Type Drawers foundry directory

Eris Alar

Bouncing off this post of mine, I am wondering if an opt-in directory of Type Directors members (and guests) foundries (not personal details). would be of interest to this group? My thinking is a maybe start small, just a google form where members can enter details, then a locked google sheet with the results made public. I am not a web developer, but if anyone is and wanted to help then something more advanced could be made (unless Vanilla already has capability for something like this?). 
Goal: A simple database of foundries represented here including their:

• website
• microsites for releases (if relevant)
• social media handles
• geographic location
• places to license their typefaces

Obviously other fields could be added, I guess it depends on what people are wanting to share and find. 
I don't think a listing of individual members would be helpful at this time, but obviously if people wanted it and wanted to be on it then it's possible too. 

Drawcard

I'm a web developer, and it sounds like a fun project to be a part of. 

The only consideration is hosting, and management. To reduce the pain of those two things as much as possible, I'd suggest building it with a static website generator like Jekyll, and then rolling it out on Github (where you can deploy it and point a domain name to it): https://docs.github.com/en/pages/setting-up-a-github-pages-site-with-jekyll 

As each foundry applies through a submission form, a new markdown file can be created for them and the site can be regenerated to include their info. Or if they know Git they can submit a pull request to update the site that way too.

No databases to deal with, no CMS to continually update, it's all neat and tidy.

Feel free to drop me a PM if you want to talk about the idea further

Eris Alar

Will do :-)

kupfers

Maybe I didn’t quite get the scope and purpose of the directory yet. Do you want to list Type Directors or TypeDrawers members? Because, as people pointed out in the other thread, there already are two extensive foundry lists and maybe it’s more fruitful to help expand those if some people or foundries are missing than to build another one from scratch?

Eris Alar

@kupfers you're right, it might add nothing of value. My thinking was that a TD branded and run list makes sense given this is already a hub for many foundries, and people interested in type. Personally I would like different filter options for the directory (for example by country as a starting point). Depending on how much interest there was, it could also maybe have the ability to list releases, and send notification when foundries add new releases to their entry, but that sounds complex so would probably be a later addition. 
The 'problem' I'm wanting to solve, as I think about it more, is a way to gather, and then filter info on our industry, quite similar to how BoardGameGeek does for board games. But fonts are not games and it's likely the usefulness of such a directory is minimal. 

kupfers

I agree, some more info or more filtering options would be nice. There is also https://type-foundries-archive.com which was the first one I think (?) and is sorted by country first, but maybe not super current or accurate. Maybe both or all site admins would be open to contributions or help? But if you are motivated and have help from Drawcard, go ahead!

Eris Alar

@kupfers @Drawcard  - I think right now I don't see the clear advantage making something new brings, other than designing it to fit my specific desires. So for now I will continue thinking about it and maybe in the future it is something we can resurrect. I'll continue to investigate the other options around and reach out to them individually if needed. Thanks for talking about it with me.