I have been thinking again about that "thing". Not sure how I would call it: and encyclopedia, glossary or index.
I was thinking of not including any description/definition with each word of the index. That would speed up the populating process and will prevent definition conflict.
Do you think it should be very important to have a description/definition for every word in the list?
I also thought of linking synomyms, For example: "death star" would have 2 synonyms "doom star" and "war sun". It might be useful to do "see also" entries.
As for the grouping, I intend to make a detailled classification scheme that would include all the subjects.
For the consultation method, do you prefer an online interective website where you can browse the list, or do you prefer a PDF book with indexes? Probably everybody will say online website, but you never know, some people might prefer to have it as a document.
Not sure right now how big will be the document. It will probably be very big but might be easier to read if there is no description.
As for the the technical aspect:
Option 1:
If I make a PDF book, I could easily make a Access database and create a report that will list all the words ordered according to hhe classification scheme and in alphabetic order. I'll have to check if it would be possible to create an html page from this report.
People would have access to a blank database, they would input their words, I will review the words and import it in my database.
Right now, that is the easiest solution to implement.
Option 2:
Have a website site with a database, or a CSV file parsed in a page.
New word submission could either be done with an access database that I will convert as CSV file or as a SQL script that will add data in the database.
Or, people would be allowed to submit it online, but it would take a much more sophisticated system to review the words and accept them. It might also take more time to input this way since with an access database, you can easily import a text file and format it in the database.
Right now, I am leaning toward option 1 since hypertext search is not really a feature importnat. Generally, you want to browse list of words that would give you ideas. So browsing should be the primary feature.
Having the report converted as an HTML page could allow to browse the classification scheme and jump directly to the content with an hyperlink. That could resolve all the hyperlinks need.
What do you think?
