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- Mar 17, 2007
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- 9,305
I discovered a new-to-me feature in the Downloads Database today that I never knew existed, but is pretty nifty. Spot-checking a few other downloads, it looks like it might not be very well known yet, so I thought I'd make this post and share it.
You know how it's nice to link the forum thread about your download from the downloads page, so users don't have to go searching the forums for a possibly-dormant thread if they have a question to ask about it? And how it's easy to forget to do that, like I did?
Turns out there's now a feature for that, which both adds a sizable "Discuss This Resource" button, and embeds the thread in a "Discussion" tab on the Downloads Database page. As seen in this screenshot:
If you view the pictured resource, you can try it for yourself - switch to the Discuss tab, and you'll see you can reply from there.
I think it's kind of neat. For users, it makes it easy to know where to go for the thread - instead of scanning for a link in the description, they can look for that button first. As a creator, it could be a quick way to see if I forgot to include the link.
And perhaps coolest of all, the integration is both ways. The resource I updated is on page 33 of the search results for C&C; if you view that page and click on the Holiday Unit Replacer thread, you'll see "Overview" and "Version History" tabs on the thread, and the blue "Download Now" button above the thread. That means no more searching within the thread for the link to the downloads database.
To link the Downloads Database resource to a thread this way, click the link I highlighted in orange in the screenshot. Then paste the thread number of the forum thread for the resource, which is near the end of the URL (457827 for the Holiday Unit Replacer). Save it, and it'll be linked.
Optionally, you could also go to "Edit" in the overview tab and add links for more info (which shows up at the bottom of the "Information" tile in the upper-right part of the downloads page, or support (which shows up as an "Ask Questions/Get Support" blue button above the "Discuss This Resource" blue button. I found one Civ6 resource which used the latter to link to a GitHub issues page. The former is less visible and thus, I suspect, not that useful; the thread link is probably the most useful of these options for most resources.
It probably isn't realistic to update all 12,736 items in the Civ3 Downloads Database to point to their threads in this way... but now that I know it exists I'll be using it for new resources I post going forward.
You know how it's nice to link the forum thread about your download from the downloads page, so users don't have to go searching the forums for a possibly-dormant thread if they have a question to ask about it? And how it's easy to forget to do that, like I did?
Turns out there's now a feature for that, which both adds a sizable "Discuss This Resource" button, and embeds the thread in a "Discussion" tab on the Downloads Database page. As seen in this screenshot:
If you view the pictured resource, you can try it for yourself - switch to the Discuss tab, and you'll see you can reply from there.
I think it's kind of neat. For users, it makes it easy to know where to go for the thread - instead of scanning for a link in the description, they can look for that button first. As a creator, it could be a quick way to see if I forgot to include the link.
And perhaps coolest of all, the integration is both ways. The resource I updated is on page 33 of the search results for C&C; if you view that page and click on the Holiday Unit Replacer thread, you'll see "Overview" and "Version History" tabs on the thread, and the blue "Download Now" button above the thread. That means no more searching within the thread for the link to the downloads database.
To link the Downloads Database resource to a thread this way, click the link I highlighted in orange in the screenshot. Then paste the thread number of the forum thread for the resource, which is near the end of the URL (457827 for the Holiday Unit Replacer). Save it, and it'll be linked.
Optionally, you could also go to "Edit" in the overview tab and add links for more info (which shows up at the bottom of the "Information" tile in the upper-right part of the downloads page, or support (which shows up as an "Ask Questions/Get Support" blue button above the "Discuss This Resource" blue button. I found one Civ6 resource which used the latter to link to a GitHub issues page. The former is less visible and thus, I suspect, not that useful; the thread link is probably the most useful of these options for most resources.
It probably isn't realistic to update all 12,736 items in the Civ3 Downloads Database to point to their threads in this way... but now that I know it exists I'll be using it for new resources I post going forward.
