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Some download interface like Project2612?

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  • neologix Offline
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Some download interface like Project2612?

Post by neologix »

So user monkeymook at Project2612 asked about merging 2612 w/here but what it more looks like is that he likes the 2612 downloading interface way more than what we do here (forum posts sectioned by system and sorted alphabetically).

While it's possible we could get the basic code used for the 2612 downloads section if we asked (last I remember Dark Pulse was open to the idea when I asked a couple years ago), if we don't get the actual code who would like to see a downloads section here like 2612's? I don't expect to have time to get one up in any expedited manner, but at the very least there is at least one PHP coder (myself) capable of approximating its layout and functionality.

So there are two questions presented: should we have a download section like Project2612's, and if so who here other than myself has the know-how to make it happen?
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Post by Sik »

I know PHP (at least enough to do something like that) but I'm lazy and have other stuff to do. Also I think that the idea was to eventually at some point make a proper download section.

Also I would rather avoid using Project2612's downloader even if we were given its code. I never got the "download" button to work from my phone (seems like the way it's coded doesn't work with Opera Mini, it isn't a simple link like it should be).
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Post by neologix »

Sik wrote:I never got the "download" button to work from my phone (seems like the way it's coded doesn't work with Opera Mini, it isn't a simple link like it should be).
it's one of those header-based redirects tied to the url returned by the vgm database, something like the following (warning, untested):

Code: Select all

<?php
// REALLY stripped-down example
$id = $_REQUEST['id'];
if ($id>0) {
	$url = p2612_get_url($id);	// whatever this function may happen to be
	$filename = basename($url);
	header("Content-type: application/x-7z-compressed");
	header("Content-disposition: attachment; filename="{$filename}"");
	$data = file_get_contents($url) or die("couldn't get vgm pack!");
	echo $data;
	exit();
}
else die("invalid id!");
?>
this site has some basic php downloader that assumes the requested file is on the same server.
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Post by Tom »

I know php.
I can make it happen.
I don't want to make it happen.
I won't make it happen.
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Post by Sik »

I meant that the download button itself doesn't even work, period. It won't even attempt to open the URL.
Tom wrote:I don't want to make it happen.
I won't make it happen.
Any reason why you want to stick to just using the forum? It becomes really annoying to navigate those lists, especially when you can't choose the starting letter. Unless you pretend everybody to use the forum's search feature.

I'd prefer having proper lists for the main site if possible =/ (they don't have to be like Project 2612's, but they should be something easier to browse than a topic list)
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Post by Tom »

I just don't see what difference there can be between a "proper list" and a list of topics on a forum. If you have any idea on a better layout, though, I will see if it would be possible to implement it. It's easy enough to create a "proper list" since we already have all the information in the database. Where should that "proper list" link to, though? Direct download links to the zip files, or links to the forum topics? In the latter case, the difference with the current system would be even closer to nothing. Not even project2612 has direct links. They have a "proper list" and a "details page". In the end, not much different from what we have here.
So, I'm against editing our current setting because I see it as an useless complication over something that already works. I'm not Facebook, if you want me to redesign the layout every other day then you are in the wrong place.
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Post by Sik »

Tom wrote:If you have any idea on a better layout, though, I will see if it would be possible to implement it.
At the very least make it possible to choose the initial character and show a list of games starting with that character. That'd make searching a heck lot easier. Considering the structure of this place, I'd guess we'd first divide by system (like we do now) then subdivide by initial character. That alone would improve usability a lot.

The current set up is just an alphabetically sorted list, where you can't tell at all on which page a given game may be (since it's one huge list instead of being split into smaller lists), and the worst part is that the forum won't show the links to all the pages if there are too many of them, so you'd end up needlessly going through several pages just to find a game in the middle when the list becomes large enough.

(EDIT: and before you complain that the site doesn't have enough games for that to be a problem yet, eventually it will become that big if we keep ripping and this will become a problem, so better tackle this issue early before it becomes a serious headache)
Tom wrote:Where should that "proper list" link to, though? Direct download links to the zip files, or links to the forum topics?
I don't care, as long as games are easier to search.
Tom wrote:I'm not Facebook, if you want me to redesign the layout every other day then you are in the wrong place.
That's Google, sir.
Last edited by Sik on 2012-05-10, 11:34:23, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Tom »

If all you want are starting characters I can look into implementing it. It shouldn't be too hard to hack the forum code to add a &letter=X parameter.
I still don't get why you want to split, when I look for something on some website I always try to get a complete A-Z list to see everything at the same time, but as I said, I am always open to suggestions, and if this is your wish, I'll try to get it to work. Eventually.
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Post by Tiido »

If I could easily sort stuff to my whim I'd not have much problems with current system.

For the time I am not happy with alphabetic sorting, new stuff comes and I have no idea what as its inbetween old.
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Post by Knurek »

Tiido wrote:If I could easily sort stuff to my whim I'd not have much problems with current system.

For the time I am not happy with alphabetic sorting, new stuff comes and I have no idea what as its inbetween old.
Yes, this gets annoying in subforums with more than one page - it's easy to miss a new post this way.
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Post by RichterEX2 »

Personally, I'd love to have a proper directory. That has everything sortable by ripper, date ripped, recently updated (for pack revisions), composers, game release date, hardware, etc. Doesn't have to be super fancy, just as long as you could easily look up that info it would make things much easier to find for folks.
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Post by Sik »

Tom wrote:I still don't get why you want to split, when I look for something on some website I always try to get a complete A-Z list to see everything at the same time, but as I said, I am always open to suggestions, and if this is your wish, I'll try to get it to work. Eventually.
Last I checked the forum won't show about a thousand of entries in a single page, and I don't think it may be a good idea considering the forum was never designed for that =P

I don't get why the forum is in a subdirectory though if you really want to turn it into the main site... (and no, redirect doesn't count)
Tiido wrote:If I could easily sort stuff to my whim I'd not have much problems with current system.

For the time I am not happy with alphabetic sorting, new stuff comes and I have no idea what as its inbetween old.
I was gonna complain about this at some point, but I figured the reply would be to "use the view unread posts feature". Heck, I'm surprised that the answer here isn't just "use the search feature".
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Post by ValleyBell »

Well, having a possibility so sort the packs would be nice, but I'm okay with how it is currently.

And I find it very nice that the forum is in a subdirectory. So the forum is seperated from the other folders (like files and programs) and it doesn't take ages to find them.
Tiido wrote:For the time I am not happy with alphabetic sorting, new stuff comes and I have no idea what as its inbetween old.
If you want to know what's new, there's [pack] this thread.
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Post by dissident93 »

The one thing I like about Project2612's interface is the clickable composer links, which could take you to a new game you've never heard of by a composer you liked. (although many of them are very wrong! it's a major pet peeve to know people will never know that it's tagged with the wrong guys/have song by song credits and it not be up to date. then again, I'm probably the only one so picky xD)
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