Thread:Fossiliferous/@comment-27234821-20151127225337/@comment-27234821-20151129223646

I think that the basic layout of the page is workable, but because there will be over 300 collection pages, once all are added, I suggest that we focus on a few simple areas, that will enable us to begin adding new collection pages relatively quickly. The focus areas are as follows: 1) eliminate excess wordiness and repeated edits; 2) create a standard layout for each of the three tables on the page; and 3) add a couple of visual enhancements. When I look at a collection page, I see five distinct sections: 1) basic information about collections; 2) details about the specific page’s collection; 3) details about the page’s collection items; 4) details about the page’s combining elements; and 5) related links and categories.

First section - I have previously edited the text in this section, but with the following tweaks, it can become a section that requires no editing every time a new page is added. I would suggest making this the wording for the first section of every collection page.

"Once you have collected at least one of each collection item for this collection, along with the required number of combining elements, the COMBINE button on the right hand side of the collection will turn green. You will be able to combine the collection and receive your rewards. If the COMBINE button is brown, then you are either missing one or more of the collection items, or you do not have enough of one or more of the required combining elements.

There are several ways to obtain the collection items needed to combine this collection. They can be: 1) won as a reward for successfully investigating certain pictures and winning certain puzzle games; 2) won both within, as well as before and after the quests for them; 3) randomly rewarded by the Collector desktop award; and 4) randomly rewarded from charging a friends board when visiting friends. The collection items can also be gifted to friends (from your own inventory) and received as gifts from friends. The required combining elements to combine the collection, once all five collection items have been found, can be won as a reward for successfully investigating certain pictures and winning certain puzzle games. They can also be given to friends as a free gift (not out of your own inventory) and received from friends as gifts.

See List of Collections for all collections currently available in the game and the rewards for combining them.

Note: If you are trying to search for a collection based on an item in that collection, see List of Collection Items instead. This list only states the name of the collection and the rewards for combining that collection." In the first and second paragraphs of this section, I have eliminated the name of the collection, and instead, I have inserted the word “this” to refer to the collection for the current page. Since the collection name is already at the top of each page, repeating the name is unnecessary. By making this change, we will eliminate the need to edit the collection name references in this section every time a new page is added. I have also reworked the second paragraph to eliminate wordiness and make it clearer. Let me know what you think.  I’m sure you noticed that I again tried to sway your mind with the “COMBINE” versus “combine” button reference. This is one of the visual enhancements that I mentioned earlier. My reasoning for the change is this. If you are reading through the instructions on combining collections and referring to the picture of the collection at the same time, when you see the word “COMBINE” and look at the picture, you immediately know what is being referred to. However, with the word “combine” it raises the question, is that what they are talking about, maybe, probably, okay it is. It’s not immediately apparent. Anyway, that’s my reason for recommending that change. Your call. The other recommended change for this section is to relocate the first sentence “xxx is a collection that can be combined in the game.”, and include it in the second section, which outlines the general details about the specific collection on the page.

Since this post has gotten rather long, I will go into more detail about the second section, in my next post. When you get a chance, let me know your thoughts about these suggested changes to the first section. In the meantime, I will work on getting a post together about the second section. Thanks!