[Feature request] Document formatting?

[DerekTurtleRoe]

I have been considering changing the flow of the document from

Consoles

• System 1
• System 2
  Handhelds
• System 1
• System 2
  Computers
• System 1
• System 2

etc.

• Manufacturer 1
  • Category 1
    • Device 1
    • Device 2
  • Category 2
    • Device 1
    • Device 2
• Manufacturer 2
• Manufacturer 3

etc.

I think that might make it easier to browse.

[DerekTurtleRoe]

I'm considering keeping it the way it is for now, but if anybody is reading these, feel free to let me know your thoughts 😄

[DerekTurtleRoe]

I think what I will do in the short term is just move to a system like:

Manufacturers > Systems instead of form factor > manufacturers > systems

[DerekTurtleRoe]

I have created a branch that I will do some testing on in regards to the "table" update

[Zenjir0]

Something that can be done to make it a bit easier to read at a glance is, instead of using "Yes" and "No" in text you can replace them with emoji indicators like ❌ and ✔️.

Here is quick example using Atari 2600

Atari 2600

Emulator	FOSS	License	Paid	Active	Recommended	Emulated systems
A26	Yes?	Source available	❌	❌	❌	Atari 2600
Gopher2600	✔️	GNU GPLv3	❌	✔️	?	Atari 2600
javatari	✔️	AGPLv3	❌	✔️	❌	Atari 2600
javatari (older version)	✔️	AGPLv3	❌	❌	❌	Atari 2600
NO$2K6	❌	Proprietary	❌	✔️	✔️	Atari 2600
PC Atari Emulator (PCAE)	✔️	GNU GPLv2	❌	❌	❌	Atari 2600
pyTari	✔️	GNU GPLv2	❌	❌	❌	Atari 2600
Stella	✔️	GNU GPLv2	❌	✔️	✔️	Atari 2600
Stellarator	✔️	3-clause BSD	❌	❌	❌	Atari 2600
VCS 2600	❌	Proprietary	❌	❌	❌	Atari 2600
Virtual 2600	✔️	GNU GPLv2	❌	❌	❌	Atari 2600
Virtual VCS	✔️	GNU GPLv2	❌	❌	❌	Atari 2600
z26	✔️	GNU GPLv2	❌	❌	✔️	Atari 2600

[DerekTurtleRoe]

@Zenjir0 That's true! It would add some color to the list as well. I will add this to the list. Thanks! 😄👍

[Zenjir0]

Also the current setup is to have the emulator's in alphabetical order. This is just a preference, but having them ordered in a manner to indicates

• Recommendation
• Active Development
• Open/Closed-Source
• Alphabetical Order

Also using ➖ for items that are in current dispute/investigation.

Using Atari 2600 again as an example:

Atari 2600

Emulator	FOSS	License	Paid	Active	Recommended	Emulated systems
Stella	✔️	GNU GPLv2	❌	✔️	✔️	Atari 2600
NO$2K6	❌	Proprietary	❌	✔️	✔️	Atari 2600
z26	✔️	GNU GPLv2	❌	❌	✔️	Atari 2600
Gopher2600	✔️	GNU GPLv3	❌	✔️	➖	Atari 2600
javatari	✔️	AGPLv3	❌	✔️	❌	Atari 2600
javatari (older version)	✔️	AGPLv3	❌	❌	❌	Atari 2600
PC Atari Emulator (PCAE)	✔️	GNU GPLv2	❌	❌	❌	Atari 2600
pyTari	✔️	GNU GPLv2	❌	❌	❌	Atari 2600
Stellarator	✔️	3-clause BSD	❌	❌	❌	Atari 2600
Virtual 2600	✔️	GNU GPLv2	❌	❌	❌	Atari 2600
Virtual VCS	✔️	GNU GPLv2	❌	❌	❌	Atari 2600
A26	➖	Source available	❌	❌	❌	Atari 2600
VCS 2600	❌	Proprietary	❌	❌	❌	Atari 2600

I have some more ideas but instead of spamming them here I am going to try and make a more comprehensive post.

[Zenjir0]

Here are my last comments on the idea:

• Use 📗 to indicate Open-Source
• Use 📕 to indicate Closed-Source
• Use 📙 to indicate uncertainty of FOSS status.
• Change the "Paid" Column to "Free" and switch to ✔️ instead of ❌ because people associate green with good and red with bad. I was thinking of using 💲 but it is green and seemed counter to what you would want to convey.

Atari 2600

Emulator	FOSS	License	Free	Active	Recommended	Emulated systems
Stella	📗	GNU GPLv2	✔️	✔️	✔️	Atari 2600
NO$2K6	📕	Proprietary	✔️	✔️	✔️	Atari 2600
z26	📗	GNU GPLv2	✔️	❌	✔️	Atari 2600
Gopher2600	📗	GNU GPLv3	✔️	✔️	➖	Atari 2600
javatari	📗	AGPLv3	✔️	✔️	❌	Atari 2600
javatari (older version)	📗	AGPLv3	✔️	❌	❌	Atari 2600
PC Atari Emulator (PCAE)	📗	GNU GPLv2	✔️	❌	❌	Atari 2600
pyTari	📗	GNU GPLv2	✔️	❌	❌	Atari 2600
Stellarator	📗	3-clause BSD	✔️	❌	❌	Atari 2600
Virtual 2600	📗	GNU GPLv2	✔️	❌	❌	Atari 2600
Virtual VCS	📗	GNU GPLv2	✔️	❌	❌	Atari 2600
A26	📙	Source available	✔️	❌	❌	Atari 2600
VCS 2600	📕	Proprietary	✔️	❌	❌	Atari 2600

Other ideas are to show/indicate supported platforms in documention:

• I would recommend using 🤖 for Android, 🍎 for Mac, 🐧 for Linux, 📱 for iPhone, 🖥️ for Windows, 🎮 for consoles, and 👿 for BSD. It would be nice if there was a way to use the actual logos instead of emojis, but I am not aware if there is a way.
• If you want you can also have a community recommended poll for each system and replace the ✔️ for that system to a 👑 and just run that poll yearly.
• Would be cool if there was a way to support custom emojis and use those to denote the supported Emulated Systems. That way you don't need to write them out. Something like these. Obviously would need permission from those made it if they are not royalty free.
• With the rise in popularity with Retroachievements it would be nice to indicate if the emulator has native support for it which you can use a 🏆 to indicate.

Other thoughts I have in general which some might require their own tickets separate from this one:

• There should be an explanation for what is considered "Active-Development" is it based off of last official release? Last commit? If so how long till something is considered stalled? 6 months, a year, or longer? Dolphin's Last official release was over 7 years ago, but we know it is actively developed because of the Beta and Dev releases, as well as the constant commits made to their repo.
• There should be an explanation for why an emulator is "Recommended" over another on this list. Sometimes an emulation project is feature complete or accomplished its goal it was set out to achieve by its team/developer and is no longer actively developed, but does not mean it is not functionally feasible to use. Typically most would recommend emulators based on whether or not the source is openly available, actively developed, and free to use. Also many would recommend based no accuracy and feasibility of use. Some emulators are highly accurate but require a powerful machine to be playable, others are less accurate but play well on lower power devices. Some emulators don't have a GUI and rely on command line to be used.

[DerekTurtleRoe]

@Zenjir0 I wish I could use custom emojis, but GitHub-flavored Markdown doesn't allow that (at least currently). So that I can't do unfortunately. The rest of that looks like good recommendations! I did want to address a couple of things you said though:

Active development is that it has had changes to the source code, a new version released, or active communication on social media in the last year. This isn't a hard and fast rule and is just a general guideline. I'm just one person doing this in my free time, and most of my free time is when it is 3AM and I'm incredibly tired but want to work on something.

I explained why the emulators are recommended in the end of the document I thought, but mostly a subjective opinion. Most emulators I recommend to others are similar to others I recommend:

• Uses a GUI instead of a TUI or command-line interface
• Lots of features for different types of users
• Accurate and compatible
• Performs well even on lower-end hardware when applicable
  etc.

It is entirely based on whether or not I usually recommend it to others. You mentioned a poll system, and while that would be really cool actually, I don't have a large enough community right now for that to make sense. Only a handful of people at best would vote on their favorites I think, so unless this repo somehow gets super popular I think I will stick to how it is now. But maybe in the future!

I think having the platform availability column makes sense, but I think instead of emojis I might just type them out, since there are a lot of platforms that don't have emojis that appropriately identify them.

The accuracy column has come up a few times, but I am leaning on not doing it because I think accuracy is really hard to quantify for most systems. Some systems don't have good emulators, documentation, or test ROMs, so putting something at high accuracy seems weird. I'll have to think about that.

The RetroAchievements seems like a good idea, but I'll have to see if I have enough room with platform availability added.

[Zenjir0]

@DerekTurtleRoe Running into a bit of a constraint with github. I was able to add custom images and started on the Platform support column. However depending on how people interface with the readme file the images will stack/wrap differently.

I would assume most would just be going to the front page of the github repo which would look like this:

But if you open the readme by simply clicking on it, it will look like this:

As we add more and more information/columns the more warped/squished it will become.

Also if you or anyone knows of a good source of icons for 16x16, 32x32, 64x64 etc that we can use for each system, platform, etc that will help me out. As you can see I attempted to scale down a generic web/globe icon to represent web-based emulation. I wanted to avoid using any specific web browser icon like Edge or Chrome. In javatari's case it is Javascript based and I could use the icon for Javascript.