Author Topic: Help with the Q-gears website. (Read 48899 times)

halkun · « **on:** 2006-05-17 05:42:10 »

Ok, for those not in the know the offical Q-gears website is currently blank. I put out a blanket offer to a webmaster to help create/maintain a Q-gears website.

As of right now, it's blank.
http://q-gears.sourceforge.net/ <---- blank homepage.

I've gotten some intrest, so here's how I'm gong to work this.

If you want to create/maintain a website for q-gears, I would like to so a "hiring" process. This is what you should do.

1) Go ahead a create one.
2) Upload somewhere.
3) Post a location so I can take a look at it.

I'll be looking at the html source and check for maintainability, compatiblity, and readability. If it was a generated page using a script, link the scripts code too at the bottom of the page.

Sourceforge allows for php scripting and a light MySQL database. These technologies are not required.

Also, please make sure that any logos and pictures used are not copyrighted by square or are within the grounds of fair use. I'm already leary of the opening "spash screen" used for Q-gears, as it was not drawn by any one on the project .

The winner, or winners will be determined by me and will have access to the Q-gears command shell for the webserver to work on the page. This can be revocable at any time for any reason, includeing none at all. In the spirit of open source. The page will be owned by the Q-gears project you and are donating your code and time to the project.

Just though I'd get that into the open.

Anyway, good luck and thanks.

Sad Jari · « **Reply #1 on:** 2006-05-17 05:57:29 »

You might want to explain what you expect from the Q-Gears website - if you have figured it out yourself, of course.

That would probably make it easier for the folks to estimate if they have the skills/dedication necessary.

And just a hint to possible webmasters; consider using free CMS, since MySQL and PHP are available. Especially if halkun's plans are particularly ambitious.

halkun · « **Reply #2 on:** 2006-05-17 06:12:53 »

Quote from: Sad Jari on 2006-05-17 05:57:29

You might want to explain what you expect from the Q-Gears website - if you have figured it out yourself, of course.

That would probably make it easier for the folks to estimate if they have the skills/dedication necessary.

And just a hint to possible webmasters; consider using free CMS, since MySQL and PHP are available. Especially if halkun's plans are particularly ambitious.

Well, as Q-gears only exists as a framework that can be compiled, I don't have much in the way of website ideas. Just ratteling them off off the top of my head..

*A place that will link to the sourceforge project page
*Something that can allow for news submissions
*Display news from the sourceforge Q-gears project news RSS
*Maybe a "getting started" faq.
*Development tool links
----->win32 - the TortiseSVN for windows, Cygwin, DevC++,etc
*Docs, such as the SVN book, the Programming Linux games book, OpenGL programming guide(The Redbook), the original Gears document, my PSX tech doc.
*links to this froum and the wiki.
*anything else cool you can think of.

Creative Inc · « **Reply #3 on:** 2006-05-17 21:47:25 »

If you wish, you could use this image as a place holder for your site background. Feel free to modify it in anyway you want.

NobodyImportant · « **Reply #4 on:** 2006-05-17 22:42:41 »

I messaged halkun a week or so ago regarding the subject, but I've barely started as I have no idea how he'd like the layout/content. It's party my fault for not asking, but, eh, no real excuse I can give...

Anyways, is anybody else even...trying?

Covarr · « **Reply #5 on:** 2006-05-17 23:05:06 »

I am. I am really into web design, and I hope that I can do well.

NobodyImportant · « **Reply #6 on:** 2006-05-18 02:32:19 »

Hm...I was thinking, since Sourcefourge allows PHP (and even MySQL, cool!) you could have some nifty web-features, like check for updates and the like...

Since PHP is enabled, this could get interesting.

halkun · « **Reply #7 on:** 2006-05-18 02:36:02 »

Layout is totaly up to you, just make sure to include the things I listed above.

I'm really liking the logo done in splash screen thread. (The one with the green gear) That's pretty awesome.

NobodyImportant · « **Reply #8 on:** 2006-05-18 05:24:55 »

I'll try to base the colors/layout on that then, I'm rather unoriginal when it comes to choosing colors.

Covarr · « **Reply #9 on:** 2006-05-18 20:04:11 »

I'm trying to make my design as simple as possible, as far as looks are concerned. Tons of CSS, along with CuteNews and what I guess is going to need to be a hand-scripted RSS reader will make totally different things look the same, and will allow easy editing of pretty much all actual content. I'll post a pic sometime this afternoon if I get a chance, and will probably have a demo by tomorrow evening. So far, I have it so that it will look good on a minimum 1024*768 monitor (vertical doesn't matter much, but horizontal is important) on most standard web browsers. I'm designing it to work with the logo I submitted, but it can easily be modified if a different logo ends up being used. Currently uses a mix of Verdana and whatever font is the default in the user's browser.

Since Sourceforge allows MySQL, it would theoretically be possible to move the forums here, but I would think that's a bad idea for now.

NobodyImportant · « **Reply #10 on:** 2006-05-18 22:36:11 »

Yes, heavy CSS usage is what I was depending on myself.

However, I'll probably make a customized news script instead of using an existing one. Easier to work with. However, it's not looking so hot as I'm having problems with making a nice banner. I'm not so great with image editing.

So far I've been using a lighter blue look with transparent looking content boxes. I'm not sure weither I should have tabbed navigation like Wikipedia, or something different.

Covarr · « **Reply #11 on:** 2006-05-19 00:17:10 »

Okay, I have a demo up. Access it here.

I haven't implemented RSS yet, and I don't have all of the other things finalized, but this is basically the look and feel I'm going for. The banner ad is a requirement of my host, and shouldn't be an issue if it is used.

Content management is done with CuteNews and can be accessed on the demo HERE. The username is "Test" and the password is "test". It's easy to use, but powerful enough for most purposes, so I hope it will work here.

The way it's set up, each page accesses posts from a different category, and so everything is done in the form of a cutenews post. This means that none of the actual content is hard-coded into the page, so it can be easily edited via cutenews. This includes, links, downloads, etc. all done in the same format.

halkun · « **Reply #12 on:** 2006-05-19 02:40:03 »

I would like news to be taken from the sourceforge page.

Basiclly, you grab the already existing q-gears news from sourceforge and via rss and put it in the homepage.

The feeds are located here
http://sourceforge.net/export/rss2_project.php?group_id=165417

This allows me to manage the news from the sourceforge page. However, sumbitting from the homepage is cool.

There are already some news bits (2 articles) so see if you can mirror them.

NobodyImportant · « **Reply #13 on:** 2006-05-19 04:33:09 »

http://www.rexyrex.hostmatrix.org/qgears/

Sorry if I'm a little slower.

I've got lots to go -- I'll start an RSS reader right now.

If you're using Firefox you get some really nice looking "quick link" effects.

EDIT: I updated it, now there's a content box with a tabbed menu. The "faq" tab stands out because I'm testing what a tab looks like when that is the page you're currently viewing (it's not dynamic --yet). The thing I'm proud of is that it works on the three major browsers: Internet Exporer, Firefox and Opera.

It is also W3C standards complaint.

Now for some real work.

Otokoshi · « **Reply #14 on:** 2006-05-19 14:09:58 »

Quote from: NobodyImportant

If you're using Firefox you get some really nice looking "quick link" effects.

Great idea!Â Now you just need those menu sounds from the game when you select a link...just kidding.Â :-)Â It looks like a very clean interface and I like the tabs.Â I think a cool banner design may be to mix the gear design by Covarr with a 3d art style that the old Qhimm forum banner had.Â Just my opinion though, progress is looking good.

FeuFeu · « **Reply #15 on:** 2006-05-19 15:20:13 »

There's a little alignment issue with Firefox on Linux (Fedora Core 4)

Anyway, that's looking nice. Keep up the good work !

(I might join and try to do a layout, if I find some time)

halkun · « **Reply #16 on:** 2006-05-19 17:31:51 »

I can't seem to get the tabs to work....

(Win32 firefox 1.5.0.3)

Covarr · « **Reply #17 on:** 2006-05-19 18:45:31 »

The alignment issue seems to arise if your window is too small. I tried it on more than one browser for Windows.

Ack. My server is having trouble working with the many RSS reader scripts I've tried. I can't test them this way.

FeuFeu · « **Reply #18 on:** 2006-05-19 20:14:17 »

Yes, I know that but the problem is still there on 1024x768. The default font on Linux is bigger, thus the line wrapping. I can make it happen on Windows as well, if I decide to use a larger font (using CTRL+ and CTRL- with Firefox is great to detect this kind of issue). The box should adapt with the text it holds

NobodyImportant · « **Reply #19 on:** 2006-05-19 23:33:40 »

Quote from: halkun on 2006-05-19 17:31:51

I can't seem to get the tabs to work....

(Win32 firefox 1.5.0.3)

What's wrong with them? Clicking one shouldn't change the way it looks because that's not done yet.

As for the alignment issues, thanks. I don't have Linux. I'll have to see if I can change some of the absolute positioning problems. It would also be nice if some Safari users would let me know if everything is alright.

Also, FeuFeu, is the image background the same as the div background? In your screenshot, it doesn't look like it. I dunno why the background would appear white, the div on the right uses the same method of choosing color.

EDIT: I've attempted to fix some CSS errors. Everyone who had a problem is encouraged to try again. Thanks for helping me out.

UPDATE: Tabs are now dynamic. The document now has some (very slight) PHP elements. To view the source, click here.

I'm still working on an RSS reader and should be done soon, even though I'm leaving in roughly a half hour. Later tonight I'll be sure to get much more work done (hopefully much faster).

UPDATE: I added a quick description to the left of the link you're hovering over. Yes, I am procrastinating.

If you don't like this addition, I'll happily remove it. However, I'm curious as to how Linux browsers handle this. Opera needed some quick fixes, so a bit more PHP functionality was added. FeuFeu's browser will almost definately have some issues. The link to the source remains the same. NOW, I promise, I'll start doing more work on the RSS reader to add some real content to the site.

Sad Jari · « **Reply #20 on:** 2006-05-20 06:23:17 »

Quote from: NobodyImportant on 2006-05-19 23:33:40

UPDATE: I added a quick description to the left of the link you're hovering over.

I think that the idea is great, but isn't the description rather far away from the tabs? At least I have to point my eyes to that corner to read it, and if I want to want to select different tab I have to point my eyes to the other corner, so that I can see where the mouse pointer is going.

Style-wise it's a good place, but usability-wise... I'm not so sure.

Just my two cents.

NobodyImportant · « **Reply #21 on:** 2006-05-20 08:21:53 »

That's a thought. I played a bit with positioning and I think you'll enjoy the result. However, Opera completely shut down on this type of manipulation. The first tag it found had the proper CSS applied -- everything else was bugged. If I rolled over the links fast enough, text in the wrong position would appear, invisible. I would have to roll over the links quickly, then hit Ctrl+A. Sometimes, when rolling fast enough other the links, the text would appear partially. I'm blaming this bug on the browser and not the code as Internet Explorer (hell for web design) worked with only minor CSS edits. I disabled the feature completely in Opera.

I started the RSS reader and got a simple class working. It's a littler tougher than I thought it would be, which is suprising because it's mostly array manipulation.

The page should start coming together soon, just need framework.

http://www.rexyrex.hostmatrix.org/qgears -- for those who don't like scrolling up.

FeuFeu · « **Reply #22 on:** 2006-05-20 09:01:58 »

Quote from: NobodyImportant on 2006-05-19 23:33:40

Also, FeuFeu, is the image background the same as the div background? In your screenshot, it doesn't look like it. I dunno why the background would appear white, the div on the right uses the same method of choosing color.

Oh, didn't noticed that

Well, I'll look into it Monday.

About the link descriptions, it might be easier to use the title attribute : the description would then appear in a tooltip and you wouldn't have to worry about its position or visibility.

Sad Jari · « **Reply #23 on:** 2006-05-20 13:02:43 »

Quote from: NobodyImportant on 2006-05-20 08:21:53

That's a thought. I played a bit with positioning and I think you'll enjoy the result. However, Opera completely shut down on this type of manipulation. The first tag it found had the proper CSS applied -- everything else was bugged. If I rolled over the links fast enough, text in the wrong position would appear, invisible. I would have to roll over the links quickly, then hit Ctrl+A. Sometimes, when rolling fast enough other the links, the text would appear partially. I'm blaming this bug on the browser and not the code as Internet Explorer (hell for web design) worked with only minor CSS edits. I disabled the feature completely in Opera.

Yep, this is better. Other option would be the tooltips, of course. They just don't look that fancy.

Completely? The 'News'-tab still seems to display its description in my Opera 9 Beta and Opera 7.54.

NobodyImportant · « **Reply #24 on:** 2006-05-20 21:45:05 »

Hah, Opera was ignoring display: none; also. Anyways, I've finally got an RSS reader and such working. It was taking me such a long time because I couldn't test locally (Apache crashed every time I tried to grab the XML contents). However, it worked on my webhost and I'm sure the problem is attributed to my computer. When I was testing it on my webhost, I was noticing that it took about five seconds to parse the XML file and such. Because of this, I decided to have the news cached whenever you tell the page to cache it. After testing the caching I noticed that it was loading the XML much more quickly, so the problem must of been with my host (it is a shared host after all).

You can update the cache by going here: http://www.rexyrex.hostmatrix.org/qgears/?admin=loadnews.

However, I might remove caching later as speed isn't an extremely important issue.

Now I'm off to style/position the news, and next I'll optimize the XML handling a bit then make the content (not the tabs) dynamic.

UPDATE: The news is styled and if there's any suggestions you might have I'm very open to them.

Also, it's been a real hassle uploading php source files, so I'm going to remove those unless someone actually wants to view them. Also, halkun, any HTML put into your news posts will be shown. CSS styles will also be applied. Any HTML you put in a post that becomes malformed by the styles on the homepage can be fixed, but it's not necessary to add to the stylesheet yet unless you put conflicting elements in your posts.