auto-url-summary

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An auto-url-summary is brief, human-readable text generated automatically from the parts of a URL, often using special knowledge about the URL structures at particular domains, as a way to provide a summary of what the URL is about, instead of (or before) accessing the URL itself and reading the microformats there for more information.

Why

In general auto-url-summary is useful when for some reason it is not possible (or not desirable) to retrieve the URL and parse it for microformats to generate an actual summary. Some reasons:

simpler to code
offline support
user preference to minimize indirect loading, e.g. performance considerations for a low bandwidth connection, or perhaps privacy
text placeholder while lazy loading the URL
no easily discernible information at the URL itself, e.g. it returns apparent gibberish, a binary format, random JSON/XML/etc.

Specific use-cases where this is useful:

Minimal reply context

An auto-url-summary can be used to generate a minimal text reply context.

Link preview

Similarly, an auto-url-summary may be used to provide a text-only link preview.

IndieWeb Examples

Tantek

Tantek Çelik has been generating and displaying auto-url-summaries in in-stream minimal text reply contexts since 2018-02-19 using an experimental CASSIS function: auto_url_summary (selfdogfooding on his own site)

... more ...

Feel free to add your site if you also use auto-url-summary anywhere in your personal site / posting UI, and note since when.

Open Source

PHP

See the CASSIS experimental auto_url_summary function for a start at a decent (and selfdogfooded) open source auto_url_summary implementation for PHP&JS.

Python

IndieWeb Utils has implemented a variant of the CASSIS auto_url_summary in Python. View the IndieWeb Utils documentation for this function.

Brainstorming

English design

Copied from minimal text reply contexts:

if URL is a tweet permalink of user aaronpk,
@aaronpk’s tweet
else if URL is a Github issue comment permalink (github.com/owner/xyz/issues/n#issuecomment-m),
a comment on issue #n of GitHub project xyz
else if URL is a Github issue (github.com/owner/xyz/issues/n),
issue n of GitHub project xyz
else if URL is a Github repo or issues list (github.com/owner/xyz or github.com/owner/xyz/issues optional trailing /),
GitHub project xyz
else
URL

Feel free to expand with suggestions for other domains / URL patterns.

CASSIS auto_url_summary improvements

Some ideas I had for improving the CASSIS auto_url_summary function. - Tantek Çelik

Bool param: solo recognized only, default false

recognize nicknames-cache primary domain, get text name (rather than account path / alias), and use that for
name’s post
(or tweet for @-names etc.)

These brainstorms may be more relevant on reply-context, but keeping here for now in context of other auto-url-summary related improvements.

use as a fallback for h-cite parsing (especially of an in-reply-to h-cite on a post), if the h-cite lacks an explicit p-summary and p-name. E.g.
- Parse & load in-reply-to h-cite
- explicit summary if any
- explicit name if any
- If neither then imply name
- Display:
  - name -> "post"
  - else summary -> "note"

Display: first check if h-cite has in-reply-to -> "reply"

Attempt loading of in-reply-to URL
- Retrieve reply-context h-cite at publish preview time
- Cache reply-context h-cite at post time
- Load additional h-cite fields
  - Author: name, photo, url

Why