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Improving Mindat.orgMindat catalogue system
26th Nov 2008 08:32 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
It's nowhere near finished yet, but it is currently usable for entering and retrieving your mineral data, and over the next few weeks more features will be added including searching, reporting and import/export.
So I need people who
a) Are already familiar with how mindat works and have uploaded photos. Please do not apply unless you have had at least 20 photos approved on the site.
b) Are serious about cataloguing their private collection.
Getting involved now is a great way to help make the system work in the way you want it to!
All information in the catalogue system is confidential and not shown to other members. In the future I'll add a facility to allow you to share certain information if you wish to, but the default will be to share nothing except the photographs.
Jolyon
26th Nov 2008 10:02 UTCMarco Barsanti Manager
if the test envolves an apple macintosh, i could subscribe myself, if not, please, remember also thate we too are exhisting ;)
26th Nov 2008 10:06 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
Jolyon
26th Nov 2008 10:34 UTCSteve Sorrell Expert
I'd be happy to be a guinea pig...
Regards
Steve
26th Nov 2008 11:33 UTCSimone Citon Expert
26th Nov 2008 11:52 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
Eventually - but not in the first version.
Jolyon
26th Nov 2008 12:26 UTCDebbie Woolf Manager
26th Nov 2008 12:37 UTCPaul De Bondt Manager
I am volunteer to. No problemo.
Take care and best regards.
Paul
26th Nov 2008 13:15 UTCKelly Nash 🌟 Expert
26th Nov 2008 14:31 UTCTony Peterson Expert
Tony
26th Nov 2008 14:51 UTCJeff Weissman Expert
Jeff
26th Nov 2008 15:15 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
I'll let you know when that's available - it won't be just yet.
Jolyon
26th Nov 2008 16:04 UTCKnut Eldjarn 🌟 Manager
It is great that the project is under way ! I have waited with a digital cataloguing of my collection because I have looked for a system where mineral names and localties can be downloaded from a mother database making it much easier to use. I would be happy to contribute to your testing - if you need more volunteers.
Knut
27th Nov 2008 09:14 UTCFrank de Wit Manager
Cheers!
29th Nov 2008 06:26 UTCJoseph Freilich
10th Dec 2008 01:08 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
I am starting to use this to put my REAL collection catalogue in, so you can probably start using it for real - but I can't guarantee things won't break as it's still in test.
If you want to start using it go to:
http://www.mindat.org/catlist.php
(you need to be registered and logged in)
Joluon
10th Dec 2008 01:09 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
Jolyon
10th Dec 2008 01:21 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
Jolyon
10th Dec 2008 03:41 UTCMark Willoughby Expert
Will be glad to give it a run, I might actually get the collection catalogued properly at long last...lol
Cheers Mark
10th Dec 2008 03:57 UTCJeff Weissman Expert
Possible future enhancements could include 'cloning' a record and autoentry from locality pages.
Questions - will mutiple photos be able to be linked to a single catalogue entry? Will duplicate ID numbers be flagged.?
Again, thanks for this great feature!
10th Dec 2008 11:45 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
Quality field is good idea.
At the moment it only shows the 'parent' photo, but 'child' photos can be linked to that in the normal manner. That can include, for example, photos of the label.
Cloning a record is an important idea, as for auto-entry, the most important way for this is to be able to auto-enter a catalogue entry from an existing photo you have previously uploaded as much of the information is already there.
Duplicate ID numbers will not be permitted (I can't remember if it stops them now or not, but if it doesn't stop them, it will very soon). I've been asked for a way of generating the next sequential number - but that isn't always easy (for example, some people use numbers such as 2008/CAN/044 ). Maybe the best thing is to display the LAST number entered on the edit page text so that you can then enter the next sequentially yourself.
Short term for me now is bug fixing and entering more of my collection data.
Medium term, import and export, and reporting (eg, print out list of all species that I own, and/or all species that I don't own, show me all specimens worth more than $400 in Cabinet A). Ability to flag specimens as 'for exchange', and to be able to have a public list of such specimens via your home page (with restricted view of details, so they won't see your original buy price, etc).
Longer term - set up templates for generating labels for specimens, editable with your own personal details, border styles, etc. Multiple templates for different purposes, such as micromount boxes, display labels, etc. Generate as PDF for high quality printing. Option for double-sided printing, so for example, on the back you could have the photo, dimensions and weight of the specimen to make it even easier keep labels and specimens together (handy for when you move things around a lot).
Jolyon
10th Dec 2008 14:14 UTCAlbert Mura
10th Dec 2008 14:50 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
If you enter a mineral name without clicking 'Find', it won't be saved with the record. But this does mean your names are validated and your specimens linked correctly with the mineral species.
Jolyon
10th Dec 2008 16:03 UTCKarl Volkman Expert
BTW Did anyone notice the first post has changed????
10th Dec 2008 16:13 UTCAlbert Mura
10th Dec 2008 21:21 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
10th Dec 2008 21:27 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
Jolyon
11th Dec 2008 00:14 UTCAlbert Mura
11th Dec 2008 01:50 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
I added three minerals and listed in this order:
1
9
10
Are you including the # symbol as well? If it's not a pure number, it will sort alphabetically rather than numerically.
Jolyon
11th Dec 2008 05:53 UTCMark Willoughby Expert
If you use your numbers as 0001, 0002...0010 etc they will stay in the correct order, the problem is actually the way that the computer 'sees' the numbers. Essentially if there is a 0 (zero) at the front the computer believes that this is part of the number.
This also negates the presence of a letter or symbol in front of the numbers.
This is the same with almost every numerical entry on any computer system.
Hope this helps.
Cheers Mark
11th Dec 2008 09:18 UTCSteve Sorrell Expert
For when you get time, how about on the list view, an indication that an entry already has a photo (if not too difficult)?
...and maybe in your longer term, if a photo is uploaded, and a catalogue number entered, and the owner has a catalogue, automatic generation of a catalogue entry. Many of the details are in the upload photo form anyway.
Regards
Steve
11th Dec 2008 09:43 UTCSteve Sorrell Expert
Query re changed mineral names...
As we know, names periodically change (eg: apatite group, IMA numbers, etc). Will they be changed automatically, or will they stay as entered?
If the latter, may need some sort of utility to find them?
Regards
Steve
11th Dec 2008 10:59 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
"Apatite on Quartz"
Then minerals you select, for example "Apatite-(CaF)" and "Quartz".
When the apatite group are renamed again, your title field will remain unaltered, but the "Apatite-(CaF)" will be changed to whatever the new (or original?) name is.
Jolyon
11th Dec 2008 12:22 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
1,9,10,20
T1,T10,T20,T9 (because it's listed alphabetically)
#1,#10,#20,#9 (again, because the # symbol makes it order alphabetically)
#0001,#0009,#0010,#0020 (ordered alphabetically)
11th Dec 2008 21:06 UTCAlbert Mura
12th Dec 2008 00:48 UTCPeter Nancarrow 🌟 Expert
Although of course, features such as "single crystal", "pseudomorph", "type locality" etc, can easily be added as text in a "Notes" field, I find the check box fields save quite a bit of typing, and together with fields such as "cation" and "anion", allow me to compile more varied custom searches using the Works filters and reports: such as for example, "rock-forming minerals containing Cr or Ti"; "single crystals of spinel group minerals"; "Cornish minerals NOT containing Sn, W or Cu"; "self-collected pseudomorphs/type locality specimens/Li minerals" etc.
Having a field for "Micro Only" also allows me to keep all sizes of specimens in one database, but makes it easy to extract a list of those specimens which are only micromounts, as distinct from those micromounts which I have prepared using sub-samples from specimens in my primary collection, suffixed by "M" on the PN number, but with the "Micro only" field left empty.
Pete N.
PS (The Mindat logo in the "Links" area at the bottom right of the form is the icon for my hyperlink to my Mindat home page)
12th Dec 2008 10:10 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
I think there is still benefit in adding a few custom fields that you can label however you wish - might do that over the weekend.
I don't want to make the form too complicated, but at the same time I want it to be useful for everyone - so are there other additions that could be beneficial?
Jolyon
12th Dec 2008 14:59 UTCJeff Weissman Expert
I have separate lookup tables for localities, mineral names, varieties, and sources with addresses, which then autofill as I type in the information. The first three of course are what MINDAT excels at - having not to retype the source name over again for each entry would be a convenience. Having two or three custom fields would probably be sufficient, above what is already available.
12th Dec 2008 21:23 UTCJeff Weissman Expert
I like the way the "add a photo feature works", will you be able to "add another photo"? But, on the photo page, the locality information is not transferred.
Again, thanks for this great feature!
16th Dec 2008 20:59 UTCJeff Weissman Expert
Can you make this accessible from either the "My Home Page" or "Add/Edit data" pages?
thanks, Jeff
2nd Jan 2009 20:10 UTCModris Baum 🌟 Expert
Maybe this is already on the request list somewhere ...
Would you consider having (another) more generic "Size" field with selectable entries such as MM. TN. MIN. SC etc.?
Maybe I'm dense but I find it tedious to measure LWD for each specimen - and I don't think it's very useful for MM and TN specimens anyway. Size of largest xls can be specified in the "Notes" field but I think that having generic categories you can sort on would be useful.
Thanks - Modris Baum
3rd Jan 2009 00:18 UTCModris Baum 🌟 Expert
When I try to narrow down my list by searching for, say "ww2" I get nothing. If I try "w" I get very strange results.
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks - Modris Baum
3rd Jan 2009 15:51 UTCModris Baum 🌟 Expert
I like having a photo with catalog entries.
But it looks like adding a new photo uses the same form as normal "add" so that the photo could show up in the galleries and "New Photos". (Not sure if that's what happens - I aborted my first try.)
However,iIn many cases mindat already has many good photos of similar or better specimens and, all I want is a quick and dirty snapshot that would add little or no value for anyone except myself.
So: Could we have a check box for "Catalog Only" on the "add" form? (I don't think I even want to see such photos in my personal gallery - just the catalog. But maybe that's too iffy.)
I realize that there could be problems if folks were to make existing photos "Catalog Only" so perhaps something like "if view count <3".
Thanks - Modris Baum
12th Jan 2009 14:01 UTCMarco Barsanti Manager
12th Jan 2009 16:08 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
I don't currently have any plans for you to be able to 'hide' photos from other people - if this is something people want in the future, then it may be a feature for an enhanced version you can pay to use (because mindat should not be covering the cost of hosting photos for your private use).
Jolyon
12th Jan 2009 16:40 UTCTony Peterson Expert
Tony
12th Jan 2009 16:42 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder
Jolyon
12th Jan 2009 17:02 UTCModris Baum 🌟 Expert
It's not that I want to "hide" photos. I just don't want to inflict "more of the same" or marginal photos on Mindat. But I do want a catalog system with photo linking.
I understand that if every photo could be hidden then Mindat could indeed wind up supporting private archives. On the other hand, low quality photos are apparently already being relegated to private galleries.
So the dilemma is "to post or not to post?" I guess the answer is "when in doubt, don't post".
On a different note: "Cloning" a catalog entry from an existing photo would be a great time saver. I think this is already on your "to do" list?
Regards - Modris Baum
12th Jan 2009 17:10 UTCSophia Shultz
Sophia
12th Jan 2009 18:00 UTCMarco Barsanti Manager
18th Feb 2009 18:12 UTCDebbie Woolf Manager
8th May 2009 16:19 UTCDebbie Woolf Manager
:(
1st Nov 2010 16:44 UTCDouglas Merson 🌟 Expert
Doug
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Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: April 25, 2024 11:54:09
Copyright © mindat.org and the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy 1993-2024, except where stated. Most political location boundaries are © OpenStreetMap contributors. Mindat.org relies on the contributions of thousands of members and supporters. Founded in 2000 by Jolyon Ralph.
Privacy Policy - Terms & Conditions - Contact Us / DMCA issues - Report a bug/vulnerability Current server date and time: April 25, 2024 11:54:09