So I've been thinking today what to do with boon, and I'm thinking of a bit of a revamp.
This won't affect any of the sites I have already completed or any of the content of the site itself. This is going to focus solely on the main pages of the site, but with other possibilities that could impact the rest of the site in time, to a degree relative to how much you want it to.
First of all, I'm pretty tired of the current design. There's nothing bad about it, it just isn't that great either. I would like to change it to something a little more modern, but nothing immediately springs to mind. If you have any suggestions - or simply want to tell me to keep things how they are - then feel free to air them. One thing I am definitely doing is removing the front page. It is so very 90s.
Web 2.0 is a term I'm frankly getting sick of hearing, but it does kind of apply to what I want; I always, at some point or other, wanted a forum with the site, and I didn't want it to just be a community tacked onto the side of it (like a certain other site we know of). I'd like to have it so that user accounts are also part of the site, such that users can post comments and the like on stuff that's been uploaded (with possibly more functionality in future, based on bandwidth and security), and with staff accounts merely being regular accounts with upgraded privileges. Therefore the forum and site will therefore just be two sides of the same coin. Unfortunately there are two methods of doing this; the first is, in theory, the easier method, in which I simply download something like phpBB and fiddle with it such that I can do cross functionality across the database tables. This saves me having to spend time on forum software, but does mean I have to make sure what the fuck I'm doing in the first place so I don't go and break the message board. The second is the 'Eliteboard' method, in which I build a message board from the ground up.
I have an idea as to how I would go about it, but there are some issues - I don't know how efficient or secure it would be, it could take a long time to build, there will likely be functionality I'm not certain how to program...a lot of this comes down to not being certain about how to do things and how to check things are efficient and secure. I know I'm going into compsci but it's still half a year before I start and 3 years before I finish, so in theory it could be a long time off before I learn these principles through bog-standard education. The alternative is to teach myself, but I don't really know where to start. Or get another programmer on board as I had mentioned earlier, but I don't know anyone expressing interest really, let alone having the necessary skills. The advantages of building my own software, however, is that I can then add in or remove any functionality I like and seamlessly integrate it into the site.
Then we have to consider prioritising. Whether we decide to take any of the action here or not, i'm not sure about what to do next. I don't want to program anything for the main site or admin panels until I have the design sorted, as I tend to find it's easier slotting code into a prepared design than it is preparing a design around code. I still have Dane's site to finish, and Saff's may want more additions in future (and has a few design issues right now), but I believe Deck's is pretty much complete. I'm also planning to work on my own site a little but to what extent I don't yet know.
Bleh I dunno. Just want opinions and, if possible, help, I guess.
This won't affect any of the sites I have already completed or any of the content of the site itself. This is going to focus solely on the main pages of the site, but with other possibilities that could impact the rest of the site in time, to a degree relative to how much you want it to.
First of all, I'm pretty tired of the current design. There's nothing bad about it, it just isn't that great either. I would like to change it to something a little more modern, but nothing immediately springs to mind. If you have any suggestions - or simply want to tell me to keep things how they are - then feel free to air them. One thing I am definitely doing is removing the front page. It is so very 90s.
Web 2.0 is a term I'm frankly getting sick of hearing, but it does kind of apply to what I want; I always, at some point or other, wanted a forum with the site, and I didn't want it to just be a community tacked onto the side of it (like a certain other site we know of). I'd like to have it so that user accounts are also part of the site, such that users can post comments and the like on stuff that's been uploaded (with possibly more functionality in future, based on bandwidth and security), and with staff accounts merely being regular accounts with upgraded privileges. Therefore the forum and site will therefore just be two sides of the same coin. Unfortunately there are two methods of doing this; the first is, in theory, the easier method, in which I simply download something like phpBB and fiddle with it such that I can do cross functionality across the database tables. This saves me having to spend time on forum software, but does mean I have to make sure what the fuck I'm doing in the first place so I don't go and break the message board. The second is the 'Eliteboard' method, in which I build a message board from the ground up.
I have an idea as to how I would go about it, but there are some issues - I don't know how efficient or secure it would be, it could take a long time to build, there will likely be functionality I'm not certain how to program...a lot of this comes down to not being certain about how to do things and how to check things are efficient and secure. I know I'm going into compsci but it's still half a year before I start and 3 years before I finish, so in theory it could be a long time off before I learn these principles through bog-standard education. The alternative is to teach myself, but I don't really know where to start. Or get another programmer on board as I had mentioned earlier, but I don't know anyone expressing interest really, let alone having the necessary skills. The advantages of building my own software, however, is that I can then add in or remove any functionality I like and seamlessly integrate it into the site.
Then we have to consider prioritising. Whether we decide to take any of the action here or not, i'm not sure about what to do next. I don't want to program anything for the main site or admin panels until I have the design sorted, as I tend to find it's easier slotting code into a prepared design than it is preparing a design around code. I still have Dane's site to finish, and Saff's may want more additions in future (and has a few design issues right now), but I believe Deck's is pretty much complete. I'm also planning to work on my own site a little but to what extent I don't yet know.
Bleh I dunno. Just want opinions and, if possible, help, I guess.
