Posted by David Segall on 10/02/06 15:10

"Nik Coughlin" <nrkn.com@gmail.com> wrote:

>David Segall wrote:
>> "Nik Coughlin" <nrkn.com@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> A work in progress, would like anyone who has a moment to please
>>> take a look:
>>>
>>> Current site is http://rankmylist.com/
>>>
>>> Next version is http://rankmylist.com/testTabs/
>>>
>>> The tables for layout will be replaced with CSS in the next
>>> iteration.
>>>
>>> So far tested in IE6/7 and newest versions of Firefox and Opera,
>>> seems to work fine.
>>>
>>> Any comments, critiques, questions or suggestions on the html/css,
>>> layout or mechanics of the page very welcome!
>> The sort algorithm does not seem to terminate! If I enter 1,2 it just
>> keeps asking me to compare them. You need an algorithm that uses the
>> minimum number of comparisons and maintains the original order for
>> equal values - the "I don't know" case. You also need an algorithm
>> that never gives the user a chance to contradict himself. That is, if
>> he prefers 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 then he must not be asked to compare 1
>> and 3 in case he decides on 3. I'd like to give you a suitable
>> algorithm but I don't know one.
>
>In the next iteration it will only ask you to compare each possible pair
>once, in a random order
I doubt if any visitor will have the patience to do this. According to
my rather rusty maths you will be asking them to do (n*(n-1))/2
comparisons when, in the easiest case, they only needed to do n-1. For
a list of five items that's ten instead of four which is tolerable.
However, most people could order five items without the aid of your
program. For your food list it's 4,465 instead of 94.
>, I was just too lazy to do this initially which is
>why it is always random. However, the user *will* be able to contradict
>themselves. It seems to work better if they can, believe it or not!
I'm sure it does given your definition of better. My definition of
better was minimising the amount of effort for your user.

I should add that I think your project is a good idea and my comments
are only intended to optimise it for my use :)

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