Posted October 14, 2012 (edited) So, I'm kind of OCD about sorting my scroll, but I often get het up over how best to group my dragons - by generation? All Thuweds together? Separate specific lineages from the general throng? I end up using lots of frozen hatchies as scroll markers and I use a Heath Robinson combination of all of the above, which sort of works but has become ever more Byzantine as I've collected more and more dragons. (Plus I feel really bad telling people to check my scroll to see if I can breed something for them - they have to hunt through 2200+ dragons to find something they might be interested in.) Suddenly, I realised that a lot of my problem is that many of my dragons fit into more than one category, and that the best way to distinguish them would be to label them accordingly - hence, user tags! It'd only apply to non-growing scroll items and there should probably be a limit to the number of tags an item can have (maybe 5?) and possibly a limit to the total number of tags too, or it might get silly (perhaps 25 tags total?). The tags could then appear in a drop-down "Sort by:" list, allowing you to instantly see all the dragons with that particular tag. Not every dragon would need tags, just those that the player would like to be able to find quickly and on a regular basis. Untagged dragons simply wouldn't show up if a filter is applied, in the same way that (for example) Coastal Waverunners don't show up on the "Available for BSA" sort. As an extension of this, perhaps there could be separate "Make public" options in Account settings for tags on a dragon and for the personalised sort options. This would be handy for those situations where someone says "Check my scroll to see what I have/can breed!" and the other person finds themselves confronted by 1000+ dragons to wade through with very little context. This would be off by default, for all those people that worry about such things. As an example, this dragon could have the tags "even-gen, 4th gen, lyrics, checker", as opposed to this dragon, which would be "even-gen, 4th gen, rainbow". Both would come up in sorts for even-gen or 4th gen, but I could also choose to view only checkers or only rainbows and differentiate them that way. Any suggestions or refinements for this idea are most welcome! UPDATE: whitebaron made some mock screenshots which do a great job of illustrating how this could work. So, here's my first proposal: Scroll with a third option to select, which would just display anything with that tag in the same sort order as it was before. (old scroll) I would not display tags on the scroll, as this information would clutter the page even more than it usually does with the views and clicks. On the Dragons page, there is enough space to display the tags. (old view) Links of the tags could optionally head to the scroll with the tag already selected to save navigating time. Then, you'd need a new action menu entry: And finally, the new tagging Page: As a matter of personal preferences, I would not allow Tags to be entered manually when tagging, as this increases the danger of typos. They should be done in an admin-interface under your account options and should probably look like this: Tag public? Caveborns [X] Pure Green [ ] Geodes [ ] ________ [ ] (I did not make a mock-screenshot for that, it can have as many lines as needed/allowed or an "add new tag"-button) Edited October 24, 2012 by Amazon_warrior Share this post Link to post
Posted October 14, 2012 (edited) Actually, thinking about it, I don't see any reason why tags shouldn't be automatically shown on a dragon's page in exactly the same way as a name or a description is. I know it'd make my life a lot easier if I could click a dragon and see at a glance what generation it is and whether it's part of some special lineage, whether it's my own or someone else's. I do really want filter options (just the custom ones) to be publicly available on my scroll - I would *love* for others to be able to search my dragons more efficiently. However, this should definitely be a on/off thing under Accounts settings. ETA: Yay, thanks olympe! Edited October 14, 2012 by Amazon_warrior Share this post Link to post
Posted October 14, 2012 However, I think that everybody should be able to create his or her own custom tags. Some people value messy-lineaged dragons because they use them for a role play, others only value dragons with named parents and so on. Viewable on the scroll would be nice, but as far as I know, TJ is against cluttering the scrolls too much. (Maybe we can convince him that adults and frozen hatchlings really don't need to show their stats any more?) Also, I think that visitors to our scrolls should be able to apply filters for the tags we have used. For example, if I tagged all my CBs, PBs and checkers, a visitor should be able to apply filters for just that. Share this post Link to post
Posted October 14, 2012 However, I think that everybody should be able to create his or her own custom tags. Some people value messy-lineaged dragons because they use them for a role play, others only value dragons with named parents and so on. Viewable on the scroll would be nice, but as far as I know, TJ is against cluttering the scrolls too much. (Maybe we can convince him that adults and frozen hatchlings really don't need to show their stats any more?) Also, I think that visitors to our scrolls should be able to apply filters for the tags we have used. For example, if I tagged all my CBs, PBs and checkers, a visitor should be able to apply filters for just that. Oh yes, the whole point is for users to create their own custom tags according to their interests and scroll goals. If they want to tag their collection of 35th gen inbred Dorkfaces or all members of an RP clan, then they could do exactly that. To clarify, I picture the tagging mechanism as similar to the Name/Rename action - it's a link on the Action page and would take you to a page with five spaces for tags (one tag per space), with the same character limit that names currently have. It wouldn't be necessary to use all the spaces (an alternative would be to have one space and a widget to add more spaces as necessary, up to five spaces). The page could also have a list of currently used tags at the bottom, to make it easy for people to make sure their tags are all consistently spelled. I wasn't thinking that tags would appear on the scroll but on a dragon's view page. Tags could appear below the Lineage link and be separated by commas. I'm open to suggestions on this one though... The filtering thing is exactly what I have in mind - a visitor would be able to see your custom tags and filter your scroll accordingly. Share this post Link to post
Posted October 14, 2012 I really like this, it's such a pain trying to remember what dragons are 2nd gen, CB, lineaged, even gen... so on so forth. It'd make my life so much easier and I only have just over 500 dragons, I can't imagine what it's like on a 1000+ scroll =P Share this post Link to post
Posted October 14, 2012 (edited) I love the idea, but I'm a bit puzzled over where to best display said tags. Perhaps hovering over a tagged dragon's image would bring the tags up in a neat little rectangle to the side of the sprite? That would keep them from visually cluttering the scroll while still allowing for easy checking--not to mention that you could then easily tell if that unnamed Terrae you're about to breed with is a CB or a bajillioneth gen! Honestly tags would be even more convenient than lineage links on breeding pages, if it worked like that. - Only appears when you hover over the dragon's image - The little box with the code also still appears under the dragon's image - Will probably look a lot more professional and have better color choices if TJ makes it for reals! I imagine the size of the box would also depend on how many tags are in it and how long the words are, rather than being a standard size like I have here... Edited October 14, 2012 by angelicdragonpuppy Share this post Link to post
Posted October 14, 2012 Maybe we could also upload small graphics (up to 16x16 pixels?) for our custom tags? Share this post Link to post
Posted October 14, 2012 I prefer tabs with the option to put dragons under multiple tabs, but I can see the appeal in this and it may actually be easier to add to the site. :3 Share this post Link to post
Posted October 14, 2012 I really like this idea!! I'd like to be able to tag my rares and seasonals and such, and there is no way to do this right now. So Support! Share this post Link to post
Posted October 14, 2012 I would love this. I'd hope it wouldn't be too hard to code... I'd love the idea of having the ability to make custom tags for mine! I think there should be some stock tags, things like the breeds (since those are in the descriptions), male, female, etc. And for sure user-designed custom tags. I love on Tumblr, being able to make my own tags. It makes finding things very quick and easy. I use some generic ones, but I love being able to make custom ones that make it easier for me to find specific things. This would make it a lot easier to find the dragons and stuff! Share this post Link to post
Posted October 15, 2012 Thanks for the support everyone! Regarding uploading graphics, I'm worried that would make this idea too complicated. I was intentionally keeping it as simple as possible to fit in with what we already have. It might be cool, but I don't know how or where they'd be displayed... I love the idea of the tags showing on a mouse-over of a dragon! As much as I'd love editable scroll pages or tabs, it doesn't seem like something that's going to happen - this was the next best thing I could think of... Share this post Link to post
Posted October 19, 2012 Couldn't you just put something in their names? Or list them in a way where you can remember them all. And if you ask people to find what they want you to breed for them then tell them to say something specifically. Share this post Link to post
Posted October 20, 2012 Couldn't you just put something in their names? Or list them in a way where you can remember them all. And if you ask people to find what they want you to breed for them then tell them to say something specifically. Many people do put something in the name. I don't (with the exception of my Tinsels) because I think it looks awkward and I don't want to end up with a dragon called "Bob 5th even-gen checker Thuwed". And if you'd read my first post properly, you'd note that I *do* organise my dragons in a specific way, using hatchlings as markers, but I still don't find it satisfactory. And telling people to "say something specifically" is not much help for the casual browser who's seen my "breeds on request" signature and would like to easily find something interesting on my scroll, even though I have *tried* to make it easy. If you don't like it, you would not have to use it. Like descriptions, not using it would have precisely zero impact on the way you play. Share this post Link to post
Posted October 20, 2012 Also, it would get rather hard when you had a lot of ways you classified that dragon and then you run out of space because we have highly limited space for the names. What do you do when you have something like... "6th even pure inbred [insert name here]"? That just looks really awkward and strange, and that's shortening things up so that you can actually have room for a name... Share this post Link to post
Posted October 20, 2012 I would very much be into this! The only filter i currently use is bsa bit that's because my scroll is relatively "small" and I do.y change the order of stuff so its page is memorized. But tagging things like all CBs or purebreds would be super nice! Ie I have to go through one by one if someone requests a 2nd Gen pb of something I don't normally breed because I haven't bothered naming it something special or I named half special CBS but later found more and decided to name the lineages ones which obviously leads to chaos when I'm not looking. So I'm all in on supporting the simplest way of adding this to our scrolls! Fancy just gets too compplicated. Share this post Link to post
Posted October 20, 2012 The only thing that worries me bout suc a system would be the potential for abuse. That would be one more thing for us to have to check over to make sure nobody's using anything obscene or inappropriate. Otherwise, I like the idea. Share this post Link to post
Posted October 20, 2012 The only thing that worries me bout suc a system would be the potential for abuse. That would be one more thing for us to have to check over to make sure nobody's using anything obscene or inappropriate. Otherwise, I like the idea. *nod* That's a fair concern. The same guidelines that apply to names and descriptions should also apply to tags. I don't know how much of a deterrent the "use naughty words and your dragon will DIE" warning is, though. Also, I don't know how the system works right now if swear-words *are* used in names or desciptions - is it based on user reports, or is it partially automated? Share this post Link to post
Posted October 20, 2012 OH this would be wonderful!!! Please? Pretty please with sugar on top?? To those who think sorting is enough; its not when you get to somewhere around 800 dragons. Get up to 1000 or 1200 or more, and it is just not possible to remember them all. I also really want tabs for our scrolls, but we for sure need some additional way to sort them other than just a linear list. Share this post Link to post
Posted October 20, 2012 The only thing that worries me bout suc a system would be the potential for abuse. That would be one more thing for us to have to check over to make sure nobody's using anything obscene or inappropriate. Otherwise, I like the idea. First of all, I'd say we should have a number of "custom tags" - like CB, inbred, PB, checker, staircase, spiral staircase, Dorkface, Thuwed + a marker for the generation. (This could be handled with two drop-down menues, one for the kind of lineage, the other for the generation.) Everything else should be something you create yourself. Regarding punishment, I'd say if someone abuses the custom tag system and gets reported, they should lose the ability to create their very own tags. This is a much more effective measure than killing dragons with inappropriate tags. Share this post Link to post
Posted October 22, 2012 (edited) I love this idea!~ It'd be very handy. :3 Edited October 22, 2012 by SilverX7Studios Share this post Link to post
Posted October 22, 2012 I'd be willing to give this a try if implemented, but I'd still rather have custom tabs/pages. I'm not against the idea, I just think it's a stopgap, rather than a solution. Share this post Link to post
Posted October 23, 2012 The only thing that worries me bout suc a system would be the potential for abuse. That would be one more thing for us to have to check over to make sure nobody's using anything obscene or inappropriate. Otherwise, I like the idea. If tags were private (ie tags only show up on your dragons page, not on your user page), we could avoid this problem. Tags are meant to be a benefit towards each user, anyway IMO, and I don't see a large reason for other people to be able to see my tags. ^^ Share this post Link to post
Posted October 23, 2012 (edited) I'd be willing to give this a try if implemented, but I'd still rather have custom tabs/pages. I'm not against the idea, I just think it's a stopgap, rather than a solution. Yeah, in an ideal world so would I (especially if dragons could appear on more than one page). This was just an idea I had while considering different ways to organise my dragons to make certain lineages easier to find, and I thought it was simple and similar enough to existing features that it might have an outside chance of implementation. @Sock: I'd have no problem with visitors to my scroll seeing my tags and even being able to use them to filter my scroll, but I can definitely appreciate that not everyone would want that, which is why I'd like to see it as an option under the Account Settings. ETA: I quite like the idea of a few "pre-set" tags, though I would still definitely want user-defined tags too! Otherwise how could I tag my collection of lineages based on a popular sci-fi TV series? (And those are just my self-bred ones - I have numerous other lovely Whovian dragons bred by other people.) Mind you, those aren't a great example because they have a defined section on my scroll, but I have plenty of other lineages that don't and are consequently hard to find without knowing what to look for. Edited October 23, 2012 by Amazon_warrior Share this post Link to post
Posted October 23, 2012 (edited) @Sock: I'd have no problem with visitors to my scroll seeing my tags and even being able to use them to filter my scroll, but I can definitely appreciate that not everyone would want that, which is why I'd like to see it as an option under the Account Settings. My point was really that if tags were private, they would not need to be moderated and people would be able to freely do their own customized tags. x3 Edited October 23, 2012 by SockPuppet Strangler Share this post Link to post
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