the hyperlinks contain itemID, so "internal links pane" would basically be a search on hyperlinks where itemID matches the current itemID.

Is it close to what you are suggesting?
I think we keep repeating ourselves ;-)
http://www.kinook.com/Forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3162&highlight=links+pane

[wordmuse]

What you are showing is something similar to what I'm already doing. What I am asking for is a two-way link inline within the items themselves. I create a doorway link from item B to item A and inside item A is a doorway link going back to item B - automatically. If I create a doorway link from item C to item A, then a reciprocal link is immediately created within item A to item C.

Thus within each of items B and C will exist a link to item A. And item A will automatically have reciprocal links to items B & C. Very precise, very elegant, without any visible dependency on searching.

[quant]

ok, so we are basically suggesting the same thing with one difference:

you suggest the link in the originating item to be created at the end of it, which might not be defined (if it's of document template) + would be a hassle for a long item cause you would need to scroll to the end of the item ;-)

Instead, I suggested this link to be created in the "Links pane" which would be in line with say "Parents Pane".

Maybe I'm still missing sth, can you explain what could be advantage of having the link in the originating item at the end of it?

[wordmuse]

Good discussion...

Don't get me wrong. I like your way too. I see this as a "this and that" set of suggestions, not an either-or.

What we get from my way is that inline links could hopefully link to places within an item.

Notetab Pro has this. You can create hyperlinks and specify where in the destination text you want to end up. I like that; sort of like using the HTML #bookmark feature, as in
http: //mypage.com/page.html#bookmark

What I am suggesting is that the #bookmark be a reciprocal link so that clicking on it takes you right back to where you were within the text of the originating item.

Advantage: a 10 page document. 5½ pages into the document you realize that you are talking about something found in another document. You initiate the two-way link. You go to the other item (i.e., the other document) and go ¾ of the way down and tell URP4 to "finish" the two-way link. Now - no matter how you get to either spot in either item, you've got a doorway. A very precise doorway. You could have multiple doorways at a single sentence, or at different parts of a paragraph, etc.

So - like this:

Marshall went to the store [#1start] and bought 3 ducks and a fire hose [#3end]. Then he went to the restaurant and had a beer with his friends from [#2start] Yoyodyne.

#1start would perhaps take you to information about the store at #1end.

#3end would obviously be a link to something else, but you can't really identify a context from a destination link. It's there, and you could check it out, but usually, you'd be going from #starts to #ends and using #ends mainly to return to #starts.

#2start would be similar to #1start, except this time taking you to somewhere in a text relevant to the discussion about Yoyodyne.

Hopefully this is clearer than mud. :)

Regards,
Bal