Talk:Tavern

This is certainly just a rough start, I hope people will do the Wiki thing, and help make it both more complete, and better in every way. Stormdancer 03:00, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

usability

The old format was not the easiest to read, but it's far prettier to the reader's eyes. Usability is equal parts access and appearance; we don't need to table everything on this wiki, and it was an ugly one at that (no offense to Mora - STDT is an unforgiving mistress).

If we must talk of ease of use, though...tables are much more annoying to edit for this sort of information, especially given the way it's organized. Don't send a spreadsheet to do a document's job - the usefulness of a tool is measured by its effectiveness. Vili 点 08:37, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

My apologies, I missed this conversation before I reverted back to the table format. If the topic is usability, then between the two most recent edits, the table is much more usable. The "document" version takes up more real estate, is harder to read, and repeats the same information over and over. The table makes it easier to read at-a-glance because the same type of information always appears in the same position on the page, e.g. the area is always in the middle of the table.

I agree that the current type of table is hard to edit. But that can be fixed by using forms or a template, similar to {{fansite row}} for list of fansites or drop tables.

But the main reason I reverted is that the document-format version contained some extraneous information that didn't seem to fit, e.g. one bar is "famous for its ale." There was also some odd phrasing that is common to document-style lists, but not required for tables. The table version was, as a result, much cleaner as a list. On the other hand, the document version included information that is probably important to the article, notably whether the bar includes multi-stories. The table also doesn't include room for any noteworthy items, either sold by a vendor or otherwise.

Accordingly, I don't have any objection if someone wants to revert my last edit, restoring the document version. (I can help clean up the language.) I still think table format (using templates for forms) is the most readable and editable format, but I won't block consensus if anyone disagrees. – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 19:57, 11 January 2014 (UTC)

While tables in general are wonderful, the table as it is robs the user of information they wish to know. Roleplayers, for example, would like to know if a tavern has beds. Also, the current formatting it makes finding a given tavern in a city harder. In the future, a table maybe a good move, but for now I'm hitting revert. DJBoss (talk) 06:12, 12 January 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for taking care of that. I agree with you that the conversion to table form dropped some data that was important to a small (but rowdy-in-a-good-way) fraction of players. If/when I have time, I'll mock up a template and table form and we can figure out a better way to present the details and also allow it to be updated more easily. I would like to update it, since I think the current format hides information due to the amount of repetitive words that don't contain any real data...plus it makes it much harder to see if we are missing details from any particular tavern. – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 17:27, 18 January 2014 (UTC)