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Updates to steamlocomotive.info (Part 1)
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=43152		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  steaminfo [ Fri Mar 15, 2019 12:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Updates to steamlocomotive.info (Part 1)
Several shortcomings within the website's search function have been addressed.

First we've made a change to the way in with Railroad Name is handled. Let's use C&O 614 as an example. If you searched for C&O 614 you'd come up empty because the railroad name was stored as "Chesapeake & Ohio". So....we added an abbreviation field. So now you can search for the railroad name or its most common abbreviation. In the case of 614, either Chesapeake & Ohio or C&O will work.

Abbreviations have been stored for about 15,000 of the locomotives in the database. We've also modified the management interface so that our editors can update this field if necessary.

Second, if you searched for the number 614 you'd get a list of locomotives whose number included the digits 614. Not exceptionally useful. This was done because a number of locomotives had both a number or a name or both in that field. Now you can choose how this works. There's a check box labeled "Exact Match" on the search page. Check the box and the search engine will return ONLY locomotives whose number exactly matches the one you've entered. Leave it unchecked and it will continue to work the way it always has.

A LOT more changes are coming. Hope you like these.
Author:  tomgears [ Tue Mar 19, 2019 6:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Updates to steamlocomotive.info (Part 1)
Thanks for all of your hard work. Your website is so valuable to everyone in our community.
Author:  tweetsie12 [ Tue Mar 19, 2019 7:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Updates to steamlocomotive.info (Part 1)
What about the ability to add new pictures and videos to a locomotive's profile in the database freely?
Author:  steaminfo [ Tue Mar 19, 2019 9:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Updates to steamlocomotive.info (Part 1)
tomgears wrote:
Thanks for all of your hard work. Your website is so valuable to everyone in our community.


You are most welcome! It is nice to know it matters.
Author:  steaminfo [ Tue Mar 19, 2019 9:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Updates to steamlocomotive.info (Part 1)
tweetsie12 wrote:
What about the ability to add new pictures and videos to a locomotive's profile in the database freely?


The word I get hung up on here is "freely". At the outset of the site, back in 2001, you could do exactly that, at least for pictures. No moderation, photo would appear immediately when submitted. And the amount of porn, and other assorted offensive stuff that appeared was stunning. Hence we added moderation.

The way the system works, just now, is that you can only submit a photo for a locomotive that doesn't have one. This needs to be changed. And I am giving some thought as to how best to accomplish this.

Videos. Nope. We don't host the videos. They are soley and exclusively Youtube videos. The amount of bandwidth the videos would consume, were they coming off our server would raise our hosting costs beyond all reason.
Author:  Bobharbison [ Tue Mar 19, 2019 2:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Updates to steamlocomotive.info (Part 1)
steaminfo wrote:
tweetsie12 wrote:
Videos. Nope. We don't host the videos. They are soley and exclusively Youtube videos. The amount of bandwidth the videos would consume, were they coming off our server would raise our hosting costs beyond all reason.


Yes, that is a valid concern. However, Youtube allows you to "embed" videos on your site. They still host them, and it creates a link that goes to their website, but the video is also visible on your website.

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/171780?hl=en

You should check the conditions and requirements etc, not sure how it works with commercial websites and the like. But it is a good way to have videos without the bandwidth issue.
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