In addition to making a JSON export to use with the new interchange that kingargyle put together, I'm going to be revamping Tabletop Admiral a bit, in hopes of using it as a portfolio for landing a job in the field.

I could use input on what you'd like to see. I can't promise I'm going to do everything that's asked, but I'll consider them all.

I'm going to redo the site from the ground up, more or less. The database will be the same and the list codes should all still work, but I've learned a lot since making the site and think I could make it a lot faster, more useful, etc.

The main change will be that the cards you see will be narrowed down to what you can use in your list. I'll probably have an option to turn this off for those who just want to freely look and add like before, but essentially once you add your first card, it will get rid of every other faction until you add an alliance card. Your companions should be automatically added to your list, too. Units/commands you can no longer afford will have their styling changed.

The rest of the planned changes:

• Lists will be viewable by a much shorter ID rather than the long codes. Both will still work, but intead of 1af1070ae195i5170 etc, it'll be more like 89 or whatever # your list is.
• Saved lists will be editable.
• Account for things like 'any figure' and 'massive' and all that.
• More details about lists on the lists page. Maybe the 2 or 3 highest cost units or something, just to give people an idea when browsing.
• All (legal) lists able to be found on the lists page. Instead of just the most recent x lists, you can just go to the next page to see more and more.
• Some sort of filtering on the lists page.
• Display most expensive card in list when loading a list, rather than always the first card alphabetically
• And a bunch of back end stuff that you won't necessarily see, but will speed things up.

32 minutes ago, werdnaegni said:

1. Your companions should be automatically added to your list, too.
2. And maybe units you can no longer afford will go to the bottom of the list and be in red or something.
3. Display most expensive card in list when loading a list, rather than always the first card alphabetically

1. I noticed that when Salacious B. Crumb is added to a list, he gets counted as an additional activation in the count at the bottom of the page. While I guess he technically has an activation, I think when talking about "number of activations" in a list, most wouldn't consider his as part of that number. Also, J4X-7 is missing ( here's a link to the card image ).
2. Maybe instead of shuffling things around when certain cards are too expensive (which could make the list of options difficult to follow if the user misclicks or changes their mind), you could just strike through them or something.
3. When the sorting logic is changed, the new sorting logic should be applied to the lists of selected deployment and command cards too (the lists on the right side of the page).

2 minutes ago, Tibbel said:

1. I noticed that when Salacious B. Crumb is added to a list, he gets counted as an additional activation in the count at the bottom of the page. While I guess he technically has an activation, I think when talking about "number of activations" in a list, most wouldn't consider his as part of that number. Also, J4X-7 is missing ( here's a link to the card image ).
2. Maybe instead of shuffling things around when certain cards are too expensive (which could make the list of options difficult to follow if the user misclicks or changes their mind), you could just strike through them or something.
3. When the sorting logic is changed, the new sorting logic should be applied to the lists of selected deployment and command cards too (the lists on the right side of the page).

1. Makes sense. I'll add J4X-7 now.

2. I agree.

3. If I'm understanding you correctly, you'd like your list to also sort (by cost, health, etc)? Makes sense.

One really useful thing is not letting you include things above the 40 points of deployment cards or 15 points of command cards.

1 minute ago, redki said:

One really useful thing is not letting you include things above the 40 points of deployment cards or 15 points of command cards.

I guess I only half agree with this. Sometimes when building a list, I add everything I WANT, and then remove stuff until it works out.

I'm open to everyone's opinion on this, and whatever the majority thinks I can go with, but I do have the numbers turn red when you go over, so I think it makes more sense to not have that restriction. Maybe I just won't let you save until your list is legal? Though if your list isn't legal, it won't show up on the public lists page.

Just now, werdnaegni said:

I guess I only half agree with this. Sometimes when building a list, I add everything I WANT, and then remove stuff until it works out.

I'm open to everyone's opinion on this, and whatever the majority thinks I can go with, but I do have the numbers turn red when you go over, so I think it makes more sense to not have that restriction. Maybe I just won't let you save until your list is legal? Though if your list isn't legal, it won't show up on the public lists page.

That is a good solution too.

Awesome man!

One thing I noticed today when printing some lists. Would be nice to have like a total count on CC especially, like: Command Cards: 13/15 - 15/15. Or something similar. Like 13 points out of 15 and 15 cards of 15. Maybe just the point costs?

16 minutes ago, werdnaegni said:

Sometimes when building a list, I add everything I WANT, and then remove stuff until it works out.

That's pretty much what I do, every time.

The thing I find most awkward with it at the moment* is picking Command Cards. Say I've taken a twin-Bantha list: I filter the Command Cards by Creature, see what I want to take, then by Massive, see what I want to take. So far so good. Now I want to see all the other cards that I could take, to fill up the remaining cards and points... but that means I have to go through the whole list anyway because there's no way to filter cards out , only in . In other words, I want a full list of all cards except those for Vehicles and Spies and Wookiees and whatever else. There doesn't seem to be any way to do that.

I don't know if others do the same, but I choose Deployment Cards first, then Command Cards. So basically I just only want to see the Command Cards that I can use with the Deployment Cards I've chosen - and nothing else . Exactly how you manage the UI/UX for that is up to you, but that's how I'd like it to work.

Purely out of curiosity - how have you structured the front/back-end of the site? Do you have a REST service for the card database that the web page queries, with all the logic on the page, or some other solution?

* - that said, it's still the one I use by default, there are other list-builders out there but this one is the best, so don't think I'm being too critical of it by any means.

3 minutes ago, Bitterman said:

That's pretty much what I do, every time.

The thing I find most awkward with it at the moment* is picking Command Cards. Say I've taken a twin-Bantha list: I filter the Command Cards by Creature, see what I want to take, then by Massive, see what I want to take. So far so good. Now I want to see all the other cards that I could take, to fill up the remaining cards and points... but that means I have to go through the whole list anyway because there's no way to filter cards out , only in . In other words, I want a full list of all cards except those for Vehicles and Spies and Wookiees and whatever else. There doesn't seem to be any way to do that.

I don't know if others do the same, but I choose Deployment Cards first, then Command Cards. So basically I just only want to see the Command Cards that I can use with the Deployment Cards I've chosen - and nothing else . Exactly how you manage the UI/UX for that is up to you, but that's how I'd like it to work.

Purely out of curiosity - how have you structured the front/back-end of the site? Do you have a REST service for the card database that the web page queries, with all the logic on the page, or some other solution?

* - that said, it's still the one I use by default, there are other list-builders out there but this one is the best, so don't think I'm being too critical of it by any means.

The new method should solve your problems. Nothing that requires "Trooper" should show up if you don't have any trooper deployment cards.

I have a Django back end with an SQL database. I basically parse the database to JSON objects in arrays and it's handled like that.

Let me know if you have more specific questions about it. Happy to share.

Your site is good overall but I have been using IA-armies just because of his simple and fast it is. Please keep in mind user interface simplicity while updating your site.

Thank you for a great resource.

Just now, robertpolson said:

Your site is good overall but I have been using IA-armies just because of his simple and fast it is. Please keep in mind user interface simplicity while updating your site.

Thank you for a great resource.

Can I ask which part of my site you find over-complicates the interface? (Not asking this in a "what are you talking about" kind of way, just curious if there's anything I should keep in mind)

i love the site.

Things that would make it more usable for me are mostly more filtering/sorting options when list building.

1 Command cards sortable/filterable by cost. If I have 1 point available for my deck, I'd like to be able to remove the 2 and 3 cost cards from the view. If you can filter cards in or out depending on point cost, that could be useful.

2 Command cards filter trait for "Any figure".

3 If the command card has multiple traits, it could filter into both traits. EX: Tools for the job filters in when you search for command cards by the Hunter trait, but not Smuggler. It's valid for both. You could extend that logic to a card like Comm Disruption. It doesn't have a specified trait (so it should be 'any figure'), but it's beneficial to use when running a Spy list and it would make sense for that to filter into the Spy trait. If the card has the trait keyword anywhere in the text it would be beneficial for that to show when you filter by the trait.

4 Maybe have the character fixes auto add to your group when you select the figure/deselect when you remove (if you're building an army of the right faction). I couldn't remember the name for the Vader fix the other day and it took me longer than I care to admit to find the skirmish upgrade, haha.

I was using Ia-armies before and switch to TA. TA as the card where IA-armies has the carcteristique and abilitiess only.

And the command card is as worst in both site.

To make TA the best builder : Display the card that only allies to your deploiment card.
If I have no brawler or hunter, why show me them ?
The fact that you only can make add stuff that could be really use.

Quick and simple improuvement : add an "All Trait in on my deploiment card" in the list selector
This will include also "Named card" and I guess that the most helpfull thing we could have for just a small piece of work.

You could also work on key word Inside the card (IA armies does this) Prepare for battle might be use on everyone but grant a bonus if you are a leader.

1 hour ago, werdnaegni said:

I guess I only half agree with this. Sometimes when building a list, I add everything I WANT, and then remove stuff until it works out.

I'm open to everyone's opinion on this, and whatever the majority thinks I can go with, but I do have the numbers turn red when you go over, so I think it makes more sense to not have that restriction. Maybe I just won't let you save until your list is legal? Though if your list isn't legal, it won't show up on the public lists page.

1 thing i really really like about your site vs others i've used, is that you can save lists that aren't perfectly aligned with legal numbers. AKA, i can save and come back later. The red text is perfect in my opinion.

often put together deployment lists without doing the command cards, or can't decide on my 25 CCs, and want to come back later. The no restriction saving and the forthcoming editing is awesome!

1 hour ago, werdnaegni said:

The new method should solve your problems. Nothing that requires "Trooper" should show up if you don't have any trooper deployment cards.

I have a Django back end with an SQL database. I basically parse the database to JSON objects in arrays and it's handled like that.

Let me know if you have more specific questions about it. Happy to share.

What about cards that don't have the trooper trait, but can only be used by troopers? ie. Call the Vanguard

There are several cards like this that don't explicitly have the trait, but based on the description can only be used by a specific trait.

I really like your site and its my go to as well. Many of the things on your list are what i would have mentioned!

I agree that searching by cost and by the unique figure associated with a card would be great. Thanks for the work you do!

-ryanjamal

15 minutes ago, Fightwookies said:

i love the site.

Things that would make it more usable for me are mostly more filtering/sorting options when list building.

1 Command cards sortable/filterable by cost. If I have 1 point available for my deck, I'd like to be able to remove the 2 and 3 cost cards from the view. If you can filter cards in or out depending on point cost, that could be useful.

4 Maybe have the character fixes auto add to your group when you select the figure/deselect when you remove (if you're building an army of the right faction). I couldn't remember the name for the Vader fix the other day and it took me longer than I care to admit to find the skirmish upgrade, haha.

1. Command cards are already sortable by cost. Not filterable though, so I guess you have to scroll after you filter depending on what you're looking for. I'll see what can be done.

4. I don't want to make it mandatory to take the character fixes, even if they're unanimously preferred. I could be wrong in this though, so maybe someone can chime in. I assume you're talking about "Driven By Hatred" and such.

Your other suggestions are on the to-do list.

4 minutes ago, ryanjamal said:

I agree that searching by cost and by the unique figure associated with a card would be great. Thanks for the work you do!

-ryanjamal

Would it be enough, do you think, do have the command cards only show up for ones you can actually use, or do you think you should still be able to search by "Darth Vader" or something?

Maybe a button by each card on your list to have it filter cards specific to that? Not sure how best to do that, and don't want things to get TOO sloppy, but I'm open.

2 minutes ago, werdnaegni said:

Your other suggestions are on the to-do list.

Would it be enough, do you think, do have the command cards only show up for ones you can actually use, or do you think you should still be able to search by "Darth Vader" or something?

Maybe a button by each card on your list to have it filter cards specific to that? Not sure how best to do that, and don't want things to get TOO sloppy, but I'm open.

If you are making the command cards only show based on what you chose in the deployments, wouldn't the character specific cards work that way too? If that's the case, a sort/filter option with the traits could be "character specific" perhaps.

I don't tend to have a problem with the character specific deployment attachments since they are always at the bottom of the Cost sort. That is easy enough for me

Character specific sounds like a good idea.

1 hour ago, werdnaegni said:

Can I ask which part of my site you find over-complicates the interface? (Not asking this in a "what are you talking about" kind of way, just curious if there's anything I should keep in mind)

Reduce the size of the banner Star Wars Imperial Assault Army Builder or better yet move it to fill the empty space on the dark bar at the top between Games and Contact.

Play around with colours. I personally like white and light grey of IA armies better than black, dark grey, light grey, and red at TableTop.

It would be great to see a filter of lists other people made based on a specific figure. If possible, it would be great to choose more than one figure to see what kind of lists other people came up with.

Maybe move the Deployment Cards/Command Cards button above the factions menu or before the Show Packs button at the top.

Have you considered removing the black background and bars on the sides?

Just a few thoughts.

In addition to the export functionality, it would also be nice to have the import functionality. This way, as hopefully other sites like IA-Armies, and a few others (I've seen a couple more sites out there just don't have them handy right now) add export support, people can import them into Tabletop Admiral and vice versa.

2 hours ago, werdnaegni said:

1. Command cards are already sortable by cost.

Huh. So it is. Not sure how I missed that, haha. Good work!

50 minutes ago, kingargyle said:

In addition to the export functionality, it would also be nice to have the import functionality. This way, as hopefully other sites like IA-Armies, and a few others (I've seen a couple more sites out there just don't have them handy right now) add export support, people can import them into Tabletop Admiral and vice versa.

Yeah I think that'll be nice. And should be easy enough if I model the new data model off your data model.

I plan to do the export functionality before I do the overhaul, but when I do the overhaul I'll do import as well.

17 hours ago, werdnaegni said:

Yeah I think that'll be nice. And should be easy enough if I model the new data model off your data model.

I plan to do the export functionality before I do the overhaul, but when I do the overhaul I'll do import as well.

Just a thought, I'd imagine trying to get all the different formats accounted for would be rough, maybe give an import template, I'd have no problem downloading a template and doing a simple copy paste so that its easy to upload to tabletop.

I also moved from Ia-armies to TA. Great site.

Here are my thoughts:

1-Maybe you could put the + sign at the end of the card name to prevent unnecessary scrolling (as it is, it's not very user friendly on a phone...). Also, the faction sign beside the card name could help building multi-faction deck.

2-I love the possibility to save your collection, but you are not limited to what you own when deck building (you can put 4 reg jawa, even if you own 1...) This i very frustrating when building the command deck. Also, I like building thematic games (ex: Rancor Vs AT-PT with non-unique characters), but it can be very complicated building deck without repeating a card... Can you add the possibility to do multi-decks on a list?

3-Search/sort engine needs a little bit of love... Some command cards don't appear when sorting by trait, or searching by card text. Ex: Sorting the Trooper trait, Covering Fire appears, but not Reinforcement or Provoke. You have to search with the trooper keyword to see those cards, but then you won't see the cards with the trooper trait (Grenadier)...

3 hours ago, wannabepudge said:

Just a thought, I'd imagine trying to get all the different formats accounted for would be rough, maybe give an import template, I'd have no problem downloading a template and doing a simple copy paste so that its easy to upload to tabletop.

If the other sites support the IA skirmish format then there is only one format to support that is tool neutral.