« Randomly I wish I worked in an office
Game Memorial
RegEx get id from Aeva Embed »

Arantor

  • As powerful as possible, as complex as necessary.
  • Posts: 14,278
Game Memorial
« on August 3rd, 2012, 02:43 AM »
OK, so I've been very quiet on the coding front lately, one of those projects has materialised in Game Memorial - http://gamememorial.com/

It's a sort of blog/forum hybrid and it's built on SMF 2.0. The reason it's not Wedge is because 1) I couldn't be arsed porting newBalance to Wedge at this point and 2) I don't want to keep patching it once it's stable, something that can't be guaranteed for an indefinite period with Wedge.

There are some other aspects to this that I'm exploring for how they'll fit into Wedge in future:
* future posting - there is the ability to future-post topics and replies. I have a crude but workable UI for this, which isn't really suitable for Wedge at the present time[1] but I want to explore its applications beyond blogging; I'm a biggish fan of WP having the ability to post blog posts in the future, and it's something Wedge deserves, but I'm fairly certain there are benefits to this for regular forum content too, and that's something I will be exploring. The thing is, I don't want to take a risk with this in mainline Wedge, I want to explore it on my own terms and see how it works in practice for me before I figure out a nice way to integrate it into Wedge (core or otherwise)

* tagging - I know we talked about topic tags for Wedge in the past. I'm not entirely sure how useful it would be so I want to explore that too, though in GM's case it's only on the 'game a day' board.

There's all sorts of nuances related to navigation and so on for these things that I need to try out on a real site and see how I interact with it as well as trying to judge how users interact with it - and again, I think the potential is drastic enough that I don't want to drop that in the core just yet until I understand how it works in a real environment.

There is also the fact that it gives me a goal that isn't directly tied into writing code, and more about exercising other parts of my skills and abilities, which serves as a nice rest from the stresses of coding, and by the time demand implied on me it'll actually *force* me to take a break from being stressed by coding which will hopefully work out the last of the kinks related to burn-out and help reduce it happening in the future.
 1. The date picker facility is jQuery UI's. It's 42KB minified before gzipping. I am not kidding.
When we unite against a common enemy that attacks our ethos, it nurtures group solidarity. Trolls are sensational, yes, but we keep everyone honest. | Game Memorial

live627

  • Should five per cent appear too small / Be thankful I don't take it all / 'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman
  • Posts: 1,670
Re: Game Memorial
« Reply #1, on August 3rd, 2012, 10:53 AM »
Quote
The date picker facility is jQuery UI's. It's 42KB minified before gzipping. I am not kidding.
I know, it's totally ridiculous, right?
A confident man keeps quiet.whereas a frightened man keeps talking, hiding his fear.

Dragooon

  • I can code! Really!
  • polygon.com has to be one of the best sites I've seen recently.
  • Posts: 1,841
Re: Game Memorial
« Reply #2, on August 3rd, 2012, 11:36 AM »
Since I'm quite a bit into gaming myself, what is the site aimed at? Taking an interest from an user point of view in this case.
The way it's meant to be

Nao

  • Dadman with a boy
  • Posts: 16,082
Re: Game Memorial
« Reply #3, on August 3rd, 2012, 12:38 PM »
- Future posting: I don't understand what the issue is... You could just as easily add a 'future' field to the draft table, then add an Additional Post Option to 'post it in the future', which would then launch a date selector (<input type=datetime> or something has excellent UI in Opera, bad UI in Safari though, and I think John wrote one for us recently... which would be perfect I'm sure :P), and that's it, after that you just need to build a custom scheduled task to run at the right time...

- Tags: again, no issues for me...? It's probably one of the easiest things left to implement in Wedge. I'm seriously thinking of doing it like in Noisen.com...

- Upgrading builds: I agree that it can be a problem if you don't want to deal with that on a daily basis...

Arantor

  • As powerful as possible, as complex as necessary.
  • Posts: 14,278
Re: Game Memorial
« Reply #4, on August 3rd, 2012, 01:54 PM »
Quote
Since I'm quite a bit into gaming myself, what is the site aimed at? Taking an interest from an user point of view in this case.
Blogging about lots and lots of different games, as well as discussing game mechanics, types of games, where gaming is going as an industry, all sorts of various stuff.

I'm not really that bothered if things are quiet and I'm not going to bust a move going crazy about building it up, though it'd be nice if it did get popular.
Quote
- Future posting: I don't understand what the issue is... You could just as easily add a 'future' field to the draft table, then add an Additional Post Option to 'post it in the future', which would then launch a date selector (<input type=datetime> or something has excellent UI in Opera, bad UI in Safari though, and I think John wrote one for us recently... which would be perfect I'm sure :P), and that's it, after that you just need to build a custom scheduled task to run at the right time...
Oh, the mechanics of posting are fairly straightforward, and yes it is done in a separate table so it doesn't screw with ids.

However there's a lot more to it than that. What about letting others review it ahead of time? Where do you put all this stuff? Accessible from the message index of a board, or the admin panel or what? How does it get used in practice for a forum?

Also: is it core material or plugin material? (And actually you need two fields to make it really work, one for its posting time and one for its related scheduled event id so that if you change the time, you can update the scheduled-imperative table reliably)

Here's the thing: I want to see if there are benefits other than blogging convenience for having scheduled topics, and this allows me to try it out - it's something I brought up on AAF recently and the speculation is that it'd help with keeping a more consistent flow of activity if you set up a drip feed of topics per day rather than something like what Shawn does with AAF (which is to go away and post a bajillion topics then not start any new topics for a couple of weeks)
Quote
- Tags: again, no issues for me...? It's probably one of the easiest things left to implement in Wedge. I'm seriously thinking of doing it like in Noisen.com...
What about tag management? Limiting tags by board? Limiting who can use a tag? Being able to put tags into categories? Also, how do you filter by a tag, exactly? Do you do it inline in the message index or somewhere else? (And there are a bunch of practicalities around that too as it happens)

Also, do you want to consider things like having a description of a tag, that can appear when filtering by said tag to explain what the tag means? (There are tags on GM that actually work like this)
Quote
- Upgrading builds: I agree that it can be a problem if you don't want to deal with that on a daily basis...
Once I've got the functionality how I'm most comfortable with it and don't have any fresh ideas on it, I don't want to touch the code again if at all possible.

nend

  • When is a theme, no longer what it was when installed?
  • Posts: 165
Re: Game Memorial
« Reply #5, on August 5th, 2012, 07:48 PM »
Nice site, me too have decided to settle down more and design for myself. I am trying to move away from the traditional methods and make my own, I guess a rebel and lately my interest is what people say can't be done or stuff people are unwilling to tread. Something original, not someone else's ideas. So many like to go in the same direction and make what has been done before over and over again.

I guess this is my drive.

But a bit off topic.

Nice to see you doing something besides coding. I am sure though you are still doing stuff behind the scenes which may be more rewarding doing it for yourself  first and then contributing back to others every once in a while. Don't contribute back too often though, sometimes the stress that comes along with contributions is not well worth it.

I used to believe though if you didn't know a bit of HTML, then you have no reason to run a site in HTML. If you don't know basic PHP then you shouldn't run anything on it. If you don't know Action Script then you have no right slicing it and making it into something its not. I can go on and on with this though, from OS to Nix OSes, JAVA, VB, etc. It took me time to learn all this and I am not going to contribute to someone who hasn't taken the time to learn some basics. I can show them the way but not hold their hand and do it for them.

However I don't know if I can get used to a game site, the only games I been playing lately are on my Android, maybe you can throw a few reviews in there for it. ;)
SI Community

Antes

  • Stuff?
  • Posts: 52
Re: Game Memorial
« Reply #6, on August 5th, 2012, 08:03 PM »
I must say, making a game based site is a real challenge. Have fun :)

ps: mails dropping to spam/junk folder

Arantor

  • As powerful as possible, as complex as necessary.
  • Posts: 14,278
Re: Game Memorial
« Reply #7, on August 5th, 2012, 08:21 PM »
Quote
Nice to see you doing something besides coding. I am sure though you are still doing stuff behind the scenes which may be more rewarding doing it for yourself  first and then contributing back to others every once in a while. Don't contribute back too often though, sometimes the stress that comes along with contributions is not well worth it.
Been there, done that. It's in no small part what contributed to my burning out earlier this year.
Quote
I used to believe though if you didn't know a bit of HTML, then you have no reason to run a site in HTML. If you don't know basic PHP then you shouldn't run anything on it. If you don't know Action Script then you have no right slicing it and making it into something its not. I can go on and on with this though, from OS to Nix OSes, JAVA, VB, etc. It took me time to learn all this and I am not going to contribute to someone who hasn't taken the time to learn some basics. I can show them the way but not hold their hand and do it for them.
I have a slightly broader definition, in that some effort should be put in. Running a site should require some skill but if you're not willing to learn the skills, be prepared to recruit someone - paid if necessary - who does have those skills.

I don't have every skill required to successfully run a site - I'm no designer/artist. So I turned to someone who is and they made the logo for me. But effort was involved (and some money)
Quote
However I don't know if I can get used to a game site, the only games I been playing lately are on my Android, maybe you can throw a few reviews in there for it.
Going to give me an Android device to run them on?
Quote
I must say, making a game based site is a real challenge. Have fun
Thanks ;)
Quote
ps: mails dropping to spam/junk folder
Does your host tell you why? My host tells me the headers on every mail if I ask, and I can see the rules used to classify something as spam. I have an idea what the problem is though (though I know a number of hosts who classify all standard SMF emails as spam these days)

Antes

  • Stuff?
  • Posts: 52
Re: Game Memorial
« Reply #8, on August 5th, 2012, 09:22 PM »
Quote from Arantor on August 5th, 2012, 08:21 PM
Does your host tell you why? My host tells me the headers on every mail if I ask, and I can see the rules used to classify something as spam. I have an idea what the problem is though (though I know a number of hosts who classify all standard SMF emails as spam these days)
I'm using Canadian hosting (they have ad on SM.org) Mails coming to Inbox

Arantor

  • As powerful as possible, as complex as necessary.
  • Posts: 14,278
Re: Game Memorial
« Reply #9, on August 5th, 2012, 09:53 PM »
...does your host tell you why the emails are classed as spam or not?

Antes

  • Stuff?
  • Posts: 52
Re: Game Memorial
« Reply #10, on August 5th, 2012, 10:02 PM »
Quote from Arantor on August 5th, 2012, 09:53 PM
...does your host tell you why the emails are classed as spam or not?
Forgive me if i misunderstand, but never had such spam/junk problem with emails coming from my sites ever, never contacted them about it.

Gmail Side

sleeping@***.org
Why is this message in Spam? It's similar to messages that were detected by our spam filters

Arantor

  • As powerful as possible, as complex as necessary.
  • Posts: 14,278
Re: Game Memorial
« Reply #11, on August 5th, 2012, 10:07 PM »
See, this is part of why I love my email host. I can see exactly why a given message was flagged as spam. That enables me to figure out what I need to do to prevent it in future.

Dr. Deejay

  • Happy new year all!
  • Posts: 118
Re: Game Memorial
« Reply #12, on August 5th, 2012, 10:35 PM »
It looks great, nice work :)

Arantor

  • As powerful as possible, as complex as necessary.
  • Posts: 14,278
Re: Game Memorial
« Reply #13, on August 18th, 2012, 12:43 AM »
Trying something a little bit different today. For the Game-A-Day blog posts, I actually massaged OpenGraph meta tags into the page through a particularly heinous brand of evil. (I grab the content during the template, scavenge what I need and then inject it back during the relevant output buffer. Except for the og:url meta tag which has a different format to Pretty URLs' expectations and I couldn't figure out how to conveniently make it work, so I manually fudged the Pretty URL back to the right page. It's fucking ugly, seriously.)

The main reason I'm trying this is because I'm curious to see how practical - or not - it is having OG tags in the page and how useful that is for people sharing on Facebook. I also have the feeling it might have some SEO benefits down the line as it provides an interesting piece of meta-data - for a given page you insert information on its title (sans site keywords like you'd put in <title> elements if you were so inclined), a type for the item in question, a canonical URL (why it needs a different one, I don't know) and a thumbnail picture.

Of course I have a specific use for the thumbnail pictures, but I can conceivably imagine these things would fit very nicely with media items and possibly things like articles and blog posts - so I'm trying them out.

(As I said, I wanted to try things out in a live environment that can be beneficial to Wedge. :))
« Randomly I wish I worked in an office
RegEx get id from Aeva Embed »