[Major Update] Library 2.0 is Live

[Shad]

The New Library is Now Online.

First, I'd like to thank Peter Lloyd for his extremely hard work on the Formations. I also need to thank Robin Rathbun who is responsible for the new AFV Rules module that pops up as needed on Game, Scenario, and Unit pages.

Second, some brief background info: the new version of the Library is intended to show more relevant information, be easier on the eyes, and load faster. Some things have been removed. Many things have been redesigned. Some things have been added.

Third, this update represents about 90% of my original goals for upgrading the Library. It got to the point where this was threatening to drag on forever, so I drew a line in the sand and decided that enough was enough for now. If I promised you features in the past that are not in this update, I'm sorry, all I can say is we had to prioritize.

Highlights

• OOBs are now graphics-driven
  
• Play Balance Data for overall, solo, and shared plays can be found on Game and Scenario pages
  
• Scenario Playability is calculated based on your collection, assuming you are logged in of course
  
• Tour of Duty Recipients are featured more prominently, as is each ribbon
  
• Your Scenario Rating is listed in the scenario list when you have one
  

There are lots of other tweaks which you may discover at your leisure.

Now for the not-so-fun stuff:

Known Issues / Bugs

Many units have no image - I know, I'll work on this next. I have lots of uncategorized unit images sitting on my hard drive waiting to be uploaded. Let me get caught up first and then we can set to chasing down those I don't have at all.

Using the Prev / Next arrows in the Library lead to a black hole (sometimes) - I just found this bug this morning. So far as I can tell it only affects the Unit section. I will address it in time.

Formation Appearance Numbers are whack - the code counting formation appearances is flat broken. The only thing that should be considered accurate on the Library > Formation page is the OOB tree. (again, thanks Peter!) Everything else is still buggy and under examination.

Some Formations take a LONG time to load or fail to load - this is a new area for us, and will require some serious optimization. Please bear with our growing pains.

Scenario Want-to-Play / In Progress Tool looks out of place - clearly I just kinda slapped it up there. While it remains perfectly functional, I will redo the visual element to better fit with the direction the site is headed in that respect.

How do I submit new Errata? - right now you need to email me directly. I will re-add the auto-submission tool in the not-too-distant future.

Feature X has been removed. I liked Feature X! - tell me in this thread and we'll review why it was removed (perhaps even accidentally) and whether it should be re-added.

The Alignment/Layout for Page ___ on my browser is screwed-up - please post your computer and browser details and a description of what's not right. Even better, please also post a screenshot.

I have opinions! - great, share them below!

[plloyd1010]

First run looks good. I presume it is a first run, because you are talking about issues & bugs.

I see a couple user problems, mostly because of really long lists.

Firstly, units is in need of an index or sorting option. Perhaps filter check boxes like you have for the scenario search. Start with the full list, but then restrict it by armored or not, Type, movement type, and so forth.

Formations, expansion menus by country comes to mind. So a list of countries and perhaps top level entries. Click on one and it expands the list. I'm also a little surprised about my notes. i thought they would have appeared more like the errata entries.

[campsawyer]

Shad, Looks great. One minor question regarding the unit counters when looking at the scenarios. It seems on the German OoB it pulls some images of desert troops and other the regular gray units. The 81mm mortar seems to have this happen the most. Why is that?

[Shad]

It seems on the German OoB it pulls some images of desert troops and other the regular gray units. The 81mm mortar seems to have this happen the most. Why is that?

There's no reasoning behind it.

Unit images are numbered sequentially for a given unit. The OOB trees grab the first image for each unit.

If the first image is a desert pattern, that just means that the desert version was the first image categorized as belonging to that unit. Probably by Tracey Love, as he did most of them a long time ago. It's trivially easy for me to reorder them if the consensus is they should be a certain way.

[campsawyer]

It seems on the German OoB it pulls some images of desert troops and other the regular gray units. The 81mm mortar seems to have this happen the most. Why is that?

There's no reasoning behind it.

Unit images are numbered sequentially for a given unit. The OOB trees grab the first image for each unit.

If the first image is a desert pattern, that just means that the desert version was the first image categorized as belonging to that unit. Probably by Tracey Love, as he did most of them a long time ago. It's trivially easy for me to reorder them if the consensus is they should be a certain way.

Shad, as said it is minor and most people are looking at the unit rather than the colors.

[larry marak]

I'm not getting o.b.s or errata, I see the display buttons, but nothing works.

[plloyd1010]

Odd, I clicked on them and the window opened. I use Firefox, are you on IE?

[Hugmenot]

The buttons work with Windows Internet Explorer Version 7.0.5730.13 and Google Chrome Version 22.0.1229.94 m.

I suspect Larry's browser has Active Scripting Disabled.

To check your setting in Internet Explorer:
1. Select Internet Options from the Tools menu. This will open a Window titled Internet Options.
2. Select the Security tab.
3. Click Custom Level button. This will open a Security Settings - Internet Zone window.
4. Scroll down (about 90% down) until you see Scripting on the left. The next option immediately below should be Active scripting and should present three choices: Disable, Enable, and Prompt.

Can you tell us what settings is selected in your browser, Larry?

[larry marak]

Initialize & script ActiveX not marked as safe [disabled]

[larry marak]

Active Scripting shows enabled