Web page

[Numsgil]

So here is a good legitimate need for bot-sharing.  But it does not require a centralized server.  It can all be done on person-to-person basis.

I agree exactly, but P2P still requires a centralized place to coordinate the actions, if not the transfers.  All those Napsters, etc. still require a few servers to help people find each other.

I think it wouldn't be hard to set up some kind of subdomain public dump FTP server (say that three times fast) that the program uploads and downloads to.  Like botsharing.darwinbots.com or something like that.

[shvarz]

Yes, it would be nice to have a centralized server.  But not a single folder for all needs.  The folders have to be project-specific, otherwise it is going to be a mess.

As for centralized servers in file-sharing apps...  I may be mistaken, but I think Waste (http://waste.sourceforge.net/) does not use those.

[Numsgil]

Okay, I just bought darwinbots.com and 500 megs of server space.  Cost me ~$42.  Donations are acceptable, PM me and I'll tell you how :P

Seriously though, this is going to be sweet!  I'm still setting everything up.  Tell Carlo to forward to the new page!

I'll see about setting up an FTP for the program.

[shvarz]

Just did.

How do you see this?  I mean how is it going to relate to the wiki?  Seems like a lot of stuff is going to be duplicated.  Or are we doing wiki just as a way to allow multiple people to work on the same text?

[Numsgil]

I can set up the forum, wiki, database, etc. as sub domains of darwinbots.com.

I'm working on it now.  By tomorrow, you should be able to type:

forum.darwinbots.com -> access this forum.
manual.darwinbots.com -> access the wiki.
botabase.darwinbots.com (clever, huh? :P) -> access the database
oldhome.darwinbots.com -> access Carlo's old home page for Darwinbots.

These are just simple redirects.  The actual thigns themselves aren't moved.  WIth masking, we can hide where they really are on the internet, so if we want to move the wiki from darwinbots.xwiki.com to somewhere else, we just change what manual.darwinbots.com redirects to.

[shvarz]

I was thinking about a general approach to the web-site...
Most of action happens in forum, most of help and descriptions will be in the wiki.  So what should the website do?  I think we need to organize it in a way to draw new people in.  The very first page should address newcomers and in a fun and easy-going way introduce DBs to them.  

Does that make sense?

[Numsgil]

Yes, my thoughts too.  It should be interesting enough to keep their attention and provide basic darwinbots information.

[Mutate This!]

If the webspace you bought has PHP-support, why not make the webpage a wiki?
The main areas could only be edited by the runners of the website.

Then there could be a help section (or maybe it should be called wiki section) to which "guests" are free to type their stuff.

Wiki of this type ought to have a website look/feel, rather than that of a wiki.

Hope you understood what I was trying to explain :). The decentralized website you're creating wouldn't be really practical, it'd be great to find a wiki with forums, but I suppose separate forums and website could be manageable with such a small community.

[MightyPenguin]

Wait a second. If we have webspace, what the hell are we doing on an invision board? Let's blow this joint and throw some phpBB up.

[Numsgil]

We could but it's such a pain to up and relocate.  This board and the wiki are just fine.  If you want an easy to remember URL, try typing forum.darwinbots.com and see what happens ;).

[Numsgil]

If the webspace you bought has PHP-support, why not make the webpage a wiki?
The main areas could only be edited by the runners of the website.

Then there could be a help section (or maybe it should be called wiki section) to which "guests" are free to type their stuff.

Wiki of this type ought to have a website look/feel, rather than that of a wiki.

Hope you understood what I was trying to explain :). The decentralized website you're creating wouldn't be really practical, it'd be great to find a wiki with forums, but I suppose separate forums and website could be manageable with such a small community.

Great idea, but I have no idea how PHP etc. works.   :(

I mean, I understand in theory, but I've never tried programming with it.

[Botsareus]

Its a pain , the only thing simular is that you can use vbscript for the actual php...

Tryed to do a hitcounter in it once , gave up: was saving the
hit count file on user side instead of server side , but took me a day to figure out.

I forgot everything now, besides I was a better programer then.....

Try interdev and the internet for help , (I dont even have frontpage on my mashine right now , forget about interdev)

(what I mean by InterDev is the MSDN help for the InterDev studio)

[Mutate This!]

Great idea, but I have no idea how PHP etc. works.   :(

I mean, I understand in theory, but I've never tried programming with it.

Well, that's hardly an issue. There are dozens and dozens of free PHP scripts out there. The search for the perfect script might be a long one, though :).

Few wikis have forums implemented, but almost any wiki's layout can be edited to look like a "normal" website. Skinning wikis is usually much like skinning forums: you don't need to know the first thing about PHP.


The main reason to combine all of the current websites (forums, database, the actual website) is to ease the managing of the whole thing. Now, all of the sites have to be separately filled in with the latest news, and users have to register to each site. The current system, without a main website, is quite confusing (I suppose it's only a temporary solution). Took me a couple of days to figure out what the latest version was and if it was in heavy beta state (ie. not recommended for "normal" use) :).

[Numsgil]

I'd be against relocating some of the resources.  Moving forums is a pain.

A better way would be to create some kind of script system that lets you register in all the different places at once.

[Endy]

What about just using frames to display the seperate pages. I was thinking of the normal title bar, links on left and in the right corner would be the page currently viewed. This way a user could just click a link to change the current page. A general sign-up/log-in page could also be done, possibly with a form filling out all the other pages' sign-up/log-in forms simultaneously.

Endy B)