rwt-favorites
v1.0.24
Published
Site-specific favorites dialog, a standards-based DOM Component
Downloads
8
Maintainers
Readme
Premium DOM Component
Favorites
Site-specific favorites dialog
Motivation
When browsing for information, it's common to glance over page after page of "not quite what I'm looking for" stuff. When you finally discover the gem you're looking for, you naturally don't want to lose it.
Saving that page to your browser's list of favorites is a common way to keep track of important URLs. Unfortunately, the browser's list of favorites tends to get so cluttered over time that it's no longer useful.
This rwt-favorites DOM component is a way to give a similar functionality to your visitors, but on a local website basis. Users can save pages for later in-depth reading, or for follow-up work, or for ready reference. It is most useful on large websites.
In the wild
To see an example of this component in use, visit the BLUEPHRASE website and press F8 "Favorites". To understand what's going on under the hood, use the browser's inspector to view the HTML source code and network activity, and follow along as you read this documentation.
Installation
Prerequisites
The rwt-favorites DOM component works in any browser that supports modern W3C standards. Templates are written using BLUE PHRASE notation, which can be compiled into HTML using the free Read Write View desktop app. It has no other prerequisites. Distribution and installation are done with either NPM or via Github.
Download
Using the DOM component
After installation, you need to add four things to your HTML page to make use of it.
- Add a
script
tag to load the component'srwt-favorites.js
file:
<script src='/node_modules/rwt-favorites/rwt-favorites.js' type=module></script>
Add the component tag somewhere on the page.
- For scripting purposes, apply an
id
attribute. - Optionally, apply a
sourceref
attribute with a reference to a JSON file containing initial favorites. - And for WAI-ARIA accessibility apply a
role=search
attribute.
- For scripting purposes, apply an
<rwt-favorites id=favorites sourceref='/initial-favorites.json' role=search></rwt-favorites>
- Add a button for the visitor to click to show the dialog:
<a id=favorite-button title='Favorites (F7)'>★</a>
- Add a listener to respond to the click event:
<script type=module>
document.getElementById('favorite-button').addEventListener('click', (e) => {
document.getElementById('favorites').toggleDialog(e);
});
</script>
Customization
Preset favorites
The JSON file referenced by the sourceref
attribute is used to initialize the
local-storage area with "favorites" that you think are appropriate for
first-time visitors. It is only used the first time a visitor encounters this
component on any page in your website. It is ignored from then on.
The format for this JSON file follows this pattern:
[
{
"filePath": "/page1.html",
"title": "Page 1",
"description": "The most important feature of this website",
"star": true
},
{
"filePath": "...",
"title": "...",
"description": "...",
"star": true
}
]
Dialog size and position
The dialog is absolutely positioned towards the bottom right of the viewport.
Its size may be overridden using CSS by defining new values for --width
and --height
.
rwt-favorites {
--width: 70vw;
--height: 50vh;
--bottom: 1rem;
--right: 1rem;
}
Dialog color scheme
The default color palette for the dialog uses a dark mode theme. You can use CSS to override the variables' defaults:
rwt-favorites {
--color: var(--white);
--accent-color1: var(--yellow);
--accent-color2: var(--js-blue);
--background: var(--black);
--accent-background1: var(--medium-black);
--accent-background2: var(--pure-black);
--accent-background3: var(--nav-black);
--accent-background4: var(--black);
}
Internals
The visitor's favorites are stored in local-storage under the key favorite-data
.
Life-cycle events
The component issues life-cycle events.
Reference
License
The rwt-favorites DOM component is not freeware. After evaluating it and before using it in a public-facing website, eBook, mobile app, or desktop application, you must obtain a license from Read Write Tools .
Activation
To activate your license, copy the rwt-registration-keys.js
file to the root
directory of your website, providing the customer-number
and access-key
sent to
your email address, and replacing example.com
with your website's hostname.
Follow this example: