Website Update & Useability

Post by **hugh** » January 8th, 2006, 9:03 am

Hi all, this week I will be going through the website (both main page & forum) and trying to clean up problems.
such as:

-imprecise, incomplete, or incorrect information
-useability problems: for new volunteers, and new listeners
-unexplained parts of the project (how does it work?) etc.

If you have any comments, problems, had trouble finding something, etc. pls post here with concise notes on where you had problems.

thanks.

kayray · Post by **kayray** » January 8th, 2006, 10:09 am

What a job, Hugh.

You can alter any mention of lowercase-only ID3 tags, if you want. Readers should match whatever scheme their coordinator wants; coordinators can chose any logical scheme (a tidy example should be given -- Betsie's The Prince, perhaps).

Have fun ;-)

Stephan · Post by **Stephan** » January 8th, 2006, 11:59 am

Damn it. Thats one for me too.

I?d love this.
I?ll help you out in the next overhaul in the comming months. *snif*

Rev. Steve · Post by **Rev. Steve** » January 8th, 2006, 1:54 pm

You could make it easier to find this page:

http://librivox.org/about-recording/

I pulled my hair out looking through the forums a few weeks ago looking for this info.

And please - better info on ID3 tags.

Post by **hugh** » January 8th, 2006, 3:51 pm

rev steve, what's missing on ID3? I HATE ID3 tags, and I hate writing about them, so if you have suggestions about what's missing from our documentation that would be helpful.

ChipDoc · Post by **ChipDoc** » January 8th, 2006, 4:54 pm

I think that what we need to remember about the ID3 tags is that they are going to be displayed on the listener's iPod screen. Rather than using the lower_case_underlined format, we really need to put The Title in plain English with caps and spaces so that it looks right in that display.

Just my 2?

peastman · Post by **peastman** » January 8th, 2006, 5:01 pm

Clicking on the LibriVox logo at the top of this page should take you to the main page, not to the list of discussion forums.

And I agree about ID3 tags. None of my other album names in iTunes are all lower case.

Peter

Stephan · Post by **Stephan** » January 8th, 2006, 10:52 pm

Isn?t it a thing of the book-leaders?

In my books i asked my readers to put it like that.
Looks good in WinAmp.

Title: War of the worlds - Book 1 - Chapter 5
Artist: H. G. Wells
Album: War of the worlds
Track: 5
Year: 2006
Genre: Books & Spoken
Comment: Recorded by Peter Yearsley

LibraryLady · Post by **LibraryLady** » January 8th, 2006, 10:54 pm

It is up to the book soloist or coordinator but I think the issue is that when the project started, it was mistakenly believed that everything needed to be lowercase and underscored and even though there have been posts suggesting use of more logical ID3 tags, I think there must be official instructions to use the_old_fashioned_way still lurking around here somewhere.

kayray · Post by **kayray** » January 8th, 2006, 11:01 pm

Heheh yeah I changed the suggested ID3 tag format *somewhere* -- but I don't remember where! I'll try to remember, and I'll try to update that info everywhere...

Kara

LibraryLady · Post by **LibraryLady** » January 8th, 2006, 11:03 pm

I think it might be in the "how to be a book coordinator" sticky (or stickies? I think it is in a few places now).

kayray · Post by **kayray** » January 8th, 2006, 11:04 pm

hehehe feel free to track it down... I'm going to bed :)

LibraryLady · Post by **LibraryLady** » January 8th, 2006, 11:23 pm

I updated the ID3 info in the stickies for "next books" and "readers wanted." Hopefully this will help clear things up a bit.

Rev. Steve · Post by **Rev. Steve** » January 9th, 2006, 1:41 am

Yah, I hated ID3 tags too ? until I figured out that iTunes (another program I hated until I learned this) would keep my audio files organized for me based on them. Now I am ID3 tag?s bitch. Though I still hate filling in all the info ? when it IS there it makes life much easier.

I think as far as what to say about them ? I would echo Kara?s and ChipDoc?s words ? and to hell with the all lowercase_with_underscore format, unless there is a technical reason that requires it.

I think that having one authoritative source for information about what should be placed in the tags, instead of having contradictory info in various locations would be extra-keen. And I think that is more or less your purpose in this ?clean-up? enterprise. Perhaps this is an ideal use for the up and coming wiki?

I would suggest something clear-cut for each group of people who may be required to manipulate the ID 3 tags. Perhaps a note for ?regular? chapter volunteers stating that they should do whatever the book coordinator has decided, and a more detailed note for coordinators and solo readers explaining what information to put where ? and what format to use, if any.

Something along the lines of:

ID3 Tags:

Make your ID3 Tags conform to whatever your chapter coordinator has asked, or if you are a chapter coordinator, or a solo-reader, the following information should be helpful:

For Name, use the book title and chapter number. For example: ?A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur?s Court? chapter 3 becomes ?Yankee 03? or ?Connecticut Yankee 03.? Be sure to include a leading 0 on the numbers 0-9.

For Artist, use the book?s author, as it is used in the book you are recording. For example: ?Mark Twain?

For Album use the books complete title. For example ?A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur?s Court?

For Genre please use ?Audiobook?

In the Comments section please include: ?This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org.? You may also wish to include the name of the person who read the chapter.

I think the issue in my mind is the creation of a single, clear, authoritative statement. I know a few weeks ago when I was looking for the answer to the question for the Yankee ? it was hard to find.

ChipDoc · Post by **ChipDoc** » January 9th, 2006, 1:49 am

Rev. Steve wrote:For Name, use the book title and chapter number. For example: “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” chapter 3 becomes “Yankee 03” or “Connecticut Yankee 03.” Be sure to include a leading 0 on the numbers 0-9

Yet Connecticut Yankee in particular has chapter titles. Since the name of the book is already stated in the Album field, wouldn't it be more worthwhile to use as the title "03: Knights of the Table Round"? This provides some useful information to the end user at little cost in time to us.

Just a thought...