Improve interface for browsing volume titles

[joewiz]

As rightly pointed out by @KerryHite, the current listings of FRUS volumes by administration / volume number (e.g., https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/reagan) makes it difficult to scan the list of titles and quickly find the volumes that are already published vs. those that have not yet been published.

Possible approaches to an improved interface for browsing volumes:

• Paint the background color of volumes in this listing a color corresponding to their status, or display an icon to indicate their status. For example, blue would indicate "under declassification", red for "being planned".
• Allow users to change the way the list is shown: from a single list sorted by volume number, to grouping the list by publication status (a list for "under declassification", a list for "being planned", much like the current Status of the Series page).
• Add filters to toggle the display/hiding of volumes by their publication status. We'd have a checkbox for each status—much like the "filter by section" widget on the search page. (Sample search that reveals this widget.)
• Replace the current administration-centric browsing interface with a new, more flexible FRUS-wide volume title browsing page. Filters could include administration, publication status, taxonomy tags, years of coverage, media type (PDF, Ebook, full text), etc. Basically, any volume-level metadata would be game for inclusion in the filters.

(These are roughly in order of complexity—simplest and narrowest to most intensive and far reaching.)

I'm adding this issue so we don't lose track of this good idea and to solicit ideas if anyone has inspiration for other ways to improve the volume listing interface.

[WaxCylinderRevival]

In addition to filtering, I'd like to see a visual cue for publication status that we could integrate across these pages and the Status of the Series. A modified version of the horizontal progress bar depicted here with status text could be helpful: https://www.wwp.northeastern.edu/wwo/texts/new/forthcoming.html I especially like it in combination with the table sort.