I am working on a function that will allow users to select not only their country but their region. For the US it's states, Canada is provinces, by city for some countries. The options (in this pre-setup database) for the UK are simply England, Scotland, Wales, and N. Ireland. My question is would this be enough to really break down UK users by region or would the actual County/Shire levels be better. Long range would be for this function to alert users in say London that their is an event nearby, etc.

For those interested you can see this working here:
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/user.php?op=new_edituser

Just don't try to save your info on this page as you will likely get an error.

Thanks,
Jim

I may have to broaden the scope of this regional updating as I just noted that the database I have installed is doing things like putting Luxembourg in with Belgium as a regional selection.

Wonder why they did that?

Jim

Actually I just realized that the script is leaving off all countries on the list that DON'T have a sub-set of regions/states/etc. I will have to fix this before this can go forward obviously.

James - So you would want it by counties?

Thanks,
Jim

There are lots of counties in the england, perhaps you could split it down to The north east, north west, north, midlands, home counties, south east, south west, and the south. This is fairly generic and most of us here in england would know roughly which region and wether or not this is reasonably local to us. Ive seen this method on the internet many times.

Actually in the states we don't really identify too much with our county. I live in Clay county of Missouri, but the only time I think of it is at tax time and when I have to pay tuition at the community college. There is only one or two counties I know of in other states, like Orange County, California and Metro-Dade (I think) County in Florida. So we do not really identify ourselves by the county we live in. I identify myself more with the city I live in, Kansas City, but it is also nice to be able to say, "I am a Missourian, you'll have to Show Me." (The Show Me state)

Rob

Hi Jim

It sounds like you've got some exciting additions to the Big-A up your sleeve! :-)

As regards sub-dividing the UK, I agree with Martin (mar6874), I'd go for regions... N.W, N.E, Midlands etc.

Some of our counties are tiny... my family live on the Isle of Wight and it's only 100 square miles! For the purposes of Armorama, I'd happily see it included under "UK South" (or whatever).

Hope this helps

Rowan

Rob,
I should probably be more clear about what this function will eventually try to accomplish. Basically users will be able to create their own 'group' of regions or countries that they would like to be part of their neighborhood. So for example you live in Misery...I mean Missouri ...and you might want to have several mid-western states in your neighborhood. Or you may opt for the whole US. Another user in London might opt to have the counties around London as his neighborhood. Each of you would get certain results (event's, a list of other users in your area, etc) based on those groupings.

Of course this new location setting will also end up superceding the current "flag" selection we have now. It will be a lot of work to change just that so this will likely be a long-term project.

Eventually though I am hoping that we can create unique regional or national group pages that will allow our users to interact on a local (as well as an international) level.

Cheers,
Jim

Check the link now. I added regions after looking at numerous other sites and how they were doing it. Hopefully it will make sense for most users.

I guess we can throw all you Scots into one pool right? lol

Jim

Hi Jim

It would be great to be able to move A-UK (and other MSN Groups) to the Main Site and keep it all under one roof... :-)

Is something along those lines the eventual aim? It would be cool to have the Big-A acting as a kind of hub for more regional activity - with 2 way traffic.

Hard to explain what I mean, but kind of like an old cart-wheel... everything linked at the centre and going 'round the rim.

Sorry if I'm wandering... it's been a hard day

All the best

Rowan

Rowan,
Yes I think we are on the same band "wagon" here. I think the MSN site is doing a great job giving you guys a "localized" community but I doubt we can count on MSN groups to be around for the long haul. They are already making Chat and the calendar "pay-for" options and I would imagine they will do the same thing with the whole group concept eventually.

It's an evil plan to conquer the Web by Microsoft!! Ackk...run away run away.....

hehe

Jim

Hi Jim

Yeah, with MSN you get the feeing that the ring's slowly closing... World Domination is on our heels...

If we could truly create a Local/Global Community it would be awesome.... and it's really not that big a step beyond what Armorama's already achieved :-)

All the best

Rowan