You're welcome ultifd.
for the sticky.
How will you do the "current servers"? The simplest way would be to have one file in one set location that all the servers listed, which the site can read with some basic Ajax javascript or a PHP include function (depending on the format of the file). Of course, I must ask the simplest question: what does it mean? And what are the numbers?
I'd like to primarily discuss the (X)HTML + CSS template for now, since creating this is the next step we need to take. However, I can see how the question of how dynamically updated information will get transported into the final web pages is an interesting, topic. too. My plan is to preproduce such information, in a variety of formats, in regular intervals (such as every couple of seconds in case of the server list) so that subsequent requests are less costly (caching). The serverlist, for example, would probably be available as HTML output (not a complete HTML page but just the neccessary elements, ready to be included by PHP's readfile(). Another option, possibly better, is to just include the PHP code neccessary to produce this HTML code into the presentation layer of the web CMS.
Those server list entries you see on the list are an example of what it could look like, I am not sure about what it will exactly look like in the end. The numbers in this example represent 'activeSlots', 'networkSlots', 'connectedClients', which is some of the information the current master server interface provides. But, as I say, this is merely an example, I'm not sure about the exact presentation of this part, yet. Here's all the information currently available to the master server (this is, to date, completely deleted off the master server as soon as a game is over), with an example entry:
| glestVersion | platform | binaryCompileDate | serverTitle | ip | tech | map | tileset | activeSlots | networkSlots | connectedClients | externalServerPort |
| v3.4.0-dev | GNU64bit | Dec 19 2010 02:43:42 | tomreyns game | 123.123.123.123 | Megapack | 2rivers | Autumn | 6 | 6 | 1 | 61357 |
Since there will (and should) be little room for the server list on the main page, I would imagine that some of this information can displays only as you mouse those entries. If any of you would like to suggest what information should be always visible here and what should be available on mouse over, please give it a go.
We may make these server entries clickable (starting up your game and making it connect to this server) if you have used the MG installer to install your game. This would mean some extra work since it needs to be done for every operating system, possibly for every possible web browser, separately (need to add a URL scheme handler and/or content type handler), but it should be achievable, and may make things easier for the users. But this is not just extra work, it is also a design/strategic decision, so I'd want to head titi's and softcoder's opinion before introducing this.
News: Best done from a simple XML file, so it can be easily edited.
Actually the CMS I have in mind (and already installed: CMS Simple) provides a nice way of editing just a given area in a web page, so this doesn't need to be a separate XML file - though it could be. I'm not yet sure whether the news section should be manually edited or should just transport the MG forum announcements on the main page. I tend more towards a manually edited section, though, where the news content can be reused to display within the game (titi has already implemented this in the 4.0 dev builds), since this content needs to be manually edited anyway, and it would look nicer than the forum announcements (which are also not wasy to make look nice).
Forums: That's very tricky, since we have no direct control over the forums, and the RSS feed for it is for the entire forums, not just the MG forums, making it sort of pointless to have, and having non MG related topics listed would be a bad idea (especially if the most recently posted topic is some vague off topic thread, or suppose it's from the vanilla glest bug reports, since some random user might not realize that it's for Vanilla Glest, not MG.)
SMF provides an 'API' (not sure it deserves this term), which allows for exporting this information, per (sub-)forum, in a good enough format for parsing. So this is not an issue.
Newsletter: I'll assume you plan to create a sourceforge mailing list (if you don't have one)?
Exactly, there already is an announcement-only mailing list on sf.net and this form would interface with it.
Big image in the Middle: Needs a cool looking, epic screenshot. This means no HUD, interesting vantage point, good lighting, and preferably some combat (combat = interesting). This image will also ideally have a fade out effect.
Better images would be nice to have. Titi started a screenshot thread on the forums a couple days ago. So far, the number of people submitting high quality screen shots to this thread are limited. Being a community project, MegaGlest is dependant of everyones' contribution and
constructive criticism (hint!).
Here's what softcoder had to say about this:
You need to have more advanced units in the screenshot maybe, like a fire, and archers shooting. But its nice.
Perhaps rotating pictures every 30 seconds - fade from one to another faction, showing all 'official' factions.
I'm sure people would submit GREAT shots for consideration, make it a contest.
I think this is a great idea. If titi agrees, we'll have such a contest shortly.
(Understanding that this is not your concept for the graphics) How should the buttons look? I say something like how Glest's buttons look, as that will look very interesting. Should the green bar at the top be the same as the forums? And what would those side columns look like? I assume something like Glest's buttons.
I like simplistic designs, which don't make you load lots of graphics. Graphics are bad because they enforce minimum screen sizes and somewhat fixed sizes to graphical elements. They also increase page load times, and increase bandwidth requirements (MG is a low bandwidth game and the website should support this impression). But if there's a majority which prefers nicer looks over complete compatibility/flexibility then this can be discussed. So, for example, I'm not neccessarily opposed to have color blending by means of image files (unless this is also achievable with CSS by now, which I assume but do not know).
But I also think that all further improvements, like these, eat time and are not really neccessary for the first version of the website. And both titi and I would like a first version (which can be completely replaced by a second version later) to
go live as soon as possible - this is the main goal (next to usability and not looking completely crap, such as the current maintenance page does). However, if you think you can implement something similar to the game menus' buttons via CSS and without images easily this would seems like a great improvement of the looks of the main menu 'buttons' which, in my design draft, are placed to the left and right of the game logo.
If you have concrete ideas/suggestions/recommendations, please use the XCF file, save and upload it (and also export as JPG or similar image which can be displayed in a web browser) and demonstrate them to us, so we can discuss. Of course, if you prefer not to get into this, that's perfectly okay, too.
My Concept idea: The site would be a replica of the Main Menu screen of Glest, but all the buttons which are normally menu options become the navigational buttons, in the same art style, with larger boxes with news, etc on the sides (like Tomreyn's concept). For the other pages, the navigational buttons would be moved to the top, in a single row, while the information is in a large box in the middle, also in Glest "button style".
I was thinking about this option, but decided against it: first, something which works well in a game, doesn't need to be suitable (very different media type) and look good on a web page, secondly, as explained above, I like minimalism when it comes to use of image files, and finally I think it would look somewhat boring on a web page. Maybe my imagination is limited, and a design preview would be more convincing.
Why I Think Different Language Support Is a Bad Idea:
-VERY hard to keep up to date (who's to say those who speak that language will be able to keep up to date with those updates, or to even stick with it for an indefinate span of time?)
-Encourages people to post in different languages on the forums. I'm gonna be blunt, I hate that. It leaves the (vast majority) of the community left out and makes it possible to hide insults/trolling/inappropriate conduct from those who cannot speak that language.
-The Glest Boards are english and nobody has ever had problems with it.
-Harder to create when trying to bear in mind that the different languages might not format properly.
-Causes problems when doing a major change, since the translated versions may not be compatable.
-Text in images cannot be translated short of hardcoded HTML, making that a bit harder to change.
-HARDCODED TEXT IS HARD TO TRANSLATE! (unless said translator is also a PHP whiz...)
Besides, Glest doesn't really have a large enough community to be able to provide accurate, up-to-date translations for the site (and the hardcoded values).
Having up to data translations of dynamically changing contents is not my intention. My intention is to have the static web page elements (main menu, 'about' page, etc.) translated into multiple languages. Glest was originally developed by spanish speakers, it has always been a multi language project, and also now we have people who speak many different languages natively (often not understanding english very well) on both the forums and on IRC, there are also numerous websites in foreign languages out there discussing MegaGlest already. I do not want to shut these people out, and only having an english language website would do exactly this.
Moreover, I think that this goal is very achievable. Most content of this website is indeed static (just the news are not, and I don't intend to translate those unless it turns out there are people who wish to do so), so they only require a one time translation. Major changes to the content of the web page are not going to happen anytime soon. It's basically just like the language files of the game. While we can start with just an english language web page, we can and should be open to adding others later.
I don't think the decision on which languages the website is provided in is dependant on which languages may be used on the forums. If you don't like anything but english to be used there (if you can have foreign language moderators then I don't see a reason not to, but this is a different and unrelated matter), then just have a rule there saying so and that's that. But this should not impact what the games' website may or may not look like.
And thanks for providing another reason for not using more images than absolutely neccessary.
Thanks your comments, please keep them coming.
Now, does your offer to craft this web design still stand (or did I misunderstand you there)?
