A couple of thoughts I had...

[srca1941]

I happened to think of a couple of things that could improve the site. One would probably be fairly easy to do, the other I'm not sure about, since I don't know how the site is coded.

1) A jump menu at the top of the home page for the different publishers. There are so many, it would make navigation easier than having to scroll all the way down the page. Likewise, there would be a return link from each publisher back to the top of the page.

2) A title sort to have a list of all of the titles represented on the site in alphabetical order, rather than by publisher. This is the one I think may be more difficult, but I'm sure people would find it useful. I know for myself, it would make things MUCH easier comparing my collection to what we have here to see what needs scanning. It may not be possible, or may be too difficult, but it's something I wanted to bring up to at least think about.

-Eric

[Yoc]

Hi Eric,
A master list of all titles on the site is something we've had on our 'to-do' list for a while now though there are some bigger bugs that should take precedent. 

I very much like the 'jump menu' suggestions.  I'm not a programmer so I've no idea how hard it would be to add but the site has gotten big enough to make getting around a pain sometimes.

There's a lot on the plate on DCM atm so I can't say ya or nay to either of these suggestions but we appreciate them.  I'll post them in the Staff Room for CaptDJ.

Thanks!

-Yoc

[srca1941]

Again, I don't know the structure of the site, but I would think anchors could be placed in the title or description areas of the publishers' information, and the jump menu could link to the anchors. If it could be done that way, it should be fairly easy to impliment. I know the content is dynamic, so I don't know if that would prohibit that method or not (I've never tried it with any of my sites), but it's a thought.

-Eric

[Yoc]

Each publisher is given a 'number' Eric.  Archives/Collections being #1.  The 'Latest 300' error link happened because I uploaded that CMjr book to category '0' and there IS none so it broke the php listing.
This is what I gather from CaptDJ who is our resident code master.  Adding any new categories could possibly bugger your anchors idea no?

[srca1941]

No, new categories wouldn't change anything. The anchor code would be put next to the publisher's name, and (using Ace as our example) would look like this (minus the asterisks which I’m adding so the board doesn’t read it as code):

<*a name="ace_comics" id="ace_comics"*><*/a*>Ace Comics

So you could name each publisher by its name, not a numeric value, and new categories wouldn't mess up anything.

The menu would link to Ace with this code:

<*a href="#ace_comics"*>Ace Comics<*/a*>

From my (limited) PHP experience, the home page is a separate template from the publisher records. The site’s PHP automatically populates the home page template with those records, so theoretically the anchor would exist for the link to point to, and all should work fine. But what SHOULD work doesn’t always. The idea also depends on if you can add html to the publisher records.

-Eric

[srca1941]

I used to know, but have forgotten, what software is used to run the site? If I could download it, I could make a mock-up and test it.

-Eric

[Yoc]

RWD was in the name but they walked away from it years ago.  (It's not the RWD you see pop up like crazy if you use Google.)  CaptDJ has fixed several bugs and added the Preview and auto cover thumbnail features.  It went open source but I know their web page went dead ages ago and I can't find a bookmark anywhere inside the app.  CaptDJ is the only one with access to the guts of the app, etc.
I've got the last open source version (pre CaptDJ fixes, etc) on my PC at home but I wont be back there until tomorrow at the earliest.
I'll try and get you a copy then by email.

[srca1941]

That jogged my memory, RW Download. I remember when it was discussed at some point in the past, I downloaded a copy, and I have it in my "Setup Files" folder. I have the files unzipped and uploaded to a test site. [Edit:] However, it looks like I need a pre-existing mySQL database to run it, so I can't work with any mock-ups right now.  

-Eric

[Yoc]

Ah, thanks for letting me know Eric.  I can't help you with the mySQL database problem though.  Only CaptDJ has access here.  If you get into it there's a long standing problem on GAC about not being able to add file types.  Because of that their Upload File link on the site wont accept files.  Even CaptDJ couldn't figure it out when we tried to help them months ago.  We tried to mirror the section from what we have on DCM's setup but it didn't help.  GAC can only allow uploading via their FTP connection.

-Yoc

[Captain DJ]

Will look at adding this as a feature this weekend.

[Yoc]

Capt has made a start on your requests Eric. 

[Yoc]

I have a number as of this moment all separate files be they different versions or whatever -
Total Comics: 11157

[jfglade]

I have a number as of this moment all separate files be they different versions or whatever -
Total Comics: 11157

 And, of course, that number will soon be exceeded if it hasn't already been. In a way, that's like someone wanting to know exactly how many hamburgers McDonalds has sold. Just call it "Over eleven thousand" and let it be. It's nice to get an update every month or two, but I don't see any real need for a tallywhacker to keep an exact count all of the time.

[srca1941]

The drop-down menu looks/works great! Thanks guys!

-Eric

[Captain DJ]

The drop-down menu looks/works great! Thanks guys!

-Eric

Hi Eric,

I added the feature but we have two possible routes it can work.

Either:
1. Like it does now when select a menu entry it jumps to that area on page
2. When you select a menu entry it opens that publisher page up for you automatically.

Since you requested this feature what way would you like it to work?