Forever Mapped (website)

[Mooga]

I think we might have enough people to actualy be serius about this.
The upload skript needs a bunch of feild and such....

[Tennovan]

I'd rather build a custom admin/content management interface for the site instead of using an existing CMS. From my personal experience, you'll spend less time integrating your own than trying to edit something to fit your needs. I've written plenty of code that'll handle member registration/logins and will do it securely. Implementing a way to add submissions is a piece of cake after that... mostly just db work.

As far as AJAX goes, I'm all for it as long as an alternative exists for those without javascript support. And speaking of javascript, the new jquery is supposedly 800% faster and experienced programmers are now looking to it as a viable library -- I'd start there.

If I were given only one choice though, I'd like to primarily work on the layout/css. It kills me to see sites using tables for their layout, not defining doctypes, or calling different stylesheets for different browsers. 99.9% of the time, there's no need to use different stylesheets... there's almost always a workaround. Doing things right the first time means less time troubleshooting it in the future.

I could keep going but this post is already too long for most to read.

[liN]

Originally Posted by Tennovan

I'd rather build a custom admin/content management interface for the site instead of using an existing CMS. From my personal experience, you'll spend less time integrating your own than trying to edit something to fit your needs. I've written plenty of code that'll handle member registration/logins and will do it securely. Implementing a way to add submissions is a piece of cake after that... mostly just db work.

As far as AJAX goes, I'm all for it as long as an alternative exists for those without javascript support. And speaking of javascript, the new jquery is supposedly 800% faster and experienced programmers are now looking to it as a viable library -- I'd start there.

If I were given only one choice though, I'd like to primarily work on the layout/css. It kills me to see sites using tables for their layout, not defining doctypes, or calling different stylesheets for different browsers. 99.9% of the time, there's no need to use different stylesheets... there's almost always a workaround. Doing things right the first time means less time troubleshooting it in the future.

I could keep going but this post is already too long for most to read.

Yes I have built my layout in CSS with one stylesheet. I have multiple browsers to test in as well so its going quite smoothly. I pretty much have the layout finished, now its time to start coding the map submissions page. Also I have been writing my own administrative tools just like you said. Once the map submission is finished I while open the site for beta testing.

Cheers,
liN

[Mooga]

Here's my recommendation for the form used to summit maps.

Map Name: [String]
Fortress Game: (Drop List) Fortress Forever, Team Fortress 2
Map Type should be a Drop List that changes dynamically depending on the selected game.

FF Map Type: (Drop List) Capture The Flag, Attack Vs. Defend, Hunted, Flag Run, Other (and possibly other popular types of FF maps).

TF2 Map Types: Capture the flag, Capture point, Territorial control

Number of Teams: [num]

Max Number of Players: [num]

FF Only: Bot Support: (Drop List) Yes, No

[Sacrifist]

you guys should just put everything here http://www.unknown-files.net/ the site owner is a good guy and there is nothing like free bandwidth. Just browse some of the mods and maps sections there. Very professional looking imo.

[Ihmhi]

Addendum in bold in quoted text. d:

Originally Posted by Mooga

Here's my recommendation for the form used to summit maps.

Map Name: [String]
Fortress Game: (Drop List) Fortress Forever, Team Fortress 2, Team Fortress Classic, Quake 4 Fortress eXtreme
Map Type should be a Drop List that changes dynamically depending on the selected game.

FF Map Type: (Drop List) Capture The Flag, Attack Vs. Defend, Hunted, Flag Run, Other (and possibly other popular types of FF maps).

TF2 Map Types: Capture the flag, Capture point, Territorial control

Number of Teams: [num]

Max Number of Players: [num]

FF Only: Bot Support: (Drop List) Yes, No

Map Author: [String]

Author's E-mail: [String]

Author's Website: [String]

Notes: [String]

[Teh Hwoling Manz]

Guitar: [String]
Violin: [String]
G-: [String]
DNA: [String]

[Zydell]

This is a table layout I came up with a while ago; could be of use:

CREATE TABLE `maps` (
  `id` int(11) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `game_id` int(11) unsigned NOT NULL,
  `name` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `map_type` enum('avd','ctf','control','dm','escape','fun','other','skill','reverse_ctf') NOT NULL default 'ctf',
  `description` text,
  `author` varchar(100),
  `author_website` varchar(255),
  `release_date` date,
  `download_link` varchar(255),
  PRIMARY KEY  (`id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 AUTO_INCREMENT=1 ;

In this table ‘game_id’ refers to another table and I stole the map_type values idea from ozfortress.

[Mooga]

Thanks for the additions Ihmhi.
Also: if we are serous about this... we should really consider getting a domain and web space.

FYI: forever-mapped.com is currently available. And I would recommend ipowerweb.com since it give 300 gigs of space and 3TB of bandwidth. Although we could need more... I'm not sure how much bandwidth and space we will need, but it will probably be a ton.

[Nuk3m]

Originally Posted by Mooga

Thanks for the additions Ihmhi.
Also: if we are serous about this... we should really consider getting a domain and web space.

FYI: forever-mapped.com is currently available. And I would recommend ipowerweb.com since it give 300 gigs of space and 3TB of bandwidth. Although we could need more... I'm not sure how much bandwidth and space we will need, but it will probably be a ton.

with that said mooga is now project lead. as im gonna end up getting banned from this forum for voicing my opinions on society, culture, religion, and war.

People dont Debate; They reload.

[liN]

Well this is the simple layout I was talking about. I would like to know what you guys think about it, and yes I need to recode the CSS a bit for some optimization. I wanted to make the layout easy on the eyes and I wanted to make it as uncluttered and well structured as possible. Thanks to Rick for letting me test it on his domain. URL: http://www.trucksmartsales.com/forevermapped/

Cheers,
liN

[Nuk3m]

neat i like how this is coming along, if you haven't heard im gonna step away from this community project so i can learn more about web development, until then I recommend you guys make a private IRC room and help eachother out. this can be a website with full potential to be at the calibur of past websites such as tfcustomized, JMC's TFmapped all smashed into one website.

[Ihmhi]

Originally Posted by liN

Well this is the simple layout I was talking about. I would like to know what you guys think about it, and yes I need to recode the CSS a bit for some optimization. I wanted to make the layout easy on the eyes and I wanted to make it as uncluttered and well structured as possible. Thanks to Rick for letting me test it on his domain. URL: http://www.trucksmartsales.com/forevermapped/

Cheers,
liN

It's good, but as has been stated by myself and others, Forever Mapped would benefit the community in a greater aspect if it covered all of the current Fortress games.

Think about:

-NeoTF
-TFC
-TF2 Leaked Code dev
-TF2
-Quake 4 Fortress eXtreme
-Fortress Forever

All of these will likely have communities in the thousands (tens of thousands for TF2 alone, and hopefully as many for FF). It would serve the community well (and get you good money coming in from advertising) to include as many fortress games as possible.

While I love your design (it being very reminiscent of FF's web design), it might work better to go for a more "game neutral" feel (perhaps covering the latest generation like Nuk3m's original mockup did) and give expansive coverage to all Fortress games, past, present, and future.

Edit: May as well include models n' shit as well.

[Mooga]

Originally Posted by liN

Well this is the simple layout I was talking about. I would like to know what you guys think about it, and yes I need to recode the CSS a bit for some optimization. I wanted to make the layout easy on the eyes and I wanted to make it as uncluttered and well structured as possible. Thanks to Rick for letting me test it on his domain. URL: http://www.trucksmartsales.com/forevermapped/

Cheers,
liN

That looks sick!
although most of the links do nothing (as you probably know).

Is anyone interesting in buying the webspace? I would do it but with classes starting back up I need all the money I can find for books and transportation. At ipowerweb.com it's $95.40 for a year or $166.80 for 2 years. We can also try to pool money to someone.

EDIT: After reading Ihmhi full post he has a good point. Plus we'll probably need a LOT bandwidth and space. Does anyone know how much bandwidth most fan-site/file hosters use?

If each map is a few Megs (let just say 10megs) and each map gets download at least 100 times... Thats already a gig of bandwidth for a single map!

[Circuitous]

I'll talk to my hosting guy and see how much he'd want for that kind of site.

[pricing information will go here]

[nodnarb]

Originally Posted by Mooga

Is anyone interesting in buying the webspace? I would do it but with classes starting back up I need all the money I can find for books and transportation. At ipowerweb.com it's $95.40 for a year or $166.80 for 2 years. We can also try to pool money to someone.

Do you work for ipowerweb, or something?

[liN]

Originally Posted by Mooga

That looks sick!
although most of the links do nothing (as you probably know).

Is anyone interesting in buying the webspace? I would do it but with classes starting back up I need all the money I can find for books and transportation. At ipowerweb.com it's $95.40 for a year or $166.80 for 2 years. We can also try to pool money to someone.

EDIT: After reading Ihmhi full post he has a good point. Plus we'll probably need a LOT bandwidth and space. Does anyone know how much bandwidth most fan-site/file hosters use?

If each map is a few Megs (let just say 10megs) and each map gets download at least 100 times... Thats already a gig of bandwidth for a single map!

Thank you for the compliments, and yes the links do nothing, this was merely a way to show you guys the layout idea I had. I am thinking about getting the hosting soon, though I just purchased some upgrades for the computer and I am in a tight money situation atm. More progress to come.

Originally Posted by Ihmhi

Quote:
Originally Posted by liN
Well this is the simple layout I was talking about. I would like to know what you guys think about it, and yes I need to recode the CSS a bit for some optimization. I wanted to make the layout easy on the eyes and I wanted to make it as uncluttered and well structured as possible. Thanks to Rick for letting me test it on his domain. URL: http://www.trucksmartsales.com/forevermapped/

Cheers,
liN

It's good, but as has been stated by myself and others, Forever Mapped would benefit the community in a greater aspect if it covered all of the current Fortress games.

Think about:

-NeoTF
-TFC
-TF2 Leaked Code dev
-TF2
-Quake 4 Fortress eXtreme
-Fortress Forever

All of these will likely have communities in the thousands (tens of thousands for TF2 alone, and hopefully as many for FF). It would serve the community well (and get you good money coming in from advertising) to include as many fortress games as possible.

While I love your design (it being very reminiscent of FF's web design), it might work better to go for a more "game neutral" feel (perhaps covering the latest generation like Nuk3m's original mockup did) and give expansive coverage to all Fortress games, past, present, and future.

Edit: May as well include models n' shit as well.

When the users click the tutorials, submissions, or tutorials section, you will have a game option/search. I did plan on using all the TF games in this site. As for the logo, I agree that it does represent mainly FF and I will need to change it. Or instead of having sections for each mod, maybe a dropdown box at the top of the site to change games?

Cheers,
liN

[Sacrifist]

Originally Posted by nodnarb

Do you work for ipowerweb, or something?

Good question. I would think you should get something that is better all around and cheaper. www.site5.com has the 5$ deal and its got less space but alot more bandwidth. Ive been with them over a year and they have been solid and I would have to say they have the best support Ive ever dealt with. Anywho, just letting you know there are plenty of options with better pricing lol.

[squeek.]

Originally Posted by liN

Well this is the simple layout I was talking about. I would like to know what you guys think about it, and yes I need to recode the CSS a bit for some optimization. I wanted to make the layout easy on the eyes and I wanted to make it as uncluttered and well structured as possible. Thanks to Rick for letting me test it on his domain. URL: http://www.trucksmartsales.com/forevermapped/

Cheers,
liN

The design looks nice, but...

It is quite obvious you got inspiration from the FF site. Don't know if that was intentional or not, but I'd try to stray from copying an existing layout. Also, I suggest making the layout fluid and expandable instead of centered and sized for low resolutions. Also, just because you are coding with valid xHTML and CSS doesn't mean you should stray from using it to your advantage. Small, repeating background images + borders, etc can really make a page look nice without increasing load times significantly.

Overall, the design looks too FF-centric. It could use some variation, and unless there is a plan to get all the domains required for multiple sites (tf2 mapped, tf mapped, neotf mapped, forever mapped, etc), I might suggest changing the name to something unspecific (e.g. fortress mapped) and incorporating a design that fits.

As suggested, I think we should get some type of chat going and collaborate on this. There are a lot of different ways to set this beast up, we need to be able to choose the best one.

[Mooga]

Originally Posted by nodnarb

Do you work for ipowerweb, or something?

LOL, I thought people would ask that. No, I don't. I've just used them many times before. I like them enough but they do clearly have a few downside...