This RFC describes the user interface in Manila's prefs system, news
items editor, and Frontier's Admin website for configuring the
Trackback feature. Please post any comments or questions you have to
the manila-dev mail list.

1. In the Frontier Admin site, on the Settings -> Manila -> Preferences
page, a new section, Trackback.

The section contains a single preference: "Check this box to enable
Trackback." If checked, then Managing Editors can choose in the prefs
for their site, whether to enable Trackback. It defaults to un-checked.

2. Site level preferences will be in a new Trackback section on the
News Items prefs page. There are three site-level settings:

Do you want to enable Trackback? -- default: No

Do you want to send outgoing pings automatically? -- default: No

Do you want to approve incoming pings automatically? -- default: No

Trackback link template (like comment link template).
Default: Trackback [{trackbackCount}]

3. A new macro for the News Items template, {trackbackLink}. If
Trackback is enabled, then this macro expands to a link with a count of
the Trackbacks for a given news item. If Trackback is disabled, then
the macro expands to the empty string.

4. A page which displays Trackbacks when the Trackback link is clicked.
It uses a pop-up window, just like the comments page. Only Trackback
pings which have been approved either automatically, or by hand will
appear in this pop-up window.

5. Trackback user interface on the Edit News Item page:

Here's a screenshot of a mock-up of this section of the Edit News Item
page:

http://jake.userland.com/images/trackbackUI.gif

There are four checkboxes for item-level Trackback settings, a text
area for entering URLs to ping manually, and links for displaying
incoming and outgoing pings. Here are the options:

-- Enable Trackback for this news item -- checkbox, default to
site-level setting (unchecked).

If checked, the Trackback link will appear on the home page, Manila
will include the necessary RDF snippet for auto-discovery, and it will
record incoming pings for the News Item.

-- Send outgoing pings automatically -- checkbox, default to site-level
setting (unchecked).

If checked, the text of the News Item is scanned for URLs and Manila
will attempt to ping each URL.

-- Approve incoming pings automatically -- checkbox, default to
site-level setting (unchecked).

If checked, Manila will automatically approve incoming pings, and they
will appear in the Trackback pop-up window without user intervention.

-- Email notification -- checkbox, default to checked.

If checked, Manila will send email to the author of the news item when
a ping is received. The email will include information about the ping,
and a link to the

-- URLs to ping -- Small text-area for entering URLs to ping manually
when the News Item is posted

-- incoming pings -- a link, which takes you to the Trackback approval
page. See #6 below.

-- history -- a link which takes you to a page listing all of the
previously sent outgoing Trackback pings for this news item.

6. A new page for approving or deleting incoming Trackbacks. This page
lists all incoming pings for a given news item. Each ping is a link to
the post which sent the ping.

Next to each is a pair of radio buttons for approve/delete (default is
to for neither to be selected). At the bottom of the page is a Submit
button for submitting changes. After submitting changes, you're
redirected back to the Edit News Item page.

Only approved incoming pings are displayed in the Trackback pop-up
window linked to from the news item on the home page.

Please post your comments or questions in response to this message.

Thanks,
-Jake