Redesigning my site

[dogscoff]

Hey ho.

I've just contacted my ISP about getting my broadband upgraded to a 2meg adsl line. For reasons I'd prefer not to go into (let's just say that BT suck) this will mean a week's wait, a further week completely off line, and then I should be up and running. Despite this, I should be able to keep up with the forums and pbw using my work connection.

I see this as a perfect opportunity to give my site the redesign it desperately needs. It's a big job, but it wants doing. I'm posting here to (a) warn everyone that my site will be offline for a short time and (b) ask for feedback on how to improve it.

Here are some of the changes I plan to make:

STUFF TO BE CHANGED:
####################
- Change the internal structure of my webspace to make it less cluttered, and to divide the se4/ non se4 stuff more clearly.
- More CSS to make it easier to maintain.
- rewrite the fiction pages, cutting out a lot of the javascript to make them more browser-friendly. (I won't lose the quote-o-matic or auto-chapters though)
- Update links etc to reflect the modern se4 community, as opposed to the one that was here 2 years ago.
- Fix all those little typoes/ broken links that you ppl have informed me of over the years, but I haven't actioned yet (all sitting in my mailbox, waiting.)
- All images to be hosted locally, so there won't be any more missing pics in the neostandard page, for instance.

STUFF TO BE REMOVED:
####################
- The nasty nackgrounds: Will probably be black text on a white background from now on, with well-ordered lists and carefully placed graphics.
- Merchandise page. I doubt anyone ever looks at it.
- The extensive axample graphics all over the place. you don't need to see every single image from the neoexpansion pack or the KanesS- I'll just put a few of them up there.
- The songs. Probably move these over to the malfadorica.
- Banners & buttons page. No-one appears to have used it.
- The Vandron..? Not that I don't like the set, but that one hosted set on its own seems a little lost. Also the author doesn't seem to be around any more, and I'm sure the set can be downloaded elsewhere. I'll probably upload it to PBW.
- The "misc graphics" page. Some will be incorporated into the gallery (see below) and the rest can all be found in the imagemod or other ppls' shipsets, which I will link to.
- the designnames page. I'll just link to Fyron's uber-list of designnames instead.
- SE4 code page. Again, I dont think this gets too much use, so I'll probably drop it onto the malfadorica.

STUFF TO BE ADDED:
##################
- An art gallery/ portfolio, featuring some of the pics I've created over the years (some already featured on the site, some as-yet unseen) including the full 512x512 versions of the various race and troop portraits I've done for other ppl.
- possibly some kind of simple-as-I-can-make-it javascript+css jiggery-pokery to generate site-wide navigation links easily.
- An email address that I actually use.
-redirects so that links to the old URLS won't get broken.
- I'll also be releasing version 1.40 of the neo-expansion pack. Oh yes.

Anyway, here is your chance to change my website. If there's something you think I could improve, please say so now. Be brutal. If you'd like me to link to your site, mention your shipset or mod, or change a typo that's been bugging you or suggest something else, now is the time.

http://www.dogscoff.co.uk

[dogscoff]

Actually, scrap what I said about the Vandron, I'll leave them as they are. They are in fine company with the Cluckruk.

Anyone else got any shipsets they want hosted?

[Fyron]

This would be a perfect opportunity to incorporate PHP. It would make including a site-wide navigation menu very easy, and is even better than CSS for creating easily maintainable sites (common elements defined once).

I like this for a menu:

http://www.brainjar.com/dhtml/menubar/

[Captain Kwok]

Once you have completed your website update, you may also want to join our humble Space Empires Network:
http://network.spaceempires.net/

I also second Fyron's motion to incorporate .php into the new site. I find it very helpful for creating that 'frame' look on my two sites, but without all the negatives frames carry.

[Fyron]

El Scoffo, you might want to consider using the excellent Gallery software package for that artwork gallery you mentioned...

http://gallery.sourceforge.net/

[PvK]

For the Neo-standard use matrix, Proportions now uses just about all of the images - not sure about Barge.

[dogscoff]

PvK, what do you mean, "use matrix"?

[Ed Kolis]

Perhaps he means that list or grid thingy showing what mods use what images?

[PvK]

Yes, that's what I mean - the neo-standard list of which mods use which ship types.

PvK

[dogscoff]

Ah, cool. Actually I was thinking about ditching that bit. It's way out of date, many of the mods mentioned are probably dead, and many more recent mods aren't mentioned at all. I'm not sure how useful it is anyway.

I'll keep the shipset list though.