Improving Bratabase

Now, I imagine that most of us agree that Bratabase is a useful resource, or we wouldn't spend our time entering information and promoting the site. That said, I do think this recent thread on /r/abrathatfits has some valid points about ways in which the site could be improved.

I was wondering if we could have a conversation about the changes that both Bratabase users and those who don't use Bratabase regularly might want. If we exclude regular users, people who contribute the most are alienated. But if we ignore people who don't contribute now, we risk having a closed group.

My primary thought is that data entry needs to be easier. It is exceptionally tedious to enter measurements in a form, one by one. I'd like to be able to upload data in bulk, for instance in a spreadsheet. I'd also like a way to get my data back out of the system for my own personal use. That might mean being able to export it into the same format I upload it as, but it could also mean an API. People want to be able to add additional information, like lists of bras that work for different shapes and the like, and I don't think it can all be done within Bratabase with the resources available (basically, Jj). Being able to embed bra information in a blog post is a great start, but it's only one way of interacting with the data. I think it would be reasonable to make API access restricted to people who have registered with the intent to use it in specific approved ways, to reduce the creeper aspect.

As I've learned more about bra fitting, I've started to see the limitations to describing how the bra fits you. For instance, a bra can wrinkle at the bottom because a person is full on the top and can't fill the bottom, but also because of orange-in-the-glass and because of insufficient projection in the bottom of the cup. The fit doesn't distinguish between these reasons, which makes the information less useful to someone who might be similar to me in one aspect but not another. I also find the data entry on this page exceptionally annoying because I have to move all over the page to click on various parts, and they are all mandatory. Some things are just never a problem for me, and I'd like to automatically fill them in as such. Again, a spreadsheet would help with this.

I've also mentioned that the measurement rejections are really annoying and discouraging. If anything else is done to clean up the data, the impact on users should probably be considered at least as important as the data cleanliness. I really didn't feel like measuring for a while after getting those messages, and I'm sure others felt equally discouraged. What made it especially annoying was that I had considered this issue and had already decided how to measure to avoid the problem - but I still got those letters. Lots of them. Anyhow, this led to me not entering bras that I tried and sent back for a few months, which I think is a bad outcome.

Those are just my initial thoughts. I don't feel like I'm using Bratabase to its full potential right now. I enter data in the hopes that it will be useful, but to be honest I rarely compare bras. I read the reviews to find out if something runs big/small and I talk with others via adventures, and that's about it.

I'm aware that anything that is discussed means work, and since I'm not offering to do any work it may be arrogant for me to bring up this topic. On the other hand, I'm hoping that this will help the people who do work to get a broader picture of how the community views the site.

http://www.reddit.com/r/ABraThatFits/comments/1k7vz9/am_i...

http://www.reddit.com/r/ABraThatFits/comments/1k7vz9/am_i_the_only_one_bratab...

Filed under Bratabase

Shared on Aug 13, 2013 Flag this