Well-Actually War Trall Niemand Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Since most of the material on my website relates directly to scenario design, I thought I would announce it here: I have a website now. Now that you know this, you may wish to visit it . As it is clearly labeled, it's still under construction to some degree, but so far it has both of my utility programs, some of my BoA scripts, and information on my progress on my scenario. EDIT: Fixed the link to go to the main page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Ephesos Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Eh, might as well plug mine then... finally messed around with Freewebs today. Nothing's there, but it's still cool. (pokes sig) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Niemand Posted March 9, 2006 Author Share Posted March 9, 2006 Er, hate to tell you Ephesos, but several of the graphics, such as http://www.freewebs.com/ephesos/Images/Sanctuary1-medium.png, don't seem to want to load. It's fine otherwise. I like the undead prohibition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Links list updated. If anyone else wants his or her page listed, let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Now that you have a site of your own, would you like me to remove your graphic adjustment program from my site? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Ephesos Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Quote: Originally written by Niemand:Er, hate to tell you Ephesos, but several of the graphics, such as http://www.freewebs.com/ephesos/Images/Sanctuary1-medium.png, don't seem to want to load. It's fine otherwise. I like the undead prohibition. Drat... that means more messing with the stupid File Manager... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Oh, yeah, same question as Thuryl's, except in reference to the dialogue editor that I host. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Quote: Originally written by Niemand:Er, hate to tell you Ephesos, but several of the graphics, such as http://www.freewebs.com/ephesos/Images/Sanctuary1-medium.png, don't seem to want to load. It's fine otherwise. I like the undead prohibition. That image loads fine when I visit his site. It doesn't load when I click the link in your post, though, because there's a comma at the end of the link that shouldn't be there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Niemand Posted March 9, 2006 Author Share Posted March 9, 2006 Kelandon and Thuryl: If you want to take those programs off of your respective sites it's fine with me. After all there's no point in storing the same thing over again. Thanks for hosting the programs until I had a website though. Thuryl: I wasn't trying to post a link, I was just trying to make clear what image I was talking about. It still won't work for me when I remove the comma. It seems that for whatever reason the images won't load in Safari, though I find that they do in Firefox. I'm guessing that it's the fault of Freeweb's template, since I've never seen a problem like this with any other website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Dintiradan Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Hmmm... they look nice. Is Freewebs a good host for a website? Eventually, I'm going to need one of my own when I start beta-testing. I remember having an Angelfire one about five years back, but I didn't really like it. -------------------- IF I EVER BECOME AN EVIL OVERLORD: I will hire a talented fashion designer to create original uniforms for my Legions of Terror, as opposed to some cheap knock-offs that make them look like Nazi stormtroopers, Roman footsoldiers, or savage Mongol hordes. All were eventually defeated and I want my troops to have a more positive mind-set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Niemand Posted March 9, 2006 Author Share Posted March 9, 2006 Freewebs is ok, but they are a bit tricky. They will give you free hosting with ~40Mb of storage, but they limit you to 50 actual files put in that space, which is both a bit strange and annoying. If a small website is all you want it could work just fine for you, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unflappable Drayk The Loquacious Lord Grimm Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 I have a host account at my school, which I'll be using for a few years yet. Though I do have a paid account and domain with GoDaddy web hosting that I'm only using for e-mail at the moment. Problem is, I havent finished designing the LL section of the site, so it's not really worth bothering you guys to see it. -------------------- The Silent Assassin would like it announced that his birthday is next week. He expects expensive gifts from all of you. Large strings of pearls are acceptable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Quote: Originally written by Niemand:Thuryl: I wasn't trying to post a link, I was just trying to make clear what image I was talking about. It still won't work for me when I remove the comma. It seems that for whatever reason the images won't load in Safari, though I find that they do in Firefox. I'm guessing that it's the fault of Freeweb's template, since I've never seen a problem like this with any other website. It works just fine for me in Safari. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Aran Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 The image loads fine, but quite slow. I've got a T1 connection with usually between 200 KB - 500 KB per second, and anyone with a slower connection will wait even longer. The picture is about 550 KB, which most sources agree is far too large for an online picture. Out of interest, I tried converting it to a jpeg with Photoshop, and got it down to about 56 KB, or one tenth. My eyes aren't very good, but I don't see a quality decrease at the normal zoom level; the "shrunk" picture is here . -- In other news, I have taken a PHP course this week and will probably re-vamp the PPP archive/Endeavor pages when I get time this weekend. The navigation could be a lot better. Also, I've been thinking about a scenario database that could be updated by the designers themselves, which could make it far easier both for designers to notify the community about new versions and for players to find scenarios without hunting all over the place. Nothing solid in the works though, only brainstorming. After all, the last such project was... underwhelming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 The last attempt to create such a thing was Djur's, which never produced anything, as I recall. "Underwhelming" just about covers it, yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Aran Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 I didn't hear about Djur's project; I meant that rather ill-fated "Center". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Ephesos Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Quote: Originally written by When in the course of Nathan Ashby:The image loads fine, but quite slow. I've got a T1 connection with usually between 200 KB - 500 KB per second, and anyone with a slower connection will wait even longer. Very good point, Aran. 'Tis fixed. (And now I won't use up bandwidth as quickly, I hope...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Understated Ur-Drakon Tyranicus Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Anyone who wants to link Shadow Vale (The site will have more content and look better soon, I promise) or just the Chat Database , go right ahead. As I see it, it is directly related to BoA because of the logged Blades Chats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrulous Glaahk Xoid Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 I feel like Johnny-come-lately, but I'll point a few things out while they're still somewhat relevant: @ Niemand: you might like to provide a *.zip of the source if you wouldn't mind seeing someone port your utilities. Alternatively you could just use *.zip format - it shouldn't be too hard for Mac Users to find a program for openning a *.zip. That may sound a little selfish of me, but most programs I've seen that can open a *.zip are a <1Mb download. Most programs I've seen that can open a *.sit are a >10Mb download. I'd prefer not downloading the bloated monstrosity that is Stuffit or its competitors if at all possible. @ Webmasters: when making a web page, please be conscientious of modem users by using the 'right' image format for each particular image. An incomplete list of common image formats & some basic Info on them: *.bmp - Windows's native format, it's inefficient but can have high levels of detail. *.pict - Macintosh's former native format, it's inefficient but can have high levels of detail. *.jpg - Lossy compression format, often causes image quality to drop significantly when used on images with large areas of the exact same colour. Use *.jpg's for pictures with many different colours. *.png - A format with support for transparency and excellent compression for images with large areas of the exact same colour. *.gif - A format with support for transparency and animation. Limited to 8 bit colour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 I don't know where you got the impression that PCX is the native format for Macs. The native metafile format for Macs pre-OS X is PICT, and post-OS X is PDF. Neither is a particularly great choice for putting images on the web. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Aran Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 bmp is Windows-only? I remember opening bmp files when working with a mac in school, but we might have been using a special utility or plugin for that. You got the compression formats right though. Also, gif is apparently a proprietary, patented format that png (as an open-source format) is supposed to replace. However, when I looked it up on Wikipedia just now, I read that the gif patent expires on August 11 this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 Preview (on Macs) opens BMPs just fine. It's just that it's some sort of default on Windows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrulous Glaahk Xoid Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 Quote: Originally written by Thuryl:I don't know where you got the impression that PCX is the native format for Macs. The native metafile format for Macs pre-OS X is PICT, and post-OS X is PDF. Neither is a particularly great choice for putting images on the web. Oops... that is what happens when I write something late at night and only give it a once over. I'll be correcting it to read *.pict by the time you read this. What's this about *.pdf being the post-OS X metafile format? That is a format intended for cross-platform documents, not mere images. Doesn't OS X have any adopted/native image format? Quote: Originally written by When in the course of Nathan Ashby:Also, gif is apparently a proprietary, patented format that png (as an open-source format) is supposed to replace. However, when I looked it up on Wikipedia just now, I read that the gif patent expires on August 11 this year. About the *.gif format being patented: it is the compression algorithm that is the source of all legal troubles with that dinosaur. This site has an excellent overview of the whole debacle that is the *.gif format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 Quote: Originally written by CPeters:What's this about *.pdf being the post-OS X metafile format? That is a format intended for cross-platform documents, not mere images. Doesn't OS X have any adopted/native image format? It does, and it's PDF. I swear to God. If you take a screenshot in OS X, it saves it on your desktop as an image a couple of megabytes in size, in PDF format. Really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Drakefyre Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 And then I have to copy the image into graphic converter and save as a png or jpeg because graphic converter can't open PDFs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 Quote: Originally written by Drakefyre:And then I have to copy the image into graphic converter and save as a png or jpeg because graphic converter can't open PDFs. What? Yes it can. What version do you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Niemand Posted March 12, 2006 Author Share Posted March 12, 2006 CPeters: Ok, I didn't need a lecture, all you had to do was tell me that the file I was trying to get Windows users to download was a .sit file. I'll be happy to swap the code .sit files for .zip files. All the same, .sit is pretty much the standard for Mac files, so I'm not going to change the program downloads themselves. Furthermore, I completely disagree with your analysis of Stuffit; I love that program because it can compress and decompress every format I've ever seen, and at least up through mine, every Mac came with a copy of Stuffit Expander. (Besides, Stuffit 8.0.2 is only 6.8 Mb ) I can appreciate your concern over image sizes, my only internet access is by dialup. For this reason, I go through my images obsessively compressing them, and using whatever format turns out to give the smallest size while retaining quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Aran Posted March 13, 2006 Share Posted March 13, 2006 So do I, by the way. Although I usually favor png instead of gif because of that patent thing I've heard, but not read a lot about. Also, the website CPeters linked to appears to be a good few years older in terms of updates than the Wikipedia entry on gifs. Therefore, if the Wiki entry says the patent expires soon, I'd be inclined to believe them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 Unfortunately, PNG isn't necessarily free of patented algorithms either. It's free of known patented algorithms, but it's amazing what you can find a patent on once there's a financial incentive to do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Aran Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 I suppose if there is no way to be completely safe, the easiest route could be to ignore it for now? -- Also, when I said "nothing solid in the works" five days ago, I didn't expect that to change so soon. What I have in the works is rudimentary and not even half done, but it is certainly solid (or will be once I'm finished). There's a preview picture in my sig... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Ash Lael Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 4.2? Not optimistic, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Aran Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 I was entering numbers at random Originally, the sample scenario was Bahssikava, attributed to Terror's Martyr and being lambasted with a 1.1 rating from Kelandon. Then, I thought I'd try something a little more... nondescript. After all, it is supposed to be filler. There are a lot of problems still to iron out on that page. For example, the small row of stars (indicating the rating) is quite vague, besides leaving an opaque white rectangle. The scenario icon is forced into 120x120 dimensions, even if that would enlarge, deform or pixellate it. But I'm in no hurry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrulous Glaahk Xoid Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 Quote: Originally written by Aran:Also, the website CPeters linked to appears to be a good few years older in terms of updates than the Wikipedia entry on gifs. Therefore, if the Wiki entry says the patent expires soon, I'd be inclined to believe them... I deliberatley linked to an older site because I wanted to show the controversy that lead to the people abandoning the *.gif format. I had erroneously assumed it was common knowledge that the patent was ending. From various sources I've read, the patent has already expired in some countries, and there are of course, countries that care nothing for patents. Quote: Originally written by Niemand:CPeters: Ok, I didn't need a lecture... Well you're going to hate this then... Quote: Originally written by Niemand:...all you had to do was tell me that the file I was trying to get Windows users to download was a .sit file. I'll be happy to swap the code .sit files for .zip files. There are enough reasons here and here as to why I hate StuffIt. My most legitimate concerns are that the *.sit format is both propriety and inefficient. Despite that, I looked up the Windows version and attempted to download the "free trial". Requiring me to provide my email address was enough for me to seek an alternative. Apparently they need a credit card too for Windows users. And the windows version is bloated, they did a poor job of porting the mess. Perhaps the reason you are satiated with StuffIt is simply because Mac does not have the sheer number of applications developed for it that Windows does. When you've got a thousand and one programs to choose from, you tend to get picky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Aran Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 Forgive me for not being intimate with patent law, but is there still a risk in using something the patent of which has expired? Can the patent be renewed? Also, I am on a PC and have a program named StuffIt that did not cost me anything - I might have given them an email address when I downloaded, but it wasn't one I use. It's the only program that lets me make and unzip .rar files. However, I am not sure if we are talking about the same software or the same version of it. I have never managed to decompress a .sit file with it - although I don't know whether this was because the .sit file was corrupted or the program was incompatible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrulous Glaahk Xoid Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 I never said the trial cost anything, only that "apparently it requires a credit card". If that is incorrect, then one of the posts on the two sites I linked to was incorrect. I objected to the company demanding my email address for a download, and having the gall to force junkmail down my throat. (Their disclaimer says they'll send you promotions. They can take that and StuffIt right up their...) so I didn't even get far enough to verify if they require a credit card. WinRAR is a program that can compress/decompress RAR files. Kinda logical since the RAR format was designed by the guy who makes it. Linky: DOSRAR's & WinRAR's " Homepage ". Incidentally, if you're looking for killer compression, try UHarc or it's more mature command line version. Or if you don't mind a six day decompression, maybe the *.paq format is more to your tastes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 Quote: Originally written by Aran:Forgive me for not being intimate with patent law, but is there still a risk in using something the patent of which has expired? Can the patent be renewed? No. Unless, of course, there's a different patent on another part of the same software... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Aran Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 So once the gif patent expires in August, that'll be it, right? No more legal restrictions? Or will they still try to come after you if they can prove you have used gif files before that date? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 Quote: Originally written by Aran:Or will they still try to come after you if they can prove you have used gif files before that date? Legally, they can do that. Unless you have particularly deep pockets, though, they're not going to bother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted March 14, 2006 Share Posted March 14, 2006 I think everyone knows that .sit files are not good for cross-platform things, but if you're sharing between Mac users, they're fine. StuffIt comes default on Macs, I believe. Of course, it's easier now just to control-click (or right-click) on a folder and choose, "Create Archive," but there was a time when it wasn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted March 15, 2006 Share Posted March 15, 2006 Quote: Originally written by Kelandon:I think everyone knows that .sit files are not good for cross-platform things, but if you're sharing between Mac users, they're fine. StuffIt comes default on Macs, I believe. Not any more! OS X 10.4 does not come with StuffIt, and nor will any future versions of the OS. Apple now recommends using .dmg or .zip format for distributing files. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Thralni Posted March 15, 2006 Share Posted March 15, 2006 .dmg too? I thought you needed Disk copy for that (or however its called in OS 10.4), which is a Mac application. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted March 15, 2006 Share Posted March 15, 2006 Disk Utility? Sure, it's an application, but it comes bundled with the OS, so .dmg is considered a standard format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Alorael at Large Posted March 16, 2006 Share Posted March 16, 2006 .dmg is an even worse way to share files with PCs, though, because PCs don't really have any common-knowledge way to read .dmg. Zip works fine. —Alorael, who just noticed that you can anything on a Mac from a simple control-click. Neat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Aran Posted March 16, 2006 Share Posted March 16, 2006 To be honest, if I got a .dmg file from anyone, I'd be baffled as to what it was, let alone what to do with it. Some kind of encrypted file? Does dmg stand for "damage"? "Database migration"? "Doubtlessly mysterious GIF"? Do I try to open it in a Paint program, or is it an executable? Of course, I'd use Google or Wikipedia, but still, I would be totally bewildered for a few seconds... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted March 16, 2006 Share Posted March 16, 2006 It's short for "disk image", which at least makes a reasonable amount of sense once you know what it is. (On OS X, a .dmg file can be mounted as if it were a disk. No dirty jokes, please.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Thralni Posted March 16, 2006 Share Posted March 16, 2006 Aran, that was exactly why I reacted so surprised, as I thought that .dmg is a standard Mac file, not a Windows one. heck, even OS 9 can't read it, it can only read .img files with disk copy. was this something new Apple invented with the coming of OS X? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted March 16, 2006 Share Posted March 16, 2006 For those who can't put two and two together: previously, .sit was one recommended format for sharing among Macs and .zip for sharing cross-platform. Now .dmg is for sharing among Macs and .zip still for sharing cross-platform. That is, .dmg isn't terribly compatible, but it's replacing .sit, which wasn't terribly compatible either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Thralni Posted March 16, 2006 Share Posted March 16, 2006 Yes, but at least every Mac having Stuffit could decode it, while not every Mac can decode .dmg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted March 16, 2006 Share Posted March 16, 2006 But in the near future, the opposite will be true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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