Clean ups / Cosmetic Tweaks / Etc

Just a quick update to let you know what we have been up to lately.

I have been cleaning up a lot of the back-end code. We started using a new database framework about two years ago, and until yesterday some parts of the platform were still using it (yes, really). I finally got all that old code moved over to the new framework, which is very good. Cleaned up a bunch of other files as well.

I deleted 30+ files and removed upwards of 5,000 lines of code (not including the deletes). All good stuff.


$mook put together a small tool to let us manually manage tags on items. This will be very helpful as we roll out tagging to types other than just games.


I made some cosmetic tweaks to the Forums which you may have already noticed. Also a tweak to the master layout template (removed the drop-shadow). Just trying stuff out. Feel free to express your opinion.

FYI, looking for someone who can do site icons. It's the thing we really need to add color around here and make navigation easier, etc. So if you know someone, let us know.

Thanks,
Spot

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"This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure." - Winston Churchill

god I love optimization, hope you commented your code . Kinda wish I knew some web coding, but if you ever want a desktop client done, I would love to look into it (I'm big into multi-platform, Qt FTW).

Quote: RauBurger said:

god I love optimization, hope you commented your code . Kinda wish I knew some web coding, but if you ever want a desktop client done, I would love to look into it (I'm big into multi-platform, Qt FTW).

Actually we do have a desktop client planned. Maybe we can get some help from you.

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"This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure." - Winston Churchill

Quote: spot said:

Actually we do have a desktop client planned. Maybe we can get some help from you.

cool stuff, I'd love to help.

Quote: RauBurger said:

cool stuff, I'd love to help.

Cool. Do you write all your desktop stuff in basic, or do you write in vcpp as well?

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"This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure." - Winston Churchill

Quote: spot said:

Cool. Do you write all your desktop stuff in basic, or do you write in vcpp as well?

Well the main framework I use is Qt. It's a cross-platform open source c++ library for a gui interface. The awesome part is, is that it actually uses native function calls for the gui depending on what platform you are on using generic higher level calls. They have there own IDE but you can use vcpp if you so choose. I also use REALBasic (which you have to pay for) every once in a while which is also cross-platform.

Quote: RauBurger said:

Well the main framework I use is Qt. It's a cross-platform open source c++ library for a gui interface. The awesome part is, is that it actually uses native function calls for the gui depending on what platform you are on using generic higher level calls. They have there own IDE but you can use vcpp if you so choose. I also use REALBasic (which you have to pay for) every once in a while which is also cross-platform.

Yeah, I'm quite familiar with qt, simply what *you* usually write desktop stuff in? What we need it for will require some low level stuff.

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"This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure." - Winston Churchill

Quote: spot said:

Yeah, I'm quite familiar with qt, simply what *you* usually write desktop stuff in? What we need it for will require some low level stuff.

As of late I've primarily been using Visual Studio c++ edition (I use 2005 for work and 2008 for personal stuff).

Quote: RauBurger said:

As of late I've primarily been using Visual Studio c++ edition (I use 2005 for work and 2008 for personal stuff).

Ah, nice. Well drop me a line on skype when you have a chance. Username is spotnyk. We should talk.

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"This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure." - Winston Churchill

Quote: spot said:

Ah, nice. Well drop me a line on skype when you have a chance. Username is spotnyk. We should talk.

I will definitely do that here at some point. I may not have time till the weekend however. What time is usually best to find you online.

Quote: RauBurger said:

I will definitely do that here at some point. I may not have time till the weekend however. What time is usually best to find you online.

Oh my schedule is all over the place. I am usually up during the evening, but not always.

Just try me and eventually we will catch each other.

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"This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure." - Winston Churchill

Quote: spot said:

Oh my schedule is all over the place. I am usually up during the evening, but not always.
Just try me and eventually we will catch each other.

haha, alright sounds good.

Quote: spot said:

Actually we do have a desktop client planned. Maybe we can get some help from you.

Desktop client? In the age of Chrome Apps and Mozilla Prism it seems a bit superfluous. At least make it in something like Adobe Air (Yes I know it's a horrible bastard) so you don't have to make it several times.

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if (bloodAlcohol > 0.05) {drinkMore};
if else (bloodAlcohol < 0.05) {partyDown};
else {vomit};

Quote: chalkley3 said:

Desktop client? In the age of Chrome Apps and Mozilla Prism it seems a bit superfluous. At least make it in something like Adobe Air (Yes I know it's a horrible bastard) so you don't have to make it several times.

Already have a plan of attack on this, I think the implementation will be quite nice. Also can't use air to do what we want, but we can use other open libraries

Quote: RauBurger said:

Already have a plan of attack on this, I think the implementation will be quite nice. Also can't use air to do what we want, but we can use other open libraries

Consider my timbers shivered then.

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if (bloodAlcohol > 0.05) {drinkMore};
if else (bloodAlcohol < 0.05) {partyDown};
else {vomit};

Quote: chalkley3 said:

Consider my timbers shivered then.

Yeah I looked at AIR quite a bit, and even talked to a member of the AIR team. It cannot perform the low-level operations we need, unfortunately.

Trust me, I would love to be able to roll this in AIR.

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"This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure." - Winston Churchill