[Sigia-l] Tag separators in text fields - standardise please

[Paola Kathuria]

Web sites which allow tagging of content provide a long
text field which accept one of two delimiters:

space: phrases must be quoted: pencil pen "ink blotter" desk (Flickr)
space (no spaces in tags): pencil pen inkblotter, desk (delicious)
comma: pencil, pen, ink blotter, desk (Kaboodle)

However, most sites seem to be using commas as separators.

I can imagine how someone thought that commas were better because
a) they're normally how people write lists of things, b) quoting
requires the shift key and is c) unintuitive. However, because
there's no accepted standard, each time I register with a new web
site nowadays, I have some moments of using the wrong format and
end up with a sentence of tags.

I would like sites to standardise on a space delimiter, quoting
multi-word tags.

Here's my reasoning: I reckon that most tags are single word and
so NOT having to write commas between each would be easier and
quicker to type. This more than makes up for having to quote
uncommon multi-word tags.

I see that this has been discussed before:

   http://www.37signals.com/svn/archives2/tag_formats_cant_we_all_just_get_along.php
   http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20060212/2940/
   http://www.vimeo.com/forums/topic:5411


Paola
--
http://www.paolability.com/