I think a checklist is a great idea. It's something that a lot of people would get really good use out of, especially the ability to use to track collections.
I have only looked at the G1 section, because it's the only section I know enough about to comment! LOL :) f I have one constructive suggestion, it's geographical.
It would be helpful to to move away from the binary sense that ponies are US or European. That disincludes a lot of collectors and makes it confusing for many more, because of how ponies were actually sold. It is a big job to figure out where each pony was actually sold, so it would probably be less work to just take away the regional aspect.
Also Europe isn't a country. That kind of made me uncomfortable ;)
One other suggestion, purely cosmetic - is there a way to make either a search system viable or a way to get more easily between sets?
I would not.
I don't care to have anyone else in the world to know what I've got, and I know all my ponies by heart. I'd also be wary of committing a significant chunk of time to an online database that has no guarantee of existing in 1, 5, or 10 years, nor now extensively it'd be updated or how accurate. Crowd-sourced editing is nice in theory, but the MLP collector community doesn't seem very active in that role thus far.
That said, I do wish you well on your journey, maybe you'll beat the odds!
As for the countries I agree that listing ponies as belonging to a single country doesn't really work. Especially with the European ponies. I like the idea of associating ponies with multiple countries. Maybe "sold in" or "region"?I like the words exclusive, selective / limited release area(s)... We can't make everyone happy, but we can try, right?
*throws fakies*I think a checklist is a great idea. It's something that a lot of people would get really good use out of, especially the ability to use to track collections.
I have only looked at the G1 section, because it's the only section I know enough about to comment! LOL :) f I have one constructive suggestion, it's geographical.
It would be helpful to to move away from the binary sense that ponies are US or European. That disincludes a lot of collectors and makes it confusing for many more, because of how ponies were actually sold. It is a big job to figure out where each pony was actually sold, so it would probably be less work to just take away the regional aspect.
Also Europe isn't a country. That kind of made me uncomfortable ;)
One other suggestion, purely cosmetic - is there a way to make either a search system viable or a way to get more easily between sets?
Silly Taf. Everyone knows Europe is a city. I mean I'm sure we all paid attention in geometry class.
:silly:
I’m sorry for «nagging» about this over and over again. I can understand that it might seem a little too much over something that might be perceived as unimportant in the long run. But I’ve spent years myself trying to understand my childhood collection and ponies picked up in the wild based on US information. The main issue always actually being country of release and year of release. I still come across collectors outside US who tries to work within the structure of the US release plan, because they still belieber this to be the correct one for them as well and it is demotivating and messy because it is not the same as the rest of the world.
I’m sorry for «nagging» about this over and over again. I can understand that it might seem a little too much over something that might be perceived as unimportant in the long run. But I’ve spent years myself trying to understand my childhood collection and ponies picked up in the wild based on US information. The main issue always actually being country of release and year of release. I still come across collectors outside US who tries to work within the structure of the US release plan, because they still belieber this to be the correct one for them as well and it is demotivating and messy because it is not the same as the rest of the world.
It is of course your website, and you should of course put it up as you like. But if you do decide to keep US as country instead of the country on the hooves, could you perhaps put in a disclaimer that your site is using a US centric model in identifying ponies? At least that might help to increase the understanding that it is different ways of structuring releases and ponies ;)
Thank you and don't worry, you're not nagging. :)
I do agree that the U.S. centric model does not seem to work well for non-US collectors and for organizing ponies that do not conform to the traditional US release schedule. I do have a field on each pony called "origin" which is the country where the pony was manufactured based on their hoof marks. This would conform to the Hong Kong, China, Italy structure. Maybe it would make more sense to display that more prominently on the site. And instead of having a category called "country" use "released in" or "sold in" to document where the ponies were sold as far as we know.
I’m sorry for «nagging» about this over and over again. I can understand that it might seem a little too much over something that might be perceived as unimportant in the long run. But I’ve spent years myself trying to understand my childhood collection and ponies picked up in the wild based on US information. The main issue always actually being country of release and year of release. I still come across collectors outside US who tries to work within the structure of the US release plan, because they still belieber this to be the correct one for them as well and it is demotivating and messy because it is not the same as the rest of the world.
You and I think and feel the same on this. I think it's genuinely the case that a lot of folk don't realise how different releases are and that it's not one integral set of dates and sets but a whole myriad of them that intersect and weave a complex web.
Make no mistake, UK releases are all over the place ;)
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?
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. :)
Well, I'm definitely game! :D The site is mentioning a sign-up code, though? O_o No idea what that is. :huh:
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 :)
I'm wondering if endless scrolling might affect bandwidth and data use on mobile devices...
I really like the idea of a sort of online checklist. that you can just click a box that this one I have or this one I want (or this one I need an upgrade for). Sort of like the mlpmerch.com, but more flexible, that you can add comments for each pony if you want, like I have this pony, but it has cut hair, so I need an upgrade.
And as said by others already, it would be nice if it used a more worldwide perspective of collecting and not just what is US and what is not. I dont have any good solutions on how to do that though, but one example might be to just focus on the pony at first hand, and then list which sets it is included in, and where these sets where sold. As for Posey for example where the same pony had different set releases in different parts of the world. But on the other hand, I like to place my ponies in sets, so I would like to have the possibility to sort ponies by sets (and years) as well. Just be aware though that the same pony can be included in different sets (and with different accessories)
Im aware that I may not be making a lot of sence, but the whole early year releases is a mess as far as outside US, so forgive me for that :P
I think listing by initial year is important to understanding the history of the brand. How design themes came and went, how unicorns started with a trait of a mane stripe and then lost it, the switch from visual changes to action gimmicks, the rise of the Sweetheart Sisters, an influx of neon ponies as the 90s began . . .
IMO the "birth year" of a pony (the first time she appeared in toy form--in whatever country she first appeared in) is important to getting context for the toyline.
Listing the UK and Euro pony set setups is important too though, I agree with that. But IMO that can be done while still saying "Gusty was first made in 1984."
Quick question about organizing by characters. Would adult and babies be the same character? i.e. Are Baby Applejack and Applejack different versions of the same character?
Quick question about organizing by characters. Would adult and babies be the same character? i.e. Are Baby Applejack and Applejack different versions of the same character?
Different characters, adult Applejack is the mother of Baby Applejack, same goes for the rest of the babies with matching parents.
I also agree, they are different ponies in my opinion. CP AJ is a different pony to me than the regular store release for example, she's a distant cousin...Quick question about organizing by characters. Would adult and babies be the same character? i.e. Are Baby Applejack and Applejack different versions of the same character?
Different characters, adult Applejack is the mother of Baby Applejack, same goes for the rest of the babies with matching parents.
I agree. Different ponies.
I also agree, they are different ponies in my opinion. CP AJ is a different pony to me than the regular store release for example, she's a distant cousin...Quick question about organizing by characters. Would adult and babies be the same character? i.e. Are Baby Applejack and Applejack different versions of the same character?
Different characters, adult Applejack is the mother of Baby Applejack, same goes for the rest of the babies with matching parents.
I agree. Different ponies.
Ok sounds good. Moms, dads, and babies different characters. What about across generations? Personally I view G1 Applejack and G4 Applejack as the same character.