HP Forum Archive 15

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How 'bout a BIG collaborative comparison chart? Message #1 Posted by John L. Shelton on 27 May 2005, 1:31 p.m. I am thinking it would be really nice to have, hosted at MoHPC, a large comparison chart of "all" HP calculators. Like other charts, it would show models across an X axis, and features/measures along the Y axis. What distinguishes my suggestion from previous attempts is that: (a) it's collaborative: each column (model) would be maintained separately by a volunteer, and (b) it would attempt to be comprehensive, through iterative growth. Ideally, viewers of the chart would be able to sort the models by different factors: Year of Introduction, Model Number, Original Price, Series, Weight, etc. I don't know if it's possible to build a web page of arbitrary width, but in my imagination, this chart would require substantial horizontal and vertical scrolling. The Y axis would be grouped into things like: Basics (model number, thumbnail picture, years of introduction & discontinuance, prices, mini-description, etc.) Measurements (size, weight, performance, etc. If we are clever, we could allow input of metric measures, and automatically display both metric and English measure.) Display (technology, digits, etc) Features (the big part of the chart) Links (links to other information specific to that calculator) Sponsor (This aisle maintained by XXX, just like at WalMart.) Obviously, this could all be built in a spreadsheet, maintained by an individual. But that's awkward. Could we do this as something where each model volunteer can separately add information for their model. Perhaps one volunteer is responsible for the overall organization. So, questions to the community: Does this sound useful? What technology is needed to construct it? Would you be interested in "hosting" a model or two? Thanks.

Re: How 'bout a BIG collaborative comparison chart? Message #2 Posted by Katie Wasserman on 28 May 2005, 2:12 a.m., in response to message #1 by John L. Shelton A lot of the information needed for such a table has already been complied by Craig Finseth: http://www.finseth.com/hpdata.html

Finseth's site is useful but... Message #3 Posted by John L. Shelton on 28 May 2005, 2:29 p.m., in response to message #2 by Katie Wasserman Craig Finseth has a great deal of data, and I'd think it would be good to link from my proposed chart into his database. What's missing there is the chart-wise comparison ability. And of course, the dependence on a single person to maintain it. I propose a collaborative tool so updates tend to happen more quickly.

Re: How 'bout a BIG collaborative comparison chart? Message #4 Posted by Gordon on 28 May 2005, 7:06 p.m., in response to message #1 by John L. Shelton How about an XML database with a table display using Craig's data? Can anyone write the dispay software?

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