[vox] directories - too much of a good thing?

[Mark K. Kim]

I try to organize things depending on how it's organized in my head.

Generally, most things are organized by organization and chronologically.
Like photos and things.  "Ah, that thing I did when I was in high
school..." goes under "highschool/YYYYMMDD-thing_i_did/related_documents".
Because I remember it to be something I did in high school (an
organization), during a period in my life (1991 to 1996 was when I was in
high school.)  I add a little description to the date to let me know what
it was that I did on that day, just enough to jog my memory.

Here's an example:

   /1 (my archive directory)
   /1/orgs (different organizations I'm involved in)
   /1/orgs/ucd (university stuff)
   /1/orgs/ucd/19970128-ski_trip (my ski trip stuff, Jan 28, 1997)
   /1/orgs/ucd/19970128-ski_trip/photos/PIC000001.jpg
   /1/orgs/ucd/19970128-ski_trip/photos/PIC000002.jpg
   /1/orgs/ucd/19970128-ski_trip/photos/PIC000003.jpg
   /1/orgs/ucd/19970128-ski_trip/videos/VID000003.avi
   /1/orgs/ucd/19970128-ski_trip/docs/handout.doc
   /1/orgs/ucd/19970831-move (pictures when I moved, Aug 31, 1997)
   /1/orgs/ucd/19970831-move/photos/PIC000001.jpg
   /1/orgs/ucd/photos/19970128-ski_trip -> ../19970128-ski_trip/photos
   /1/orgs/ucd/photos/19970130-move -> ../19970831-move/photos
   /1/orgs/ucd/videos/19970128-ski_trip -> ../19970128-ski_trip/videos
   /1/orgs/ucd/docs/19970128-ski_trip -> ../19970128-ski_trip/docs

Notice the organization by dates, plus the descriptions in directory
names, just enough to tell me what it is, or at least narrow down the
possibilities.  Also notice the symlinks that lets me organize things in
multiple ways or find some document more quickly.  Symlinks can be a pain
to keep updated consistently, but in this organization they can be rebuilt
easily using a script program.

Certain things, however, should be organized differently.  Like projects
at work generally has some project name that everyone uses.  In that
case, everyone is using the project name, so you might as well use
the project name, too.  I still like to keep track of things
chronologically, though, so I'll organize things this way:

  /1/orgs/my_company_name/YYYYMMDD-project_name1/project_files

then maybe let a script organize things only by project names using
symlinks:

  /1/orgs/my_company_name/projects/project_name1 -> ../YYYYMMDD-project_name1
  /1/orgs/my_company_name/projects/project_name2 -> ../YYYYMMDD-project_name2

It also helps to organize things by how often you access them, like
keeping the recent projects in a shallow folder, then moving them later to
an archive directory when you don't need them anymore (notice above I put
everytng in my archives folder, "/1".)  But you do need to be strict with
yourself about organizing to make that work well.

Remember the files are organized so you can find it again.  When you look
for "cheese.doc" again in the future, what will be the first thing you'll
want to look under?  If all else fails, what keyword will you use with
`locate`, `find`, and `grep` to locate the document?  If that means you'll
put "cheese.doc" under the "yellow" folder, so be it.  Chronological
organization works for me, but perhaps organizing things by colors is the
way you think... it all depends on you!

-Mark


On Sat, 22 Mar 2003, Katie wrote:

>
> So, I've been using linux for about 3 months and the files in my home
> directory have been getting more and more disorganized.  I've been
> trying to organize them better, but in some instances to get to a file I
> have to go through 5 or more directories which isn't as convenient as I
> thought, especially when I start forgetting what the directories are
> called, oops. :-)  I guess I'd just like to hear from other people as to
> how they set up their file systems, what works best, what doesn't, the
> more directories the better, keep them few and general.  Or is there some
> nifty little trick that I've totally missed?
>
> Thanks
>
> Katie
>
>
> =====
> Only two things are necessary to keep a redhead happy.
> One is to let her think she is having her own way,
> and the other is to let her have it. :)
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
> http://platinum.yahoo.com
> _______________________________________________
> vox mailing list
> vox@lists.lugod.org
> http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox
>

-- 
Mark K. Kim
http://www.cbreak.org/
PGP key available upon request.