Site Feedback Please

A forum for discussion of Crash's retro-style arcade game based on Star Fleet
User avatar
Crash
Posts: 1920
Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2002 8:16 pm
Location: EDF Moonbase
Contact:

Site Feedback Please

Post by Crash »

Eventually, the GDL will come to an end. This summer has been dreadful and Northumbria University's Law School has not exactly clothed itself in glory with regard to the course.After I've been away for a week, I might get some time to work on the game and its trappings.I wondered, can I have some feedback to tell me what you want to have changed and improved and how you think I can go about it.I'm not happy with Coppermine. I'm considering adding a separate uploader for 'files' as opposed to images. I'm even considering replacing Coppermine with Menalto Gallery 3.It can then deal with images and little else and I'll write a separate (and probably bespoke) system to hopefully make a better job of uploading vids and downloads.I've stuck one-or-two new ideas on the site's frontpage as well. In the meantime, if you have any files that you want hosting, send them by email or upload them to megaupload or wherever and I'll do the rest in the meantime.Thanks for your attention, people. I'm looking forward to your feedback.



Dream big and bold and daring.
Shane
Posts: 944
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2001 9:10 pm

Site Feedback Please

Post by Shane »

I'll fire up the game again and try to give some feedback.I think the last time I played it I found that my computer just wasn't up to the task even with all the graphics settings set to low.
I like parties, I like fun, I want to live in a hamburger bun!
Shane
Posts: 944
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2001 9:10 pm

Site Feedback Please

Post by Shane »

Sorry, just realised that you were after feedback relating to the site as a whole.If it's X-Archive based, then I love what it's about, but every now and then it can play up when you try and upload something. I found the 3MB X-Bomber PNG screengrabs a piece of cake to upload, but other things, not so easy, especially when it's a larger file.
I like parties, I like fun, I want to live in a hamburger bun!
User avatar
Crash
Posts: 1920
Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2002 8:16 pm
Location: EDF Moonbase
Contact:

Site Feedback Please

Post by Crash »

The dreamhost server seems to have a very tight limit on how big a file you can send through your browser rather than FTP.Doesn't seem to matter at all what software you use, the limit seems to be between 5 and 7 megs only.The old Coppermine used to have a cool feature where you could import a file from somewhere else on the internet. But those idiots decided that 'no-one used the feature' and got rid of it. That coulda been a way of getting around it.I don't think nuking the coppermine and setting something else up will help us to circumvent dreamhost's limit.
Dream big and bold and daring.
User avatar
Vanessa
Posts: 389
Joined: Mon Sep 27, 2010 12:43 pm
Location: UK

Site Feedback Please

Post by Vanessa »

Hi Crash,I always struggle to fathom out or upload stuff to the coppermine X-Archive site. So anything you can do to improve this would be gratefully appreciated.But I do like the home page where it shows what's been recently uploaded, and also the random file selection that changes every time.I'm sorry to hear that your GDL course has been run in such a shambolic way as you say. I hope things improve for you soon.
Evasive Manoeuvres!
User avatar
Crash
Posts: 1920
Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2002 8:16 pm
Location: EDF Moonbase
Contact:

Site Feedback Please

Post by Crash »

Northumbria put me in a very difficult position where they were saying that I had to start the next course without even knowing the results of the last one (which you needed in order to progress).If not all of 7x 3-hour papers had gone very smoothly, I would have had to defer for a year, pay full-fees next year (losing my discount from the GDL) and I wouldn't have got all the fees back from the course that I'd have had to 'give up' in a couple of weeks if one of my results turns out to be unsuccessful.They weren't able to tell me roughly how much they were going to hold back from these fees that I would have had to pay on Friday if the worst happened either.And of course the academics seemed to think that this was a perfectly acceptable and viable thing to be advising people to do because it wasn't their time and money on the line.On top of that the mixed messages and miscommunication about this next course and how it 'integrates' with the GDL has been quite appalling really.My conclusion is that the higher education industry is just beyond credibility and recovery.I haven't taken much of a look at the uploader. I'll have a look tonight to see what's wrong.I was trying to get my old, rickety server working with a replacement mainboard that I got off Ebay this weekend. That was not easy but it's sorted now.I did find out last week that Dreamhost's default limit on uploads via PHP using the browser (as opposed to FTP) is the modest 7MB, (which we have all observed ourselves).I can't change that because I'm not the admin of the account and some people were saying that you have to compile and set up your own, modified PHP platform to circumvent it.I installed quite a few alternative uploaders but they were all badly-written, badly-documented etc and just impossible to fathom in the time I had available. So I didn't get anywhere with that.So, this week I'm applying for almost every job in Newcastle.Maybe someone will find a use for a French and German-speaking amateur programmer.
Dream big and bold and daring.
User avatar
Vanessa
Posts: 389
Joined: Mon Sep 27, 2010 12:43 pm
Location: UK

Site Feedback Please

Post by Vanessa »

Gosh, the people running your college sound like total twits!You have my sympathies dealing with that lot Good luck with the job search. I've had many spells in unemployment, so I know how tough it can be to find work.
Evasive Manoeuvres!
User avatar
Crash
Posts: 1920
Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2002 8:16 pm
Location: EDF Moonbase
Contact:

Site Feedback Please

Post by Crash »

Had some guy calling me about working for NetApp yesterday. We'll see how that goes.I have to say, this minor business with Northumbria is as absolutely nothing to what I went through with St-Andrews. That could be the subject of a book.Time-and-again I've observed that higher education in many areas is completely divorced from the realities of life and completely morally bankrupt, quite frankly. Even my housemate who took Chemistry (and French in his sub-honours years) had unbelievable experiences in the Science Faculty.The computer science school on the other hand was brilliant there.Northumbria has worked-out pretty well up until this point.I think this expansion in University numbers, the clear, artificial simplification of A-levels and the increases in fees has just played right into the Universities' hands and provoked a complete feeding frenzy at the prospect of funds.I mean, in no possible reality should it cost £9,000 per-head, per-annnum to run a humanities course. It's a complete scam and because of that, in the interests of value-for-money, if I were starting my degree now I either wouldn't bother or I would take a sciences course, in which case and that would mean one less German and French-speaking graduate, which is a commodity that is in very short supply.Last night I started writing my own bloggy-thing for my site. I'm a bit tired of Cutenews because it stores all the data in separate files, not a database. So, it's a bit messy. The rest of the program is great and if they were to release a version that used databases instead, that would be pretty ideal.Anyway, I'm writing a custom job. I also was going back before the exams and digging up all the 'old news' with the wayback machine etc ... and I compiled a single document with the whole history of the game (albeit with a few gaps that I couldn't fill).I've got my little blog-thing adding new stories to the database. That function is totally integrated, visually and logically, into the site.The easy, next part is to write a script to display the stories, which is much simpler.
Dream big and bold and daring.
User avatar
Crash
Posts: 1920
Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2002 8:16 pm
Location: EDF Moonbase
Contact:

Site Feedback Please

Post by Crash »

I think I might have found the solution to our 7MB limit problem...EDIT: I've definitely found the solution. It works a treat actually. I'm just getting it presentable for integration into the site.



Dream big and bold and daring.
User avatar
Vanessa
Posts: 389
Joined: Mon Sep 27, 2010 12:43 pm
Location: UK

Site Feedback Please

Post by Vanessa »

I am interested to hear about your 7MB limit upload fix Crash.I hope you are able to find employment.I notice I've been downgraded from a 5 to a 3, LOL!
Evasive Manoeuvres!
Post Reply