Talk:4e Index (4e Other)

Purpose
What is the purpose of this page, and why is it claiming so many redirects that should go elsewhere? --DanielDraco 16:09, July 10, 2010 (UTC)


 * I actually like the idea of this page. While I don't use 4e, the ability to be able to go "hey, I can't remember where I read about fill-in-the-blank, I should check the Index" is immensely handy instead of having to check the indexes of all your books across the entire edition. Granted, this Index is far from complete for the entire edition, but its a start, and a handy thing a wiki should have as a reference. It actually would be nice if we could include an index for each publication. --Ganteka Future 18:45, July 14, 2010 (UTC)


 * Fair enough; somehow the purpose of this page went entirely over my head...probably because it annoyed me so much. But it would be great if someone with the knowhow scripted a removal of all the redirects to this page. It's simple enough to search for the index and then go to the thing you want, but it is a pain in the ass to look for something else in the search bar and have it jump to the middle of a large, irrelevant page. --DanielDraco 18:52, July 14, 2010 (UTC)


 * Basically what DanielDraco said. This isn't updated for anything past the original 3 books currently.  Anyways, I did what you asked Ganteka.  The program known as grep is exceedingly useful for this. --Havvy 09:00, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

Expanding the Index
I'd like to start adding publications besides just the three "core" rulebooks to the index, but I was wondering what everyone's opinions on the best way to go about that would be. The way I see it there are four basic possibilities:
 * 1) Add new books to the existing list. Probably the least appealing of the four options, as the existing list is already quite large and simply adding additional books to it would rapidly cause it to become quite unruly.
 * 2) Split the index into several different indexes by category, such as "4e Monster Index", "4e Class Index", etc. This option has the advantage of allowing all related material to go in a single index (so a user never has to wonder "Which index should I check for that one paragon path I'm thinking of?"). However, some indexes would be exceptionally small: there's only a couple dozen published races, for example.
 * 3) Split the indexes into several different ones based on the book, such as "Player's Handbook 2 Index". This option has the advantage of maintaining fairly even size between all indexes without any single one being either ridiculously bloated or incredibly small. The obvious disadvantage is that you then have to know which book the material you're looking for is from.
 * 4) Keep the existing index as a "4e Core Index", and then add a separate index for each other book. This option is something of a compromise between #2 and #3: core material is kept in one giant index, so users don't have to search book by book for the most common mechanics, and all additional material is split roughly evenly. However, this option still maintains the primary drawback of #3 in that users would still have to know which book the material they're looking for is from.

I think I'm personally most in favor of option #2; I'd rather have a few tiny indexes here and there than force users to search through indexes book by book until they find what they're looking for. -- Dracomortis 01:00, 30 May 2011 (UTC)


 * I ended up tabularizing the index by book and putting that information on the Publication's page. I would suggest having multiple indexes if possible.  One for each book and one main one.  Maybe a core rules index too, but with the huge amount of errata, such an index might be fruitless in comparison to the main index.  A lot of work, and not something I want to do.  --Havvy 04:07, 30 May 2011 (UTC)