Oolite Bulletins

I was browsing through the forum looking for something arcane (which I managed to find), and found some plans to update oolite.org website dating back to sometime in 2012.

Taking a peek at the site, it seems nothing changed - apart from download links - since I last saw it in 2011.

My suggestions:

1) Take the screenshots from the screenshots thread and slap them on the site's Gallery, especially the 1.79 screenies with amazing graphics.
2) Take the screenshots from the Wiki and slap them in the Expansion Packs Gallery.
3) Slap a link to Selezen's timeline finding in the Links section.

Zireael wrote:

I was browsing through the forum looking for something arcane (which I managed to find)

Browsing is good fun, and you never know what you'll discover.. but if you're trying to find something specific, the board search facility isn't really up to par.. in those cases, it really helps to have the Oolite BB search plugin installed in your browser. Both more results and more relevant results guaranteed!

https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7674

Some more ideas:
* slap a link to Cody's Firefox skin
* put images from http://www.daftworks.co.uk/oomages/gallery.php in the Gallery part of the site

Because really what's the point of having a site if there's almost nothing in it? The Griff Cobra and an extract from Status Quo and the download links, that's all. The rest of the site looks like it hasn't been touched for ages...

And to add to the confusion, there's oolite.info, too.

This subject has been discussed before, and is a matter that has long concerned me. This thread from march last year explains much of the background to the present situation and some discussion as to how improvements could be applied.
There have also been other discussions, some public, some private, none of which seem to have improved the situation, so it is hard to see a way forward at this time.
The oolite.info domain belongs to me. During a previous round of these discussions, I noticed that this domain was available and at the time it seemed wise to buy it on behalf of the community. We would then have a second 'Oolite' domain available to us should it be of any use. As a place-holder, I decided to just run it as a single-page information portal, a site to find the more 'useful' Oolite sites, rather than just have a 'dead' domain that was not serving any purpose. I was reluctant to develop it further at that time pending discusion on the future of oolite.org, so it has remained as it is since then.

I'm working on having a new site to go live alongside the next release. It will need some new screenshots, but I haven't asked for people to submit them because there's no point in doing that until all the planned graphics upgrades are in place. And at this stage in the release cycle, of course, getting the features for the next release ready are mostly taking priority over updating the site.

Here's a quick screenshot of progress so far

Mostly what's taking the time is getting the interface for expansion pack authors to enter their OXZ manifests, but that's also getting there: again, it may well just be "good enough" to start with and get improvements later.

In the meantime:
1) I'm a lot better at implementing designs than inventing them, so if you think you can do better for the basic template go ahead and sketch something up. Similarly, if you like/dislike the new design in the screenshot, feedback about why would be helpful.

2) it needs some pretty pictures, and there's a couple of separate types which the current design uses
-- the letter-box type to use as a decorative break between blocks of text.
-- a smaller square type for the top of the sidebar
Both could do with a mix of ambient and action pictures, ideally with no or only slightly visually-affecting OXPs (though from the latest 1.79 nightlies)

It's also about time to update the gallery: as with the current one this needs some in-game screenshots that both show Oolite without OXPs at its best, and also show off some of the more impressive things which OXPs can do. The gallery screenshots can probably be any size, but I'm looking to use a standard 250x200 preview image on the gallery itself (which can be a crop, a resize, or both)

Contributions of all of these types of images are welcome: they should either be captured in a 1.79 nightly, or if from an earlier version, not include any components which look significantly better in the current version.

3) I'd like to include more snippets of Oofic to highlight that side of the community a bit more: nominations for a short - similar in size to the current one - extract from various works would be appreciated (self-nominations are fine, and I'll be asking the author to approve extracts before they're added otherwise). I'm looking especially for ones that not only serve as an advert for the story but also as an introduction to the ambience of the Ooniverse and the situations which might turn up in a game of Oolite. As you can see there are six pages in the navigation so far, so I'd like at least that many; if there are more suitable nominations then I'll set up some sort of rotation for them.

Ooh... shiny! I like the layout, it has a fresh look about it. The fonts ain't to my taste, but I'm very picky about fonts (this forum's font infuriates me).

Looking good

Wow, cim, I'm loving the sneak peek! There's a wealth of great screenshots in the thread, and I might find some more...

cim wrote:

3) I'd like to include more snippets of Oofic to highlight that side of the community a bit more: nominations for a short - similar in size to the current one - extract from various works would be appreciated (self-nominations are fine, and I'll be asking the author to approve extracts before they're added otherwise). I'm looking especially for ones that not only serve as an advert for the story but also as an introduction to the ambience of the Ooniverse and the situations which might turn up in a game of Oolite. As you can see there are six pages in the navigation so far, so I'd like at least that many; if there are more suitable nominations then I'll set up some sort of rotation for them.

Here's a few self-nominations. A couple are a bit longer than the quote from Status Quo ... with one exception I've tried to pick non-combat scenes:

A tiny spark lit up on the Boa’s nose, then almost instantaneously ballooned into a glowing sphere, electric blue, alight with frantic energies: the mouth of a newly opened wormhole, swallowing the merchantman completely.

— from Stranglehold by Blaze O'Glory

The station was a scarred, potato-shaped asteroid, hollowed out by generations of miners. A little over four klicks in diameter, it had been given a lazy axial spin to provide a degree of centrifugal gravity for the inhabitants inside. A small docking port, marked with a winking green light, was just visible at one of the asteroid’s rotational poles.

— from Stranglehold by Blaze O'Glory

The Dubious Profit’s laser cut out as its internal temperature hit its operational ceiling. Simultaneously her front shield, catching the full effect of the Krait’s explosive demise, redlined and collapsed. The ship screamed.

— from Stranglehold by Blaze O'Glory

Jumping into witchspace, it has been remarked, is a lot like dusting crops: you need to fly long, straight, and level if you’re going to do it right.

— from Stranglehold by Blaze O'Glory

Smuggling was an offence; violating docking protocols was an offence. Attacking merchant ships, blasting open their hulls to steal their cargo and sending their crews to a choking death in the blackness of space was an offence. In a system like Qudira one did not have to be an expert in Co-op law to know what kind of offender to expect.

— from Calliope by Blaze O'Glory

Thanks - I've picked one from each book for the list, for now.

Disembodied wrote:

Jumping into witchspace, it has been remarked, is a lot like dusting crops: you need to fly long, straight, and level if you’re going to do it right.

— from Stranglehold by Blaze O'Glory

That one made me smile

One for the OXP gallery, perhaps - using a combo of CinematicSky&Nebulas, Farsun, and Povray Planets.



I'm into crescents lately - I even reside in one. <grins>