New MLP collector site. New Question

[Beth3346]

I'm not sure about image hosting just because of bandwidth costs and the time it would take to monitor for spam and inappropriate images.  Its a feature I may consider down the road.

I will have a field for wishlist ponies to rank by priority (ie. High, Medium, Low)

[katrine2309]

Make no mistake, UK releases are all over the place

Maybe it is me who is getting better at understanding the chaos!

Post Merge: September 30, 2018, 12:04:01 AM

Beth, I was looking at your site again and noticing the search categories at the bottom of your page. Would it be possible to have a search engine that let the user set up his/hers own search request? Instead of having pre-set categories? And have multiple levels in the search to choose from? For instance;
1. Age: Baby pony
2. Release type: Mail order

Or

1. Mold: Earth
2. Theme: weather

Or

1. Origin: Hong Kong
2. Released in: United states

Not sure if that is a possible function, but I would at least find it easier to navigate if I could set up my own search structure instead of it being pre-set. Of course you can have both as well, as I am sure there are many who would want to do quick searches

[banditpony]

I feel like the navigation is too bulky that I wouldn't use this site personally.

For instance for colors-- it has multiple pages. I'd rather see infinite scrolling or "more" rather than static pages. I don't want multiple clicks to get to whatever page orange is.

But goodluck.

[Beth3346]

Beth, I was looking at your site again and noticing the search categories at the bottom of your page. Would it be possible to have a search engine that let the user set up his/hers own search request? Instead of having pre-set categories? And have multiple levels in the search to choose from?

Yes this is definitely a high priority feature that I will work on once I finalize all of the search categories.  The real challenge is that ponies have so many characteristics that it is difficult to build a search engine that isn't completely overloaded.

I feel like the navigation is too bulky that I wouldn't use this site personally.

For instance for colors-- it has multiple pages. I'd rather see infinite scrolling or "more" rather than static pages. I don't want multiple clicks to get to whatever page orange is.

But goodluck.

Yeah this might actually be a good use case for infinite scrolling.  I'm generally not a fan of infinite scrolling because IMO it becomes difficult to see any items that show up later in the feed.  With pagination I can just skip through the pages quickly without having to scroll.  But since there are usually a fairly small number of results some combination of filtering and infinite scrolling may work well.

TBH I'm still working through a lot of the design so it is my no means set in stone.

thank you for your feedback

[Sweet Daes]

I left a similar message over on MLPMerch (as they just announced that they are going to have G1, G2 and G3 added in there) because it seems that there are all of these competing sites with lists but there is nothing special between them  ._.

It's actually quite overwhelming that not a whole lot of websites carry much in the way of perks to actually use them since I'm making my own lists of stuff that I need to complete my collection. At the end of the day, I stick to the same pool of websites because they are easy(ish) to navigate- but I dislike wiki and blog-style sites because they are not all that easy to search. They exist therefore I will use them.

But, I spend all of my time making, updating and organizing lists. All websites are not anything special unless they fulfill my need to have a comprehensive accessory check-off list that I can turn public when I want. Otherwise, it's great that websites want to be a pony database, but I probably won't fully use it unless they bring something else to the table that helps me as a collector.

I hope that this information is useful to you...

[Taffeta]

Everyone has a different reason they browse sites, and a different way in which they find it easiest.

You either have to try to please everyone or develop a niche or feature that you can offer that nobody else does, even if it means that your site isn't the mainstream site everyone is using.

I do feel like a lot of websites attempt to duplicate the same thing. I actually don't understand why MLPMerch is putting G1 up there - I had hoped they'd be more Eurocentric in their organisation, but the teaser suggests they're just following the same system as all the other sites, so it seems a bit redundant. I love MLPMerch, it's my go-to G4 site - but even if it includes G1, I will still only use it as my G4 go-to site.

This is the hardest part of having a pony website I think. Working out whether you're catering to everyone, or to a specific market. And if the latter, what aspects of that market and why.

I gave up including variants on my site about 15 years ago because the Arena and other places had taken that niche. But nobody else has ever taken on the UK release, and nobody else integrates US and non US pony releases. That means even after 20 years, my site still has a niche that it offers which no other website covers. I know I'm not the world's best web designer, but if I were to take my site away, that information would be gone from the community. So my site isn't mainstream, but it covers a niche nobody else is, so I see a point in keeping it there, so that information isn't lost.

 I strongly advise you to play to your strengths and focus on perfecting the list system in as flexible a way as you can, as an interactive collection organiser? You are more experienced with web design than I am and you almost certainly have the skills to do that, including a sophisticated search function that would really be useful for people to organise their collections, and make them public or private as lists.

Chrissytree's done a lot on accessories in the last couple of years and her site is probably the best resource currently (though I don't think she has a checklist). Adding them would add to your complications, though, because of regional variations. You'd find the same issue as you have with organising ponies. Which is, is your site designed for American collectors to use, or everyone to use?

[Beth3346]

Yes it is definitely hard and most likely impossible to please all collectors with a single website.  Personally I'm not trying to be an authoritative source on all things My Little Pony.  That is probably much better left to niche sites that can do into depth on specific types of ponies.  I don't have the time or knowledge for that and I'm not looking to replace anyone's site.

I also started this site so I could have a fun way to combine my love of collecting MLP and web development. So its a fun side project. I have no plans to monetize it directly. Its just good practice for me and something fun to do outside of my web developer day job. Which TBH doesn't always make me feel productive or challenged.

So my plan is to have the core focus of the site will be for collectors to track their collections and want lists.  This does require a catalog of ponies and accessories which is always a challenge and will be an ongoing project.

So for now it sounds like the most in demand features are:

1) Better navigation/search/filtering to make it easier to find specific items.
2) Accessories.
3) More inclusive cataloging of ponies. ie. cataloging ponies by countries "sold in" vs. just having a "country" category where a pony is listed with a single country.

[Kazzellin]

Well, I'm definitely game! The site is mentioning a sign-up code, though? O_o No idea what that is.

[Eighties_Otaku]

One site I use for my anime figures is http://myfigurecollection.net/ if something like that could ever work for ponies and even 80s collectibles, I think it would be pretty awesome

[Beth3346]

Well, I'm definitely game! The site is mentioning a sign-up code, though? O_o No idea what that is.

I'm not ready for anyone to register yet. I'm still building out some of the wishlist functionality but when i'm ready for collectors to register i'll post a sign up code.

I want to limit the registrations to arena members for now and prevent spam sign ups.

[banditpony]

I feel like the navigation is too bulky that I wouldn't use this site personally.

For instance for colors-- it has multiple pages. I'd rather see infinite scrolling or "more" rather than static pages. I don't want multiple clicks to get to whatever page orange is.

But goodluck.

Yeah this might actually be a good use case for infinite scrolling.  I'm generally not a fan of infinite scrolling because IMO it becomes difficult to see any items that show up later in the feed.  With pagination I can just skip through the pages quickly without having to scroll.  But since there are usually a fairly small number of results some combination of filtering and infinite scrolling may work well.

TBH I'm still working through a lot of the design so it is my no means set in stone.

thank you for your feedback

See I disagree. I think having 6 clicks to get to the color orange takes too long. If the page is more static, rather than a "feed" it doesn't take long to scroll down and see orange. It's not intuitive what page it's on, it's just a random number I have to keep clicking to find.

I'm already scrolling because I don't see all the assets on one page. So I have to interrupt my scroll to go to the next page. So I'd rather scroll then go to multiple pages.

This sort of navigation is completely different... but throwing this out there. It doesn't have to be this way, but it's similar to how our digital asset management is at work.

All ponies are loaded all gens on 1 page. After 20 ponies are seen and end user gets to bottom of the page, 20 more are added to the page ( and this goes on forever).

User clicks Orange. All ponies from G1-G4 show up. (others filtered out)

User clicks G1. Now it shows only G1 Orange ponies.

User clicks baby.

Aww look there's a baby applejack, and whatever nirvana babies there are.


At work we also have the ability to do searches within our filters too. Like subject : cats .

[Khoufu]

I prefer static pages, especially on mobile, so maybe there can be an option for either?

[Taffeta]

I'm wondering if endless scrolling might affect bandwidth and data use on mobile devices...

[banditpony]

I'm wondering if endless scrolling might affect bandwidth and data use on mobile devices...

endless scrolling doesn't load the whole page.

I was a dope and called it infinite scrolling on my first suggestion. I just meant that all the colors should be on one page and be static. I don't want to use other things as an example, but strawberry reef colors are all on one page: http://www.strawberryreef.com/Index/G1/G1index.html

(I get it that this doesn't have the same format, but I don't think the format is helping in anyway).

My other suggestion was just because someone mentioned their own searching. I was thinking no one else has a sort system in place that displays results like that. :/ Could be nice.

(And as I said, something that is infinite scrolling, it doesn't load 100% of the assets. Only small chunks at a time, so it's very similar to clicking "next").

[katrine2309]

I thought some more on this today. I’ve noticed that you have some ponies belonging to a set whereas others don’t, or are grouped together by other descritive criteria. Such as Non-so soft ponies. I like the idea to be able to put ponies in a set, so do you think it would be possible to broaden that? Remove the descriptions such as NSS and international ponies (which is not a set) and add sets such as Pony Friends (which is Truly and Cupcake’s) and Movie Star ponies (which are Wind Whistler, Buttons, Gusty, North Star etc.etc). I realize that this is depending a lot on info you might not have, but this is information the community has as a whole and I’m sure people here would be happy to help

Just a thought, and I would love to be able to put these ponies in their «correct» set on a wishlist or in a collection.