TWHL4 Suggestions Created 8 years ago2015-12-09 03:48:44 UTC by Penguinboy Penguinboy

Created 8 years ago2015-12-09 03:48:44 UTC by Penguinboy Penguinboy

Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 03:49:16 UTC Post #327692
You might find it hard to believe, but TWHL4 is real, exists, and is coming soon to a server near you! I've been developing the new version of TWHL (aka TWHL4) over the course of this year and it's getting close to "finished" - meaning that the current features of TWHL (aka TWHL3) will soon be implemented in the new site. So let's talk about new features.

Let me first explain a few changes that TWHL4 will have in terms of functionality and content:
  • Universal BBCode - the same BBCode will work in comments, forums, wiki, vault, and everywhere aside from the shoutbox. There's options for lists (bullets, numbers, nested), tables, youtube embeds, images (with optional alignments), headings, font size/colours, and some other cool stuff. The syntax is a combination of BBCode and something I've invented which is loosely based on Markdown.
  • Live shoutbox - the shoutbox is now a JavaScript widget that docks at the bottom of the page, basically like a Facebook chat. It refreshes every minute. It can be minimised or disabled if you don't want to look at it.
  • Automatic MOTM - MOTM is automatically created every month, instead of requiring someone to manually do it. The MOTM will be chosen from maps in the 'completed' section that were posted in a month, and the winner will be the one with the highest rating. Each MOTM will be two months behind to give people time to vote (e.g. October MOTM will be posted on December 1st)
  • Reviews - because MOTM reviews won't exist anymore, the review system has been merged into the comments on vault items. Any user will be able to add a review. The regular star-based system is still available.
  • Vault - maps are the first thing you see on the home page, right at the top. The MOTM and the latest map come first, then 5 top-rated maps and the 5 most recent maps. There's separate sections for models and textures, and potentially applications and tools. The upload limit has been increased to 16MB.
  • Vault - YOU CAN ADD MORE THAN ONE SCREENSHOT TO YOUR MAP!
  • Wiki - Several sections will be merged into the wiki: tutorials, the VERC archive, and most of the static pages (servers, about us, etc). Wiki edits will get prime coverage on the front page.
  • Competitions - I'll be trying to get more regular competitions running. The new system makes it much easier to have competitions that are judged based on a community vote.
  • Private messages - PMs are now threaded and the discussion can include more than one person. New people can be invited to an existing PM conversation.
  • Accounts - users can now reset their passwords via email

So that's what's already there. Now I want to ask you: what do you want to see in TWHL4? Suggestions about features or content both welcome.
Penguinboy PenguinboyHaha, I died again!
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 05:08:17 UTC Post #327696
The MOTM and the latest map come first, then 5 top-rated maps and the 5 most recent maps.
Wouldn't it be better if in this case, "latest map" would also consider maps that were recently updated even if they were old enough not to show up on this list?

I have a little problem with the current criteria for picking the top-rated maps. Right now, if you go to the map vault and sort by rating, it will sort by average rating. So if you have a map with 738 5-star ratings and 1 1-star rating, it will show up after a map that only had 1 5-star rating. I personally believe a more refined criterion is in order for it to be fair.

See example:
User posted image
(Page 24 of current map vault)


This may also apply to MOTM.

Also regarding the map vault, I'd like to make further suggestions, such as:
  • A more betterer layout for the list of maps, I think it looks like it needs to be tidied up a bit. Things like the time of the upload probably don't matter that much on the general list, while the date of the last update would be more interesting.
  • More sorting and filtering options. Such as by uploader (so that you don't have to go find their profile somewhere else first), date, last update, download count (who doesn't want to know which is the most downloaded map on TWHL?) or other such things other people will start coming up with soon.
  • As it was already discussed in the Shoutbox a few days ago, even if nobody would care because it's more about what's done internally , it would be convenient if the map download was delivered with the map's name as the filename, regardless of how it was stored (keeping the number in the server would probably be the cleanest)
Wiki edits will get prime coverage on the front page.
Including if I fix an eight-year-old misspelling?
Accounts - users can now reset their passwords via email
But we could do that already!
User posted image
  • A more visible notification for private messages :confused:
(can also apply to other types of notifications)

I'll come back if I come up with more.
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 05:08:29 UTC Post #327697
I'd like to see the map upload size restriction loosened. 2MB is rarely enough and we've already lost a lot of externally hosted maps.
Oskar Potatis Oskar Potatis🦔
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 05:12:58 UTC Post #327698
I think I suggested something about tutorials a while back, but I've forgotten what it was. Oh well.

I'd like to see a better way to implement community competitions (mini-compos, if you will), though I can't really think of any way to do it.

@potato:
I'd like to see the map upload size restriction loosened. 2MB is rarely enough and we've already lost a lot of externally hosted maps.
The upload limit has been increased to 16MB.
Jessie JessieTrans Rights <3
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 05:14:05 UTC Post #327699
... Disregard my last message. In my defence, it's 6 in the morning.

[quote]
- Vault - maps are the first thing you see on the home page, right at the top. The MOTM and the latest map come first, then 5 top-rated maps and the 5 most recent maps. There's separate sections for models and textures, and potentially applications and tools. The upload limit has been increased to 16MB.
I'd like a mod section, too.
Oskar Potatis Oskar Potatis🦔
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 05:15:33 UTC Post #327700
Marking uploads as mods would be really neat.
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 05:18:46 UTC Post #327701
Thanks, keep 'em coming!

@Stu:
Wouldn't it be better if in this case, "latest map" would also consider maps that were recently updated even if they were old enough not to show up on this list?
Good point
I have a little problem with the current criteria for picking the top-rated maps. Right now, if you go to the map vault and sort by rating, it will sort by average rating. So if you have a map with 738 5-star ratings and 1 1-star rating
Minimum 5 ratings to appear as a top map in both versions of TWHL
Things like the time of the upload probably don't matter that much on the general list
Most dates have been replaced with "X days ago" labels with the full date/time when you hover over it
More sorting and filtering options. Such as by uploader
Maybe, might be difficult to get a user filter in, but I'll see what I can do
[sort by] date, last update, download count
The (well-hidden) advanced vault filter already has most of these sort options, but I'll add last updated date to the list of options.
Filtering is much easier to do in the new interface.
map download was delivered with the map's name as the filename
Will do the basic version of this as discussed in the shoutbox
Including if I fix an eight-year-old misspelling?
Yes. The point is to try and encourage people to edit stuff. Wiki is replacing tutorials and a bunch of other stuff, it needs exposure.
A more visible notification for private messages
Yes.

@Potatis:
2MB is rarely enough and we've already lost a lot of externally hosted maps.
See first post. Increased to 16mb.

@Jessie:
I think I suggested something about tutorials a while back, but I've forgotten what it was. Oh well.
Moved to the wiki, so anybody can add/edit them now
I'd like to see a better way to implement community competitions (mini-compos, if you will), though I can't really think of any way to do it.
Probably by adding more competition admins, or by creating more. Two compos can run at once in the new site.
Penguinboy PenguinboyHaha, I died again!
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 05:22:25 UTC Post #327702
Autogenerated messages in the shoutbox whenever someone writes a forum post, uploads a map, comments on someone's journal, etc. would make it harder to miss things. Or you could make this a part of the wiki edits thing on the front page. A change log of sorts.
Oskar Potatis Oskar Potatis🦔
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 05:23:38 UTC Post #327703
@Potatis:

Not willing to spam the shoutbox with that kind of stuff, but a comments stream on the front page might be worth thinking about. I'm not sure about notifications yet (via email/PM/subscriptions/etc).

@Stu/others:
Marking uploads as mods would be really neat.
Good idea.

Related to my replies: The new BBCode lets you do quotes like this, I'm so sick of typing [ quote ] all the damn time so I'm looking forward to this:
This is a quote
This is a nested quote
Penguinboy PenguinboyHaha, I died again!
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 05:25:04 UTC Post #327704
I'd like to see a better way to implement community competitions (mini-compos, if you will), though I can't really think of any way to do it.
I've discussed this with Penguinboy a fair bit. It's one of the things I really want to happen. I'm not sure if it will make the initial site update (Pb has a lot of priorities), but we've got a few solid ideas floating around for a community-based project system I think people would really appreciate, myself included.
Strider StriderTuned to a dead channel.
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 05:30:09 UTC Post #327705
I still want to have a little bit of control over competitions, but I think adding more compo admins would be a good start. The 'community vote' judging type will make stuff easier too (like we did with the 30 brushes compo). I'm certainly in favour of adding competitions more frequently (mini comps too).

Projects is an idea that has been kicking around since I worked on TWHL3. I'm not entirely convinced it's worth the effort, because it'd be like a crappy imitation of ModDB. Maybe some way for someone to make a page for the project (wiki style) and link to their ModDB page? I'm not sure, but it won't be in the first release of TWHL4.
Penguinboy PenguinboyHaha, I died again!
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 05:52:51 UTC Post #327706
it'd be like a crappy imitation of ModDB
That's all it really needs to be, I think. A miniature forum-based hub for projects like TWHL Tower with a dedicated place for updates, media and relevant downloads so people don't have to fish through an entire thread looking for relevant info.

I understand it's not a priority, but I think it'd absolutely be worth the effort for project managers. I could even see it being adapted for a portfolio sub-forum, similar to Interlopers.
Strider StriderTuned to a dead channel.
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 06:06:59 UTC Post #327707
It's a good point, definitely worth thinking about. If we're just talking about a single forum thread, a lot of that stuff comes free by making the first post editable (which it will be). I guess it'd be nice to have a fancy way to upload images and post updates or something, but you could always manually assemble gallery/updates/downloads sections in a post using BBCode.
Penguinboy PenguinboyHaha, I died again!
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 10:49:34 UTC Post #327709
Not sure if this is a great idea, but how about being able to link your TWHL account with Steam ?

What i want to say is "Login with steam".
rufee rufeeSledge fanboy
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 11:09:09 UTC Post #327710
I know that's a common thing on some sites, but I don't like the "log in with <thing>" type functions. I used to think it was a good idea, until I got burned by Google turning off their OpenID service. It's a lot of work for me to keep up to date with API changes, and if the provider goes down, you essentially lose access to your account. Better to keep access to the site inside its own database. If TWHL goes down, well, you won't need to log into TWHL anymore :P
Penguinboy PenguinboyHaha, I died again!
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 11:16:53 UTC Post #327711
Also, if TWHL goes down it's because Penguinboy's previous life as an underworld mob boss finally caught up with him and there's nothing left of him to maintain the site.
Strider StriderTuned to a dead channel.
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 11:27:13 UTC Post #327712
  • i would like to see design update too
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 11:29:27 UTC Post #327713
Oh, definitely. There's no way anybody would design something that looks like this in 2015 :P
Penguinboy PenguinboyHaha, I died again!
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 11:30:12 UTC Post #327714
I would :(
Jessie JessieTrans Rights <3
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 12:02:54 UTC Post #327715
Added Stu's request to filter the vault by user. TWHL4 filtering in action.
Penguinboy PenguinboyHaha, I died again!
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 15:28:02 UTC Post #327721
Is TWHL 4 running on an off the shelf framework or your own ?
rufee rufeeSledge fanboy
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 16:13:48 UTC Post #327722
Will TWHL4 still be orange?
I like the site's aesthetic. It's comfortable for me.

Also, just for information, will we still be on the "most-recent post" edit system, or on a "any post any time" system?
Notewell NotewellGIASFELFEBREHBER
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 16:20:29 UTC Post #327723
How different is this TWHL4 to the TWHL4 I got to play with a couple years back?

As for suggestions, have you considered adding a random texture spread feature to the face editor and also adding a tile-to-fit option? I PM'd you about this years ago and it's a shame it was never implemented to TWHL3.
User posted image

:crowbar: :crowbar: :crowbar:
Archie ArchieGoodbye Moonmen
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 23:04:50 UTC Post #327728
Is TWHL 4 running on an off the shelf framework or your own ?
Off the shelf: Laravel. It's far too much work to try and maintain your own framework, that's why the last attempt at TWHL4 failed.
Will TWHL4 still be orange?
Mostly white with orange accents.
Will we still be on the "most-recent post" edit system, or on a "any post any time" system?
The first and last post in a thread is editable. Any post less than an hour old is editable.
How different is this TWHL4 to the TWHL4 I got to play with a couple years back?
Entirely different. Remind me to send you a link to the beta.
As for suggestions, have you considered adding a random texture spread feature to the face editor and also adding a tile-to-fit option?
Funny you should mention that: That feature is planned for TWHL5! Coming 2087!

Oh, and I forgot to mention: Unicode support! Emojis are the future!
Penguinboy PenguinboyHaha, I died again!
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-09 23:59:13 UTC Post #327730
In that case, for posterity:
üéâäàåçêëèïîìÄÅÉæÆôöòûùÿÖÜ¢£¥&#8359;ƒáíóúñѪº¿&#8976;¬½¼¡«»&#9617;&#9618;&#9619;&#9474;&#9508;&#9569;&#9570;&#9558;&#9557;&#9571;&#9553;&#9559;&#9565;&#9564;&#9563;&#9488;&#9492;&#9524;&#9516;&#9500;&#9472;&#9532;&#9566;&#9567;&#9562;&#9556;&#9577;&#9574;&#9568;&#9552;&#9580;&#9575;&#9576;&#9572;&#9573;&#9561;&#9560;&#9554;&#9555;&#9579;&#9578;&#9496;&#9484;&#9608;&#9604;&#9612;&#9616;&#9600;&#945;ß&#915;&#960;&#931;&#963;µ&#964;&#934;&#920;&#937;&#948;&#8734;&#966;&#949;&#8745;&#8801;±&#8805;&#8804;&#8992;&#8993;÷&#8776;°&#8729;·&#8730;&#8319;²&#9632; 
This will show up properly when TWHL4 rolls around. :P

[edit] Also, will it still be mandatory to have a screenshot in a map upload? Can there just be a "no screenshot uploaded" image to fill in instead?
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-10 00:19:01 UTC Post #327731
I personally think at least one screenshot should be mandatory. Then again, I guess if people didn't want to include a screenshot then they could still just upload a random image. I certainly wouldn't download it though. :P
That feature is planned for TWHL5! Coming 2087!
Holy crap! That soon? Don't overdo it, man.
monster_urby monster_urbyGoldsourcerer
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-10 00:29:19 UTC Post #327732
You should add a big red button that says a random swear word every time you press it, and underneath is a scoreboard of people who've pressed the button the most, and it resets each week.
Dimbeak DimbeakRotten Bastard
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-10 00:50:35 UTC Post #327733
@Stu: I'm not actually sure if the database will even store that properly, even after the data is migrated. The current collation is latin1 after all.
Also, will it still be mandatory to have a screenshot in a map upload? Can there just be a "no screenshot uploaded" image to fill in instead?
You still need a screenshot to upload a map, though technically you can go in afterwards and delete it to get the 'no screenshot' image. I really don't want 'no screenshot' stuff in the vault though.
Holy crap! That soon? Don't overdo it, man.
Don't worry. TWHL4's release date has slipped 5 years and has been re-written from scratch 3 times. Realistically, the 2087 date will probably slip to at least 2265.
You should add a big red button that says a random swear word every time you press it, and underneath is a scoreboard of people who've pressed the button the most, and it resets each week.
Only if the button can randomly ban Dimbark 10% of the time!
Penguinboy PenguinboyHaha, I died again!
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-10 01:25:56 UTC Post #327734
Only if the button can randomly ban Dimbark 10% of the time!
Sounds fair enough, seeing as that I know not a single Dimbark.
Dimbeak DimbeakRotten Bastard
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-10 01:54:07 UTC Post #327735
Don't worry, I'm sure he just means a random user id. Random being 5749*

*guaranteed to be random by fair dice roll
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-10 01:54:39 UTC Post #327736
You can change you name, but you can't change your user id! I wonder how many dice rolls it takes to get 5749.
Penguinboy PenguinboyHaha, I died again!
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-10 01:59:35 UTC Post #327737
It doesn't matter, it was a random number so you can use that one.
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-11 13:24:15 UTC Post #327749
Should video reviews become a thing again, (I'm looking to pick mod reviews back up after The Core is released in 2 million years), will YouTube embedding be possible? :)
monster_urby monster_urbyGoldsourcerer
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-11 13:31:33 UTC Post #327750
Yes! Youtube videos are embeddable, and reviews can be done by anybody (they don't need to be posted by a MOTM moderator). It'd be great to see more video reviews! (Text reviews are fine too :) )
Penguinboy PenguinboyHaha, I died again!
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-11 14:09:22 UTC Post #327751
I really enjoyed making the MOTMs back in the day, but the strict schedule didn't tie in well with other projects and a general cannotbefuckedification.
monster_urby monster_urbyGoldsourcerer
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-11 16:17:43 UTC Post #327753
Off the shelf: Laravel. It's far too much work to try and maintain your own framework, that's why the last attempt at TWHL4 failed.
Interesting, I've heard about this before, but then the only PHP I've ever done was a simple comment system for a school project back in 2012. I now honestly don't know how to write a line in PHP.
Right now I use Java Spring at work, it's a huge framework for backends. You can literally do anything your ass commands(ex: PDF generation) once you've got data in the controllers. And in many cases you get one-stop solutions on Stackoverflow.

Is that the case too with Laravel? I suppose it runs on an apache server, just like regular php scripts? I see it has a dependency manager, called "Composer", which makes me think of Maven or Gradle.
It's a bit offtopic, but I'm interested. I'd love to pick up a new backend framework if its ecosystem is less constrained by commercial applications ( for Spring, you can use the Eclipse IDE, but it's a bit more shitty than IntelliJ which you have to pay for).
Striker StrikerI forgot to check the oil pressure
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-11 21:08:56 UTC Post #327759
A minor thing, but I seem to remember TWHL2 displaying the date of last login for users. Is there any particular reason why it was removed in TWHL3?
Alabastor_Twob Alabastor_Twobformerly TJB
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-11 22:44:31 UTC Post #327760
@TJB: Not any reason that I can remember! It's back in there for the new site.

@Striker: Laravel isn't as big as some other PHP frameworks and definitely not Spring, but it's fairly large. To do new stuff (such as PDFs), it's a matter of finding a library and adding it. Sometimes a library will have a Laravel wrapper, and sometimes you just set it up yourself. You're right in that Composer is just PHP's version of something like Maven. You can easily use Laravel and most other PHP frameworks without an IDE, but I use PHPStorm which is commercial, and based on IntelliJ.

@Urby: There's no schedule on reviews now, which should work better. Reviews can be added to maps the same way comments can.
Penguinboy PenguinboyHaha, I died again!
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-18 20:32:21 UTC Post #327807
Could you make it so that the mouseover text for a tab shows the thread title or something? As it is at the moment, it can get a bit confusing when you have multiple tabs open:
User posted image
Alabastor_Twob Alabastor_Twobformerly TJB
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-18 22:05:12 UTC Post #327810
Yep! Also, that's a lot of tabs!
Penguinboy PenguinboyHaha, I died again!
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-19 12:31:27 UTC Post #327814
Mmm, having every page title be "TWHL: Half-Life/2 Mapping Tutorials and Resources" makes looking through history for a page a nightmare too.
Jessie JessieTrans Rights <3
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-19 16:42:23 UTC Post #327815
when u serach for forum posts and u get a result for example the wip thread it just goes to the first page and so its useless, should go to the specific page or even line
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-19 16:44:42 UTC Post #327816
That would indeed be great.

Now where did I come from...
User posted image
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-24 04:14:02 UTC Post #327890
It is a lot of tabs, but only because I opened them all to help demonstrate what I meant.
I'm totally not that messy all the time...

Anyway, are there going to be any changes/additions to the leet modes?
User posted image
Alabastor_Twob Alabastor_Twobformerly TJB
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-24 22:16:15 UTC Post #327909
How about the ability for users to set their birth date in their profile so it's displayed on the front page?
As was said more than once in the past, TWHL4 needs more <blink> and <marquee>.
* Sadly, <blink> was not an official element in the HTML specs and most browsers dropped native support for it now, including Firefox... you'd have to fake it with JavaScript.
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-25 14:24:31 UTC Post #327911
Perhaps a top tutorial/ most visited?
Ability to filter maps alphabetical?
Fox the comment box on mobile (it blocks the Send button unless you click out of the box)
Also it'd be nice, like Bruce mentioned, if the search was a bit better. Bring you to the page or even ppst where your text appears. Perhaps sort by forum (source vs Gs fpr example) by date?
Tetsu0 Tetsu0Positive Chaos
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-25 18:20:25 UTC Post #327914
Yes and yes! And yes, fox it! Fox it all over!
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-29 05:18:03 UTC Post #327950
Here's a suggestion.
Don't make the website ugly, add gradient to it because I hate modern styles.
Spreen SpreenThis account is no longer in use.
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-29 09:25:20 UTC Post #327954
Yes, do that thing because one person hates something.
AJ AJGlorious Overlord
Posted 8 years ago2015-12-29 13:07:57 UTC Post #327957
So does that mean gradients are un-modern? I kind of feel there might be more to it than just gradients or flat colours.
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