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Buyers Guide -> Wiki

arn

arn

macrumors god
Original poster
Staff member
Apr 9, 2001
16,363
5,795
To perhaps the delight of many...

I figured I'd hand over the buyers guide to the wiki so that other people besides myself can update it. And, for those who are enterprising, they can break down the iPod lines themselves.

I've created an extension to handle it. Consider this one a test:

http://guides.macrumors.com/PowerMac_Buyer's_Guide

Check the source.

Code: 
<buyersguide>
searchproduct=powermac
title=PowerMac
image= Image:powermacg5.jpg
recentnum=10
released= 20051019145545
released= 20050427090437
released= 20040609083915
released= 20031118083735
released= 20030623171845
released= 20030128084214
released= 20020813084317
released= 20020128095752
</buyersguide>
==Recommendations / Comments==

searchproduct is a term used internally so stories related to a product can be listed. legal terms are pretty broad: ipod, powermac, macbook, macbookpro, ibook, imac etc...

title is just the pretty properly capitalized title

image is a wiki-uploaded filename.

recentnum tells the script how many of the recent stories to generate (legal values 1-20)

released - this will not be obvious to the average user. This is the long ID number that is generated for articles. Example:

https://www.macrumors.com/pages/2006/06/20060620173932.shtml

20060620173932 is the unique ID number for that article, and also timestamps it. You simply enter the number corresponding to a product release, and the script does the rest. It also links to the appropriate story.

thoughts? changes?

This script should be flexiable enough so if someone wants to break out all the U2 iPods, they should be able to.

Note. An automatic recommendation is not included at this point. I could, but alternatively, people could compose more thoughtful recommendations.

arn
 
HexMonkey

HexMonkey

Administrator emeritus
Feb 5, 2004
2,240
504
New Zealand
Sounds great!

Were you planning to have them all on the same page or on different pages like in the test page?

One option would be to create a template for each product (eg have one that contained the same content as the PowerMac example). Then a main page could use all the templates to show all the products (like the current buyer's guide), and the individual product guides could also be shown on the respective product pages (eg have a Buyer's Guide section on the [guide]iMac[/guide] page).

Not that this would be a perfect solution, one problem being that it wouldn't be as obvious how to edit them (although some instructions could be added as comments to the source of the pages that use the templates). Just an idea to consider.
 
bigandy

bigandy

macrumors G3
Apr 30, 2004
8,852
7
Murka
Looks like a great idea. I wish I wasn't at work, or I'd look into it and get some real feedback back :rolleyes:
 
arn

arn

macrumors god
Original poster
Staff member
Apr 9, 2001
16,363
5,795
HexMonkey said:
Sounds great!

Were you planning to have them all on the same page or on different pages like in the test page?
....
Not that this would be a perfect solution, one problem being that it wouldn't be as obvious how to edit them (although some instructions could be added as comments to the source of the pages that use the templates). Just an idea to consider.
Click to expand...

not entirely sure. The one issue is that the buyersguide.macrumors.com domain is relatively well linked so I would want that page to be sort of a index page still for the individual guide pages.

My first impression was to have them as individual pages... as I think there might be a fair amount of useful non-automated info that could be applied... such as concerns about the heat or other advantages disadvantages to individual products.

just not sure

arn
 
Eraserhead

Eraserhead

macrumors G4
Nov 3, 2005
10,434
12,250
UK
Tried to do the iPod page but as I accidently made the images for the Mini/Shuffle too big to start with now I have shrunk the images they seem to come out all pixellated which needs fixing :(
 
HexMonkey

HexMonkey

Administrator emeritus
Feb 5, 2004
2,240
504
New Zealand
arn said:
The one issue is that the buyersguide.macrumors.com domain is relatively well linked so I would want that page to be sort of a index page still for the individual guide pages.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was one reason I was thinking an overview page would be beneficial; I'd think it would be more useful for quickly skimming over multiple products than a list of links.

If we went the template route, we could have summary information in each template (ie just the content of the buyersguide tag), and then display only this information in an overview page, with links to individual pages for each product. The individual pages could then use the template but also go into more detail, eg adding buying advice and links to related pages.
 
arn

arn

macrumors god
Original poster
Staff member
Apr 9, 2001
16,363
5,795
HexMonkey said:
If we went the template route, we could have summary information in each template (ie just the content of the buyersguide tag), and then display only this information in an overview page, with links to individual pages for each product. The individual pages could then use the template but also go into more detail, eg adding buying advice and links to related pages.
Click to expand...

that probably sounds like the best way to go.

I'll need to work on it some more.

arn
 
HexMonkey

HexMonkey

Administrator emeritus
Feb 5, 2004
2,240
504
New Zealand
I tried implementing the existing pages using templates. It mostly worked, except for the [guide]iPod Buyer's Guide[/guide] page. It seems it won't work if I use templates and have multiple buyersguide tags on a single page, instead outputting messages such as the following in place of the guides:

Code: 
UNIQ26fa189070e5ddb9-buyersguide4b32a0d65ea3f0d700000001

Specifically:
  • With all buyer's guides embedded into the page, they all work properly.
  • With all buyer's guides using templates, the last one displays properly but the rest don't
  • With a mixture of embedded and template buyer's guides, everything except the last template guide is not displayed properly.

The templates contain only a buyersguide tag and a noinclude tag.

For an example of the problem, see an old version of the iPod Buyer's Guide page.
 
HexMonkey

HexMonkey

Administrator emeritus
Feb 5, 2004
2,240
504
New Zealand
Another problem: There doesn't seem to be a valid search term available for the Cinema Displays (presumably because there's no subdomain for them like for the other products).

See [guide]Template:LCD Buyer's Guide[/guide].
 
SpaceMagic

SpaceMagic

macrumors 68000
Oct 26, 2003
1,743
-5
Cardiff, Wales
arn said:
not entirely sure. The one issue is that the buyersguide.macrumors.com domain is relatively well linked so I would want that page to be sort of a index page still for the individual guide pages.

My first impression was to have them as individual pages... as I think there might be a fair amount of useful non-automated info that could be applied... such as concerns about the heat or other advantages disadvantages to individual products.

just not sure

arn
Click to expand...
arn, when you say the Buyer's Guide is relatively well linked to you mean externally or internally around the MR/MacBytes/Etc sites?
 
Eraserhead

Eraserhead

macrumors G4
Nov 3, 2005
10,434
12,250
UK
Could the Buyer's Guide pages have a subcategory under guides? I think that would be useful...
 
HexMonkey

HexMonkey

Administrator emeritus
Feb 5, 2004
2,240
504
New Zealand
Eraserhead said:
Could the Buyer's Guide pages have a subcategory under guides? I think that would be useful...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had planned on adding one once the above issues were resolved, but I'll add it now (Edit: Done).

Any news on the above problems arn?
 
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