User blog comment:TheRealPella/Are we working too hard here?/@comment-15636815-20131019071535/@comment-15636815-20131019154521

I definitely see your point, especially since the Buildings pages tend to be static. A big part of the reason I want to revise these pages, though, is because I often want or need a sortable list of buildings, yet the information on the pages is too old to be useful.

I'd like to build templates similar to yours to help with editing the Buildings pages. When I first came here, the data on all of the Buildings pages was so old that I had to spend hours updating them before I could use them. Along the way, I encountered different formatting on every page, and I found a large number of math errors.

My idea is to create templates similar to the ShopTrain templates and your LevelXP templates, where they accept only the core information and perform the calculations themselves. Input is quicker and easier, and human math errors are eliminated. Best of all, when the devs make new buildings, keeping the relevant pages current will be much easier, so people will be more likely to keep them updated.

The biggest challenge is going to be how to parse the cost data and display it correctly. Locomotives are easy because always have costs either in gold or gems, and only one at a time. Most buildings have costs in 2 or 3 materials, with no set pattern. Template:Cost works, of course, and I can use it if necessary. My brain keeps telling me there's an easier way, but it won't tell me what that way is. LOL

TheRealPella (talk) 15:45, October 19, 2013 (UTC)