Linkboard - Web-based Link Management System

A modern dashboard for managing and organizing web links with advanced features for categorization, search, and user interaction.

Architecture

Backend

• Runtime: Node.js with Express.js Framework
• Database: SQLite with automatic schema initialization
• API: RESTful endpoints with CORS support
• Validation: Server-side input validation and sanitization
• Error Handling: Structured exception handling with HTTP status codes

Frontend

• Technology: Vanilla JavaScript (ES6+)
• Styling: Modular CSS with CSS Custom Properties
• Responsive Design: Mobile-first approach with Flexbox/Grid
• State Management: LocalStorage for user preferences
• API Communication: Fetch API with Promise-based error handling

Installation and Deployment

System Requirements

• Node.js >= 14.0.0
• npm >= 6.0.0

Setup

# Clone repository
git clone <repository-url>
cd linkboard

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Start development server
npm start

The application will be available at http://localhost:3000.

Production Deployment

# For production environment
NODE_ENV=production npm start

Feature Set

Core Features

• CRUD Operations: Complete link management (Create, Read, Update, Delete)
• Tag System: Hierarchical categorization with autocomplete functionality
• Search Function: Full-text indexing across title, URL, description, and tags
• Filtering: Tag-based filtering with combination capabilities
• Dual View: Switchable display between card and list view
• Theme System: Dark/Light mode with persistent storage
• Metadata: Automatic favicon extraction and note functionality

User Interaction

• Modal Dialogs: Contextual forms for link editing
• Confirmation Dialogs: Security prompts for destructive operations
• Keyboard Navigation: Full keyboard support (ESC, Enter)
• Loading States: Asynchronous operation feedback
• Toast Notifications: Status notifications for user actions

API Documentation

Endpoints

GET /api/links

Retrieves all links with optional query parameters.

Query Parameters:
- search: string (optional) - Full-text search
- tag: string (optional) - Tag filter

POST /api/links

Creates a new link.

{
  "title": "string (required)",
  "url": "string (required, valid URL)",
  "description": "string (optional)",
  "tags": "string (optional, comma-separated)",
  "notes": "string (optional)"
}

PUT /api/links/:id

Updates an existing link.

DELETE /api/links/:id

Permanently deletes a link.

GET /api/tags

Retrieves all available tags.

Database Schema

Links Table

CREATE TABLE links (
    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
    title TEXT NOT NULL,
    url TEXT NOT NULL,
    description TEXT,
    tags TEXT,
    notes TEXT,
    created_at DATETIME DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
    updated_at DATETIME DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);

Project Structure

linkboard/
├── server.js                 # Express server and API routes
├── package.json              # Project configuration and dependencies
├── package-lock.json         # Dependency lock file
├── index.html               # Single-page application entry point
├── css/
│   ├── base.css             # CSS reset and base styles
│   ├── layout.css           # Layout system and grid definitions
│   ├── components.css       # UI component styles
│   ├── dark-mode.css        # Dark theme variables
│   └── light-mode.css       # Light theme variables
├── js/
│   └── app.js              # Frontend application logic
├── notes/                   # Development documentation
└── links.db                # SQLite database file (auto-generated)

Configuration

Environment Variables

• PORT: Server port (default: 3000)
• NODE_ENV: Environment (development/production)
• DB_PATH: Path to SQLite database file

CSS Custom Properties

The theme system uses CSS Custom Properties for consistent styling:

:root {
  --primary-color: #007bff;
  --background-color: #ffffff;
  --text-color: #333333;
  /* ... additional variables */
}

Performance Optimizations

• Lazy Loading: Asynchronous loading of link metadata
• Debounced Search: Delayed search execution to reduce API calls
• Efficient DOM Updates: Minimal DOM manipulations through Virtual-DOM-like patterns
• CSS Optimization: Modular stylesheets with minimal redundancy

Security Aspects

• Input Sanitization: Server-side sanitization of all user inputs
• SQL Injection Protection: Prepared statements for database operations
• XSS Prevention: Escaping of HTML content in output
• CORS Configuration: Controlled cross-origin requests

Browser Compatibility

• Chrome/Chromium >= 60
• Firefox >= 55
• Safari >= 12
• Edge >= 79

Development

Code Standards

• ES6+ JavaScript with strict typing
• Modular CSS with BEM-like naming convention
• RESTful API design principles
• Semantic HTML5

Testing

# Run unit tests (if implemented)
npm test

# Linting
npm run lint

Roadmap

Planned Features

• Import/Export functionality (JSON, CSV)
• User authentication and authorization
• Link categories in addition to tags
• Bulk operations for multiple links
• Link preview with thumbnail generation
• API rate limiting
• Full-text search index optimization

Technical Improvements

• TypeScript migration
• Unit test suite
• Docker containerization
• CI/CD pipeline
• Performance monitoring