Post by IsmAvatar on May 4, 2008 3:09:41 GMT -5
Yes, it's finally official, rather than pointing people to this dark dank corner of an unused forum to advertise LGM, or worse, pointing people to our competitor's forum, G-Java, to advertise LGM, now we can point them to our own website, where they will be greeted with our own message, not G-Java's message, not the GM RPG Board's message (and not Obama's inconsistent message). As I said in an email to my teammates:
FAQ (or the questions the media wants you to see being asked):
Q> Will it be open source, like LGM?
A> I'll look into it. It probably won't be an open Wiki, but I might provide a link to the source files (e.g. zip all the php/html/js/css/sql files up and link to the zip). For the most part, though, this is just something I'm writing myself, no plans of turning it into a team project or anything.
Q> Will it be programmed from the ground up, e.g. with raw html and no WYSIWYGs?
A> Absolutely. I'm programming it by hand in PHP, MySQL, HTML, JS, and CSS. The initial design was put forth by a friend of mine for an alternative design for my personal GM website, but since I wasn't using it, I decided to adapt it for the LGM website. The first thing I did was completely gut it, and rebuild it from scratch. The next thing I did was make it W3C compliant.
Q> Will it be cross-platform (or cross-browser), like LGM?
A> I'll try. It works great on Firefox, and after a few small bugfixes, I got it working as expected on Internet Explorer and Safari. If anybody else uses the lesser used browsers like Opera, feel free to submit bug reports. One thing to note is that it should be standards compliant, which means that in older browsers, it should "decay" properly, and on screen-readers it should still be readable.
Q> It's been rumored that you wish to shift the forums from here to your own host. Is this true?
A> Yes. I hope to keep LGM stuff more centralized, rather than having a forum here, the files there, the SVN in another place, and so on. Whether I build the forums from scratch or not is a whole different question. If so, it would be time consuming. Once this is ready, these forums will be closed down, and pointed to the new forums. I will do my best to copy all the important LGM posts from here, if possible, onto said new forum, and/or their own page on the website.
Q> What sections will it (or does it) have?
A> Currently there are 'tabs' for our Homepage/Mission Statement, Our Team, Download the Code, Discuss LGM (currently a small chat page, but eventually this will link to the forum), and a link to YoYo Games' website. I also plan a News section for things that we feel are important for you to see regarding the website and LGM. At this point I'm not sure if that will be included on the Home page or a new 'tab'. In fact, I might have to start a new row of tabs for all the different pages I'd like to have.
Update> I'm hoping to make the website use table-less design. This will change the appearance considerably and make it more readable to screen-readers and older browsers.
Q> What limitations are there on this website? Will finances begin to get involved?
A> It is hosted on a paid host with limited service, e.g. limited bandwidth, limited filespace, limited MySQL entries, limited FTP access, no SSH/HTTPS. Although I will *NOT* begin asking for donations, because I'm already paying for the host with my own money for my own personal website, so offering hosting for LGM is a public service. Should we find these limitations insufficient, I will start looking into other free alternatives, but I will *NOT* begin asking for donations, because it would be unfair to my teammates if I started taking in money to host the website, and it would be unfair to our ideal of Freedom, in that not a penny has gone into the development of LGM, and not a penny will come out of it. Perhaps if we do hit those limitations, someone may offer their hosting for free, or worst comes to worst, we could just downgrade back to a simple free-hosted forum like Proboards again.
Update> I've been offered free hosting somewhere else which will significantly uplift these limitations. I'll keep you updated as more information comes along on that.
Q> What's the link?
A> www.IsmAvatar.com/lgm
I believe the website will be one of our biggest people-grabbers. Currently, it seems that when someone asks about LGM, they are pointed to the G-Java boards. This way, people can just point them straight to [our website], where they will see *our* message, and *our* version of LGM, not the dressing that TGMG adds on the G-Java boards or the outdated version that TGMG provides there.
FAQ (or the questions the media wants you to see being asked):
Q> Will it be open source, like LGM?
A> I'll look into it. It probably won't be an open Wiki, but I might provide a link to the source files (e.g. zip all the php/html/js/css/sql files up and link to the zip). For the most part, though, this is just something I'm writing myself, no plans of turning it into a team project or anything.
Q> Will it be programmed from the ground up, e.g. with raw html and no WYSIWYGs?
A> Absolutely. I'm programming it by hand in PHP, MySQL, HTML, JS, and CSS. The initial design was put forth by a friend of mine for an alternative design for my personal GM website, but since I wasn't using it, I decided to adapt it for the LGM website. The first thing I did was completely gut it, and rebuild it from scratch. The next thing I did was make it W3C compliant.
Q> Will it be cross-platform (or cross-browser), like LGM?
A> I'll try. It works great on Firefox, and after a few small bugfixes, I got it working as expected on Internet Explorer and Safari. If anybody else uses the lesser used browsers like Opera, feel free to submit bug reports. One thing to note is that it should be standards compliant, which means that in older browsers, it should "decay" properly, and on screen-readers it should still be readable.
Q> It's been rumored that you wish to shift the forums from here to your own host. Is this true?
A> Yes. I hope to keep LGM stuff more centralized, rather than having a forum here, the files there, the SVN in another place, and so on. Whether I build the forums from scratch or not is a whole different question. If so, it would be time consuming. Once this is ready, these forums will be closed down, and pointed to the new forums. I will do my best to copy all the important LGM posts from here, if possible, onto said new forum, and/or their own page on the website.
Q> What sections will it (or does it) have?
A> Currently there are 'tabs' for our Homepage/Mission Statement, Our Team, Download the Code, Discuss LGM (currently a small chat page, but eventually this will link to the forum), and a link to YoYo Games' website. I also plan a News section for things that we feel are important for you to see regarding the website and LGM. At this point I'm not sure if that will be included on the Home page or a new 'tab'. In fact, I might have to start a new row of tabs for all the different pages I'd like to have.
Update> I'm hoping to make the website use table-less design. This will change the appearance considerably and make it more readable to screen-readers and older browsers.
Q> What limitations are there on this website? Will finances begin to get involved?
A> It is hosted on a paid host with limited service, e.g. limited bandwidth, limited filespace, limited MySQL entries, limited FTP access, no SSH/HTTPS. Although I will *NOT* begin asking for donations, because I'm already paying for the host with my own money for my own personal website, so offering hosting for LGM is a public service. Should we find these limitations insufficient, I will start looking into other free alternatives, but I will *NOT* begin asking for donations, because it would be unfair to my teammates if I started taking in money to host the website, and it would be unfair to our ideal of Freedom, in that not a penny has gone into the development of LGM, and not a penny will come out of it. Perhaps if we do hit those limitations, someone may offer their hosting for free, or worst comes to worst, we could just downgrade back to a simple free-hosted forum like Proboards again.
Update> I've been offered free hosting somewhere else which will significantly uplift these limitations. I'll keep you updated as more information comes along on that.
Q> What's the link?
A> www.IsmAvatar.com/lgm