White Space
- Thread starter Ellie
- Start date
I think the resources at the top should be replaced with the hbgame of the year collection (Oh yeah, vacant sky's is a google search result link, that needs fixing :s )
The items that appear on news should be changed to be more full articles, so when you find posts that are good and contain images and are properly formatted, set a flag on them so the homepage can display them in stead of pulling them from news and articles, that way we could have stuff like project announcements or completed games that have a good first post appear on the home page, filling it up with screenshots and a good formatted display so people can see the best games produced/announced.
I think it should be done on a post-by-post basis, so update posts for projects can be displayed on the home page (Again, if the post has good content).
In terms of code, I'd make a database of topic and post IDs for the homepage to search through to pick up the lastest post to display.
I think the entire of the left column should be latest topics with a short 100 character preview of the first post along with a date and reply.
I'll draw up something later actually.
EDIT: Having homepage exposure could be a good incentive for people to work on their games towards the next milestone so they can create a solid update post for it to be shown on the homepage.
EDIT 2: Here is a crappy image I whipped up
The items that appear on news should be changed to be more full articles, so when you find posts that are good and contain images and are properly formatted, set a flag on them so the homepage can display them in stead of pulling them from news and articles, that way we could have stuff like project announcements or completed games that have a good first post appear on the home page, filling it up with screenshots and a good formatted display so people can see the best games produced/announced.
I think it should be done on a post-by-post basis, so update posts for projects can be displayed on the home page (Again, if the post has good content).
In terms of code, I'd make a database of topic and post IDs for the homepage to search through to pick up the lastest post to display.
I think the entire of the left column should be latest topics with a short 100 character preview of the first post along with a date and reply.
I'll draw up something later actually.
EDIT: Having homepage exposure could be a good incentive for people to work on their games towards the next milestone so they can create a solid update post for it to be shown on the homepage.
EDIT 2: Here is a crappy image I whipped up
coyotecraft
Sponsor
What about floating the current stuff?
Thanks for the suggestions.
Having a more subjective list of posts is certainly something to consider in the future and we probably will go that way. For now though in their place we could easily have a list of active project topics, a list of the latest completed games, etc. If we could get a simple "like" system going, then the most "liked" games could go to the top of the list.
Having moderators go around and choose posts is a good idea until the mods disappear, as is prone to happen. I'd rather we didn't have too many features that required someone to do stuff before it worked, seen it go wrong on so many websites.
But some kind of user-controlled system might work?
Having a more subjective list of posts is certainly something to consider in the future and we probably will go that way. For now though in their place we could easily have a list of active project topics, a list of the latest completed games, etc. If we could get a simple "like" system going, then the most "liked" games could go to the top of the list.
Having moderators go around and choose posts is a good idea until the mods disappear, as is prone to happen. I'd rather we didn't have too many features that required someone to do stuff before it worked, seen it go wrong on so many websites.
But some kind of user-controlled system might work?
coyotecraft
Sponsor
I had an idea a while back for a mod status system. Running with the idea of "passing the torch". When a mod is inactive after a period of time their torch goes to the front page, where any eligible members can volunteer to pick it up and take over. Or they can give up torches themselves if they know they aren't going to be around for a while.
Might work for smaller forums, where everyone is a volunteer anyways.
Might work for smaller forums, where everyone is a volunteer anyways.