Dom3minions.com awakens! (content added!) [Archive]

DominionsFan

May 19th, 2006, 06:16 AM

Yeah! We need more and more fansites, come on people! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
I will make a dominions 3 website for my mod, when the game is out, and I started to work on it.

PS. Johan, why IW aint updating the "official" website? It looks very poor, you guys should really work on it, or hire someone to do it. Perhaps a php or flash site would be the best. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Alneyan

May 19th, 2006, 06:53 AM

DominionsFAN said:
Perhaps a php or flash site would be the best. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

The Wrath of the Mighty Konqueror shall smite thee, thou heathen! Thou shalst not let in the Destroyer of Worlds, the Executioner of Efficient Websites, the Immortal Foe of Text-Based Browsers, the Obscufated Ruler of All Formats, the Nemesis of Relevant Content, the Sovereign of Platform Dependency, Flash the Prince of the Land of Woe!

PHP wouldn't change anything for the end user, unless they ended up doing a ladder or some such. As for Flash, I guess you can see my opinion on the matter. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

DominionsFan

May 19th, 2006, 07:13 AM

Alneyan said:

DominionsFAN said:
Perhaps a php or flash site would be the best. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

The Wrath of the Mighty Konqueror shall smite thee, thou heathen! Thou shalst not let in the Destroyer of Worlds, the Executioner of Efficient Websites, the Immortal Foe of Text-Based Browsers, the Obscufated Ruler of All Formats, the Nemesis of Relevant Content, the Sovereign of Platform Dependency, Flash the Prince of the Land of Woe!

PHP wouldn't change anything for the end user, unless they ended up doing a ladder or some such. As for Flash, I guess you can see my opinion on the matter. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Hehe whats your problem with flash sites? There are tons of professional flash sites, and they are awesome! In fact the best flash sites are combined with php, because it is much more easier to update the data of the php sites.
Php sites are the easiest to manage, update etc. [php nuke is great for example]

Kristoffer O

May 19th, 2006, 12:01 PM

One problem is I'm flashless. At least in linux.

Alneyan

May 19th, 2006, 12:18 PM

Kristoffer O said:
One problem is I'm flashless. At least in linux.

You should be able to get Flash under Linux, if you don't mind. Firefox and the player from Adobe/Macromedia/whoever owns them now should work fine, and other browsers do have Flash plug-ins as well (I'm pretty sure Konqueror has one). Of course, that only helps with the technicality of getting Flash; everything else stays the same.

I see very little going for Flash, some specific sites excluded (they are in the minority). If you want to go impressive, CSS sounds a lot better to me, and happens to be a good deal easier to handle. I have been merely poking at Flash, but I won't delve into the details; if you are interested in that sort of thing, ten thousand people or so have already argued the case, and much better than I can ever hope to.

DominionsFan

May 19th, 2006, 12:27 PM

Alneyan check out this game site for example:

http://www.hitmanbloodmoney.com/

I think its pretty good. Not too much effects etc, everything is just perfectly enough in it. Btw Hitman: Blood Money gonna be released soon, and the demo is out in a few days, if you are interested. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

Morkilus

May 19th, 2006, 12:59 PM

I like the "Astral Bullets" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Just wondering: Do we not know the maximum number of players yet? And why don't more sites use those "overflow" css divs? Are they new, unpopular, or do they cause problems on certain browsers?

Nerfix

May 19th, 2006, 01:37 PM

Morkilus said:
I like the "Astral Bullets" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Just wondering: Do we not know the maximum number of players yet? And why don't more sites use those "overflow" css divs? Are they new, unpopular, or do they cause problems on certain browsers?

Thanks. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Well, in the Dominions? page the "1-14+" play means that there can be over 14 players. It varies from game to game. In Dom3 I think it is 21.

I don't know, this is the very first site I have coded from the start.

NTJedi

May 19th, 2006, 02:31 PM

Kool site !

Gandalf Parker

May 19th, 2006, 03:17 PM

Kristoffer might mean that he is flashless on linux as a desktop, not as a server. Im not sure if I have seen any Xwindows flash development tools.

It also depends on how their server is setup. I still do daily checks on the illwinter machines and their record isnt all that good (no offense IW).

And I probably wouldnt want to push any flash from my linux server. Maybe if I saw a huge need for it I might host the flash somewhere else and link to it from Dom3Minions. But even on a low traffic site I wouldnt want to trade off the resources to feed that to multiple users at the same time from my personal server.

By the way people...
All of the things on Dom2Minions.com will be made available for Dom3 on Dom3Minions.com just as soon as I can get it working. Such as.. random maps for download created in sizes too large for most people to generate. Whatever the new limits are on map sizes and provinces I will have some available. And maybe some from that new map generator also.

Gandalf Parker

Nerfix

May 19th, 2006, 03:23 PM

Also, if anybody who has made guides or files for Dominions I or II pops here, please send me a PM or an email. I'd love to put *something* to the devoid Downloads section.

That is, if the one who's offering the serve space aproves. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Gandalf Parker

May 19th, 2006, 03:36 PM

Other sites always offered the downloads pretty well. I tended to offer items not covered by the other sites. Check the Dom2minions downloads (in the links section)

Saber Cherry

May 19th, 2006, 03:49 PM

I pretty much hate flash. I have it blocked by default. Putting flash on a site gives it a 90% chance that I will never see any of the content.

Gandalf Parker

May 19th, 2006, 04:05 PM

Well I believe that everything has its pros and cons. If a site had a simple thing to say, basically an online commercial, then flash is perfect. But if it wants people to see what its offering without the sales pitch, then its a drawback. IMHO of course

DominionsFan

May 20th, 2006, 06:18 AM

Gandalf Parker said:
Well I believe that everything has its pros and cons. If a site had a simple thing to say, basically an online commercial, then flash is perfect. But if it wants people to see what its offering without the sales pitch, then its a drawback. IMHO of course

That is why the best sites are comining php with flash. Flash logos, menus and some animations, and the real content comes in php.

Tyrian

May 22nd, 2006, 02:22 PM

I think use of flash must be limited to animation or online game in a site.
DHTML+ javascript with the use of dynamic request to the server can give a very good sensation to the user, and with low cost. I think flash is too heavy, IHMO.

Ballbarian

May 22nd, 2006, 08:18 PM

Really like your new site Gandalf, and always liked your old site as well. As far as Flash goes, I hate it 99% of the time. For example, I used to pop over to the Total War (http://www.totalwar.com/) home page to check for news on the series, but they recently upgraded "To The New-Look". I have dsl, but I have to wait for the animations to load before I can see the news. Give me content over Flash any day. (Keep it simple!)

Just my opinion. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Gandalf Parker

May 22nd, 2006, 08:34 PM

Well Nerfix is handling the layout. The domain was just sitting there (like a dozen others I have). I appreciate the kick-in-the-ascii he has given the site. It will give me a place to attach all the insane things I will create for Dom3 that tends to make Johan shake his head and wonder about my stability.

NTJedi

May 22nd, 2006, 08:47 PM

The site is coming along great guys!

One suggestion is maybe an area which contains some screenshots... this can help lure new gamers.

Nerfix

May 23rd, 2006, 03:18 AM

NTJedi said:

The site is coming along great guys!

One suggestion is maybe an area which contains some screenshots... this can help lure new gamers.

There's already an area with screenshots. Check out Dominions 3, and then Screenshots. The link to Screenshots appears under the Dominions 3 text on the menu on the left.

Also, I'm drafting up an update for the site. School will keep me kinda busy for at least two days, but you can expect to see new content in imminent future. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

DominionsFan

May 23rd, 2006, 06:56 AM

Nerfix said:

NTJedi said:

The site is coming along great guys!

One suggestion is maybe an area which contains some screenshots... this can help lure new gamers.

There's already an area with screenshots. Check out Dominions 3, and then Screenshots. The link to Screenshots appears under the Dominions 3 text on the menu on the left.

Also, I'm drafting up an update for the site. School will keep me kinda busy for at least two days, but you can expect to see new content in imminent future. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Arghhh the exams...I hear you. Ive got the same problems http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Nerfix

May 23rd, 2006, 02:12 PM

Hello

In case any of missed the Dev Diaries, or has yet to read the TC interview, you can now find the on Dom3minions.com

Check them out at: http://www.dom3minions.com/main.htm

Oversway

May 24th, 2006, 11:23 AM

Its a decent fan site. I would remove the height style on the ex class so that you can scroll the entire page, instead of both the page and the content inside that class (the stuff with the red background).

Also I'd make the width on the left hand side links slightly bigger so that "Dominions 3" doesn't wrap. Or use a non breaking space between the s and 3.

Kristoffer O

May 24th, 2006, 11:37 AM

> Or use a non breaking space between the s and 3.

Or center the '3'.

Nerfix

May 24th, 2006, 12:41 PM

Oversway said:

Its a decent fan site. I would remove the height style on the ex class so that you can scroll the entire page, instead of both the page and the content inside that class (the stuff with the red background).

Also I'd make the width on the left hand side links slightly bigger so that "Dominions 3" doesn't wrap. Or use a non breaking space between the s and 3.

Thanks for the feedback, I will try that out.

How do you do non-breaking spaces? You see, this is the first time I'm actually doing a site of this scale, so many things are new to me... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Edit: Also, you're free to speak if you have any suggestions or such for the site.

Gandalf Parker

May 24th, 2006, 02:11 PM

non-breaking space is an ascii character. Number 255 for most programming. There is a special html character for it Im sure but I dont remember which one. One of those &#xxx things. Im thinking... 160?

Nerfix

May 24th, 2006, 02:16 PM

Gandalf Parker said:
non-breaking space is an ascii character. Number 255 for most programming. There is a special html character for it Im sure but I dont remember which one. One of those &#xxx things. Im thinking... 160?

I shall proceed to poke at the files.

Hopefully I have something to mail to you soon... http://www.cncreneclips.com/forum/style_emoticons/cncre/shifty.gif

Oversway

May 25th, 2006, 12:08 PM

Non-breaking space in html is: &nbsp;

Centering the 3 (probably the entire div) is another good idea.

Nerfix

May 25th, 2006, 12:14 PM

Oversway said:
Non-breaking space in html is: &nbsp;

Centering the 3 (probably the entire div) is another good idea.

Or setting the table a fixed width in the CSS files. Which I did.

EDIT: This solved that problem for me, not sure if it is an universal fix.

Endoperez

May 25th, 2006, 01:57 PM

Nerfix said:

Oversway said:
Non-breaking space in html is: &nbsp;

Centering the 3 (probably the entire div) is another good idea.

Or setting the table a fixed width in the CSS files. Which I did.

EDIT: This solved that problem for me, not sure if it is an universal fix.

I still see the 3 on its own line, but then, the latest version might not yet be uploaded.

I like how you've sprinkled parts of the screenshots into the interview; it looks very nice. The pictures are a little too small for my tastes, though, units too cramped, at least in the wide ones. It's hard to make out the units. Also, clicking on the small pictures should open the full screenshots (in new window, probably).

EDIT: You might also want to try the page out in few different resolutions. Also, at least in the interview page, mousewheel only scrolls the text if I click on the gray background; if I click on any of the red parts, the whole page is scrolled up/down, or nothing moves if I can see the whole page in one screen. I'm using Opera, but that shouldn't make any difference.

Nerfix

May 25th, 2006, 02:06 PM

Endoperez said:I still see the 3 on its own line, but then, the latest version might not yet be uploaded.

I like how you've sprinkled parts of the screenshots into the interview; it looks very nice. The pictures are a little too small for my tastes, though, units too cramped, at least in the wide ones. It's hard to make out the units. Also, clicking on the small pictures should open the full screenshots (in new window, probably).

EDIT: You might also want to try the page out in few different resolutions. Also, at least in the interview page, mousewheel only scrolls the text if I click on the gray background; if I click on any of the red parts, the whole page is scrolled up/down, or nothing moves if I can see the whole page in one screen. I'm using Opera, but that shouldn't make any difference.

The new version is actually uploaded. =/

So I guess it's gonna be a #nbsp fest for me. Ahhh well.

The small pics that were shotgunned here and there are there because people will glance at a page for 2 secs. If they see only text it is highly likely a person will choose to ignore the alphabet soup. I admit that the pics were kinda taken in hurry.

What browser one uses often makes a big diffrence from my observations, but I'm gonna check out the interview section if there's some bizarre happening going on there.

Alneyan

May 25th, 2006, 02:11 PM

It might also be a cache issue, with Endoperez browsing his cached version from *before* your changes. It's worth a check, anyhow.

Browsers do behave differently when displaying HTML pages, though proper code should lessen the effects somewhat. Most browsers are fairly lenient with regards to HTML, and can get through even tag soup without destroying the display too much. It's even funner if you want to make a design explicitly friendly for Lynx and its text-based kin... who can themselves behave differently, of course.