AGS Website Redesign

Started by Hobbes, Sat 29/05/2021 04:30:08

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Reiter

It is looking better by the day! This is some excellent work, and once again, thank you for doing this.

I do think that the light blue and orange colours looks quite splendid together. A wise choice.

All of the information available on the /ags page looks good. I do think you can get a decent overview of the program from there. If required, I do think it would be possible to insert an FAQ link, but it is a secondary concern for now. My only quibble is if it is entirely 'fair' to claim that the program is multi-platform. A list of platforms on which you can run the editor, and a list of platforms that you can export your games to, might be prudent. That is, of course, a question for later on.

For now, a magnificent work! Well done!

ToeKnee

Great to see this happening...

My 2c.... some of the 'modules' could/should be created/grouped/indexed and made available. In UNITY adn other products I get a few FREE games/programs and MODULES I can cut-paste.
Eg: I could create a HINTS framework (Timer that counts down and pops up a screen with the next hint based on hints no longer needed/past) that people could download, look at the code and re-use entirely for their own purposes in their own games...
If it’s not broken, let’s fix it till it is...!

AGA

Quote from: ToeKnee on Thu 17/06/2021 11:48:21
Great to see this happening...

My 2c.... some of the 'modules' could/should be created/grouped/indexed and made available. In UNITY adn other products I get a few FREE games/programs and MODULES I can cut-paste.
Eg: I could create a HINTS framework (Timer that counts down and pops up a screen with the next hint based on hints no longer needed/past) that people could download, look at the code and re-use entirely for their own purposes in their own games...

That isn't really feedback on the website though.  While we could host such a thing, it would be a job for the community to create such bundles. It's certainly not something we'd build into the new site design until someone has actually made enough bundles to make them worth listing on the main site. Feel free to start a discussion in the general forum suggesting such a project though!

eri0o

#83
Just want to say I really like the layout!

About the resources, I was thinking maybe it could come from a wiki page, like, there are Eric Matyas many songs, there's the specific AGS Treasure Trove, and it could maybe have additional links (in the wiki) for websites with free resources like OpenGameArt. Basically, things that aren't modules or plugins don't quite have a home of them...

I noticed the release notes mentions you are looking for artists, it's better to mention here too and what is needed! People may not read the release notes!

cat

Awesome progress!

Please note:
* The main page is broken when reading the page on mobile in landscape mode - the top is cut
* The screenshot widget with changing picks does not work on my phone with duckduckgo browser - there is just a white space instead

tampie85

Quote from: cat on Fri 18/06/2021 08:02:37
* The screenshot widget with changing picks does not work on my phone with duckduckgo browser - there is just a white space instead

What page is that? And what OS? I just tried it on homepage and the play landingspage with duckduckgo browser on Android and I don't see what you mean?

eri0o

I mean, I almost never use landscape mode on my phone, but indeed - Chrome browser on Android
Spoiler
[close]

Stupot

Quote from: eri0o on Fri 18/06/2021 12:15:35
I mean, I almost never use landscape mode on my phone, but indeed - Chrome browser on Android
Spoiler
[close]
For me it does this even in portrait (Safari, iPhone SE1, so old small screen). In landscape it goes right down to the first ‘learn more’ button.

arj0n

#88
Quote from: cat on Fri 18/06/2021 08:02:37
* The screenshot widget with changing picks does not work on my phone with duckduckgo browser - there is just a white space instead
Works fine for me on Android mobile (Moto G9+) with DuckDuckGo v5.88.0

Quote from: cat on Fri 18/06/2021 08:02:37
* The main page is broken when reading the page on mobile in landscape mode - the top is cut
Confirmed, on Android mobile (Moto G9+) with DuckDuckGo v5.88.0 and with Chrome v91.0.4472.101 in landscape mode.
Portrait mode works fine for both.

tampie85

Quote from: Stupot on Fri 18/06/2021 13:14:40
For me it does this even in portrait (Safari, iPhone SE1, so old small screen). In landscape it goes right down to the first ‘learn more’ button.

Is this what you see on your phone? Just double checking I'm looking at the right device:
https://imgur.com/a/btDPD2n


cat

Quote from: eri0o on Fri 18/06/2021 12:15:35
I mean, I almost never use landscape mode on my phone, but indeed - Chrome browser on Android
Spoiler
[close]
This is what I see on my MI Android one phone.


Regarding the missing screenshots: this might be an issue with my phone, as other people don't have problems here. Does the widget do any caching/preloading/fancy js?

eri0o

#91
@cat, just a curiosity, does the screenshots don't load too when using mobile data connection instead of WiFi? I know it's a bizarre question, but I noticed some android devices have trouble with some specific ways of requesting files - but only when using WiFi. I couldn't yet figure how to work around it - it's a problem for my ags web port too.

tampie85

The splash page indeed looks odd on some devices. I'll see what I can do.

In general; keep reporting things that look odd. I'll do my best to please as many people as possible and try to make it look good on the most popular browsers/devices/resolutions.
I'm not a professional designer/developer and therefore my skills are limited.

For edge cases I have to see whether I'm able to do it without sacrificing anything for the majority of users and the effort it takes.
For example, approximately 0.02% of AGS visitors uses a mobile phone in landscape mode.

Quote from: cat on Fri 18/06/2021 14:09:55
Regarding the missing screenshots: this might be an issue with my phone, as other people don't have problems here. Does the widget do any caching/preloading/fancy js?

Yes, due to the advanced requests  (video support, miniatures, zoom, expand to full screen, etc.) from the community we now use an advanced library.

AGA

This is the library we use for the galleries.  I think at very least it preloads the following image or two before you flick over, to reduce visible loading times.  What could be causing your issue I'm not sure though, cat!

Kastchey

Quote from: tampie85 on Fri 18/06/2021 20:54:27
I'm not a professional designer/developer and therefore my skills are limited.
Honestly, I would have thought you are. To my untrained eye at least, this doesn't look any less professional than what commercial engines use for their websites.

tampie85

Quote from: Kastchey on Sat 19/06/2021 10:58:26
Honestly, I would have thought you are. To my untrained eye at least, this doesn't look any less professional than what commercial engines use for their websites.

That's a massive compliment, thank you  :-D


Crimson Wizard

Few years ago someone left couple of game database suggestions in our engine issue tracker, but I was not sure if they are worth passing to here, and if anyone would like to work on that.

Still not certain if this is something you or anyone else might do, but these suggestions were:

1. Display A) original engine's version for the game, to let know which version of AGS was the game made with, and B) whether this game contains any plugins (DLLs).

This was asked so that a person is running a non-Windows system and wants to know if the current engine port will be able to run such game.

In theory this information may be extracted from the game files, and this may be done even with a script. I or some other dev may provide a reference to the related algorithm, that alone is not a problem.
The biggest question is if such field could be added to the database, and, generally, such script run over the hosted games (idk, either dynamically on page load or beforehand).

2. If there are games which are uploaded as windows installer, would it be possible to also provide an unpacked alternative?

The reason is similar: it's not always easy to unpack such installer on a different system.

Not sure if such task is in this site's range of responsibility though. Maybe if someone is creating an alternate hosting could take a notice of this though.

sthomannch

#98
Crimson Wizard:
Most games work on other platforms (I almost always use another platform). Problems are embedded videos or if the game does not allow to be run in windowed mode. But there are only very few games that cause problems.
Very old games are a problem also on a recent Windows platform due to the removal of 16 bit support, but then there is DOSbox, which comes to rescue.

On Linux, use the AGS Engine or wine - some programs work even better with wine than on some OEM distributions like what is provided by Lenovo or Sony. :-)

cat

#99
Quote from: eri0o on Fri 18/06/2021 14:30:41
@cat, just a curiosity, does the screenshots don't load too when using mobile data connection instead of WiFi? I know it's a bizarre question, but I noticed some android devices have trouble with some specific ways of requesting files - but only when using WiFi. I couldn't yet figure how to work around it - it's a problem for my ags web port too.
No, no difference whether on WiFi or not. And yes, I also have problems with your webport on my phone.
Anyway, the pictures work with Firefox Klar on my mobile, so this seems to be some browser quirk for me  :-\


And I agree with the others, the website looks very professional. I thought you might have changed profession and are now a web designer.

Edit: I've updated the first post with the link and some information

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