Journal #4845
Posted 16 years ago2008-02-04 06:19:51 UTC
TWHL3 Development Diary Thingie #1
Well hey there! It's been a while since I've personally indicated any form of TWHL3 progress, so I thought that in the weeks until release I'll do a little development diary updated every few days.
TWHL3 is currently going very well, and right now it is 92.9% complete. Note that this percentage only includes the "modules", if you will, of TWHL3 that include database entries, so there are bits and pieces that still have to be done that aren't included in that total.
Most of the "big" modules are done - forums, vault, shoutbox, entity guide, glossary, news, users, journals - and the only priorities are PM's, Competitions, and Tutorials. For all three, most of the visual parts are complete, its just the background bits that need coding - the tutorial edit system, competition judging and creating, sending PM, etc.
TWHL includes a select number of improvements on the user end (the meat of the upgrades are in the admin system), but regular users get a thread tracking system, "alerts" that admins can send out to users, MOTM (not coded yet at all) much more integrated than it is now (think voting from the map in the vault), and small upgrades to existing operations as well.
It is important to realise that TWHL3 contains absolutely nothing from atom's (modified by seventh) current TWHL code. The functionality is similar, but the code is much more efficient and easier to upgrade. The current layout (all with tables) has been scrapped for a nice CSS approach that I'm told is Web 2.0 and all that (table layouts are so 1998).
Forums have been modified just a tiny bit: old threads cannot be bumped, but a user can easily request to have it bumped by an admin if the post is considered worthy of the bump. Also, a thread can be bumped by an edit of the last post.
The vault is much the same, but it has a nice advanced filter option as well as support for RAR files to be uploaded. The 2mb limit remains.
Entity guide and Glossary are nearly exactly the same, but soon after release I'm going to be implementing a wiki system for them, and for a new error guide as well. Source entities are in the works and will be added around the same time.
Tutorials are almost a wiki system, with the exception that only the tutorial author can edit it. All edits will be referred to a moderator before going live. The proposal system is much better too, and it pretty much guarantees a response from the mod team quickly. You can also write and save your draft on the site, and using special bbcode for the tutorials.
PM's are now like mini-forums, and a conversation can be held with only one PM "thread", so to speak, going to your inbox. Some users, as rewards, or prizes, will be allowed a custom title under their name for the forums.
There are lots of small things I've added, but the way I've written the code is a bit "all over the place", so on release expect a few inevitable bugs. When this time comes don't hesitate to use the PM system, the "contact us" system, or anything to make sure we get onto it quickly.
Well now that you have a reasonable idea of what to expect at the launch of TWHL3, PM me if you have any suggestions that you think should be added to TWHL3 before it goes live. Just small suggestions, because I'm struggling with the Tutorial system at the moment, and it's very fiddly work (checks and double checks all over the place, editing, constant database work, etc.)
As a final note, I apologise to everyone who wants to take a look at the Beta Site and found themselves staring at The Governator's ridiculous tie. Ant requested the site be completely blocked off after TWHL3 reached 90%, so you're all surprised or something (even though you've probably seen it before).
Next time I will indulge your minds with my plans for future additions to TWHL after TWHL3 has been released. This is where it gets really exciting people, so tune in next time!
Well hey there! It's been a while since I've personally indicated any form of TWHL3 progress, so I thought that in the weeks until release I'll do a little development diary updated every few days.
TWHL3 is currently going very well, and right now it is 92.9% complete. Note that this percentage only includes the "modules", if you will, of TWHL3 that include database entries, so there are bits and pieces that still have to be done that aren't included in that total.
Most of the "big" modules are done - forums, vault, shoutbox, entity guide, glossary, news, users, journals - and the only priorities are PM's, Competitions, and Tutorials. For all three, most of the visual parts are complete, its just the background bits that need coding - the tutorial edit system, competition judging and creating, sending PM, etc.
TWHL includes a select number of improvements on the user end (the meat of the upgrades are in the admin system), but regular users get a thread tracking system, "alerts" that admins can send out to users, MOTM (not coded yet at all) much more integrated than it is now (think voting from the map in the vault), and small upgrades to existing operations as well.
It is important to realise that TWHL3 contains absolutely nothing from atom's (modified by seventh) current TWHL code. The functionality is similar, but the code is much more efficient and easier to upgrade. The current layout (all with tables) has been scrapped for a nice CSS approach that I'm told is Web 2.0 and all that (table layouts are so 1998).
Forums have been modified just a tiny bit: old threads cannot be bumped, but a user can easily request to have it bumped by an admin if the post is considered worthy of the bump. Also, a thread can be bumped by an edit of the last post.
The vault is much the same, but it has a nice advanced filter option as well as support for RAR files to be uploaded. The 2mb limit remains.
Entity guide and Glossary are nearly exactly the same, but soon after release I'm going to be implementing a wiki system for them, and for a new error guide as well. Source entities are in the works and will be added around the same time.
Tutorials are almost a wiki system, with the exception that only the tutorial author can edit it. All edits will be referred to a moderator before going live. The proposal system is much better too, and it pretty much guarantees a response from the mod team quickly. You can also write and save your draft on the site, and using special bbcode for the tutorials.
PM's are now like mini-forums, and a conversation can be held with only one PM "thread", so to speak, going to your inbox. Some users, as rewards, or prizes, will be allowed a custom title under their name for the forums.
There are lots of small things I've added, but the way I've written the code is a bit "all over the place", so on release expect a few inevitable bugs. When this time comes don't hesitate to use the PM system, the "contact us" system, or anything to make sure we get onto it quickly.
Well now that you have a reasonable idea of what to expect at the launch of TWHL3, PM me if you have any suggestions that you think should be added to TWHL3 before it goes live. Just small suggestions, because I'm struggling with the Tutorial system at the moment, and it's very fiddly work (checks and double checks all over the place, editing, constant database work, etc.)
As a final note, I apologise to everyone who wants to take a look at the Beta Site and found themselves staring at The Governator's ridiculous tie. Ant requested the site be completely blocked off after TWHL3 reached 90%, so you're all surprised or something (even though you've probably seen it before).
Next time I will indulge your minds with my plans for future additions to TWHL after TWHL3 has been released. This is where it gets really exciting people, so tune in next time!
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