Thank you to those who are taking this on.
May I make a suggestion from one of the non techy brigade?
When the fields were first added to the member profile, I did try to add the details for Lexia.
However, Lexia is berthed some distance away from home in a place where there is no internet access. Occasionally I can get access via the mobile phone network and a dongle but this is not reliable. I tried on a couple of visits to the boat to get access to the web site to see what information was required but was not able to do so.
Therefore, on my return home to the computer I decided to print out the information that was required so that I could take the paper with me next time. However, I found that I couldn't apparently print it out from the profile.
I then forgot about it. There are always much more important things to be done on the boat, including sailing it.
As this subject has now resurfaced, would it be possible please for non techys like me to have a proforma on the web site that is readily printable to paper so that I could print it, take to the boat on my next visit, do the measuring and recording and then on return home fill it in on line (which I could do) or, for the really non techy people, send it to someone who would fill it out for them.
For those who receive the magazine by e mail then it should presumably be possible to include the proforma to be filled out and returned by e mail.
For the really non techy people,would it then be possible to include the proforma in the printed magazine as an included paper or a tear out with an address for it to be returned to on completion?
Could it be a stiff paper 'fold and stick' to display the return address? Could it be postage paid? These are just ideas, but they would show that we are serious about trying to garner this information. It would also show that we are inclusive of those members who are paper only members.
Some of those ideas above might cost some money, but in terms of meeting the Aims and Objectives of the Association, it might, subject to scrutiny, be money well spent.
However, having got so far in this posting, I have come to the conclusion that, like so many things, it deserves a bit of thinking through and preparation. It might not be something to be rushed into against a deadline for the next issue of the magazine next month.
I hope that suggestion may be useful for those who have kindly volunteered to grapple with the mechanics of this potentially very useful database.
That would then lead to the question I raised once before, about units of measurement, presumably just Metric or Imperial. There may still be a debate to be had about using either one system or another or perhaps having columns available for both. However, it might be necessary to note which is a recorded measurement and which is a conversion. I presume that for the database to be of most use for comparison purposes it might be most useful to use one system only, and I further presume that the most useful measurement would be in Metric. However, I am merely raising the question again, not offering opinion or solutions!