[PG-HQ Dev Blog] 2012 November Update

[Shad]

(link to previous month's blog)

Done Last Month:

After making very little progress in September, October turned out to be a huge month for site growth:

• the long-awaited Library upgrade went online
  
• the Developer Self Rating toggle was added
  
• a new section was added to the Library: PG Humans
  
• our Basic Search was rewritten and enhanced with a few new features
  
• four Tour of Duty medals were issued (I still need to hand out two more to get caught up)
  
• unit image coverage has increased from 66% to 75%
  
• image attachments in the forum now display full size
  

Current Major Project: Unit Images

Having just pushed through a bunch of major changes, I need a bit of a break from the code base and am turning to this long-ignored area of the Library. I really love our new Order of Battle trees, but hate seeing them without images, so I've been steadily chipping away at the gaps in our coverage this past week.

I expect we will hit 100% coverage by the end of November... looking forward to that!

[zovs]

Hey I just noticed that one of the best features of this site is now completely gone.

It used to be that for a newbie I could go to an expansion page and see all the relevant core games/or other expansions I needed to get in order to play the scenarios in that expansion. That was a brilliant feature for newbies and it helped show which core games/expansions I needed to get/save up for in order to play the most scenarios out of that expansion. Or which buying path to follow to get the most out of that expansion.

Will this be added back in?

If not then what a shame and for me at least the reduces the point of the main pages. I guess I sort of used it like a shopping helper.

[Shad]

Hey I just noticed that one of the best features of this site is now completely gone.

It used to be that for a newbie I could go to an expansion page and see all the relevant core games/or other expansions I needed to get in order to play the scenarios in that expansion. That was a brilliant feature for newbies and it helped show which core games/expansions I needed to get/save up for in order to play the most scenarios out of that expansion. Or which buying path to follow to get the most out of that expansion.

Will this be added back in?

If not then what a shame and for me at least the reduces the point of the main pages. I guess I sort of used it like a shopping helper.

You may not be the first to notice, but you're the first to say anything.

The game-level list was removed. There is now a scenario-level playability chart (see, for example, Secret Weapons #15).

The straight list of required games was not terribly helpful, so that's why it was removed. I'd like to replace it with something more detailed and visually pleasing. I'm still looking for a solution / waiting for inspiration to strike.

[zovs]

Got it thanks Shad.

[zovs]

Actually what I saw on that page is very nice, is that on all of them? I did not notice that before.

[Shad]

Actually what I saw on that page is very nice, is that on all of them? I did not notice that before.

That's part of the new Library structure so it's reasonable that you hadn't noticed it. The playability module is on every scenario page.

If you are not logged in/not a member it will just show what games are required and why.

If you are logged in before the page loads PG-HQ will peek at your collection and then customize that block to suit your situation.

**********

During my lunch break today I sketched out a worthy counterpart for the game pages that shouldn't be too hard to implement. I'll try and budget time for that over the next few weeks because I agree it's a very useful little feature.

EDIT -- now fully implemented, see here!