The Manual Section Of The Website Is... Not That Great.

Discussion in 'TSW General Discussion' started by farLander#3643, Jul 16, 2023.

  1. farLander#3643

    farLander#3643 Member

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    It's confusing at first look and missing manuals, whether that be by current omission from the article or lack of a manual at all. For example, the Class 700 has a manual that I know exists - I've downloaded it - but it doesn't yet appear on the Manuals page. BCC and Glossop don't have a manual as far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong) but if they do they're not on the page, either. There are others missing, but I just noticed this and haven't dug through all the routes and checked so I don't have a comprehensive list.

    It has a weird organization of the manuals it does have. It's divvied by routes and locos for TSW2020 + base-game, there's only some routes for TSW2 + base-game (with no separation) and TSW3 only has the base-game manual.

    I know it's a term frowned upon here, but it is lazy to me to have the manuals page be a news article from 5 years ago - sidebar and all (I don't need that when I'm looking for manuals) - that appears to me to be hastily edited and not have it be it's own dedicated page with better organization.

    A better solution would be a full-window page (that scales horizontally for mobile) with a tile system similar to the UI of the game (Tiles with thumbnail of relevant content and a banner title at the top). Base game manuals (TSW3/2/2020) at top, Route manuals below that, then loco manuals (With appropriate headers for each section). Below the base-game section I would also include a disclaimer saying what routes each base-game manual includes, for clarity. Also would be handy to provide a list of content you don't have manuals for so people don't ravenously search in vain. I also think the tab up top (Between "News" and "My Profile") should be called "Manuals", not necessarily "Guides".

    For the multi-platform manuals, when you mouse over the tile (or single tap on mobile, gotta think of them) the tile turns into three sections with each platform to choose from.

    And finally, for language you can have a dropdown menu at the very top. Currently it looks like there's only one other manual in a language other than English, but the opportunity would then be there and it would be clear clear that "These are definitively the manuals we have in x language". Up there you can also throw a search bar that filters down the tiles accordingly based on keywords.

    These are just suggestions, but in it's current form the manuals page is unsatisfactory in both organization and supplied content. I'm by no means a professional, but I've done some freelance Wordpress work in the past and know it's easier to do at least a little better.

    I do mean all of this in the most constructive, positive-spirited way. I just wanted to point out an issue I took notice to.

    All the best to DTG Team
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2023
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  2. farLander#3643

    farLander#3643 Member

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    Oh, and when I say "full-window page", I do mean with margins. I'm not an animal lol
     

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