[sword-devel] Web Interface - Customization

[Chris Little]

On Fri, 28 Feb 2003, Don A. Elbourne Jr. wrote:

> I'm guessing that the ability to save preferences across sessions will
> require a user/login type of system where the preferences will be able
> to be saved in a database. Is this doable?

Logins and server-side storage of setting adds a lot of complexity to what 
is required of service providers.  You may get people who come by once, 
make some settings, and never or seldom return.  But their data may remain 
on the server forever.

What diatheke currently does (and what would be my recommendation) is just 
set cookies on the client.  Nothing is required of the server maintainer.  
If people disable cookies, the have to live without these features.  The 
only real drawback is that it doesn't work if you switch computers or do 
most of your work from different (e.g. public) computers.

A third possiblity, if we want to deal with it, might be to set up a 
single central preferences database, hosted by CrossWire.  This relieves 
3rd party server admins of the need to set up the database and provides 
the added bonus that, regardless of which server or which client you use, 
your server will always request and receive the same settings from 
CrossWire's server.  We can set it up as a web service that the 3rd party 
servers could query.

--Chris