Web site

prepare yourselves...

I saw a suggestion on elitepvpers about the site, to make the graphics better. A website is your virtual handshake, making a first impression. Mega commented that everyone was engaged in getting the game running, so maybe some minor details may have been overlooked.

Having been on the site now for a few days I noticed two options heavily used, chatbox and of course the forums.

I used to run a personal website where I shared my daily drivel. I used a phpbb portal system. There were customizable blocks/modules. The underlying framework was a phpbb forum. With one login, you could utilize a chat box, post in the forums, etc. As an admin, I had permissions to a specific thread which would post to the main page. If I had announcements, news, etc it would go there. That way the information on my main page wasn't static, or required me to edit the html every time I to update my users.

Upside - you could have a singular login, dynamic content that can be updated by simply posting in a thread. Highly customizable, easy to maintain.

Downside - often when you move from one system to another you'll lose your users. It's possible to export the user base and import them back if you know where the information is stored. I did that several times until I finally found a portal system to my liking. Also, you might bruise someone's 'e-peen', taking away their post count. Again, you can always adjust this if they need that.

I used several:
http://phpbb2.org/
http://demo.geeklog.net/
http://phpnuke.org/

If you want a comprehensive list of portal/CMS systems available - you can look here: http://www.cmsmatrix.org/


~stick a fork in me, I'm done.

I have spoken with Mow in regards to modifying our site a bit. It was created with the intent of being a temporary site. It is a free forum with some nice analytics tools. I am working with Mow to get access to the content management system and try to play around with it a bit more. One of the problems we both face is our limited knowledge of php. I would like to be able to lift this duty off Mow as he is knee-deep in server issues atm. What you mention about initial impressions of the website is important and I did read that comment about the home page being a little difficult.

Oh the duties...
lol

btw... thank you for the list of references. I will start to go through them and try to utilize the info.

and for anyone reading, please don't regard any suggestions I make as my thinking the current is faulty and/or poor.

It's difficult often times to know how a suggestion may be perceived when not made in person.

Good to see that I'm not the only one who thinks the current site sorta sucks. I would always like to see the forums and chatbox on the same page so you don't have to toggle between the two in order to see new forum post or new post in the chat box. It would make things simpler

rink245 wrote:Good to see that I'm not the only one who thinks the current site sorta sucks

I never said anything negative about the current layout or functionality of the site. I merely suggested that there may be a better way, because let's face it - everything has room for improvement, even a bacon sandwich.

MOAR BACONZ!



pay no attention to the whiskey in the background.

We did put it together more hastily, but we are going to see what we can do to customize it a little more. Suggestions like seeing if we can put the chatbox on the forum pages are good suggestions. Any recommendations like that would be welcome as we try to make it more user friendly.

c0matose wrote:

rink245 wrote:Good to see that I'm not the only one who thinks the current site sorta sucks

I never said anything negative about the current layout or functionality of the site. I merely suggested that there may be a better way, because let's face it - everything has room for improvement, even a bacon sandwich.

MOAR BACONZ!



pay no attention to the whiskey in the background.

Is it bad that I want that sandwich. Back on topic, I got the impression that you think the site sucks that's why I posted that lol. Something else that might help is having a picture that's a little more Shaiya related on the welcome screen.

Are we going to do away with the Chatango chat since there is a chatbox on the forums? I don't see the need in having two - but I'd work out a few kinks with the integrated one first.

My impression so far:

You get disconnected after 'x' amount of time of inactivity - that should be changed to never.

You get disconnected when navigating away from the main index into a forum (*edit - this happens, but not every time, could be related to the idle disconnect)

If I could get some more chatting in the integrated chatbox I might find a few more

Yeah looks like everyone is sticking with Chatango since it works slightly better atm.

[GA]c0matose wrote:Are we going to do away with the Chatango chat since there is a chatbox on the forums? I don't see the need in having two - but I'd work out a few kinks with the integrated one first.

My impression so far:

You get disconnected after 'x' amount of time of inactivity - that should be changed to never.

You get disconnected when navigating away from the main index into a forum (*edit - this happens, but not every time, could be related to the idle disconnect)

If I could get some more chatting in the integrated chatbox I might find a few more

the chat box is a work in progress. im very limited intellegently and connectivly so please bear with us.