| Details concerning the 2.0 layout |
| VBBR | Some things I discovered now...
- The articles and tutorials index pages are using the old layout;
- In the main page, "Getting to know your compiler" is listed as the latest article, while it's really the one-to-last tutorial;
- Anyway it seems there is something wrong with the "Articles" panel on the main page, because it doesn't show any more articles (like it does with tutorials). |
| timbo152k | It would be really cool if the 'game spotlight' included a screenshot (using the app you wrote that creates a thumbnail from submitted pictures in news posts, just have it download the screenshot from the specified URL - if one exists - and create a thumbnail)
It would be much easier to decide if I actually wanted to download a game or not if I could at least see what it looked like. Just an idea (something else to add to your LONG list of TO-DO's =P |
| Eric Coleman | The "Game Spotlight" just randomly picks a game from the Big Huge Games List, and screenshots for those games aren't uploaded and for some of the game a URL to a page of screenshots is provided instead. I suppose I could provide a link to the screenshots. One thing you need to realize is that these games are hobby games, so they won't have the same amazing screenshots as games that you find in a store. My point is that just because a game doesn't have an amazing screenshot doesn't make it any less fun to play.
If the screenshot doesn't look like Doom3, well that shouldn't be a reason to avoid playing the game, play it anyway. [:)]
I'd like to promote the games instead of giving people a reason to avoid them [:P]
|
| cjb0087 | you have over extended yourself Eric, the only problem i can spot is the arrows in the news posts dont fit in with the theme (i.e. the goto top arrow).
maybe a light blue arrow with a yellow border? |
| Eric Coleman | quote:
Originally posted by cjb0087
you have over extended yourself Eric,
Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
[quote[the only problem i can spot is the arrows in the news posts dont fit in with the theme (i.e. the goto top arrow).maybe a light blue arrow with a yellow border?
[/quote]
Good idea. I'll see what I can come up with later today. |
| cjb0087 | its a good thing |
| Iodiplin | NICE ARROWS!
I hate to mention it now, but I've always thought the arrows would be kind of cool if they had a subtle animation (like an upward motion within the arrow or something). Just an idea. Perhaps it would draw to much attention to them. I don't know.
However, the arrows look sweet as they are now, so no NEED to change them. |
| Sion | Speaking of the arrows, isn't it possible to scroll to the top of the page without reloading the entire page? |
| Sion | Another thing - the GameDev news section (which is a great idea, by the way) dosn't seem to update very often. There are often news post on GameDev.net that isn't listed here. |
| Eric Coleman | Well, the arrows you see now are new, I added them early this morning.
As for scrolling to the top of the page, it seems I forgot to add the "top" anchor in the new header page. It's working now :-)
The gamedev.net news feed tries to update every 8 hours. It isn't "realtime", that would be too much of a bandwidth problem and it would slow vbgamer down when downloading the news. Of course, if you need gamedev.net news on a regular interval you could always use a RSS reader or download Firefox. |
| VBBR | I think the new arrows are great. I love everything in this new layout. [:D]
(Eric, you can't miss an opportunity to spread Firefox, can you? [;)] Nothing wrong though, it's the best browser ever created nonetheless.) |
| Eric Coleman | Well, it would make things so much nicer if everyone used Firefox. Both Mozilla and Firefox have native support SOAP, and I thought that was amazing. I even built some functionality into the new forum software that used it. Unfortunatly I realized that Internet Explorer didn't support SOAP, so that made my attempts at creating a really neat forum quite pointless.
It was really neat. You could read a message by downloading the subjects only, and then click on the subjects that you want to read and the SOAP/javascript would download just the message body and then it would create a child element at the appropriate location in the page to dynamically insert the content.
Also, since simply viewing a JPEG file in Internet Explorer can result in your computer infected with a virus or worm, then switching to Firefox is smart thing to do. Microsoft has also said that it is only going to fix problems with Internet Explorer on Windows XP only. Not everyone that visits VBgamer uses windows XP, so sorry, but there won't be any fix for people like me. I still use windows 2000. This is worth reading, [url="http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3513_7-5515107-1.html?tag=cnetfd.ld"]link[/url] |
| cjb0087 | erm, SOAP? (yes im dumb today) |
| VBBR | Yeah. Not the one you use to wash, though.
SOAP stands for "Simple Object Access Protocol", it's some universal protocol to store and retrieve all kinds of things trough XML, if I'm not mistaken.
Being a universal and open "whatever", of course M$ doesn't use it in IE. Stupid selfishness. Someone must throw a 100 pounds rock of "insert-something-open-and-universal-here" in M$' head so it sees it's something everyone around is using. |
| Lachlan87 | M$ seems to think it has made the perfect browser. That's my take. Why else would they decide not to release any new versions except with new editions of their OS's?
Unfortunately for Microsoft, those greedy sonuvagunz that make Firefox, Opera, etc. keep proving that there is always more to be had, so Microsoft may have to give up that policy if they want to continue to be seen as a serious contender.
Of course, in my opinion they've already failed. They've demonstrated they have no drive of their own, so they'll always be playing catch up.
|
| cjb0087 | haha, this reminds of of IE's support for .png, they promised to have navtive support for it by IE5! |
| Eric Coleman | I know all about those. I kind made the decision to switch to the new layout after I got the Help Bin working. There are a few minor features that aren't working yet, but I'll get to that soon. As for the Articles, I need to convert the old articles from VBGC to the new format. When you post a "tutorial", you can select it as either a "tutorial" or an "article." |
| Eric Coleman | On a different topic, it seems like everyone likes the new layout, at least according to the poll on the front page. Anyone have any suggestions for future polls? Here's what I thought of...
What's your favorite type of game? RPG, FPS, Strategy, etc.
What do you own? nVidia, ATI, other?
I'm not sure how long a poll should be active. VBgamer doesn't get that many visitors, so I think a "week" might be too short of a time frame. A month maybe?
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| VBBR | For the poll subjects...
- Which version of VB do you use most? 5, 6, 2002, 2003, 2005 beta
- More as I think about them...
Time a poll should be active: If everyone can vote (not just registered users) then I think 3 weeks is good. Or, better, make it as a counter so let's say, each 100 votes it switches to the next poll. Then if after a given time, say a month, the counter hasn't reached the desired number of votes it switches to the new poll anyway. If all the votes are reached in a very small time, like 5 days, you keep it running for at least some time so everyone has the opportunity to vote. |
| Iodiplin | Month sounds good. And one suggestion about the new layout. It's obvious that the 2.0 layout places a lot more info on the screen. This is good, but can get a little confusing; perhaps making the headings a little more obvious (pronounced) and/or even making sections collapsable would help. I'm sure the collapse thing would be a lot of work, but it's something to think about.
Besides that, 2.0 is looking very nice! |
| Eric Coleman | quote:
Originally posted by Iodiplin
I'm sure the collapse thing would be a lot of work
[:p] Indeed! |
| Sion | It's really not that much trouble. I use the following JavaScript to expand/collapse sections on my website:
[code]
<script language="javascript">
/****************** ShowHide ******************/
<!--
function ShowHide(id) {
if ( document.all(id).style.display == 'none' ) {
document.all(id).style.display = '';
} else {
document.all(id).style.display = 'none';
}
}
-->
</script>
[/code]
The hardest part is storing and retrieving which sections are expaneded and which are collapsed. |
| Eric Coleman | That's an IE only script :-) I wouldn't want to [url="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vbgamer.com%2F"]break[/url] the website. |
| Sion | Oh yes, I was actually aware of that, I've just forgotten it. I read some places about it being directly dangerous to use certain script, altough I don't think this was one of them... I hope.
However, I was more concerned about getting my site up and running, than having a perfectly CSS/HTML/etc. valid code.
I guess that the 83 (!) invalid lines in my code proves ([url]http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http://www.icysoft.dk[/url]). In my defence I must say that most of the invalid lines are just minor syntax-errors, and nothing serious. |
| Eric Coleman | I put a more serious poll on the front page. |
| Eric Coleman | I'm surprised that so many people are still using VB6 |
| Sion | It's because Visual Basic 6 kicks ass! Weee, 100 posts! [:)] |
| VBBR | I still couldn't switch to a newer version. Reasons unknown, but I prefer to stick with VB6. I must admit however that VB .NET is overall a better language.
(weee, 451 posts! [:P]) |
| VBBR | On another topic, in my opinion the top menu links would look better if the visited link color was the same as the un-visited.
(who wants to know where s/he went, anyway?) |
| Sion | Wow! The first time I've actually stopped up and looked at the forum statistics and then this is what I see. How lucky is that!?
Picture:
[img]http://www.icysoft.dk/upload/blandet/3000posts.JPG[/img]
3000 posts! Not bad, huh? [:D] |
| Eric Coleman | Now if only the 249 other people would post something [:)] |
| Eric Coleman | quote:
Originally posted by VBBR
On another topic, in my opinion the top menu links would look better if the visited link color was the same as the un-visited.
(who wants to know where s/he went, anyway?)
The point is not to show where you've been, but where you haven't. [:D] |
| VBBR | Oh.
That's okay then [:D] |
| VBBR | quote:
Originally posted by Eric Coleman
Now if only the 249 other people would post something [:)]
Nah, just delete 'em. [:p] |
| Sr. Guapo | quote:
Originally posted by Eric Coleman
I put a more serious poll on the front page.
Noticed something with the poll. It says there are 27 posts total, yet there are only 26 that I added up. Maybe I am just stupid and missed one (I looked over it a few times), but I think it is off by one... |
| VBBR | You're right. That's 26. It looks like someone voted in a hidden option... |
| Eric Coleman | Well, that's odd. I guess I screwed up somewhere. |
| sdw | Well it's just one screw-up after another today:
[img]http://homepage-host.uni.cc/b/sdw/images/snapshot1.png[/img]
Konqueror sucks as a browser. I just thought what it did to the layout was funny. |
| Eric Coleman | That's pretty screwed up, lol. There is always Mozilla or [url="http://spreadfirefox.com/community/?q=affiliates&id=190&t=85"]Firefox[/url] :-) By the way, is that linux or windows? I've tested VBgamer with IE6, Firefox 0.9 and 1.0PR, and also Opera 7.51. Another possibility is that your font might be screwing up the layout. Its really really really big. |
| sdw | Linux. The layout looks fine in any other browser, while using a small font size. But the font size shouldn't make the words come out of the table box unless it's a fixed height or something. Big fonts are easier on the eyes. |
| Sr. Guapo | Noticed something else on the poll... It looks like it adds up correct now, but the VB 2005 bar is messed up. The number says 0, but the bar looks like it is around 10 o_O. Might want to check that out too... |
| Eric Coleman | Unfortunately that's a limitation with how I created the poll. It's a table with two TD cells, and each cell must have something in it or it would be transparent, so I have a non breaking space in the empty cells.
I just changed it to use an image instead, so it should work now.
Oh, and post a tutorial or article or something, if you want to write a game or book review let me know! |
| Sion | Eric, I was trying to post a new tutorial yesterday, but I kept getting a ASP-error. Something in the nature of "Error line 45, object undefined". Could you please look into what's causing this problem? |
| Eric Coleman | Thanks for letting me know. I'll fix it right now. |
| Eric Coleman | Ok, it's fixed! |
| Sion | Thanks, I'll try and add the tutorial then :) |
| Sion | It dosn't show up on "Latest Tutorials" and there was a few minor inconviences and some lack of infomation when writing the tutorial, but other than that the new tutorial/article system looks great. Kind of like GameDev and Gamasutra's with the page-menu. |
| Eric Coleman | The tutorials section, like everything else at VBgamer requires a moderator to approve it before it's visible.
quote:
there was a few minor inconviences and some lack of infomation
What was inconvenient and what needed more information? |
| Sion | quote:
Originally posted by Eric Coleman
<br>The tutorials section, like everything else at VBgamer requires a moderator to approve it before it's visible.
Oh, right! I'm glad that you approved my tutorial :)
quote:
What was inconvenient and what needed more information?
- Sometimes the [url]-tag didn't work unless it was [url=blahblah].
- I think, that a page header and next/previous page-link should be added whenever a new-page-tag is created. It wasn't clear how you should link to other pages in the tutorial/article.
- The [code]-tag is also a bit strange. To have one line of space between text and code both before and after the code box, I had to write it like so:
Line of text.
(code-tag)
Line of code.
(/code-tag)Line of text.
- Same problem with headers - they also automaticly adds a line of space below it.
- When inserting tags using the menu, the tags are inserted at the buttom and not around the selected text.
- It isn't very clear that you have to click the "Insert file"-button to both upload the file and add the file to the tutorial. I first created a link to the url displayed for the file, but that didn't work.
- Is it intentional that it's possible to change your "User ID"?
- External links opens in the same window instead of in a new one. But right now, I also have links to other pages in the tutorial using the [url]-tag, and they should open in the same window. |
| Eric Coleman | Thanks for the feedback! I'll see what I can do to fix those problems.
I had planned on adding an automatic navigation area at the bottom of the tutorial, but I guess I forgot about it, [:p].
I don't think the user ID field allows you to change it. I had planned on it, so that if someone wanted the ID could be changed to someone else and allow that person to take ownership of the tutorial or article.
For external links, don't you mean they should open in new windows? [:D] |
| Eric Coleman | The code tag works differently now. Code listings are numbered. The script that colors the code and comments won't work with this numbered listing since the span tags it uses format text on multiple lines. It's something that I'll fix, but right now it's really late and I need to get some sleep.
More comments and suggestions are welcome! Thanks! |
| Eric Coleman | There is now a slightly different layout, some minor formatting changes, and now a printer friendly version. Also, page links are automatically generated for multiple page documents, and headers within the document are also used for navigation (the links and tags are created automatically). Also, the latest comment that someone posts is displayed in the side column.
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