New Suggestions For DCHomebrew Site

[curt_grymala]

[quote author=1timeuser link=board=homebrew;num=1085357014;start=30#39 date=06/01/04 at 14:40:44]what exactly happend that all the links went bad? ???[/quote]

A new domain was purchased for DCHomebrew, and the host has not set it up to allow hotlinking of images, etc.

[curt_grymala]

Bump! ;D

Just to let you all know, I have asked two different people to see if they can come up with some sort of script to accomplish MetaFox's idea for the screenshots. It seems like it should be really simple, but I have asked the question in quite a few different places, and no one has responded yet (which either means it's a lot more complex than I thought, or it's so simple that no one feels it's worthy of a response).

I have temporarily re-instituted the use of an iframe for the screenshots, and I have added CSS to change the look of the scrollbars. You can check it out at
http://grymala.com/~curtiss/DCHB/Template15.html
if you're interested at all.

I don't even know whether it's worth it to keep working on this for DCHomebrew or not, as I don't know if Wraggster's going to keep the current look, or go for this one once we get everything ironed out. However, if Wraggster decides not to use it, then I may look for a different place to use it, as it would be a shame to let that design go completely to waste.

Hopefully I will have news on the "screenshot" issue soon.

[Christuserloeser]

[quote author=curt_grymala link=board=homebrew;num=1085357014;start=30#41 date=06/21/04 at 20:56:37]Bump! Â*;D[/quote]
;D

[quote author=curt_grymala link=board=homebrew;num=1085357014;start=30#41 date=06/21/04 at 20:56:37]I have temporarily re-instituted the use of an iframe for the screenshots, and I have added CSS to change the look of the scrollbars. Â*You can check it out at
http://grymala.com/~curtiss/DCHB/Template15.html
if you're interested at all.[/quote]

This looks great! Keep up the good work!

[quote author=curt_grymala link=board=homebrew;num=1085357014;start=30#41 date=06/21/04 at 20:56:37]I don't even know whether it's worth it to keep working on this for DCHomebrew or not, as I don't know if Wraggster's going to keep the current look, or go for this one once we get everything ironed out. Â*However, if Wraggster decides not to use it, then I may look for a different place to use it, as it would be a shame to let that design go completely to waste.[/quote]

Wraggster told me that he would like to update the look and redesign everything, but he had no time for it recently. I guess the design that you've come up with is just perfect.

I will see, if I can come up with some suggestions for reorganizing DCHomebrew.

Browsing DCHomebrew a lot recently. I strongly suggest pictures for every release that's listed there. Most missing ones can be taken from official HPs and some are available on the message boards

I have suggestions for the sections too. My intention is to allow easier browsing, give more attention to the recent releases and to focus on finished / WIP projects.

I've heard ppl moarning about the rumor that there would be so much unfinished projects for DC and that the coders wouldn't mind to finish their projects. After checking most downloads, I have to say that isn't true: More than half of the stuff over at Â*DCHomebrew is very play- and enjoyable. It's just the way that these projects are listed, so I'd like to suggest a new organizing and structure for the download content of DCHomebrew.org. Here we go:

1. Original DC Games
should be split up in two sections:
|
|_ Quality Releases
| Â* (WIP, Beta, Preview releases, finished games)
|
|_ Misc
Â* Â* (unplayable/ discontinued / abondoned games)


2. Ported Games
should be split up in four general sections sections, see below for more details (3. & 4.)
|
|_ Quality Releases
| Â* (WIP, Beta, Preview releases, finished projects)
|
|_ Misc
Â* Â* (unplayable / discontinued / abondoned projects)


3. Beats of Rage
Original BoR and all mods go in here. Finished ones should be marked


4. First Person Shooters (FPS)
|
|_ Quality Releases
| Â* | (WIP, Beta, Preview releases, finished projects)
| Â* |
| Â* |_ DOOM (nxDoom, Doom4DC, DoomDC & Mods)
| Â* |
| Â* |_ Quake (RadQuake and QuakeDC & Mods)
| Â* |
| Â* |_ Other FPS ports (Heretic, Hexen1+2, ROTT etc)
|
|
|_ Misc
Â* Â*(unplayable / discontinued / abondoned projects)


5. Multimedia / Apps
|
|
|_ Movie / Multimedia Player
|
|
|_ Music Player
|
|
|_ Image / Picture Viewer
|
|
|_ Tools / OS
|
|
|_ Boot Loader


6. Demo / Arts section
should be completly (re)organized into the other categories as there are early and unfinished game previews (should go under 1. - Misc) and releases as DCTonic (should go under 1. - Quality releases), the rest splitted into two categories:
|
|_ Demo / Arts Releases
|
|
|_ Misc / Tech Releases


If that idea is welcome, we could start posting about which download should be put in which category.

To move a project into Misc (unplayable / abandoned etc) we should be sure about that it's actually really abondoned.

---

Beside that each list within each section should recieve marks for certain downloads such as:

(Examples)

Game Name
Game Name New
Game Name
Game Name Highly recommend
Game Name
Game Name


other ideas
DCHB Star
Game of the month
...or whatever Just some ideas.


Chris

[curt_grymala]

I really like those ideas, Chris. It really sounds like you've put as much thought (possibly more) into the re-organization of DCHomebrew as I have. I would love to see that site pick up and get back on top again. The previous incarnation of the site may have been easy and helpful when there were only a handful of releases, but with the number of releases held there nowadays, the navigation really needs to be a lot easier than it is. I have told Wraggster that I would help him get things straightened out once I had the new layout down-pat. I am even working up a method of simply submitting new pages, so that the people creating new DCHB pages wouldn't even need to know anything about coding. They would simply need to enter the necessary information, and the new page would then be emailed to an appropriate person (or possibly even automatically added to the server). It would be similar to CMS (content management system), but it would be much more simple and stripped than most CMS's.

[Christuserloeser]

[quote author=curt_grymala link=board=homebrew;num=1085357014;start=30#43 date=06/22/04 at 09:33:15]I really like those ideas, Chris. It really sounds like you've put as much thought (possibly more) into the re-organization of DCHomebrew as I have.[/quote]
Thx. You've spend days working on the new templates for the redesign, all I did was spending a few minutes for typing this stuff in

It would be no problem to use these thoughts even with the current design and structur, but -most important- with your new design!

I really love the stuff that you've pulled together in this thread! WaCk0's artwork is fantastic and the new additions that Wraggster made (like Developer Spotlight and Dreamcast Site Spotlight) are very good, so why not reorganizing DCHB with both design and structure.

[quote author=curt_grymala link=board=homebrew;num=1085357014;start=30#43 date=06/22/04 at 09:33:15]I would love to see that site pick up and get back on top again. Â*The previous incarnation of the site may have been easy and helpful when there were only a handful of releases, but with the number of releases held there nowadays, the navigation really needs to be a lot easier than it is.[/quote]
Yes, absolutly.

[quote author=curt_grymala link=board=homebrew;num=1085357014;start=30#43 date=06/22/04 at 09:33:15]I have told Wraggster that I would help him get things straightened out once I had the new layout down-pat. Â*I am even working up a method of simply submitting new pages, so that the people creating new DCHB pages wouldn't even need to know anything about coding. Â*They would simply need to enter the necessary information, and the new page would then be emailed to an appropriate person (or possibly even automatically added to the server). Â*It would be similar to CMS (content management system), but it would be much more simple and stripped than most CMS's.[/quote]
Great idea that is, as it would allow to do the upload of the needed information to the site as easy and fast as possible.
...that would be fantastic!

Chris

[curt_grymala]

Check this out:

http://www.grymala.com/~curtiss/DCHB/Form.html

If you fill that out, it will create a DCHB page based on the last version of the template I created. Once everything gets finalized, I plan on setting that up so that a text file will be emailed containing all of the HTML code. That way, all the webmaster needs to do is copy the text from their email into a blank HTML file and upload it to the server.

At the moment, it doesn't seem to be able to handle apostrophes, and possibly some other special characters, but I will get it straightened out. I just thought you guys might like to try it out.

[Christuserloeser]

this works perfectly! Really well done it is. This script allows everyone to contribute to the reorganization of DCHB 8)

Do you plan to add the suggestions for the different/new categories of DCHB to it?

[WaCk0]

Hey, if you need some help, I'm still here
I'm kinda busy working on my homebrew, but still reading the DC forums...

[curt_grymala]

[quote author=Christuserloeser link=board=homebrew;num=1085357014;start=45#46 date=06/30/04 at 09:34:40] this works perfectly! Really well done it is. This script allows everyone to contribute to the reorganization of DCHB 8)

Do you plan to add the suggestions for the different/new categories of DCHB to it?
[/quote]

I hope to take care of that at some point soon. I will re-organize the menus, and try to get things in the right places. Then, I will re-do the form to match that.

Hey, if you need some help, I'm still here
I'm kinda busy working on my homebrew, but still reading the DC forums...

Good to know. I will let you know when I get things straightened out.

[Christuserloeser]

[quote author=curt_grymala link=board=homebrew;num=1085357014;start=45#48 date=06/30/04 at 11:49:46]I hope to take care of that at some point soon. Â*I will re-organize the menus, and try to get things in the right places. Â*Then, I will re-do the form to match that.[/quote]

Sounds good. Let us know so we can start the discussion about which game belongs to which category.