New GCD Interface Coming, Beta Test Available

[Rob Allen]

Cribbed from Allen Ross, GCD Editor and Indexer, and posted with permission:

The Grand Comic-Book Database (GCD) is about to undergo some large changes in its user experience within the next two weeks.

As such, I'd like to invite users of this board to do a limited beta test of the new site, and provide feedback for us before go-live.

More details below.

Some History

The GCD has a long history of indexing comic books, starting back in the old APA days. It's been online for many years. Its content is usually quite good, and has almost 130,000 indexed comics plus over 240,000 covers. However, it's had some problems:

The user interface, while not bad when it first went live before the turn of the millennium, has not evolved over time, and now just isn't very user-friendly. For instance, one can't even navigate directly from one issue of a series to the next issue.

The servers that host the system (and the connections to the internet) have not been very reliable. There have been constant downtimes, which frustrate users and indexers alike.

We, the editors and future developers of the web site, have known this for years. But given that the site was written using old, not-well-supported-by-hosting-site tools (Lasso), we've been stuck with what we have had for too long. Redesigning the system in new tools has been going on for years, but slowly as all work done on the site is by volunteers (it is non-profit). A new interface had been prototyped, and even a new database schema published for where we would like to go. An example of the latter would be the ability to list a series by both its cover title and its indicia title, and be able to search by either (a recent example: "Captain America: Reborn" vs "Reborn"; which currently is only found by searching for the latter as GCD currently uses only indicia title).

But circumstances have necessitated that we make changes more quickly, so the technical team has been extending the prototype to a full system to replace the old one, and rolling it out on new (hosted) servers. The goal of this first change is to replicate all the functionality that is in the old system, but with enough changes to make it more friendly. However, this first step is still not the final, desired system with support for the new database schema. No large improvements have been made to the database. But the user interface is a complete rewrite, and with it running on the new hosted servers, there will be quite a change.

The Beta

The beta version is available now. But because of the sheer effort to complete this, we would like to invite only a select group of knowledgeable people to use and comment on the system, with an emphasize on bugs (errors, or data not displaying correctly).

So, of course I thought of you guys. You are a group of good knowledgeable people, posters who tend not to flame, people who are willing to voice their opinions, and a small enough audience that I/we would not be overwhelmed.

So here are the details:

First, some caveats:

NO COVERS yet. They are coming. But in the meantime, you can play with the new cover-upload functionality, which includes variant covers as separate uploads.

All screens are still subject to change; for instance the main page which is still being worked on. The main user interface is now pretty stable, but tweaks are still going on. Advanced search is still pretty primitive, but at least we now have it (it will be enhanced more in the next version).

This is a beta, so could be buggy. But we want to know what problems you may find.

Because of the quick deadline, if you just have functionality or usability suggestions, do not expect us to be able to change at this point. They will be taken into account for future updates or the next version. But we should be MUCH more responsive to user interface changes than the old site was.

Please respond ONLY here. Do not use the built-in comments feature (unless there is an error in the actual content). If you see formatting problems, let us know your browser version and operating system.

While this beta is not per se a secret, please don't spread the word far and wide about it. We have only limited time for the volunteers to finish this.

Okay, here's what you have been waiting for - the link:

http://beta.comics.org/

I should mention that right now it's blazingly fast as the user load is currently very small, like probably less than 20 concurrent users (if that). As more and more users start using it, it will slow down. We doubt it will be quite as fast when we have a lot of people running concurrent searches, but we do expect it to be significantly faster than the current production site.

Also, I should mention that the data is not current; this is data from a previous dump of the production system (around September 12th as of this writing).

Go-live is approximately October 3rd; exact timing of old system shutdown (to move final data) to be set (but it can't slip).

Thanks! And we can always use more volunteers, both technical and for content.

[Slam_Bradley]

I'll see if I can find some time to poke around the new site, Rob.

Two things I've always thought would be particularly helpful in the GCD were hot-links to characters, artists, writers, etc. And a "fuzzy" search. I've sometimes found it difficult to get the search to work right when I have more than one term in it.

[The Confessor]

Looks interesting and I'll certainly try to have a poke around on it. One thing though...for me, by far the biggest problem with the GCD is not the layout of ease of use, it's the absolutely diabolical slowness of the site.

A lot of the time the whole website just seizes up and stops working. This happens a lot...like almost every time I use the website in fact. It's not just a few isolated incidences...it happens all the time. Now, I know that this is probably more to do with server problems but in my opinion, rectifying this and actually getting the GCD working in an adequate way should be Allen Ross's biggest priority, not making the site look nicer.

Honestly, I love the GCD and find it to be a wonderful resource but it's soooooo slow as to be almost useless on many occasions. Consequently, I often find myself going to The Comic Book Database website instead. It may not be quite as good as the GCD, although there do seem to be a lot of comics listed there that aren't on the GCD, but I prefer using it because at least it's working every time I go there.

[Rob Allen]

Let me clarify -

We're not really trying to make it look nicer at this point, just to move it to new servers with much higher capacity and a better net connection. We had to rewrite the software in order to move it because the old site was written with software that no hosting provider supports any more. Right now we're just shooting for software that looks at least as good as the old site and doesn't crash the user's PC or garble the output.

In other words, the software rewrite is being done in order to move the database, which is being done to improve the speed and reliability, which is what you asked for!

[Red Oak Kid]

I've used the Beta a few times and it works ok, format wise.

I noticed on the information for individual issues that the old GCD gave information about which characters appeared and a brief plot synopsis. The beta doesn't seem to have that info.

[Rob Allen]

ROK, do you have an example of an issue that had character and synopsis data on the old site but not on the beta?

[Red Oak Kid]

Nope. I had just assumed that all Silver and Bronze Age comics had that info. I randomly picked out FF 163 and noticed there was no Content Information. Same for FF 162.

So it could be that I happened to pick out two comics that hadn't been indexed.

As I say, I just assumed that all the major superhero titles had been extensively indexed.

[Reptisaurus!]

Originally Posted by Slam_Bradley

And a "fuzzy" search. I've sometimes found it difficult to get the search to work right when I have more than one term in it.

ESPECIALLY the fuzzy search. Took me half-a-damn-hour to find Marvel Two-In-One.

[Rob Allen]

That's a common misconception, ROK. Even on the major superhero titles from Marvel and DC, there's still a need for people to verify the credits and "flesh out" the indexes with optional data like character appearances and plot synopses.

I checked a few issues of Spider-Man on the beta site. All of them had character appearances listed, although some listed only that issue's villain. A few that I checked had a synopsis, but most didn't.

I'd compare them against the old site, but the old site is down right now because of a power failure. The hosting situation has been inadequate for a while. This change has been a long time coming.

[Rob Allen]

Originally Posted by Reptisaurus!

ESPECIALLY the fuzzy search. Took me half-a-damn-hour to find Marvel Two-In-One.

I just tried searching for "Marvel Two" on the beta site and Marvel Two-In-One came right up.

[handrews]

Originally Posted by Slam_Bradley

I'll see if I can find some time to poke around the new site, Rob.

Two things I've always thought would be particularly helpful in the GCD were hot-links to characters, artists, writers, etc. And a "fuzzy" search. I've sometimes found it difficult to get the search to work right when I have more than one term in it.

Hi folks,
I'm the lead developer on the new GCD web site effort. This upcoming version of the site is, as Rob mentioned, just to get us onto a faster and more stable system. Plus some minimal improvements to the display. We have further plans for improvement though which address your requests:

Fuzzy search is targeted for our next release, sometime in the first half of 2010. It's a hard problem, and we need to use one of several tools that implement it rather than trying to re-invent it on its own.

Links to characters, artists and writers are more complicated because our data is not structured for it. We need to develop some tools to help clean up data and allow more folks to help us do that. We then hope to get those fields *fully* converted to a linkable structure by sometime in 2011. There may be interim steps towards that later in 2010.

BTW, if anyone wants to join the tech team and help us out, please contact me through the gcd-tech google group.

[The Confessor]

Originally Posted by Rob Allen

Let me clarify -

We're not really trying to make it look nicer at this point, just to move it to new servers with much higher capacity and a better net connection. We had to rewrite the software in order to move it because the old site was written with software that no hosting provider supports any more. Right now we're just shooting for software that looks at least as good as the old site and doesn't crash the user's PC or garble the output.

In other words, the software rewrite is being done in order to move the database, which is being done to improve the speed and reliability, which is what you asked for!

Originally Posted by handrews

This upcoming version of the site is, as Rob mentioned, just to get us onto a faster and more stable system. Plus some minimal improvements to the display.

Ah, OK guys...I misunderstood. I thought it was simply a re-design. That will certainly be excellent news if the speed issues do get sorted out, it'll make the whole browsing experience on the site so much better.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

[T GUy]

Originally Posted by Rob Allen

That's a common misconception, ROK. Even on the major superhero titles from Marvel and DC, there's still a need for people to verify the credits and "flesh out" the indexes with optional data like character appearances and plot synopses.

I checked a few issues of Spider-Man on the beta site. All of them had character appearances listed, although some listed only that issue's villain. A few that I checked had a synopsis, but most didn't.

FWIW, my experience is that it is rare to come across an entry with a synopsis, whether you're talking about a Marvel superhero from 1966 or 1975, or an issue of Gold Key's Pink Panther.

[Drusilla lives!]

I don't like the layout of the advanced search page... IMO it could (and should... and apparently will) be completely reorganized.

Instead of text boxes for each and every advanced search possibility ("Publisher," "Series," "Issue," "Story," etc...) perhaps they can condense the search information and options into a single search box or panel, with control buttons that activate (in a logical and orderly manner) sub-input fields and additional options as needed.

Perhaps one can first choose "Search For..." and depending on the chosen option the appropriate search box is activated (and/or displayed) or certain sub-fields in the panel are activated... among them the "Search Method..." and "Ordering" sub-menus. The "Behavior..." menu seems problematic to me in that it is really another search IMO. Those options should be included in the "Search For..." menu (as I think it's already done in the existing search) or "activated" within the panel as needed. Basically, in general, there still seems to be a discord IMO between what should be associated as relevant "globally" to a given search and what should be considered "specific" to a particular type. I guess allowing the "specific" parameters to "drive the search" will reduce it's flexibility, whereas letting "global" parameters set the tone leads to a more robust array of search possibilities, but a confusing array of choices at the outset... I guess it's going to be hard to find a happy balance with so many parameters for the user to choose from.

Well, that's just some quick suggestions on the matter... but I'm sure I'd be happy with whatever you guys come up with.

[Rob Allen]

Thanks, Dru, and others, for the comments.

There's a new version of the front page on the beta site; you may need to refresh your browser cache to see it correctly.

Something that looks a lot like the current beta will be live in about a week!