Website/New Forum Development

[Aidanny Scotland]

I found this game a couple of days ago and thought it was really cool! I have read in places around these forums that A. A new better website is launching soon and B. you may need a volunteer web developer. I would definitely like to help with the websites look and creating a better forum even. However,

[Aidanny Scotland]

Wow it cut off in the middle of me typing. resuming here: I need an artist who could help make backgrounds and logos (I posses little to no artistic skill)

[loganmu...@gmail.com]

Aidanny: I'll try to get my friend over and we will see what we can pull together! This may take a few days though. Nik: do you have any specific logos or anything you want to be in the website that we could draw up? If not we can just whip up a bunch of ideas :D

[VDEStudios]

I would like to be a web developer, I'll try to come up with a logo and some stuff, if thats alright with you.

[Aidanny Scotland]

Sounds good

Thanks to everyone who's willing to help!

[VDEStudios]

I came up with a logo look at it by clicking the link and opening up some of the post, https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!category-topic/universe-projects-community-forum/KM2pfVKpQ2Y

[Aidanny Scotland]

Well, I like it but ive said in that post myself add a more universy feel

So far this is going well

Site developers:

Myself

Logan

Artists for site:

VDE

[Nikolas Gauvreau]

Are you guys creating a fan page/forum? I do like the idea, some place to get the random bits of information that has been released all in one central location. We haven't done very good with that yet. Working on it! :)

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[Aidanny Scotland]

Thats pretty much what we are doing, as in the long (or even short!) run this google group will NOT cut it

[VDEStudios]

I have an idea for the forum/site, when you sign up for the forum/site you should enter your in-game name, and when you do that, you would get a blueprint or random item on the game, and it could be called God's Gift or something in those lines. Plus I'm gonna start fixing the logo.

[VDEStudios]

Fixed the Logo so it's a bit more universy feeling, feel free to tell me what else to do with it. Plus, can I also be a site developer/admin too, so I can be in able to add information, tips, and more that will be going on with The Universe Project. 

[VDEStudios]

One more thing do you already have a website made but not published or what is the case on the website.

[Aidanny]

this week I'm going to start a VERY early draft, the reason I have not already started is I was waiting to see if anyone else was interested in helping, I am still waiting to hear anything more from Logan, I'm starting regardless now though.

[VDEStudios]

Great If you give me the size or a blank template of the website/forum i could start designing the background, and how will this work, will I be able to edit and change around the actual buttons and tabs on the website or is that only for you to be able to do?

[Aidanny]

Blank template will be coming later today

[VDEStudios]

K, keep me updated.

[Aidanny]

Ahem, introducing the template.... (please don't hate me, this is why i need an artist >.<).

http://i.imgur.com/QftHz.png

Please artitstify the top part with something really detailed :) and the main part (section with video) something simpler and also something for the little buttons.

Also, if you could, at the end put those things into separate images.

If  you could do this, that would be INCREDIBLE :D

thanks

[Aidanny]

As well, this is not the actual size of the final images, so be prepared for resizing (if it's possible)

[VDEStudios]

K I'll get to it, and what website are you making this through.

[Aidanny]

what do you mean? im coding it myself and Nik can get a hoster.

[VDEStudios]

K, I thought you were gonna do a website hosted through another website, like weebly.

[Aidanny]

Nah, it can look a lot cooler and be more flexible if its coded and hosted

[Ryan Parmeter]

If you guys need site administration help, I'd love to pitch in.

How about hosting this with Google App Engine? Free to start, cheap when this blows up big :) 

[loganmu...@gmail.com]

Yea I was working on a logo but it seems we got that covered :) so I could help be a moderator of some sort. I could be on almost all day and be able to answer most questions or direct people to the answers. :) 
Aidanny is there anything specific that needs to be done?

[VDEStudios]

Ill have it done later tonight, it's coming along

[Aidanny]

maybe.. I am thinking of contacting Nik and telling him about Bluehost. you could probably be mod/admin

[Aidanny]

sounds good!

[Aidanny]

yeah! if you could that would be great!

[Nikolas Gauvreau]

No need to contact me, I see every post :)

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[Aidanny]

:D awesome, i forgot about that when i was typing, derp

[VDEStudios]

This is what I have so far, not sure what else you want.

[Aidanny]

I need the logo in one picture and the bar in another and the text removed from the bar it may sound weird but its important for the website

[VDEStudios]

K, ill do it tomorrow, im so tired.

[Aidanny]

alright, if i can get the pictures today i can start the site tomorrow

[VDEStudios]

I'll post them right now, 4-6 different post

[VDEStudios]

background

On Thursday, January 17, 2013 11:40:53 AM UTC-7, Aidanny wrote:

[VDEStudios]

[VDEStudios]

[VDEStudios]

[Aidanny]

Thanks for these!

On Thursday, January 17, 2013 3:32:01 PM UTC-8, VDEStudios wrote:

[VDEStudios]

NP, tell me the web adress when its ready and keep me updated on stuff you need done

[VDEStudios]

NP, tell me the web adress when its ready and keep me updated on stuff you need done

On Thursday, January 17, 2013 4:33:18 PM UTC-7, Aidanny wrote:

[Aidanny]

Ok, will do (it will be a file to download until Nik gets a host at the end :))

[Ryan Parmeter]

Why are you expecting Nik to get a host? You guys are building a fan sight right?

Again, I would be willing to administer a Google App Engine site, as long as someone forks in for a domain name :)

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[Aidanny]

No, it's a volunteer project for the OFFICIAL site :) or at least I hope

[loganmu...@gmail.com]

How much will it cost for a domain name?

[Aidanny]

I am not entirely sure, it depends what company you use and what the name of the domain is.

[VDEStudios]

Domain names are usually free with the monthly payment for hosting.

[Lossidian]

That generally depends who you go through.  if you want to buy the domain and not the hosting, domains are still fairly cheap and are purchased for 1 year rather then 1 month.  It's a load cheaper to run a website off a seperate site then what you host the domain from.  (Generally smarter too)

[Nikolas Gauvreau]

Yea, I personally think appengine has the cheapest solution overall, especially for a simple static site. If you really just want static content though, use Google Sites for totally free hosting. I managed to use sites and get rid of almost all of their 'powered by google sites' junk at the bottom for a free web hosting system. The only issue there is that its really only for static content (except some of the plugins you can use). So if you want user login tracking, and maybe a live forum, I would go with appengine myself. Infact, I have gone with appengine for the donation site. Works amazingly well, and even if you go over your free quota, the price is right. Appengine supports java and python, so I went with Java myself. For speed of development, I've gone with a super simple jsp/servlet system rather than use GWT. Its easy once you get over a few hurdles like session tracking, Datastore use (Objectify!), that sorta thing. 

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[Aidanny]

The problem is, is with these kinds of sites.. they don't look very professional I mean would you prefer having universeproject.com or universeproject.googlesites.com not to mention we could make money by placing google ads on a hosted site as well as not having the google sites crap (or whatever site you use) at the bottom

[Ryan Parmeter]

I don't know if this is news to anyone, but universeproject.com is a 'premium' domain name being sold for the 'premium' of $1,395. Also, 'theuniverseproject.com' is on backorder; 'universeproject' and 'universe-project' are invalid appengine IDs. And we know who owns universeprojects.com :)

However, 'the-universe-project.com' is available and 'the-universe-project' is an available appengine ID. 

Nik,  I'm guessing you would like to own the IP in any case.

[Aidanny]

however, here there is the same site 600$ or so cheaper and canadian (because Nik is canadian) AND .net is only 9.99 :)

[Aidanny]

woops ok, when i clicked on the link you sent for me it was 1,995$ on hugedomains but you said the price i found on godaddy and I kinda failed to see that

[Aidanny]

UPDATE: I plan to make it an (hopefully) official forum AND wiki, I will need to create the forum myself but the wiki will be installed to the webserver using mediawiki :)

[VDEStudios]

So are you going to make/code the wiki yourself, because if not you could use this website http://www.wikia.com/Wikia it's the same one that Tekkit uses.

[Ryan Parmeter]

I think keeping the Wiki separate from the 'main' site makes sense, of course you loose out on some ad revenue opportunities that way. 

[VDEStudios]

Would you mind if I started a wiki, or is that going to be coded also?

On Sunday, January 20, 2013 4:37:33 PM UTC-7, Aidanny wrote:

[Aidanny]

The wiki will also be hosted and built on mediawiki (what wikipedia and minecraftwiki uses, for example) which allows for ad revenue 

[VDEStudios]

K, once the wiki is started can I be an admin or something for the Wiki?

[Ryan Parmeter]

I would like to contribute as well. It sounds like the first task is still to identify a hosting solution. 

Choosing MediaWiki does limit our hosting options slightly, for example, you can't host PHP apps on GAE. 

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[Aidanny]

I am very open to new ideas so long as its not universeproject.wikisnamehere.com

[VDEStudios]

Got you

[Ryan Parmeter]

I hate to sound like a broken record, but I would still like to see us use the low cost GAE hosting solution. If the Wiki requirements are simple, we could use GAEWiki.

Got you

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[VDEStudios]

I don't like it, but Aidanny might.

[Aidanny]

hur hur, i do! all I need right now is simple. I could care less if right now it has a dumb url so I will setup this wiki when I have time and see how it looks.

[Aidanny]

another update: hoo boy, I tried installing it to google apps and I got totally lost in a world of python source code and hiding command lines. I have the app setup and the google app engine installed but I can't figure out how to download and/or upload the wiki's code sigh... im soooooooooooooooo lost, if someone experienced could help me with this, it would be much appreciated! :)

[Nikolas Gauvreau]

I suggest installing eclipse and the GWT plugin. It makes it super easy to deploy a new app. I'm using it to deploy straight jsp/servlets (no gwt). It's java, but its great. I'm sure there are step by step tutorials too.

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[Aidanny]

Alright, thanks Nik! I already have eclipse as I like to mess around with game source code and i'll look up the GWT plugin now :)

[VDEStudios]

I'll try helping by making plugins and other stuff, i'm not to good at coding at what not, but I still need the practice.

[Aidanny]

A little side note: the link adress will be the-universe-projectwiki.appspot.com please dont bother clicking on it yet.. it's nowhere near ready to be publicly shown :P

[VDEStudios]

Gotcha

[Aidanny]

Alright I believe I have it working now.. (I hope)

[Aidanny]

Alright, many more problems I have come to complain about primarily this:

In the very "descriptive" installation guide here it told me to create a new application (done) fetch the source code here and upload it. Well I'm stuck at the upload part, as I have never used google apps before and after installing the google app engine (GAE) and python 2.5 (required for GAE) and I desperately need an expert with GAE (python)  to help!

Also, unfortunately the GWT plugin is useless to me as GAEwiki is programmed in python :/

[Ryan Parmeter]

I can help! Depending on what kind of app you started, you might actually have to use Python 2.7.  Please add me as an 'owner'(the other permission levels don't allow me to download code) to the application. 

I'm guessing you installed the GAE SDK, and are using the appcfg.py script to upload the app. You can use the GUI program as well though. The key here is to match the configuration options in the app.yaml file in the app's code to the GAE application settings (app-id, version, language, etc). Then you should be able to upload it.

Based on the source code, and the name of your app, I'm guessing your app.yaml file should look like this:

application: the-universe-projectwiki

version: 1

runtime: python

api_version: 1

handlers:

- url: /gae-wiki-static/

static_dir: gaewiki/static

- url: /favicon.ico

static_files: gaewiki/static/favicon.ico

upload: gaewiki/static/favicon.ico

- url: .*

script: gaewiki

#- url: /static/

#  static_dir: static

#- url: .*

#  script: handlers.py

builtins:

- datastore_admin: on

That 'should' work. Note the only line I changed was #1 with the App-ID.  Let me know if you have other questions. I should also be able to chat(IM/Hangout/Etc.) directly with you between 8-10pm PST today if that would help.

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[Aidanny]

Since I'm very new to google apps, I will have to question what you mean by app.yaml (I have python 3.3, 2.5 and I am installing 2.7.2 right now I am using the GUI version of the SDK

[Aidanny]

Ok nevermind this. how can I actually upload it to see it appear on the link the-universe-projectwiki?

[Ryan Parmeter]

Re-sending to the list.

The GAEWiki source code you downloaded contains a file in the root directory called app.yaml. You need to edit the first line to have your application (ID).  If you haven't already, add the source code as an 'existing application' from the file menu in the launcher GUI. Select the app from the list in the GUI, then click the deploy button.  Enter you're credentials, and presto, it should now be hosted at http://the-universe-projectwiki.appspot.com .

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[Timothy Hamilton]

On Friday, January 11, 2013 12:02:05 PM UTC-6, Aidanny wrote:

I found this game a couple of days ago and thought it was really cool! I have read in places around these forums that A. A new better website is launching soon and B. you may need a volunteer web developer. I would definitely like to help with the websites look and creating a better forum even. However,

[Timothy Hamilton]

Whoops meant to hit cancel.

[Aidanny]

This unfortunately did not work as I selected the folder with the GAEwiki files inside and hit deploy, entered in the email and password and a window opened up saying

2013-01-24 09:44:04 Running command: "['C:\\Python33\\pythonw.exe', '-u', 'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Google\\google_appengine\\appcfg.py', '--no_cookies', u'--email=triplet...@gmail.com', '--passin', 'update', u'C:\\Users\\Aidanny\\Desktop\\gaewiki-82a99aa310d3\\gaewiki-82a99aa310d3']"

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\google_appengine\appcfg.py", line 171, in <module>

    run_file(__file__, globals())

  File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\google_appengine\appcfg.py", line 167, in run_file

    execfile(script_path, globals_)

NameError: global name 'execfile' is not defined

2013-01-24 09:44:05 (Process exited with code 1)

You can close this window now.

So can you possibly help with this one?

PS: I am sorry for asking so many question its just that i'm completely new to GAE

[Nikolas Gauvreau]

I have 0 python experience, but the error suggests to me that it MIGHT be trying to find execfile on the system path and failing. Try searching for said file on your system and make sure its on your system path? Then maybe try googling the file to see what it is, if you dont have it.

Sorry! Best I got with no xp. :p

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[Aidanny]

Yeah thats what I was thinking too ( I must admit I am very lucky that the 2 languages GAE is in are java and python, which are the only 2 programming languages I know.)

[Caleb Brannan]

Did you manually set the PATH variable? The one class I took on python I ran into troubles with doing that.

[Ryan Parmeter]

Likely the problem is due to using Python 3.3, as only Python 2.[5,7] are supported. Try uninstalling Python 3.3 and 2.7, then reinstall python 2.7.

Alternatively, to test, you can run the following command from the windows CMD line:

C:\Python27\pythonw.exe 'C:\Program Files(x86)\Google\google_appengine\appcfg.py' update C:\Users\Aidanny\Desktop\gaewiki-82a99aa310d3\gaewiki-82a99aa310d3\

There may also be a way to select which python binary gets run from the preferences in the Google App Engine Launcher program. You should be able to point it to C:\Python27\.

On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 10:04 AM, Caleb Brannan <theguyswho...@gmail.com> wrote:

Did you manually set the PATH variable? The one class I took on python I ran into troubles with doing that.

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[Aidanny]

I have all 3 installed so I see no reason for it not to work

[Ryan Parmeter]

You Windows PATH is choosing Python 3.3 by default, as it was likely the most recently installed. You can either manually edit you PATH settings (search Google), or you can try one of the options I mentioned.

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[Aidanny]

Done, I uninstalled it and I am testing it right now

[Aidanny]

It worked! Yesss perfect!

[Ryan Parmeter]

Awesome! I see it up! 

Again, if you would like some help with the coding aspect, please add me in the developer dashboard :)

It worked! Yesss perfect!

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[Aidanny]

Alright, the only I find a shame is that its in XHTML and not HTML5 (or even 4.01 for that matter)

Also I invited Nik as a owner (duh) and you a developer to the site!

[Nikolas Gauvreau]

Aidanny, while I fully support this site and will help in any way that I can, I just want to make it clear that this is your site. At the moment, I don't have any plans for a site like this but mostly due to time constraints. I would be willing to promote your site as a fan site and a central place for Universe Project knowledge and resources, but I believe it would be best if it stood as a separate entity. Feel free to monetize it however you like and I could even try to help provide some content for it, but for the actual site development itself, that I'll have to leave in your hands. If the funding works out, I expect my hands will be full for the foreseeable future! I hope you understand.

Nik

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[Aidanny]

Sounds good! I have Ryan helping me with the code, so I will be making the forums once this wiki is ready.

[Ryan Parmeter]

Aidanny,

I'll look over the code tonight to see how big of an effort it would be to convert it to HTML5 and Python 2.7. Note that with the 'developer' permissions you added me with, I can only upload code to a different version #. This will be fine for my testing, but we'll have to work out another way of managing code (sounds like a time to set up GIT or Subversion).  You can upgrade me to an 'owner' so I can download code, but I'll leave that up to you for now.

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[Aidanny]

Alright I will, I also want people who are signed (via google (already implemented)) in to be able to create and edit their own pages (if they can't already)

[VDEStudios]

Sounds good, I look at it.

[VDEStudios]

And I'm still not able to edit stuff though D:

On Thursday, January 24, 2013 7:01:43 PM UTC-7, Aidanny wrote:

[Aidanny]

Alright that kind of a problem, I want people to be able to edit most pages (except home page etc.)

[VDEStudios]

Is it possible to let me add pages?

[Aidanny]

perhaps, ill invite your email to join as a viewer (temporary) and see if that permission group can edit