Here is a summary of the feedback we have received about Shelf on this forum and from users of the project for which we developed Shelf. Also included are our notes about each suggestion.
Add different icons for different filetypes
We have decided to implement this as it would improve Shelf's usability. We plan to add icons for DOC, XLS, PPT, PDF, GIF/JPG, and ZIP. Other filetypes will be displayed by the generic icon.
Ability to upload multiple file at one time
After some discussion we decided to implement this. The user will be able to select 10 or 20 files on a single form and upload all of them. The file-related information will still have to be entered manually. This feature will allow a user to start the upload multiple files and then go do something else.
Students can upload their own files
We decided against implementing this at this time. We felt that for our projeect limiting uploads to the moderator/teacher helps keep the shelf organized. Students/participators can upload files in other ways e.g. the online forum, and as an assignment. Based on our clients needs, we may re-evaluate this feature in the future.
Students have permissions for certain files
This feature would require some effort to develop so we decided not to pursue it at this time as we don't have a need for it at this moment.
Make shelf files searchable
This would be a useful feature but we don't need this for our project at this time. We don't plan to develop it right now but if someone else would like to take on the task, we would be happy to help. It would be useful to have as a configurable preference.
Use moodle's filestore
We wanted to keep Shelf separate from Moodle's filestore by design so that the two don't clash. However, a script to automate importing files from the Moodle filestore to Shelf might be useful for those that already use Moodle's filestore. This is not a feature we need for our current project so we don't intend to implement it at this time. Anyone interested in developing an import script?
Public/private shelves
We don't want to allow users to create private shelves as there is the possibilty of abuse. If this was to be implemented, we would also have to worry about quotas. We don't plan to use Shelf as a private respository.
Shelves more than one level deep
Our project specifically requried a shelf to be one level deep so we don't plan to implement this at this time. However, it would be a useful feature. If someone is interested in working on this please let me know.
We plan to release a new version of Shelf soon that includes the first two features mentioned in the above list.