First of old Simple trACtors content made active

[Kent 435]

I've made a small part of the old content from Simple trACtors active, underneath the main menu option Research.  There's only one menu option live underneath it now, for Allis-Chalmers.  If you click on it, you will see the top-level category listing the subcategories underneath it.  The only subcategory active is B-series at this point. Continue drilling down and you can see the individual pages for each of the different models.  

This organization into categories and subcategories equates to the old menu structure on Simple trACtors. The individual pages of the brochures are listed in order.  For example, in B-1 if you'll click on the first page title to view the page, there's a next page link at the bottom of each page that allows you to page through the entire brochure or section.

Note that in the top left portion of the screen, underneath the menu bar, there's what's called "breadcrumb navigation"  It shows all the levels that you've clicked down through, with each one being a link that allows you to quickly navigate.  For example, the first page of the B-1 brochure shows this breadcrumb navigation up in that top left corner:

              Home > Research > Allis-Chalmers > B-Series > B-1 > Brochure Cover

Each of those levels is a link, and allows you to quickly jump around.  Also you'll notice that the URL structure in the address window of your browser will "mimic" this structure also, though some page names are abbreviated. There's also a "Category" menu in the right sidebar that will allow you to navigate the content.

I wanted to make this live now, so you can see how the navigation with work, and get used to it.  There will be other menu options underneath Research for Simplicity, Montgomery Wards, Homelite, Deutz, etc.  While this navigation may appear cumbersome at first, I think you'll adjust to it. I'll try to keep the structure as close to the old Simple trACtors site as possible, to ease your learning curve.  This merger/consolidation in a database-driven approach provides the ability to expand the amount content almost infinitely. 

Note that the main Research link, itself, will give an error now, until I can get that fixed or make all the content "live."

 

[Kent 435]

B-Series Attachments are now live, and tested on both PC and tablet.

[rokon2813 272]

I think it will work fine. I had no problem navigating and it looks good.

 

[Kent 435]

A-C 300 series info now active

[Kent 435]

Trying to better refine how this whole Research section will work before I proceed too far -- meaning more possible rework required -- I've just implemented a navigation bar at the bottom of the pages in this Research section. 

The added navigation bar on the right will allow you to page through (i.e. turn the page) for all the records (pages) within a category (such as a brochure), or to quickly jump to any page within that section.  The GO TO POSTS on the left takes you back to the listing of all the pages in the category. 

[Kent 435]

FYI, I've found that the "breadcrumb navigation" that I described above is not working correctly in some categories.  It sometimes "forgets" the levels of Categories in between, such as Allis-Chalmers > B-Series.  I've submitted a support ticket for IPS to check it out, though with it being the holidays, it may take a few days since it is not a "critical" bug. 

Meanwhile the category menu on the right side is working right for jumping around quickly, AFAIK, and I've fixed the broken link for the top-level Research (which is the database that contains all this old Simple trACtors content)., 

The new automated paging navigation bar seems to be working OK, and I've finished going back through all the content that I'd published to remove the "manual Next Page link" that I'd inserted and use this new navigation bar.  Should you find a navigation problem or any other issue (such as a picture not displaying correctly or something), please leave a Comment on that page to bring it to my attention, or report it in the Bugs & Feedback forum.

Now, I'm going to jump categories temporarily and start getting some Simplicity content ready to publish so we can "test" out that navigation. 

[Kent 435]

Arrgh!  The Unofficial History of Simplicity page is throwing an error now -- and I have reported it to Tech Support.  The rest of the Research section is using the same template without issues.  It MAY be due to a User Comment being left, but does not appear to be, based on the error tracking provided....

[Kent 435]

I'm continuing to publish more of the old content, and incorporating it into the Research menu.  I added the Simplicity and Montgomery Ward categories, with some content under each option.  Now, I'm back and trying to finish the Allis-Chalmers category.

Meanwhile, I added Les Kreifel's history writeup, only to discover a bug that prevented the page from displaying after someone left a comment.  I had to revert back to a previous display template in order to correct that, and in doing so, I "temporarily lost" the whole record/page thumbnail functionality that was there.   Thankfully, I did not lose the new navigation bar to go from page to page.

One step forward, and two steps back....

Meanwhile, the pages should display OK now without problems.  Should you find one - PLEASE, PLEASE let me know...

[Kent 435]

All the brochures, sales flyers and spec sheets from the old site (Allis, Simplicity, Homelite, etc.) are now available underneath the Research menu. 

Now, it is on the dreaded tables of data in the cross-references and other similar reference material... Ugh!

Again, please let me know if you find any issues or errors.

[Kent 435]

Now, all the cross-reference and reference tables  (engines, belts, what fits, etc.) are now available under the Research menu option.