How To : Add an Index to your Build Log and Creating Links

[Dan Vadas]

Several members have added Indexes to "Points of Interest" to their Build Logs. This helps both themselves and others to quickly find the page or post to certain items during the course of construction - e.g. selecting "Capstan" will take you directly to the first post dealing with it's construction.

 

Here's how you do it :

 

The Index is merely a collection of Links. For those of you familiar with the method of creating a Link you can skip this next bit.

 

How to create a Link :

 

Find the Post you want to create a Link to, preferably by opening MSW in a separate Window. RIGHT Click on the Post Number :

 

 

This will bring up a Menu. Click on "Copy Link Location" :

 

 

Click on the "Edit" button in the post you want to create a Link :

 

 

Select the word (or words) that you want to turn into a Link by dragging your mouse across it while holding down the left button or using Shift + Arrow on the keyboard :

 

 

Click on the "Add Link" Button in the menu bar :

 

 

This brings up a small Menu. RIGHT Click in the "URL" bar. Make sure the cursor is inside the bar. Click "Paste" in the menu :

 

 

The Link is now attached to your selected word/s.

 

Example of an Index

 

It's helpful to place the Index in the first post of your Build Log, but if you can't do that for whatever reason you could create a Link to the Index page in the first post of the Log.

 

You can Format the text in the usual way (font, size color etc)

 

[NenadM]

I must try this !!!

[Cathead]

Hah! I've been thinking about this very idea, and wrote up a whole post explaining the concept, only to find that it's already been suggested. Well, here's my expanded proposal anyway, for whatever it's worth. I also created an index for my steamboat Bertrand log.

 

A proposal for improving build logs: table of contents or index  

 

Problem

                Build logs on MSW serve two very different and somewhat conflicting purposes: a dynamic account of the build and a static reference for later builders. The problem arises when the interactive community and comment thread (that makes a live log such a worthwhile experience) becomes a hindrance to later readers trying to research or learn from the build (after the fact). It can be very frustrating to wade through tens or even hundreds of pages of comments looking for certain information, techniques, or stages of a build, and a search function will only go so far.

 

Solution

                 I propose a partial solution: the introduction of a Table of Contents, or Index, to build logs. A builder can plan ahead and include a nascent Index in a very early post of their log, and use the edit function to add to it as the build progresses. This way, a reader arriving at the build later has some sense right away of where in the build different stages happened, and can jump to them without slogging through the entire comment thread.

                Now, this will be easier for some builders than others. I don’t propose linking to every post by a builder in the index. My style of logging tends to be a periodic update of specific steps taken, including many photos and discussions in one post, making it easier to produce an Index. Others take a more stream-of-consciousness approach, with many short posts dealing with small steps individually, producing many hundreds (thousands?) of update comments in a long, complex build log. I suggest that builders link to general parts of the build, or any other topic of specific interest; for a very broad example:

·         Hull framing (link to first post starting this process)

·         Hull planking (link to first post starting this process)

·         Decking (link to first post starting this process)

·         Discussion of a unique way of shaping masts (link to first post starting this process)

And so on. There could be many comments within those sections, but at least a reader looking for a certain part of the build will know where to start. And a builder can be as detailed in this index as they care to be; the more detail, the more helpful the build log to later readers.

 

Retrofitting logs

                For those who like this idea but already have a log started or completed, there are two options. One, just go back to your first post and use the edit function to build in an Index. Two, especially for finished logs, post an Index at the end of the log, then simply link to it prominently by editing your initial post, i.e. “Here is an index of this build (link to post at end of thread)”. I’m certainly not saying this should be required or expected, but for those who like the idea it’s a way to implement it. For example, I had this idea when I was about 2/3 done with my steamboat Bertrand build, and at that point went back through and created a draft index in a Word file that I kept updated from then on. Now that my build is finished, I just posted that index at the end and linked to it in the beginning. On my next build, I’ll leave space at the beginning, or create a separate comment just for the index, making it easy to maintain as I go.

 

Feedback

                I’m curious what you all think. Is this crazy? Worthwhile? Discuss.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Cathead

[mtaylor]

Quite a few use something like this Cathead.  Not everyone, of course. 

[Cathead]

Welp, just shows there's nothing new under the sun. I've somehow managed to not see any of them, or to miss them if I did. Parallel invention and all that.

[Dan Vadas]

Funny thing Cathead - I had exactly the same idea as your Proposal when I first made my own Index and posted the "How To" above .

 

It's certainly a good idea (in all modesty ), and quite a few builders have adopted it so far.

 

  Danny

[Landlubber Mike]

I started something like that on my Pegasus and Morgan logs Cathead.  Great minds think alike!

[Baker]

 

Noticed today

Since the last update the "edit button" has been moved

[SimonR]

I cant seem to create a Build Log, is there a reason the option is greyed out when I go to create a topic? Or is there another way?

[gsdpic]

2 hours ago, SimonR said:

I cant seem to create a Build Log, is there a reason the option is greyed out when I go to create a topic? Or is there another way?

@SimonR....Click on the little arrow by "Build logs for kits" or "Build logs for scratch projects" and it will expand to a list of choices by date of launch, and those choices should be selectable.

 

And welcome to MSW......consider posting a brief intro in the new member intro section.

Edited February 4, 2021 by gsdpic

[SimonR]

Thanks Gary!