A PDF is not a database, ever. It's an unfortunate selection of file format if accessibility is the aim.
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A PDF is not a database, ever. It's an unfortunate selection of file format if accessibility is the aim.
Sorry to be long and lengthy on this but I will try to explain.
The intention of the database was not to try to get people to donate. The donations for the web site are on a voluntary basis only. We would hope that users would volunteer to donate once a year at a minimum of $10 each. If we could get the users that visit the site on a regular basis to donate $10 a year then we would never have to worry about paying any server cost out of our own pocket. I have never begged are cried for donations from the users and I never will. If I had to I would pay the server cost out of my own pocket to keep the site up and running.
The original intention of this site was to help future thru hikers and section hikers to prepare for there hike. We have always stated that the site is free for everyone to use and we will keep it that way. Donations help so that we do not have to pay the server cost out of our own pocket. We have been lucky so far and have not had to pay anything out of our pockets for over a year or so now. That could change at any given minute though. It all depends on the amount of donations coming in.
Getting back to the subject, the database started out so that donating members could download it but after thinking more about it and our goal to help others to prepare for hiking on the AT and to keep everything on the web site free we decided to make it available to every one.
In doing so we decided to protect it from people copying it and plagiarizing it by making it so that it could not be edited. We are also thinking about going into production with the database and selling in hopes to bring in some money to help with server cost. If we go into production with the data base then it would not be feasible for us to have it online where everyone could have access to edit it and change it with out telling us of the changes so that we could make those changes in the database. We have already printed out the book through a publishing company and have some samples here at my house. We just need to go through the book and make some changes and decide on whether we want to move forward with this our not.
If you think that we are trying to produce another Companion then I am sorry but if you look at the layout of the Companion and our layout you will see two totally different layouts. Our database does not look anything like the Companion. We are trying to make it easier to use and in a step by step walk on the AT.
Now that is my $.02 on this.
Hey Rick, thanks for the explanation.
It is your project and you can certainly do it however you want. I guess I misunderstood the purpose from the beginning. I thought it was supposed to be a user friendly, interactive database.
If you want to make it a thru hiker aid publication, that's fine too. It just seems like that has already been done. Truly, the WB format is trimmed down from the Companion, but as a section hiker all I am going to do is take a few pages with me anyway.
I liked the way it was because I could modify it to my needs. I liked to take out the "county" column and put a cumulative mileage total and plan my day from that calculation.
Oh well, the only certainty in life is change. I'll be sad to see it morph into a printed book. Then I'll have to buy the book and tear it apart to use it. Good luck with it.
The locking feature seriously hurts its usability, Rick. Unlike the companion PDF, I can't copy a few pages into a notepad and print them out in text format to take on a section. I can certainly print out individual pages, but not in a different format. Besides, PDF is a non-editable format. Just saying.
No disrespect, Rick, just putting out my opinion.
I know where you are both coming from and I will take this into consideration.
Here is one thing that concerns me if I make this open editing. It will get downloaded a lot to edit because it will be the only database that is editable. This will increase our bandwidth because it is such a large file and with increased bandwidth the server cost will increase. We are working on very little funds now.
I am not trying to be an ass over this. I just have to look out for the web site and server cost and also what our best interest should be.
The link to open the Database redirects to a thread now. Is the database no longer available on line?
Thanks Dixie - the Dino is slow today.
I was wondering if a recipe section might be helpful in the articles database?
BTW: I found a broken whiteblaze link under the "Nutrition" article in the paragraph: "Replace the Calories with Food". I recall recipes were posted in a forum or two, so I shall search them for new ideas.
Have you ever looked into useing a print on demand bookstore like lulu.com that way you don't have to worry about dealing with any publishing company and can update the book at will with out having a ton of copies instantly go out of print. I have never used LULU but I have heard it described a few times and this is the kind of subject matter the creators made it for.
sh
Thanks for all of the hard work! It is very useful.
In planning my section hike from US 19E to Damacus, I noticed that my maps had Jones Falls shown just past Buck Rd roughly 6 miles north from US 19E trail head. The trail head is NO 385.5 miles which would put the falls at roughly 391.5 miles. Your guide shows the Jones Falls at mile 401.8. So does my map have a miss print or is there a typo in the trail guide?
Thanks,
Lee...St Louis.
Great job with this milage guide guys!
The shelter picture links are a nice touch.
How will the shelter pictures translate to the printed version if at all?
When I try to open the PDF it promps me to log in again? Is there a certain permission I need to have to access this?
Thanks,
JL
I must be stupid, I can't find a link to download the database.
It was there when I downloaded it to my old computer.
Where am I going wrong??
Grinder