Dungeon Master Forum

I think we should put something on the "root" page here:
http://www.dungeon-master.com/

We could build a simple page with every single DM link we can find on all DM web sites. That would be THE DM links page.
Then we could redirect the various links pages we have on our sites to this common place.

We could also put there the 10 latest posts from the forum (it should be easy to find a script to do that or I can make it).

Any other ideas?

Another thing: currently, this forum is not indexed by Google and other search engines. This thread explains why, and the 4th post gives a workaround:
http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=32328
I think we could implement that.

What do you think?

There was a brief discussion about the front page of this website over in the creative section:

http://www.dungeon-master.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=22320

I've thought about this a few times, and I definitely think it's a good idea to get a 'start here' page for all DM stuff. As Cow registered such a cool URL, it would be fitting to have a cool portal to show off what everyone has achieved in the community.

Perhaps it could have:

1) An overall welcome and introduction
2) An integration of Fuzzface's jumpsite (i.e. - a 'Latest News' area)
3) Latest / Most popular posts on these forums
4) Latest / Most popular maps
5) Links to all DM related sites

Obviously there is lots of room for discussion here. Whatever is decided, it's only going to succeed with some commitment, and as I well know (and probably the rest of you too), it's difficult to find the time to do everything we want to do.

I hope an agreed purpose for the page can be decided on. I would be happy to help with coding/design/implementation, as and when time is available.

Not necessaryily an integration of anything i did like latets news, but possibly the ideas i never properly did...

a) faq (two levels, quick questions and the longer 'how do you do' ones that crop up)
b) quick 'up to speed' intro to anyone surfing for the first time (here are the five proper games, here are the bog clones/tools)
c) latest news/latest hot topics

So yes, definitely the links as above at the top of the forum, a faq as the encyclopaedia has, with maybe an extra levle you can open, and then a few quick sound bites of current state of play and new things

I think you don't have to go indepth wqith the intro, infact that would be bad. A few paragraphs of introduction and people will move off if they are just looking for a download. The encycloaedia is still the place for any in depth searching. Something very qucik for the intro, like:

'hello, you aren't alone, there are still MANY people who love DM, and there is an active community developing tools and clones and just discussing it - see links for downloads and pages, see below for the latest news, please say hi at the forum which after x years has broght together many of the DM fans from around the world. Please go to the encyclopaedia for any questions and for more dowloads, new dungeons, etc'

: )

Merging the FAQs from the encyclopaedia and the dm jump site and putting a full FAQ on the portal is a good idea.

And I agree about the introduction, it has to be very short, and we can add a link to a longer intro if we want.

You're right, Gambit, it will take time, and although I have motivation to work on that, it will not be very soon. After 8 days thinking about the forum migration, I want to do some other non-DM things

I think we should also update phpbb to version 2.0.6, as it fixes lots of bugs and more importantly, several security holes.
Do you know which files were modified from the original 2.0.4 (to add the links dropdown list, etc..)? Will the upgrade consist of replacing files with the newer versions? I would not like to break something while upgrading.

I really like that pseudo intro of yours Fuzzy -- something along those lines would be perfect. And yes, a good solid FAQ that incorporates the stuff from Enc & Jump would be well received I think.

As for upgrading phpBB, I did think about it but never got around to it. I don't think many of the actual PHP pages have been modified, but there are a few and they are different depending on each theme. I did a lot of messing around with it, especially on the codexDark theme, and I really can't remember what I did! The only way to be safe is to delete all the themes and revert to subSilver for everyone -- the only changes to that were on the template files, and I'm fairly certain the upgrade doesn't touch those.

Perhaps it's just better to wait until 2.2???

Hmm, I just a quick look through the source files for the forums.

I was talking out of my bot-bot for a moment back there. The templates themselves don't rely on changes to PHP files, but the TPL files themselves have been hacked about good and proper. I wouldn't want to go through this stuff and put it back the way it was...

As for the PHP files, I have commented some of the changes I made and it should be straightforward enough to put it back to the original code.

The one thing that's a problem is that I hacked a few of the PHP files to add some class tags to some of the HTML (so that the themes would work properly), and I didn't comment any of that. But I doubt any of that would affect a security update.

Perhaps we can do it. Christophe, have you looked at the changes in 2.0.6 -- is it much to implement?

Hmmm questions..

what do we put for the "X" years? I mean the RTC forums, Christophe's forums, Ian's message board, and my orriginal forums.. they all have been around a lookng time though they have been merged here. Just seems to me that though technically having not been here that long.. it's comprised of years of posts. Should be instead say something about the community which has been growing slowly since "X"?

also Do we wish to be redundant? I mean all the boards no link to this forum so as to avoid duplicate posts which means that it's everyone's forum. Having a front page never seemed a priority unless it can contain something worth while. If it were a news page it would be more or less the jump site as we have all the same links already.. that would make the front page redunadant or Fuzzfaces dmjump redundant. I mean we could put a redirect to the forum on the main page rather than my lazy.. "this doesn't work go here" crud. All I'm saying is let be sure it's worth it before we do something.


last but not least.. what is fixed in the latest phpbb? is it worth it? how long untill 2.2?

moo

why not take the jump-point as starting page?

Yes, that's what I meant, not just the latest news, but all the other good stuff too. Not to knock it Fuzzface, but it needs a lick of digital paint, a nice intro, some links to the other stuff we discussed, and it's ready to go!

LOL, its a disaster that was never fixed : )
The jump point as it 'stands' was supposed to be for DM people to move fom, not outsiders (I was goign to do soemhtign fancy with cookies and never did so that firts time lookers were directed differently) - i still say the bias should be for first timers. With the latets news at the bottom

What about the other features of the encyclopedia - maps, walkthroughs, etc... will (can ?) any of that be merged or does it all need a newer phpbb version? If you have intro, faq ... then those "basic" parts will be important if someone new visits the forums...

Regards, PitD

That's going a bit far! The whole point of the Encyclopedia is to offer all that stuff in one place, and it does it very well. The point of a front page here is just to have something that welcomes people generally, and gives them an idea of what's available, pointing them in the right directions. I think the two things are quite separate.