The World of Layonara

The Layonara Community => Important Layonara Announcements => Topic started by: orth on January 21, 2013, 02:40:01 pm

Title: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: orth on January 21, 2013, 02:40:01 pm

Hello!

Firstly, Layonara's servers will be renewed again for a year. Yay! So you can rest easy that as long as there are volunteers to keep the cogs greased the world will continue to run.

Secondly, there are about to be some significant changes to the sites. Every Layonara site and feature has been rolled into one all new site. That includes LORE, the forums, the gallery, the calendar, the character pages, the personal messages, the downloads, the devlog etc.

Let me say the new site is awesome. I can't begin to describe how many features exist. I think players will love the ability to tag anything with your character and then your character's page aggregates all this information. Whether it's a forum topic, a gallery image, maybe quest participation each "node" can be associated with as many characters as you wish.

Here's a current screenshot of the front page to give you an idea of the look and feel of the site.

(http://i.imgur.com/evqU7v0.jpg)

Anyway, it's getting pretty darn close to being ready so I hope you share in my excitement for its new launch. I'm sure some of you will be a bit concerned with transitioning to a new system but we've tried to keep every single feature that exists already into the new site.

I'll be happy to answer any questions about the new site and we'll go through a period of adjustment I'm sure but moving forward to have the entire codebase in one place is a real benefit to everyone's end.

Also as you may already know, the servers are being paid for their annual renewal again and every dollar you can help to donate will ease my expenses. I've included the links to donate once again for your convenience.

Donate to Layonara in AUD (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=FCYEPPE4US6ZN)

Donate to Layonara in CAD (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=8AGHPKJVLXHY2)

Donate to Layonara in EUR (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=TR8PFHPXS3DEY)

Donate to Layonara in USD (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=Z6QS4U5M2DB66)

Thank you,
James

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: Dorax Windsmith on January 21, 2013, 02:44:49 pm

As always Orth, you never cease to impress.  Thank you for continuing to improve "our" Layonara experience.

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: Lance Stargazer on January 21, 2013, 03:09:16 pm

It looks Awesome indeed!!!

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: cbnicholson on January 21, 2013, 04:23:57 pm

Caught me by surprise, a pleasant one! Looks great!

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: Aphel on January 21, 2013, 04:27:35 pm

Oh, nice! Very well done indeed. Thank you for pouring so much work in it. I will be looking forward to see how these new features you mentioned will support players, GMs and small ninja monkey squirrels (those tasked with getting rid of those bugs/empty lines) in doing what they're doing.

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: orth on January 21, 2013, 04:41:24 pm

I think I'll keep posting screenshots in this thread to highlight some of the features of the new site and discuss them so folks know what to look for.

Here's a capture of the character db, a tool that may help you build a combination that's never been tried. For example did you know there's never been a halfling cleric of Katia?

I hope to add more filters like alignment and subrace as well.

(http://i.imgur.com/GSuAmak.png)

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: KarasuInoue on January 21, 2013, 04:46:49 pm

This is very exciting!! I hadn't expected to see progression this quickly upon signing up. This gives me so much hope... I haven't had the best day... but somehow this update just cheered me up a bit... Many thanks to all behind this wonderful site and I can't wait to log back in when I get the chance.

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: Aphel on January 21, 2013, 05:03:02 pm

While sliding in the facebook-private data profiling section - if I had a button there somewhere, "only show characters of players active to my time", I'd be so happy.

*crosses fingers for a feature helping with planning events, trips, and doing timezone conversions*

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: Serissa on January 21, 2013, 05:38:21 pm

There's a gnomish cleric of Katia, though.

~~Fern

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: ShiffDrgnhrt on January 22, 2013, 01:42:17 am

This is AWESOME!

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: lonnarin on January 22, 2013, 02:18:50 am

I'll miss the old format of course, but this looks utterly beautiful.  Eyecatching and engaging.  Awesome work!

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: Lance Stargazer on January 22, 2013, 11:11:04 am

So.. what is the format we are aiming here? ( Some questions came to mind after a good night of sleep )

 Will LORE  be part of the same page or will stay at the same as we know it now?

There will the "new thread" feature same as the current incarnation of the forums?

Do you have an estimated time for lauching it?

// Take this questions just as that please, no presure of any kind.

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: RollinsCat on January 22, 2013, 11:19:33 am

Will the server status page be included?  I find that useful.

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: orth on January 22, 2013, 05:40:33 pm

Quote from: Lance Stargazer

So.. what is the format we are aiming here? ( Some questions came to mind after a good night of sleep )

 Will LORE  be part of the same page or will stay at the same as we know it now?

Yes, LORE has been migrated to the new site, including the player's pages that get updated twice daily. Here's a current shot of a LORE page.

(http://i.imgur.com/s0SvqeH.png)

Quote

There will the "new thread" feature same as the current incarnation of the forums?

Well of course, what would a forum be without a new thread button? Here's the current look and feel of the forum but it's one of the areas I've yet to tweak up cosmetically. The button that says "New Topic" will be changed to "New Thread" and I have some nicer images I want to use.

(http://i.imgur.com/UW2ZM7a.png)

Quote

Do you have an estimated time for lauching it?

// Take this questions just as that please, no presure of any kind.

I expect it to be ready very soon, I think the community can work around some issues for a bit while they get used to the new place. My best guess for launch is not this weekend but the next.

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: orth on January 22, 2013, 05:45:31 pm

Quote from: RollinsCat

Will the server status page be included?  I find that useful.

Yes sir, it's one of the few cases where we query the NWN live db from outside NWN so I'm currently thinking of the best way to do this.

If I configure that db to replicate to another one then I can get even more creative with using the NWN database. For example, I could give players a listing of what crates/chests they own and what's inside them or show them all their deaths etc.

There is an easier solution to just query that database though but the less hits on the NWN database from outside NWN the better.

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: Lance Stargazer on January 22, 2013, 05:59:17 pm

Thank you orth for the timely answers.  

I guess i should explain me better on the second question.

I was refering to the function that gives you the most recent threads that is found on the main page right now on the left part of the forums, just under the "Online users" that are currently logged on the forums.

That feature is what i was refering too .

Thanks

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: davidhoff on January 22, 2013, 06:13:57 pm

If I may, to piggy-back on what Lance is inquiring about regarding the listing of new or recent posts that currently appears on the Index page, it would be nice if there was a way to "check" them individually or "select all" and be able to "mark as read".  That way it would be easier to clear off the ones your not interested in, especially after being away for a while and there are so many entries.  No biggy, but figured would be a good time to interject this request.

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: orth on January 22, 2013, 06:20:30 pm

Quote from: Lance Stargazer

I was refering to the function that gives you the most recent threads that is found on the main page right now on the left part of the forums, just under the "Online users" that are currently logged on the forums.

That feature is what i was refering too .

Thanks

Oh yeah, sure, a block like that exists. Users can configure whether they see a lot of the blocks that exist as well. For example, maybe someone doesn't care much about new gallery images, they can set that block to be hidden for them.

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: orth on January 22, 2013, 07:35:23 pm

Quote from: davidhoff

If I may, to piggy-back on what Lance is inquiring about regarding the listing of new or recent posts that currently appears on the Index page, it would be nice if there was a way to "check" them individually or "select all" and be able to "mark as read".  That way it would be easier to clear off the ones your not interested in, especially after being away for a while and there are so many entries.  No biggy, but figured would be a good time to interject this request.

I think in general before we get to too many usage requests we start using the system then see where certain features are lacking. The system includes a much more robust issue tracker for bugs, tasks and feature requests which I hope gets put to good use. I'm also hoping to convert any existing issues in the Bugs/Feature Request forums into this system.




(http://i.imgur.com/GG5YgX7.png)



(http://i.imgur.com/PwdO3YL.png)

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: orth on February 14, 2013, 06:17:51 pm

It is highly likely the forum/lore servers will be down for a lengthy period beginning late Friday night (Eastern) as I perform the site migration this weekend.

The IRC server should be up throughout most of this process and we will communicate through social media on the progress. This could take the entire weekend depending on some massaging and permissions updating I need to do to the data once the import process is complete.

Your account credentials will be the same as the forum username/password. So if you don't even remember those and just rely on your browser I suggest you update your password and also ensure your email address is correct in your user's settings.

This is not 100% guaranteed happening, I am taking stock of the procedure and want to make sure I'm ready to go in every area but want to give the community at least some what of a heads up.

Title: Re: A new year, a new site and NWN server renewal.
Post by: orth on February 16, 2013, 01:00:44 am

This is a go. The web servers will be taken down around 2:30AM Eastern. There will likely be no web functionality at any of the following addresses:

Code: [Select]

http://forums.layonara.com
http://lore.layonara.com
http://www.layonara.com
http://devlog.layonara.com
http://irc.layonara.com

The IRC server will be functional or you can follow progress on the Layonara Twitter (http://twitter.com/layonara) or Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/layonara).

This is going to be a really long process. It may take days to sort out all the issues but I hope to be back before tomorrow night, at least partially migrated with forums and calendar functional.

There will be quirks and bugs and missing features, we'll iron out a lot of that over the next month or so as well.

Title: Is the only search function
Post by: Serissa on February 19, 2013, 02:39:44 pm

Is the only search function the one at the top of the page?  It doesn't seem to look in individual posts.  I need to be able to search for price ranges on specific items; look for the chart with Enhancement vs Weapon Material; and other tasks.  I think I used advanced search more than any other feature in the old forums.

Title: Serissa wrote:Is the only
Post by: orth on February 19, 2013, 02:47:17 pm

Quote from: Serissa

Is the only search function the one at the top of the page?  It doesn't seem to look in individual posts.  I need to be able to search for price ranges on specific items; look for the chart with Enhancement vs Weapon Material; and other tasks.  I think I used advanced search more than any other feature in the old forums.

 

The search index is being built right now, it's only at 8% of the site content and will take another day or so to be fully built.

The filter boxes on the right hand side of the search results should help you narrow down searches in the same way that the advanced forum search did on the old site.

Title: New site looks good.
Post by: Guardian 452 on February 26, 2013, 07:28:00 am

New site looks good. Accessing the forums is a chore on my android phone. It's tricky to get the community drop down menu to work properly.