Database design's already done for the episode guide, was my point, and one of the tables already implemented.

Database design's already done for the episode guide, was my point, and one of the tables already implemented.

OK cool, so stage one, already complete.

What's stage two?

Somewhere up ahead would be stage greater-than-one, less-than-go-live, but it's a huge one -- the entering of the data, and the snerkiness.

What do we need to be in place before we can start on that, or even start apportioning that?

Independent of everything else is collecting the data, which can be done by as many parties as volunteer, and requires no tech savvy whatsoever (I recall a couple folks volunteering back in the day).

And then there's application and screen design, which can be flowcharts, pseudocode, screenshots and static HTML.

Then development tasks get subdivided, and the fun stuff starts.

Independent of everything else is collecting the data, which can be done by as many parties as volunteer, and requires no tech savvy whatsoever

OK, when you say "collecting the data", are you seeing that as somehow different from "inputting the data"?

In my idea, there was for instance an "edit actor" page, where you would record that Charisma played Cordelia in episode 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 of Series One, but wasn't in episode 7. That would be done with checkboxes, I guess?

You would also somehow be able to record that SMG played "Buffy" in nearly every episode, but also played "BuffyBot" in a couple. That would require some kind of multiple drop-menu system listing all possible characters.

Are you thinking that we record and enter the information independantly of there being a nice form-interface for this kind of thing?

The data needs to be collected before it's entered. I don't remember how people were volunteering -- I seem to remember folks choosing actors, or something.

But if you're going to heads down enter it, it's best to have it conveniently to hand. Not collect/enter/collect/enter, if I make sense.

The data needs to be collected before it's entered.

That's the question I'm begging.

If we do it that way, then the two processes can happen in parallel, the making of the interface and the collecting of the data. But it's more boring. Someone will have a long list of "episodes in which Wesley appears" and someone (else?) will have to tick the boxes.

If we write edit-actor.php first, then the collection and entering can be simultaneous. You could sit there for instance with an ep list and just check the boxes for the ones in which Faith appears.

I don't remember how people were volunteering -- I seem to remember folks choosing actors, or something.

That was my suggestion. People would nominate to "adopt" an actor or a character.

Someone will have a long list of "episodes in which Wesley appears"

guilty

It doesn't make a whit of difference when the info's collected, as long as its done before its entered. It's just a predecessor in the task list, and does not have to be the same resource, is all.

It doesn't make a whit of difference when the info's collected, as long as its done before its entered.

OK, disclosure, I had three beers over lunch, but ita, you and I are still talking at cross porpoises.

Model A: People collect data, and write it down in some way. Time passes. Then either they or someone else goes through that data, when an editing interface is ready, and puts it in.

Model B: An editing/inputting interface is made ready. People can then sit at their computers going through the Watchers' Guide or the Unofficial Guide to Buffy by Keith Topping, or flipping windows between our site and another site, or any other method, and grab the info and enter it at the same time. "Episode X, blah blah blah Riley blah blah blah Initiative, blah blah blah -- Willy's Bar. Aha! Saverio Guerra appears in this episode as Willy." Click.

So, I'm probably being obtuse, but Model B was the way I imagined it.

Whichever way is good, John. Neither one breaks the system. Point being, the data is collected either way before it's entered (ala PMM), or just before it's entered.

Why is that confusing?