uNews Layout - NEED HELP!!

Mycal

Staff member
Well, I am having a heck of a time trying to make a decent layout for the news on the updater. I've tried plain text, I've tried RTF, and I've tried HTML. Nothing I can come up with looks good.

So here's me asking for some help. I need a basic layout for news. You can use whatever format you want (word doc, rtf, html, plain text, etc). All I ask, if you choose to use HTML (which I would prefer), please make it compliant with these standards. You can use either a basic template that I can easily parse and replace, or you can use the old news for your template and I'll make it work. The reason I ask to make it compliant is not for presentability across browsers, but rather my HTML parser goes by those standards. And while I'm thinking of it. Please no CSS for anything outside of font, color, alignment (center, left, right). I do not want to bother adding to the parser for those. Oh, and no javascript either.

Things to keep in mind:
- This will not be seen on any normal browser
- Page width should be no bigger than 600px but can be less.
- Page height doesn't matter.
- Include any images when you upload

Old news (what needs to be supported):
Code:
Burningstorm Studios Updater v3.8
-------------------------

Ok, I lied. Version 3.8 addresses only a small issue within the checking of existing files, but also adds in a special feature that only admins can make use of. Admin, your editor's should update along with the client now, but only if it exists. If for some reason, the update fails, you will have to update manually doing the normal way.

As per usual, visit http://www.burningstormstudios.com/forum/ to report any problems you may encounter.

~BigRed

Burningstorm Studios Updater v3.7
-------------------------

It seems, my file updater program erased the most current news. So I can't remember what exactly has changed, but this is the last of the v3 series updaters.

As per usual, visit http://www.burningstormstudios.com/forum/ to report any problems you may encounter.

~BigRed


Burningstorm Studios Updater v3.5
-------------------------

This release addresses a few issues with the self update feature. Whenever it was updating itself, it erased all versioning data making all files need to be redownloaded. There was also a problem where if 1 file was changed, they all needed to be updated as well. Both of these bugs have been fixed and I also removed the Backup of the updater as I will never release a version that requires you to downgrade. I test each new version extensively before uploading it.

As per usual, visit http://www.burningstormstudios.com/forum/ to report any problems you may encounter.

~BigRed

Burningstorm Studios Updater v3
-------------------------

Yep, skipped a version due to many changes. Version 4 will feature a revamped GUI that I think looks much better than this plain one. However, it won't be released for awhile. Game needs more attention than the updater right now.

As per usual, visit http://www.burningstormstudios.com/forum/ to report any problems you may encounter.

~Bigred

Mushroom Games Updater v2
-------------------------

Updater has been upgraded to version 2 for special reasons. For one, I've highly upgraded the progressbar control since v1. I've also updated the location of the update so it goes to the new server. Version 2.5 will be released very soon to fix even more found problems. However, those are only minor so v2.5 will be out when it's finished. No rush.

Visit http://www.burningstormstudios.com/forum/ to report any problems you may encounter.

~BigRed

Mushroom Games Updater v1
-------------------------

Well I decided to create an Updater for the game. If you can read this, then its working properly so far. Hopefully it stays that way. By the way, this updater can update itself, so there is no need to ever download another patch from the website manually again. I've worked everything out so absolutely any program I make can be updated through the updater. Eventually we'll have an actual GUI to this updater as well.

Included in this update:

Client.exe
Tiles.bmp
Sprites.bmp
zlib.dll
worldmap.jpg
swearlist.txt
Init.mid

If any problems are encountered, please post them on the Mushroom Games forums found at http://www.mushroomgames.com/forums/

Thanks ~ BigRed


Client Version History
-------------------------
+ Additions
- Removed
= Updated
~ Bug Fixes

::July 23 - ??::
~ No idea, all I know is I changed something and the old one didn't work anymore..

::July 3 - Minor update::
~ All players can see each other for sure now
~ Dual name bug
~ Double broadcast bug
~ Problems when running in Win95/98
~ Fixed small button errors on OSes earlier than Win2K

::July 2 - Minor update::
= Client wasn't displaying the correct version
~ Map changes required server to reboot
~ Map name wasn't displaying
= Whatever I mentioned before..

::May 26 - Minor update::
~ All listed bugs on forums
~ Map cache wasn't properly saving and being read from
= Swearlist loads on client start so no open file errors will be received

::May 21 - Major udpate::
= In a nutshell, Reverted back to before I changed packet handling
+ Local Map Cache
~ Hundreds of bugfixes, way to many to remember

::October 12 - Major update::
~ Updater: Path handling errors
~ Updater: Deletes non-needed folders after its done updating
~ Updater: Ignores files that are currently being used by the system 
= Server/Client: Changed packet handling...again 

::October 8 - Minor update::
+ Server scripting
~ Attack flooding
+ Very stupid npcs..
+ Player alignment (good, neutral, evil) 

::October 5 - Minor update::
+ Basic Leveling system
= If exp surpasses exp required to leve, it will transfer over

::October 4 - Minor update::
~ Attacking flood boot
~ Freezes player when dead
+ Server resets health after 10 seconds
~ No moving/attacking when frozen
~ Drawing player routines
~ Server character count

::October 3 - Major update::
= Map drawing to only draw what is seen

::September 27 - Major update::
+ PvP attacking
+ Basic death system
+ Basic Armor/Damage calculations
+ Attacking animation check

::September 26 - Minor update::
+ Server mapediting changes upload
~ Typing problems
~ Player name problems
= Server Admin editor

::September 24 - Major update::
~ Server & client lag = GONE! 

::September 22 - Major update::
~ Server saving maps
~ Server sending maps
~ Ban system (Actually bans now)
+ Forgot password mailer
+ Password reset
~ Cookie saving
~ Cookie loading
~ Registration password issue
~ Server online status
+ Change password (Still testing)
+ Mass mailer for game updates
+ Character viewer (Still testing)
+ PM System (Still testing)
+ Server uptime (Still testing)
+ Online characters (Still testing) 

::September 7 - Septemeber 15 - Major update::
+ Created SQL Tables
+ Started converting DB
+ Database completely converted
+ Recreated login functions
+ Recreated new account functions
+ Basic SQL injection protection
+ Optimized server connections
+ Created server stats Table for website implementation
+ Started website account creation page
= Login form on Main Page 
= Website Login Script 
= Server correctly retreives and saves data from database
= Changed password encryption to MD5.
~ Account creation issues on server
~ Login issues on server
~ Change password issues on server
~/+ Client Swear Filter


::August 26 - Major Update::
+ Created Client Updater
+ Multiple Files
+ Updater News
+ Compression
+ Checksum
+ Filesize comparison
+ Saves version information
+ Updates itself if needed
+ Progress bar
+ Total Progress Bar
+ Estimated Time remaining
+ Total Bytes remaining

::August 25 - Minor Update::
- Swearfilter (Temp)
+ Health/Mana/Energy/Exp Bars
- Server Control Based Timers (Now included in server loop)
~ Displays all players correctly now
~ Displays all players names correctly now
~ Current gametime sends to client correctly now
- Client nighttime drawing (Temp - Drops FPS dramatically)

::August 14 - Major Update::
+ Send/Receive Maps
+ Built-in Mapeditor
+ Drawing of Players/Maps/Names
- Current encryption (causes problems when sending/receiving maps, will be fixed at later date)
- Small check when receiving map data causing client to crash (will be fixed at later date)
= Map Database
= Player Database
+ Map Flags
- Error Handling temporarily

::July 8 And Earlier::
= Demo Movement Back to Tile-By-Tile Instead of Pixelized
+ Demo Open/Save Map
= Demo Readded NPC's
+ Demo Collision Detection
+ Demo Better FPS
+ Demo Better Buffering
+ Demo Compresion for Maps
+ MapEditor Mouse Cursor on Map
+ MapEditor MultiTile Select/Placement
+ MapEditor Draw Attributes Option
+ MapEditor Draw MapName Option
+ MapEditor Copy Map
+ MapEditor Paste Map
= Server/MapEditor Connections (More effecient now)
+ MapEditor Maps Database
+ MapEditor Map Number under Map Properties
+ MapEditor Upload Current Map to Server
+ MapEditor Download A Map from Server
~ MapEditor MapChat will not reset if the chat window is closed
+ MapEditor Remember Login Details
+ MapEditor Database All Maps Option
+ MapEditor View Databased Map List
+ MapEditor Open Databased Map
+ MapEditor Download All Maps from Server
+ MapEditor Upload All Maps to Server
+ MapEditor View Server Map List 

::June 15 - June 18::
= Reduced mapeditor size
+ Map Compression, Incredibly small map sizes
+ Server Compression, smaller database
+ Client Compression for several files
+ Game Pack Editor

::May 19 - May 21::
+ Basic world outline, can be changed anytime
+ 1st 20 Quests outline, can be changed anytime
~ Server/MapEditor Connections & Handling (Mostly MapEditor side)
+ Server database converter
+ Full MapEditor Chat (Mappers can chat with each other when connected to the server)
+ Server can receive maps from MapEditor (1/2 Complete)
+ Add map information to database upon recieve

::May 19 And Earlier::
+ Server/Client Connections
+ Server/Client Packet Encryption
+ Client Menus
+ Create Accounts
+ Server-to-Client Messages
+ Client-to-Server (ONLY) Chat
+ Full Chat System
= Connections (Better/Faster Packet Handling)
+ Server/MapEditor Connections
+ Server-to-MapEditor (ONLY) Chat
+ Create character menu
+ Basic starting classes, can be changed anytime
+ Random starting stats based on Class Min&Max
+ Server Error Handling
+ Server Packet Hack Prevention
 

steven

Administrator
How did plain text not work, it might not look good but it is explanatory? Or is that what you want a better looking one? I think we need to come up with a name...that's off topic, but hey it's true.

Anyways, I can do this, give me a few days or possible 1 or 2 weeks. It shouldn't be that long but I am in the middle of so much shit, dead week, exams, portfolios, LURPIN.com <- GO THERE. anyways I will get around to it.
 

Mycal

Staff member
It works just fine with any of the methods, but I can't find a layout/format that looks good. I want it to look nicer. Even a gui would be nice. As of now it looks like this:


So if you want to make that better then feel free to. I don't think it looks that bad, but I do think that the news needs to replace the current status. Current status, I think, should probably be more of a debugging thing or log thing. So maybe I'll make it save the info to a log and have a command line option to show the debug window (like I used to have on the client).

As for your site, I did sign up and even tried to upload a song, but it errored or something because it never popped up on the list of music.

Oh and take as much time as you need. I am in Dead Week right now too. I'll be pretty busy studying this week and taking finals the following. Sucks that GTA: IV comes out Tuesday. Won't have a lot of time to play it..
 

Attachments

  • updater-gui.bmp
    328.5 KB · Views: 38

krum

New Member
I have an idea...

how about we have a news section on the site, with all the updates and such, then have a link on our client updater...

That updater looks fine, all it would need is a browser instead of a text box. And if thats what you meant in the first post by "I've tried html" then I will make one if ya want.

ps. We should do a bigger updater, so that we can show something like this...

Code:
!! PICTURE HERE !! - Description goes here about a new feature and shit.
!! PICTURE HERE !! - - - - - - - - New Feature
!! PICTURE HERE !! - - - - - - - - New Feature
!! PICTURE HERE !!
!! PICTURE HERE !!

of course this would look prettier, but that would be the idea

basically if we added an EXCITING new feature like jumping...or swimming...fishing etc...we would show the action on the left side, then we would talk about it. This way they have a visual of whats new, and then they have a description of other things.


THE only thing about this idea is that I would prolly need to make it PHP or something so that the pictures and new features can move in a slide show type manner. (with a next button on the bottom right hand corner)...It would take a LITTLE bit more work, but would be awesome.

Get back to me on that one.
 
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