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The Alphabetization of the Avatar Galleries

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Lemurian from Touhou fanboy attic Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
#1: Jul 3rd 2011 at 9:52:39 AM

First of all, let me express my gratitude for the division into pages. I'm very glad that a solution to big galleries has been found without the installation of an upper limit to the number of avatars. As a member with a gargantuan gallery of his own; thank you, Fast Eddie.

...but you also said that we should make a Tech Wishlist post if there were any problems. And there is one thing that is proving to be a problem with the new galleries: the alphabetization. The old one-page galleries were in chronological order, with the oldest on top and the newest on the bottom.

I think I speak for a lot of the frequent users of the Gallery-function when I say that the alphabetization of avatars is making things a lot more difficult for the browsing and sharing of avatars.

First of all, the chronological setup meant that new avatars were on the bottom, which made it easy for tropers that wished to request freshly made avatars from other tropers. The alphabetization means that new avatars arrange themselves to stand in completely different parts of the gallery, which is an issue even for those without gargantuan galleries.

The second problem is related, with that certain "batches" of avatars are now spread all over the place. Those of us that have uploaded certain avatars in order so that they would be easy to find in a chronologically ordered gallery are now faced with the problem of those same avatars now being all over the place due to them not having filenames that are adjacent.

The third problem concerns what happens when we receive shared avatars. The positive sides of an alphabetized gallery is that avatars with similar names stand next to each other. However, very few tropers employ the same naming standards concerning avatar-creation. That means that while two avatars made by different tropers may contain the same character or theme, they will be spread far apart due to the two persons naming them differently.

I am sure the alphabetization of the avatar galleries was done with the thought of making them easier to browse. However, the way that galleries have ended up being organized in the time we've had the option of galleries, the cons of the alphabetization outweigh the pros.

There have already been certain suggestions to fixing these problems, while still keeping the page-system.

One is to return to the system of avatars being organized chronologically again, but still divided into pages. This means that those used to the old system in their big galleries will be back to browsing their galleries in a way that is orderly to them, while those with small galleries will experience little in the way of change. It will also mean that new avatars will return to being in the end of the gallery, where it is easier for tropers to find and request avatars from other users.

This is also favourable when you take into account that the forum profile editor still lists avatars in the old, chronological order. That means that, unless this changes, the procedure of changing avatars will depend on a different organization of avatars than the gallery.

Another solution is to give us a way of renaming or rearranging avatars. Like I said earlier, an alphabetized gallery depends on a consistent naming-method, which is impossible with varying personal naming-conventions. Also, very few users are used to having to find their avatars by name, instead focusing on time of uploading.

If an alphabetized gallery is to work, we will need a way to personally arrange it in an orderly fashion to optimize browsing. As things stand, the only way of arranging avatars is to download the avatars, rename them on the computer and then re-upload them. This is an inconvenient way that demands a lot of work of those interested in truly utilizing the new alphabetization.

So, to make the alphabetical order truly work, we would need a feature that allowed us to rename the avatars or organize them personally without having to remove and re-upload them to the server.

In summary: the alphabetized avatar galleries are a great hindrance compared to how the chronological galleries worked. As of writing, two solutions have been suggested: the return of the chronological organization or the implementation of a reorganizing feature. As I am not a technically oriented person, I do not know which is easiest. But at least now it's been said, and the thread is open for other ways to fix this issue.

And again, thank you very much for the pageination, Fast Eddie. [smile]

Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!
annebeeche watching down on us from by the long tidal river Since: Nov, 2010
watching down on us
#2: Jul 3rd 2011 at 9:59:06 AM

Definitely seconding the rearranging or renaming.

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.
Zudak Since: Dec, 1969
#3: Jul 3rd 2011 at 10:17:32 AM

Three improvements I feel could be made:

  • The ability to select alphabetical or chronological ordering
  • The ability to select a particular page from something like a drop-down menu, instead of having to click through 56 pages or however many to get to the later stuff
  • The numbers that show up next to each avatar reset to zero with each new page, they should continue instead so it's easier for people to find or request certain ones. (IE, 'could you please share #236 with me?')

What's been done so far is fantastic, I can look at Lemurian or Balmung's avatar galleries if I want to without my computer seizing up and dying, yaaaaay.

edited 3rd Jul '11 10:20:12 AM by Zudak

Catfish42 Bloody Fossil from world´s favourite country. Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: I'm just high on the world
Bloody Fossil
#4: Jul 3rd 2011 at 10:43:43 AM

I'd very much support an option for chronological order.

A different shape every step I take A different mind every step of the line
FastEddie Since: Apr, 2004
#5: Jul 3rd 2011 at 11:29:56 AM

It's back to the original order. If you want to jump to a page, just change the url.

Goal: Clear, Concise and Witty
Adannor (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#6: Jul 3rd 2011 at 11:32:27 AM

Also supporting chronological ordering.

Manual reordering functionality would be a hell lot more coding, I think.

^Ninja'd by resolution. Thank you smile

edited 3rd Jul '11 11:36:59 AM by Adannor

Lemurian from Touhou fanboy attic Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
Everzwijn glarblgrklgrgg from under your bed Since: Sep, 2009
#8: Jul 3rd 2011 at 12:32:22 PM

I like this development, but am wondering why there are 44 avatars per page. Seems like a rather odd number to me. Now every page has 8 neat rows and four extra avatars. Wouldn't it make more sense to make it 50 per page, so you have a nice round number? Or if you think that's too many, reduce it to 40, which is still a neat round number?

@Zudak:

The numbers that show up next to each avatar reset to zero with each new page, they should continue instead so it's easier for people to find or request certain ones. (IE, 'could you please share #236 with me?')

Actually, I think it's easier this way. Saying you want avatar X of page Y isn't that much harder. And if, for example, I'd ask Lemurian to share his #3285, he'd either have to do some math before he'd know what page to look for it (especially when there're 44 per page), or browse across every page until he'd find it.

edited 3rd Jul '11 12:32:55 PM by Everzwijn

"No copyright law in the universe is going to stop me!" ~ Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic Colours
FastEddie Since: Apr, 2004
#9: Jul 3rd 2011 at 3:16:51 PM

Number has been set to 40. Zero based.

Goal: Clear, Concise and Witty
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