Topic: Stuff I'm working on for VGMaps.com

[JonLeung]

MAINTENANCE / UPKEEP

-random map thumbnails - making one a day again until I get caught up



TO REMOVE OR CHANGE

-CafePress shop - either get rid of it or come up with products people would actually remotely want to buy - ie. not billboard-branded stuff

-Reviews & Rants section - probably get rid of it...but make forum topics of anything I might want to keep

-"Other Stuff" section - this useless section could be removed and no one would miss it.  As for the videos, I'll find a place for them, like maybe putting them in a forum thread.

-colour edits on images I know are wrong



TO ADD

-some people don't "get" the site, perhaps I should make a page (or forum topic) for first-time visitors about what the site is about, what screenshot maps are about, etc.

-a page or topic about tips for contributions

-a page to highlight Projects...that is, if we do them anymore

-new front page "features", perhaps highlighting series of games at certain times (ie. randomizing Castlevania maps around Hallowe'en), good forum topics, past projects, the other things I want to add above, or even quick mapping tips



EVENTUAL REVAMP

-changing the directory from a basic HTML listing to some kind of database

-new layout

-new logo

[Captain Drake]

There's still plenty of big titles to do Projects for, really (Some Kirby games, Donkey Kong Country 1/2/3, later Metroids etc.). I'd love to work on one.

[Fearnavigatr]

This all sounds very nice, keep it up.



A suggestion, which I know has been mentioned before, is to have some sort of indicator for individual maps which are new (since the last 2-3 updates). Although I guess that might mean more stuff to keep track of and get done, unless there's a way you won't have to do it manually?

[DarkWolf]

Re: Random Map Set Images



Yay!

[JonLeung]

I've been good with the daily thumbnail making, but I should probably make time for the other stuff.



I've also been thinking that I should split up the Game Boy and Game Boy Color maps.  I've always known that they were technically different, but I didn't think the Game Boy section would be big 'cause when I made this in the beginning I foolishly didn't think anyone would be interested in four-colour grey maps.  Boy, was I wrong, and RyuMaster drove the point home.



And I also have one-map sections like the WonderSwan, so certainly the GB and GBC ought to be split up.  I'll just have to be careful with the really colorful Super Game Boy ones like Donkey Kong that are GB and not GBC...and I guess Wario Land II was released on both, so I can't do it by looking at names alone...ergh.

[Revned]

Any idea when/if you're going to get a database for the map pages? I have a fairly weak wireless signal at school, and the SNES page, at 1.0 MB + images, takes upwards of 40 seconds to load. I'm sure that kills your bandwidth, not to mention lots of traffic. I'm sure lots of people leave after a few seconds of  nothing happening.

[DarkWolf]

The use of proper style sheets alone would reduce the size of the pages greatly.

[JonLeung]

Bandwidth is not an issue - since I'm now with GoDaddy, instead of using 110% of my bandwidth each month as I used to, I used 5.4% last month.  Seriously.



But I understand the ridiculousness of loading pages that are a meg large.  I've found ways to trim some files down a hundred or even two hundred kB, but even so, I know I can't do enough of that at some point.



It's certainly on my mind, but I don't honestly know how soon that will be.



It's been hard making time for any of the other things - I've fallen out of doing the one-thumbnail-a-day thing again, unfortunately...