Formatting Documentation

The Formatting Documents are a set of the top-most documents in the hierarchy of documents about The Grand Comic-Book Database. If anything written anywhere else contradicts this document, the Formatting Documents are deemed to have the correct information. (And please let us know if you do find any contradictions). The documentation for formatting has had a long history of being neglected to be updated when decisions have been made, so there are many records in the database that will not match these Documents. The Editors are working on correcting the records, but it is a slow process.

The Formatting Documents are written to provide indexers, editors and tech people a common language on what should be entered into the database, where it should be entered and how it should be entered. As such, they apply to both the Online Interface (OI) and the Flat-File format.

NOTE: The current Format Document has not been updated since 1999. It is available at the comics.org site under Documentation. The pages linked to here are a re-write that is currently under review by the Senior Editors.

General Indexing Format Rules

• Fields that are not applicable to the story in question (colorist for black & white stories, writer or letterer for pinups) should be filled in as "none"
• Fields where information is required but not known should not be left blank, but should be filled with "?"
• Multiple entries in the same field (such as stories with more than one penciller) should be separated with a semi-colon (";") not a comma.
• Square brackets are used for "also known as" or other information that is not in the actual comic, such as ("[as Joe King] ").
• Round brackets are used for further detail, such as describing a contributors exact contribution ("(co-plotter)") or information about a character ("(introduction)").

Fields available to Indexers

1.0: Update Issue Screen

 1.1: Issue (appears on this screen, but is only available to Editors for changes)
 1.2: Volume (approved)
 1.3: Keydate (approved)
 1.4: Published Date (approved)
 1.5: Cover Price (approved)

2.0: Sequence/Story Screen

 2.1: Sequence Number (approved)
 2.2: Page Count (approved)
 2.3: Job Number (approved)
 2.4: Type (unapproved,current) Type for Future Implementation
 2.5: Title (approved)
 2.6: Feature (unapproved)
 2.7: Genre (unapproved)
 2.8: Credits (approved)
  2.8.1: Script (unapproved)
  2.8.2: Pencils (unapproved)
  2.8.3: Inks (unapproved)
  2.8.4: Colors (unapproved)
  2.8.5: Letters (unapproved)
  2.8.6: Editing (unapproved)
 2.9: Character Appearances (unapproved)
 2.10: Reprints (partially approved)
 2.11: Synopsis (unapproved)
 2.12: Notes (unapproved)

3.0: Series (all unapproved)

3.1: Book Name
3.2: Format
3.3: Years of Publication
3.4: Series Notes
3.5: Tracking
3.6: Country Code
3.7: Language Code
3.8: Publisher Notes
3.9: Publication Dates - no longer used?
3.10: Issue Range - no longer used?
3.11: Imprint - not accessible from this screen
3.12: Comments

4.0: Issues (all unapproved)

4.1: Issue Numbers
4.2: Cover SortCode (StickyScan)

5.0: Publisher (all unapproved)

5.1: Publisher Name
5.2: Years of Operation
5.3: Country
5.4: URL
5.5: Notes (on Publisher Screen)
5.6: Comments