Weekly Archive Beta Test

Michiel at Eikongraphis's feeling that archives are a challenge is something I definitely share. And while the daily page you are viewing has its problems -- owing mainly to my use an old modified blogger template with the "new" blogger -- I'm first tackling the task of improving the archives of my weekly doses, as I control the code of that page and am not at the mercy of blogger.

So what I've done on my weekly page is upload a beta version of the archive I've been working on, to ask readers for comments before I put in even more hours (notice the lack of "quality" posts in the last week or so) to include every dose back to week one in 1999. The idea is to consolidate four archives (by architect, by building, by date, by building type) into one sortable archive. The by location archive will stay, as one can browse geographically, with doses keyed to maps.

Here's what it looks like right now:

Here's a breakdown of the changes, from most important to least, keyed to the image above:

1. Sortable Headings: One click on a heading sorts the column ascending; a second click on the same heading sorts it descending, with ascending by architect as default. This is a java-based feature, so I'm not sure how it works on browsers without java compatability.

2. Highlighted Table Rows: Given the sheer number of archived doses (over 425 as of today), I was afraid the large table would be discouraging. Highlighting the individual rows as one moves the mouse up and down the page seems to help. Ditto on the java.

3. Flexible Table Cells This and #4 are part of a larger plan to subtly redesign the whole weekly dose site, starting with a move away from fixed table cells to flexible table cells. Flexible cells work better with the various text sizes that people control with their browser. One downside is for the expanding width for those with low-resolution monitors.

4. Fixed Logo: Given the length of the archive I thought it would help to have the name of the page be anchored, so where one is is never in doubt. Unfortunately, given that it's part of the background (a CSS feature), it's not interactive; it will not take one home. To do that, one must scroll to the very top or bottom for a navigation bar (not pictured).

That's about it. If you have any suggestions, criticisms, or notice anything funny going on, please comment below. This beta's been tested on IE6 and Firefox2, so if you use another browser, like Safari, please me know how it works.

Update 03.02: I've uploaded a revised version that incorporates most of the comments, including a normal cursor over headings, sorting by date for the default order, linking the whole highlighted row, and a consistent left justification. The only one I've yet to deal with is the background link, as most of the information I've found is conflicting and/or discourages one from doing what I'd like to do with that.

To me this latest version is an improvement, but the cursor in the highlighted rows does not change in Mozilla, only in IE. (I'm still not certain about Safari, so please comment if you're a Safaris user to let me know if everything works or not.) Otherwise all's well and I'll start to add the years before 2007 and start to phase out the other archives.

Please comment if you have any more suggestions.

Update 05.17: Well, three months later and the archive is done. It's now the main archive page, with a couple additions from the version presented here. Thanks to everybody again for all their help.