This sounds like a great idea. Happy to help out however I can.
This sounds like a great idea. Happy to help out however I can.
Happy to see it's still on track... You can count me in to help Simon.
This sounds great Simon, I am happy to help in any way.
I'd never be able to install the app if that Pennywise icon was used; I'd be afraid to unlock my phone! I fully support the Ka sign with a twist though.Originally Posted by Randall Flagg
I like the Ka sign. We could have Chadbournne draw one for us with his own slight twist. I think that would be CR safe. We could also have Chadbourne draw a Pennywise. Something like this would be very iconic:
I wasn't around when this thread started, so I am glad you bumped it. I love the idea and what you have so far sounds great
Count me in for helping with the data entry if you'd like.
+1 Feel free to count me in too!
Thanks for all the offers of help on data entry folks. There is a small but willing team already started on this for the first editions. Once I get over this first hurdle I can open the floodgates and we can start work on the limited stuff.
"A real limited edition, far from being an expensive autograph stapled to a novel, is a treasure. And like all treasures do, it transforms the responsible owner into a caretaker, and being a caretaker of something as fragile and easily destroyed as ideas and images is not a bad thing but a good one...and so is the re-evaluation of what books are and what they do that necessarily follows." - Stephen King
I don't plan on making regular updates on this but since I had a huge amount of frustration over this and it's FINALLY working I thought I'd post some progress...
As mentioned previously, the data for the app will be stored in the cloud as JSON files. JSON is a great format for defining data and is both easily read by humans and machines. It's not however the simplest and friendliest way to actually enter the data. (especially if multiple people are working on it). So I created an Excel spreadsheet and have had a few members working on populating it with first edition data (US and UK). I then dusted off my Visual Basic for applications code skills and wrote some code for Excel that at the press of a button, converts the spreadsheet into separate JSON data files - one for each collection.
I thought this would be pretty simple, but it turned out to be a royal PITA! JSON is a fairly simple (but particular) format and if it's not 100% correct it will not be readable. What was giving me pain was that my JSON file was passing all the online formatting tests, but would NOT be read by the application code, it kept getting rejected. Long story short it turned out to be various 'invisible' control characters hidden in the Excel cell text (that had been cut and pasted by me from various web sites). A bit more code to clean this up and 2 late nights further on and it's now working as expected.
The beauty of the JSON format is that it can be consumed by pretty much anything, so even if my app never sees the light of day (which I hope won’t be the case) the collected data can be used by someone else to build an app, a web page, anything they like. I hope it will be a useful resource beyond my app to others.
If you want to see what this looks like, here is a link to the current US firsts file:
"A real limited edition, far from being an expensive autograph stapled to a novel, is a treasure. And like all treasures do, it transforms the responsible owner into a caretaker, and being a caretaker of something as fragile and easily destroyed as ideas and images is not a bad thing but a good one...and so is the re-evaluation of what books are and what they do that necessarily follows." - Stephen King
I need a translator!!! LOL LOL LOL I still have a "Flip Phone" that I think is really cool!! LOL LOL
Spoiler:
28 in 23 (?)!!!!
63 in '23!!!!!!!!!!
My Collection: https://www.thedarktower.org/palaver...ion-Merlin1958
The Houston Astros cheated Major League Baseball from 2017-18!!!! Is that how we teach our kids to play the game now?????
the app dont suport OS/X Apple SO, right? nice app
It will be a mobile app only. Initially iOS and then Android.
"A real limited edition, far from being an expensive autograph stapled to a novel, is a treasure. And like all treasures do, it transforms the responsible owner into a caretaker, and being a caretaker of something as fragile and easily destroyed as ideas and images is not a bad thing but a good one...and so is the re-evaluation of what books are and what they do that necessarily follows." - Stephen King
UPDATE!!!
Here is a video of some Work In Progress. Most of the Phase I functionality is now complete. I need to do some work on the initial setting screens where you select the data you wish to include (which file sets, whether to include the higher res cover images, etc)
Still LOADS to dobut the core is now there. I will be moving on to the "My Books" part of the app where you can record all the books you own and all of those little icons will start being operational.
I have had some help with collating book data so far and a big thanks to those that have been involved (you know who you are!) but what I really need is a good source of high res cover images. Not just the front but spine, back, inner leaves and copyright page. Any volunteers ? (please...
)
Feedback and comments always welcome
"A real limited edition, far from being an expensive autograph stapled to a novel, is a treasure. And like all treasures do, it transforms the responsible owner into a caretaker, and being a caretaker of something as fragile and easily destroyed as ideas and images is not a bad thing but a good one...and so is the re-evaluation of what books are and what they do that necessarily follows." - Stephen King
AwesomeI haven't had the chance to get any work done since the last time we talked about it. What is your deadline for the book data work? These days I seem to need deadlines if I want to get anything done...
Looks great!
Yesterday.Awesome
Actually in all seriousness I can cover the rest of the UK trades. Where I need more support is around information for the more limited books and quality cover scans for everything.
All the book data is automated now from the spreadsheet, so it can be worked on over time without impacting anything else I do. I have already proved the sorting and filtering and have enough test data to finish the actual app.
"A real limited edition, far from being an expensive autograph stapled to a novel, is a treasure. And like all treasures do, it transforms the responsible owner into a caretaker, and being a caretaker of something as fragile and easily destroyed as ideas and images is not a bad thing but a good one...and so is the re-evaluation of what books are and what they do that necessarily follows." - Stephen King
I think quite a few of the US Trade firsts in our Catalog have front, spine and rear scans. The images for front and back are ~400wx600h. I would think that when reduced to a cell phone app they would suffice. I spent quite a bit of time scanning. Unfortunately I did not scan the dj flaps.
EDIT:
The images for the Catalog have been reduced. The actual scans are usually ~630x950 for front and rear, and 140x950 for the spine.
Thanks RF - the images for the U.S. firsts are a pretty good set and will be my 'default' for now. The UK and signed limiteds are less consistent however and it would be good to eventually get a complete set of all aspects of the DJ's plus CP page.
This part of the project is more of a long run than the main sprint and the app has been designed to update as new pictures become available.
"A real limited edition, far from being an expensive autograph stapled to a novel, is a treasure. And like all treasures do, it transforms the responsible owner into a caretaker, and being a caretaker of something as fragile and easily destroyed as ideas and images is not a bad thing but a good one...and so is the re-evaluation of what books are and what they do that necessarily follows." - Stephen King
S/L's, and lettered stuff will be a challenge to scan front, spine, back, traycase/slipcase etc. Many are oversized and people understandably are reticent to splay the book open to scan a CR page. Since you can add pages, perhaps parameters to the volunteers on the most important initial icon.
Im just adding the functionality to add details on your own books. There is a discussion regarding categories of condition. I was planning to go with:
Fine
Near Fine
Very Good
Good
Fair
Poor
But I'm open to adding more values if required. There will be separate fields for condition of book, Dust Jacket and (where applicable) Case
"A real limited edition, far from being an expensive autograph stapled to a novel, is a treasure. And like all treasures do, it transforms the responsible owner into a caretaker, and being a caretaker of something as fragile and easily destroyed as ideas and images is not a bad thing but a good one...and so is the re-evaluation of what books are and what they do that necessarily follows." - Stephen King
Would it be helpful to have a grade of "Unopened" or "In Shrink"? Or perhaps that would be better left to the notes? I think still in shrink wrap is common enough that perhaps a check box or other way to designate it would be nice.
How about an As New for books still shrink wrapped.
But it's not "as new" because the old shrinkwrap might stick to the dustjacket.
That's why condition is so dependant on pictures and description.
That's true. Maybe it is best just to have a notes section for things like this.But it's not "as new" because the old shrinkwrap might stick to the dustjacket.
That's why condition is so dependant on pictures and description.
Joe 315 has a good point.
I currently keep spreadsheets with my books listed. Instead of having a column for condition, I have one marked "issue?" That way, I can note what's wrong and make a determination later if I am out somewhere and see a book. I.e. remainder mark, faded dustjacket, price-clipped, etc.
This will be your notes on your books, so you can put what you like in there. I think I will add 'Price clipped' as a setting however as thats quite an important thing to track.
I think I will also add 'shrink wrapped' as a separate setting as well.
"A real limited edition, far from being an expensive autograph stapled to a novel, is a treasure. And like all treasures do, it transforms the responsible owner into a caretaker, and being a caretaker of something as fragile and easily destroyed as ideas and images is not a bad thing but a good one...and so is the re-evaluation of what books are and what they do that necessarily follows." - Stephen King
Posting Permissions
