Use pre-defined Platform list on COPTR.

[thorsted]

Currently COPTR supports adding a platform to each tool, but is freeform and not clickable to see tools tagged for the platform. I suggest using the same style as the "Function" pre-defined list for the form. Then adding a "By Platform" link on the left menu.

[anjackson]

I'm up for this, but unsure what the categories should be. As well as operating systems (macOS, Windows, Linux, old ones?) there's 'platforms' like Java, and then also x86 vs ARM etc. And, although probably this is a different field, a few people in the user survey mentioned wanting to know whether a tool uses a GUI and/or CLI.

Ah, here's the list of all the values specified as 'Platforms' so far: https://coptr.digipres.org/index.php?title=Special:SearchByProperty&limit=500&offset=0&property=Platforms&value=

[thorsted]

Oh boy, that is a lot to interpret. Indicating JAVA would be helpful. Curious what others think.

Should the interface be a separate field?

[anjackson]

I think Interface should be separate, but perhaps making it something like 'Web|Desktop|CLI' will help separate out some of the variation under the current platform field?

(EDIT I just want to note that I'd also like to make it really easy to tell which ones just run directly in your local browser, like https://pandoc.org/app/ etc.)

[ross-spencer]

It's great they are easy to pull out like that!

Definitely too many so far.

Is platform too ambiguous? (too jargony?)

If I cross-compile on Golang, as an example where some terminology exists, we use platform as a descriptor for two aspects (GOOS+GOARCH):

GOOS == Operating System <-- well known to most?
GOARCH == Architecture <-- more specialized?

These could potentially be two separate fields with good clear labels.

That might then clear up a field for UI (Web/GUI/CLI/(GUI+CLI i.e. mixed?)?

And just a thought but if that cleared things up, another field for "accessible/accessibility" (yes/no/qualified) might also be a field that can help the community audit access in future.

(Language would be good too if it doesn't exist)

That might take care of most of those fields?

I see maybe one or two of my inputs 😬 e.g. sqlite + Python + text/html

Could another field be one of "techologies / technology stack / programming languages"? (although this might suffer a little from freeform input but maybe it is an array not a text field? (if that can be defined in the template?)

So one suggesstion:

• Operating system
• Architecture
• UI
• Accessible
• Language
• Programming languages