NaNoWriMo tracker planning

[Spriggan]

one thing I like about the one I've been doing is that you can see everything all at once. You can compare day to day without having to click on each day.

Unfortuantly there's no way to do that with a calender have have it look presentable, which is my ultimate goal.

What I'd like, what I've always wanted for this, is a page that shows everyone's progress as a bar to date.  Kind of like the bs.com books finished box.

That's in the works, just haven't gotten to it yet.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

if there's no way to do it, then I'd rather stick with the one i have. That's why I do it, is to see the information, not to have it be an attractive information. The info has a much higher priority than the look.

[EUOL]

Perhaps we can combine the two?  I do like the look of Sprig's format, SE.  Honestly, I REALLY have trouble reading your calendar.  I appreciate that you're doing it, and it's far better than nothing, but the numbers and words all blur together and are hard to distinguish.

So, Sprig, what about mouse-overing a particular day and having it show (on the side perhaps) everyone's totals for that day?  

And, I assume we're going to have a way for people to input on their own, so SE doesn't have to do it all?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

the self input is the main reason for doing it.
a progress bar would help the appearance of mine, so it would just have a number and the visual representation. The percentages i don't ahve to automatically see, so if you had to click to get those, but seriously, I use this to compare. That's my reason for doing it. If I have to keep moving the mouse around to check it, that adds a step for me. i really want to see them all there.

[EUOL]

To compare what?  Where everyone is compared to you?  How would that not be served by having the latest numbers displayed, then having everyone's total at the top?  

I'm not trying to make light.  I'm just trying to figure out what it is you like to see spread out, so that we can find a way to include it in a method that isn't so hard to read.

[Spriggan]

I've been waiting to reply today about this thinking things over.  SE you're welcome to do your calender however you want, but when I intergrate NaNoWriMo features into TWG it's not going to be how things are now.  Of course you're welcome to keep on makeing your calander next year and so on.  Here's how things are going to work for TWG's calender.

The total stats will be automaticaly displayed on pageload.  To see a certains day's stats you'll have to click on a link.  Rolling over to see it will cause problems in the long run, if you're too lazy to spend 1/4 a second clicking then I'm afraid you're beyond help, and probaly not doing NaNoWriMo anyway.

That's not to say there won't be more features then what I've listed, nor an I stuck on any of the current layout (I just went with a simple design and colors).  But that's how the core system will work.  I know some may not care for that system, but I have to think of whats the best combination of form and function.  I'm not trying to be rude on this or "force" my views one this, I want to make the best system I can that will appeal to the most people out there.  And that includes makeing something easy to understand and use, while provideing all the features that we need.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I'm not against clicking because i'm lazy. I'm against it because that means i can only see one day's data at a time. It's inherently more difficult to compare data if you can only see one at a time. It's hard to see trends or relations when you don't have them presented together, especially over a period of several days. i repeat again: functionality is vastly more important than form in this particular instance. without being able to see these trends and the information at once, it's much more of a 'hey nifty' thing than a helpful tool.

The best compromise i can think  of is to have the progress bar on each day, but numbers and percentages displayed on click.

[Mistress of Darkness]

Rolling over to see it will cause problems in the long run, if you're too lazy to spend 1/4 a second clicking then I'm afraid you're beyond help, and probaly not doing NaNoWriMo anyway.

I think you're forgetting Sprig that there are some non-bachelor types on this board that have to live with dial-up and it doesn't take 1/4 sec to click--it can take up to 2 minutes to load.

That being said, I think I like the progress bar + calendar (where you have to click on each day) the best. Since you will already have the information in a database, could you make a calendar like SE makes now that would be available as a link under the pretty calendar?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

heh, you could even label the link "ugly calendar version"

[Mistress of Darkness]

Should I be scared that I just pictured Sprig's calendar running through the TWG world sing "I'm so Pretty!" at the top of it's lungs?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

no, because Fell does that all the time.

[Lieutenant Kije]

so set me on fire for posting off subject or set me on fire anyways...

I noticed Sprig was checking this thread and I have a question: in some previous thread you mentioned some mapmaking freeware that you use, and I can't find it.  Can you tell me what that is or where to get it?  thanks!

[/interruption]

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

That would be this post:

For names, when I want realsitic ones, I goto MSN's baby page.  They've got a namer there that lets you choose male/female, what ethnic origin(s) you want the name from, how many sylables and what letters to start/end with.  For countries/cities I use AutoRealm which is a GNU mapmakeing software with name generators for city countries.  You can choose all sorts of options (includeing a Tolkin one).

http://autorealm.sourceforge.net/

http://baby.msn.com/tool/tools.aspx?name=namer&dept=baby&sdept=bpc

from this thread

[Lieutenant Kije]

thankee thankee thankee

[Mistress of Darkness]

Sorry, Kije, but I can't really set you on fire if you're not mocking anyone.