Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - Scope and format of world data sheets in SF

Anthony · 10-02-2013, 05:05 PM

Huh. A point in the other thread made me consider: what about use of graphics for visual information? To give examples:
Class of Primary: you can set the background color to the color of the primary. I like this for star colors, so Tau Ceti would be

HTML Code:

<span style="background:#fff1df">  G8.5 V </span>

Mean Size: well, you could probably put a compact two-circle graphic showing apparent size relative to the sun (either external graphics or embedded svg); something like a circle overlay on an image of the sun.
Mean Distance, Perihelion, Aphelion: draw an ellipse (side point: by mean distance, do you mean semi-major axis? I can think of several ways of interpreting mean distance with different results, though they won't differ beyond the margin of error until eccentricity gets fairly high).
Axial Tilt: a circle with a line going up/down at the given number of degrees.
Diameter: a circle overlay on an image of the earth.
Visible Illumination: not doable unless you set the base background to gray; otherwise there's no way to make it brighter than sunlight.

10-02-2013, 05:05 PM	#38
Anthony Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Berkeley, CA	Re: Scope and format of world data sheets in SF Huh. A point in the other thread made me consider: what about use of graphics for visual information? To give examples: Class of Primary: you can set the background color to the color of the primary. I like this for star colors, so Tau Ceti would be HTML Code: <span style="background:#fff1df"> G8.5 V </span> Mean Size: well, you could probably put a compact two-circle graphic showing apparent size relative to the sun (either external graphics or embedded svg); something like a circle overlay on an image of the sun. Mean Distance, Perihelion, Aphelion: draw an ellipse (side point: by mean distance, do you mean semi-major axis? I can think of several ways of interpreting mean distance with different results, though they won't differ beyond the margin of error until eccentricity gets fairly high). Axial Tilt: a circle with a line going up/down at the given number of degrees. Diameter: a circle overlay on an image of the earth. Visible Illumination: not doable unless you set the base background to gray; otherwise there's no way to make it brighter than sunlight. __________________ My GURPS site and Blog.