OldUnreal (Engine)

Before I go to bed, I'd like to share publicly some ideas I discussed earlier with Pitbull on Teamspeak about the layout of the forum.

First off, I think it would be better suited for the Project and UserMaps sections of the forums to be moved to the top section right after the 227 development forums. I also think an added "227 Projects" section might be a good idea to let people know what Projects are backward compatible and which ones are not.

Second, I think these sections:

-Serpentine-Board
-Infiltration-Board
-Real-CTF Board
-Unreal4everBoard

should be moved further down on the forum near the bottom to make them less noticeable. Lets be honest... how many times do any of these sections get attention at all?

Lastly, I think a section similar to UnrealSP's "Site Speak" section on the forum might be useful for talking about site recommendations and issues such as this one. As a matter of fact, this could even be moved as the first topic of that section (if it did exist).

Usermaps could stay but this all you are planning - why not

And a section for edditing can be usefull (Uscript,UED etc.)

And a section for edditing can be usefull (Uscript,UED etc.)

http://www.oldunreal.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/ ... rd=UScript

http://www.oldunreal.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/ ... d=UnrealEd

http://www.oldunreal.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/ ... urnamentEd

First off, I've been thinking about these suggestions for quite some time now.

What you are asking for is to change the logical structure into some popularity structure.
This surely has its advantages for the most regular visitors because you don't have to scroll to go to your favorite section- but it is entirely unsorted for the not so regular or new members.
This way it is:

Game
Mods

Game
Mods
...

and then the not specifically game related stuff.

This also counts for the projects section, which is not related to any specific version. I did put in in there to avoid adding a "Projects" section for any game (or even separate for 227) since it seems that there are already more than enough sections to confuse people where to put what.

Some site speak however could be added, but at the moment I feel unable to expand or re-edit the page since 227 keeps me more than busy in the time I have.
I have tons of files for Unreal, even more not yet uploaded stuff for UT, some things for U2 and hundreds of unsorted files which really should be added to the download section and I'm sure there are still more than enough small things to fix here and there. Just no idea when I should do that.

Adding all this with descriptions and details can eat up easily weeks, not to mention I need to update the OMP yet for UT, also DeusEx and Rune folks asking for it too.

Some of these things only I can do. For the rest- current situation is:

Most are "consuming", which is OK and of course the purpose of this page. But most of those usually don't think about how much work this can be. No complains intended, just a fact.

Some help, contribute, work on the wiki, are active in the forums and make suggestions. Very appreciated and vital for the page (while the overall wiki activity is rather poor yet, but could take over a lot of the page contents easily )

A very few manage the forums and help me with moderating and administrating them. Essential to stay "alive".

Not even a handful are able to do more things, like html editing and page updating. Those people are the heart of the page but usually already maxed out that badly that I hardly can ask to do more.

What can I say...no idea...

I have tons of files for Unreal, even more not yet uploaded stuff for UT, some things for U2 and hundreds of unsorted files which really should be added to the download section and I'm sure there are still more than enough small things to fix here and there. Just no idea when I should do that.

I am also aware of the (for lack of a better term) bullshit layout for the download section.  I would be more than willing to assist (with FTP web access) sorting the download section files and making it much easier to navigate.  A visual overhaul for the page itself could also be done by me.  Obviously, that kind of thing would be dependent on your trust that I don't crappity smack over the site.

If I could be trusted for that, I could also be made a temporary forum admin for a time-span of lets say...... 24 hours to change the layout of the forum and add the "site speak" section I mentioned. I can understand if these kind of "favors" require a bit too much trust on your end.

The design of the page was chosen by me specifically. You maybe noticed its clean xhtml + css only and not some auto-generated crap. Don't get me wrong on this, but its perfectly fine as is. I know many people prefer this "joomla php round corners with textsize 7 stuff" as it looks so nice, but tbh, I hate that and I love the page as is. The design is plain and simple but chosen.

However, I agree with the downloads section, it needs to be sorted and a way added to easily manage files. Maybe there is some add in for the wiki too? At least this way it would be easily possible to work with a couple of people on it. Also it would maybe avoid the work finding and adding some "file to web" tool, since resorting all downloads by hand is nonsense.
Then again the wiki would require some work to fit the mainpage design a bit better. But these are only some thoughts about it.

To put the site speak thing in the forums is a matter of a few clicks.

Speaking about trust, I have no reason to mistrust you, but I don't know you well enough for full access.

So, to work on the downloads would be a nice point to start, what do you think, still interested?

...adding some "file to web" tool...

So people can upload files?

Yep... still interested in helping organize the download section.