Feedback Urgently Requested: FT Published Product List Reorg

[FreeTrav]

Currently, the various lists of published Traveller products are sorted principally by the name of the publisher. However, due to some ... well, frankly, carelessness ... on our part, we have some listings where multiple publishers are listed on the same page, because the products in question are all connected to the same version of Traveller.

That brings us to the question: Should we clean up our listings according to the current arrangement, and remove sublicensed publishers to their own pages, OR...

Should we rearrange the entire section based on the VERSION OF TRAVELLER, with all of the publishers and their products being listed on the same page, OR...

Is there another organization method you'd recommend?

(This topic has the potential to cause a lot of traffic. While I have absolutely no objection to public debate and feedback on the topic, if you feel that it's more appropriate NOT to debate it in public, feel free to send your comments to me directly at editor@freelancetraveller.com. This has been posted to the TML, to the Mongoose Traveller Forum, and do Citizens of the Imperium. If you feel it should be posted elsewhere, feel free to do so, and let me know.)

 

[AndrewW]

I see no reason not to use both. Link the products to the publisher and the version of Traveller it is for. Let the user browse a list of publishers or go by Traveller version and can sort by publisher under the Traveller version.

 

[FreeTrav]

I'd actually thought of this possibility - essentially, build a database of published products, and let the user, via either links or a search, choose what s/he wants to see. That's actually GOING to happen someday, if I can figure out a useful way of doing the database without requiring a Real Database Server on the backend.

This is sort of an interim reorganization query.

 

[BP]

If you want to avoid a DBMS you could use a spread sheet to maintain the various ordered lists and just paste into your HTML for the time being... (Excel/Open Office equivalents + I use PFE32 - a free editor that is old, but has an awesomely simple record/playback feature that is great for taking an ordered list and formatting it for say an HTML table...)

And XML exports would allow quite a bit of flexibility (though a bit too ugly for manual editing) if you want to go that route...

Just some thoughts...

 

[FreeTrav]

BP, you're missing the point - I have no trouble currently with maintaining a list, except that I often don't KNOW what's available - for example, I discovered today, after posting the latest update, that there's a HELL of a lot more from Comstar than I was aware of; I'll have to do another update this weekend to add them in. (I also spent a hell of a lot at DTRPG, but that's not relevant to this thread! :lol: )

The 'database question' is for a 'database' ON THE FREELANCE TRAVELLER SITE, so that you can (initially) click on a link for "All Classic Traveller Releases" and get that, or "All GDW Releases" and get THAT, and yet something like "Classic Traveller Alien Module 1: Aslan" only has to be entered (by me) ONCE, with appropriate 'tags', and it automatically will appear on all relevant lists when queried. Eventually, there would also be a 'full search' option, so that you could query for 'Classic Traveller AND Deckplans AND Civilian', and get a list of products for Classic Traveller that have deckplans for civilian ships.

It's THAT functionality that I want to avoid SQL or ODBC for, because having to run a DBMS backend on the site makes UPDATING the list(s) more difficult.

 

[saundby]

I vote version first, with publishers listed on that version's page.

 

[BP]

BP, you're missing the point - I have no trouble currently with maintaining a list, except that I often don't KNOW what's available - for example, I discovered today, after posting the latest update, that there's a HELL of a lot more from Comstar than I was aware of; I'll have to do another update this weekend to add them in. (I also spent a hell of a lot at DTRPG, but that's not relevant to this thread! :lol: )

The 'database question' is for a 'database' ON THE FREELANCE TRAVELLER SITE, so that you can (initially) click on a link for "All Classic Traveller Releases" and get that, or "All GDW Releases" and get THAT, and yet something like "Classic Traveller Alien Module 1: Aslan" only has to be entered (by me) ONCE, with appropriate 'tags', and it automatically will appear on all relevant lists when queried. Eventually, there would also be a 'full search' option, so that you could query for 'Classic Traveller AND Deckplans AND Civilian', and get a list of products for Classic Traveller that have deckplans for civilian ships.

It's THAT functionality that I want to avoid SQL or ODBC for, because having to run a DBMS backend on the site makes UPDATING the list(s) more difficult.

Actually that is exactly what I was referring to - maintain your one list and create multiple sorted lists from it - user selects 'BY EDITION', 'BY PUBLISHER', 'BY WHAT FREETRAV LIKES BEST' :wink: - whatever columns you have defined.

Then use HTML tagging (#s) to allow direct drill down into the list from simple index (which can also be created directly from the spreadsheet).

This would

• Organize your data in an easily maintainable format
• Provide multiple views of your data with almost no effort
• Allow you to share your list as a download
• Be extensible to porting to a DBMS later for realtime updates and actual queries.

If I were doing this in Excel - I would have one sheet to maintain for my complete list; two sheets per view (one for index and one for sorted list). Then when I wanted to update the website it would take 2 copy and paste operations from Excel workbook to the site html per view. Simple - easy to maintain, quick to update and highly extensible.

From your site index is the only place I found this listing... it would take a little work to turn it into a spreadsheet (but nothing hard - just copy pastes) - and definitely be worth it if your long term goal is to place the data in a database.

PM me if you would like help setting this up. Once setup you should be able to do this yourself very easily - and it would be easier than what I actually see that you have today (and as a benefit you could easily avoid duplicate listing and the like).

BTW - nice website I have been there many times over the years - THANKS!

 

[FreeTrav]

Actually that is exactly what I was referring to - maintain your one list and create multiple sorted lists from it - user selects 'BY EDITION', 'BY PUBLISHER', 'BY WHAT FREETRAV LIKES BEST' :wink: - whatever columns you have defined.

Again, this is fine for my own PC where I keep the master copy of the site - what I'm talking about is what YOU see on the hosting server - I never work on the live site; I modify my master copy then upload the changes. Ideally, I keep the master list, and simply update it, and then upload the freshly-modified version to the site so that when YOU click on a link, it interrogates and presents you with the results.

Having Excel or Access on my PC generate the pages doesn't actually solve the problem I'm looking at - there are still multiple pages that will need to be updated - or in this model, regenerated - each time I update the "master database". I'm looking to avoid that, because it's just one more place where things can get forgotten or out-of-sync.

From your site index is the only place I found this listing... it would take a little work to turn it into a spreadsheet (but nothing hard - just copy pastes) - and definitely be worth it if your long term goal is to place the data in a database.

It's linked from the FAQ in the Information Center.

BTW - nice website I have been there many times over the years - THANKS!

Thank YOU - feedback is essentially the only external reward I get; knowing that the community appreciates the site is major egoboo for me.