What improvements are needed for the Spring site?

[KingRaptor]

Green is good!
Besides, the name Spring already carries another meaning that matches green.

[Tim Blokdijk]

You are more or less de-railing the topic AF by posting both our designs. Now people are going to talk about that, while I need feedback on the problems with the current site.

!! Also it would have been smart to tell people not to use my site with IE6 as it hangs their browser when they click on a flash video.. !!

I probably should have asked this before, but couldn't you two combine your talents?

We have a different view on the technical side (heavy framework v/s light html) and whether or not the site should be maintained in svn but I'm more then willing to incorporate any good idea's, text or layouts AF comes up with. Or anybody else for that matter, I will need some good writing for the entry page and then probably people to translate it in other languages. I expect that in a few weeks things have progressed enough to make things like themes for the site. I'm ahead of myself.. I still need to know what needs to be fixed in the current website!

[Pxtl]

The SVN thing is seriously a point of contention? Like, people actually consider doing any project that is a substantial amount of work without version control? Do they race Harleys without a helmet too? Go base-jumping with their kids?

[smoth]

I don't like the neon green it is too distracting. Either way, could someone split the thread so we can have one to discuss af's site and another to discuss the current one

[AF]

I'm simply raising awareness. We dont want the community thinking that you've been officially appointed as site redesigner when theres competition because of some official sounding thread ^_^. Remember, this community is the one we're subjecting to our designs and ultimately the people who give the thumbs up, they need to be involved at as many stages as observers so that some feedback could be garnered. Listening to the customers views is very important as you know.

The green is a stopgap as it was the previous colour used, I can easily change the colour, and I intend to do so as soon as I've made my mind up on what colour to actually use.

What I'm interested in is the end result and the cms provides me with a system that implements the vast majority of all the work without requiring any code edits at all. Making darkstars and the original berliOS spring site required no php changes, and the only files I had to modify where the html template and the css stylesheet. I can quickly set up a stable fully featured site with numerous options for addition in the form of stable components and modules, and maintain full compatability with most browsers.

I dont want to reinvent the wheel afterall. I think we all know very well what this sites failings are, and some of the best ideas can be found in threads discussing site redesign and why nonTA mods arent as popular as we'd like, aswell as looking at smoths forums at the many improvements he's added.

[smoth]

we are interested in the end result as well. Finalize what you are working on and post that. We cannot make a call untill we see some sort of prototype. Otherwise you are leaving us with the assumption that the green one was the prototype.

[Tim Blokdijk]

Well, I'm going to resist the temptation to fix myself up with some "officially appointed as site redesigner" thingy as you're free to pursue your competition. And I will absolutely look at and evaluate your Joomla installation, if it's indeed a better solution then I will scrap my work in favour for Joomla. It's that simple. I will also think about some hybrid where Joomla is used for some specific parts. Still I'm familiar with Joomla and have an idea about what it can and can't do.

Anyway's .. as a lot of people like to do something about the screenshots page. What is lacking now? What features do you need? Or would sticking new screens up there (and possibly remove/archive the old) solve a lot? I mean I can write PHP but for that we would need to appoint a "screenshot maintainer" or something.

[smoth]

You can use media wiki to control a gallery in that section, if someone vandalizes it you can always revert the change. It also allows the community in general to maintain the gallery section.

I think the gallery should have a spring history section where the old pics are archived. Each project can do it's own section and if a project dies without going too far the section can be deleted.

for example, ginta and CvC are neat looking little demos, the shots of which can generate interest. However, Madta(It was made by lordspawn) failed and was droped. It provided nothing new as it is the same old TA junk. That one could be deleted since the thing is droped.

also, all of the TA mods need to be in their own section. They are not fresh and interesting and frankly they all look the same, you do not want a pile of the same crap to be shown to new players.

further more, war evolution, kp, nanoblobs are minigames. they should have their own section.

So I think it would be best layed out as follows:

Minigames
------divider/title-----------
Games
------divider/title-----------
betastuff(ginta, CvC)
------divider/title-----------
TA Mods(because this would be a huge section but all the same fundamentally in terms of looks(CA should be at the top of the list as it is the prettiest and looks are important here)
------divider/title-----------
old spring engine shots(the current page)

[Neddie]

They aren't minigames, Smoth. Yes, they are limited in scale compared to other games, but everything here is relative. Kernel Panic is an full RTS, as is E&E.

I need to revise the wiki, actually.

Anyway, minigames are those that offer a small snapshot of the engine and the capabilities thereof. Spawn, Commander Shooter, War Evolution, Battletech:Timberwolf - those are more acceptable minigames.

[SinbadEV]

They aren't minigames, Smoth. Yes, they are limited in scale compared to other games, but everything here is relative. Kernel Panic is an full RTS, as is E&E.

I need to revise the wiki, actually.

Anyway, minigames are those that offer a small snapshot of the engine and the capabilities thereof. Spawn, Commander Shooter, War Evolution, Battletech:Timberwolf - those are more acceptable minigames.

Chess MOD is a Minigame too...

please don't start a fight in here.

Oh and RE:smoth/others I agree we need to redefine "Mods"... Duke Nukem isn't a Mod, it's a game that uses the Doom engine, and Gundam isn't a Mod it's a game that used the SpringRTS engine... I think it might help (though will inicially cause mucho confusione) to go through a process of "re-glossarification" for a number of terms used to describe aspects of Spring...

[KingRaptor]

I second the use of MediaWiki, especially for help sections. It would allow information to be kept up-to-date easily, and experienced community members can do all the helpful writing, rather than leaving it to someone who might get it incorrect.

[SinbadEV]

Isn't it great how we already do use media wiki.

[KingRaptor]

Isn't it great how we already do use media wiki.

This one has really awful interface tbh though. Why oh why are all the important commands placed and the bottom of the page instead of somewhere accessible like the sidebar (the way everyone does it)?

[SinbadEV]

That's just the default skin... you can change it:

http://spring.clan-sy.com/wiki/Special:Preferences

or maybe when they re-design the site you can make a better skin.

[Neddie]

They aren't minigames, Smoth. Yes, they are limited in scale compared to other games, but everything here is relative. Kernel Panic is an full RTS, as is E&E.

I need to revise the wiki, actually.

Anyway, minigames are those that offer a small snapshot of the engine and the capabilities thereof. Spawn, Commander Shooter, War Evolution, Battletech:Timberwolf - those are more acceptable minigames.

Chess MOD is a Minigame too...

please don't start a fight in here.

Oh and RE:smoth/others I agree we need to redefine "Mods"... Duke Nukem isn't a Mod, it's a game that uses the Doom engine, and Gundam isn't a Mod it's a game that used the SpringRTS engine... I think it might help (though will inicially cause mucho confusione) to go through a process of "re-glossarification" for a number of terms used to describe aspects of Spring...

Come on over to the Community Promotion subforum on Smoth's site. We've already touched on redefining the terminology, but due to who is doing what, we've got an even playing field.

[smoth]

Isn't it great how we already do use media wiki.

and since we already have it, expanding it's use would not be too terribly hard.

[Tim Blokdijk]

I think that using the wiki for screenshots might be the best way forward for now.
The discussion about how to classify content is still very much in motion and I think it will still change a few times before we will really settle on something. If I would code something for the screenshots now it would be far to static, the wiki is far more flexible to cope with these changes.

[zwzsg]

Are you people aware that you can send Fnordia screenshots via the "Submit files" page?

I was unaware. I have much trouble finding that button whenever I look for it, even though now I found it. But it tells me: "Unable to move the uploaded file" when I try to subtmit screenshots.

[AF]

It got broken years ago

[Tim Blokdijk]

Are you people aware that you can send Fnordia screenshots via the "Submit files" page?

I was unaware. I have much trouble finding that button whenever I look for it, even though now I found it. But it tells me: "Unable to move the uploaded file" when I try to subtmit screenshots.

That's bad I will look into it.