h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Please, please, please can we have some sort of formal process for subnmission and incorporation of diagrams into entries? the written word is a fine thing but even it has limitations.
I'd like to see
* standard formats for diagram submission
* a process for uploading diagrams into a holding area
* some kind of resolution to this issue of copyright: while I appreciate we must be sure that people aren't passing off other's work as their own, we can't allow this issue to hold up the development of the EG.

Traveller in Time on top
"Yes, that is a proposal I fully support.

Just some small gif images with diagonals, curves and using tables to draw them into diagrams. The Fonts are nice to play with but they are anything but compatible

Ah, please . . . "

Yes - I think that is a great idea, and something which would hugely enhance the readibility of guide entries.

Good one FM.

This problem was epitomised by an entry I remember seeing yonks ago in PR about constant velocity joints. The author had to tie himself in verbal knots to explain how they worked.

I want to write an entry about plastics. I want to write about polymerisation of ethylene, propylene and styrene. I also want to write about tacticities and Kaminisky catalysis. This is what how major competitor puts us in the shade: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaminsky_catalyst

Interesting what happens when you click the diagrams. It tells you immediately how the copyright is being handled.

After tying myself in knots trying to explain how lettered rock is made, I'm all for this suggestion

We'd have to make sure that the EG entries don't actually RELY upon the diagrams though - remember that we don't just have PCs as our only platform any more. Any changes have to take into account Mobiles and PDAs too. How would they be able to handle these proposed diagrams?



Paully

Traveller in Time trying to dial h2g2 on an old fashioned landline telephone
"Well, perhaps just not. Like you say the entry should not completely rely on the pictures. But like most external links also not show up on the fancy PDA jet, they should 'fail gracefully'

Many aspects of HooToo are out of reach for the PDA access, but in time they will get them.

(browsing the site on a text based Lynx browser. . ) "

I think that the fact that mobiles and PDA's might now show diagrams very well is hardly a valid reason for not having them at all. As TiT suggests, there is no reason why an Entry displayed on such a device should not degrade gracefully. It is possible to write an entry so that diagrams support rather than replace the text. For instance, if I were to write 'Kaminsky catalysts are variations on a theme: metal atoms sandwiched between two flat, aromatic organic molecules of varying shapes (see fig 1 for some examples)' then you wouldn't need the diagrams to understand what I was getting at. Diagrams that add value to the entry rather than make up for sloppy prose are to be unconditionally welcomed, I think.

I have to agree with FM, and I think denying entries the chance to be even better on the medium that the vast majority of visitors look at h2g2 and fow which it was originally designed (a PC monitor) because of a small (but hopefully growing) handful of people who look at it on another medium (mobiles and PDAs) is a step backwards and is to the detriment of the EG

Here's a radical suggestion: why not open up the decision-making behind implementation of such a feature BEYOND the in-house team? Why not set up a 'working party' on this issue? The decision would of course rest with the in-house team but I'm sure a lot of people around here could contribute a lot to the discussion.

Well that's largely what we've done with the 'Future of h2g2' talking point that's been running (wonderfully!) for the past couple of weeks. And of course, we're delighted to get your views. But do remember that if we don't have any budget or staff resources to implement changes like this, then such discussions are rather academic anyway.

Having said that, we would LOVE to see much more diagrams and graphic within our EG entries. That's why we're opening up discussion now, to test the water and see what you lovely Researchers would like to see in the Guide in the future. It ain't gonna happen overnight, and any changes do have to take into account all platforms - that's all I'm saying.

Paully

This is the entry I was referring to: A693948. It's a valiant effort, but need it be so difficult?

Ach, simulpost.

Well, I'm happy to offer my time to help work with TPTB on implementing this. Obviously I can't do any development, but I should be able to come up with some ideas as to what the eventual solution would look like.

<!-- Traveller in Time on < <./>/dna/pda/F2269809?thread=832457</.> >
"Who said anything about content for the pda site ?
I was trying to mimic tables there when it launched.

Ok, testing again. "


--> (remark tags block anything on the pda site )

I think that we should be careful about ruling things out because of the limitations of mobile/PDA technology; at the present rate of development it's not going to be long before 'bog standard' mobiles are perfectly capable of displaying the full site with full functionality - and in Glorious Goo!