Comments on: Annotated PDFs: My Interim Document Management Solution http://www.contentious.com/2005/10/12/annotated-pdfs-my-interim-document-management-solution/ Amy Gahran's news and musings on how we communicate in the online age. Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:14:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Alan http://www.contentious.com/2005/10/12/annotated-pdfs-my-interim-document-management-solution/#comment-37566 Alan Fri, 14 Oct 2005 19:58:14 +0000 #comment-37566 An interesting approach, but I'd be cautious about a solution that mixes the metadate (annotations) with the data itself (your PDFs) as if you discover a better approach down the line, you will have to re-create all the annotations. If it were me, as a geek, I'd likely roll my own mySQL database, create some front end web formats for uploading/searching files and annotations, etc. However, a readily built solution would be to create a new weblog that would be private (e..g put behind a password, make sure it is not indexed by Google). Each "post" could be your annotaions as the body of the post, and you can attach the files the same way you can do already in Wordpress. You could create categories to "tag" them with as well. It's already searchable, and this way you'd get free datestamping. You can get even finer levels of categorising using the Custom fields features of WordPress. In fact, you do not even have to put it on a webserver; you can install mySQL on your Mac, and run WordPress as a local application. I do all my web development on my Powerbook and can run any system locally (blog, database, cgi) that runs on my webserver. Weblog software is a reliable lightweight content management system, not just for diaries, eh? An interesting approach, but I’d be cautious about a solution that mixes the metadate (annotations) with the data itself (your PDFs) as if you discover a better approach down the line, you will have to re-create all the annotations.

If it were me, as a geek, I’d likely roll my own mySQL database, create some front end web formats for uploading/searching files and annotations, etc.

However, a readily built solution would be to create a new weblog that would be private (e..g put behind a password, make sure it is not indexed by Google). Each “post” could be your annotaions as the body of the post, and you can attach the files the same way you can do already in Wordpress. You could create categories to “tag” them with as well. It’s already searchable, and this way you’d get free datestamping. You can get even finer levels of categorising using the Custom fields features of WordPress.

In fact, you do not even have to put it on a webserver; you can install mySQL on your Mac, and run WordPress as a local application. I do all my web development on my Powerbook and can run any system locally (blog, database, cgi) that runs on my webserver.

Weblog software is a reliable lightweight content management system, not just for diaries, eh?

]]> By: Ethan http://www.contentious.com/2005/10/12/annotated-pdfs-my-interim-document-management-solution/#comment-37274 Ethan Wed, 12 Oct 2005 20:43:10 +0000 #comment-37274 Re: Notes covering up parts of the document, can this be toggled on/off as desired? I have never tried this feature with PDFs. Re: Notes covering up parts of the document, can this be toggled on/off as desired? I have never tried this feature with PDFs.

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