chaos
Owner
Hey guys, as usual, been a while since the last update. I am all settled in at Auburn University doing research on how to reduce energy consumption in clusters of computers. I'm not totally certain how much free time I will have but I'm fairly certain I will have enough to keep working on Smogon :) As I mentioned in the last update, please, if you care about the site at all take some time to think these issues through so I get more than "read" in replies :chaos: I've even italicized important stuff!
Let's get down to business:
Smogon Training
Shiv, ryubahamut and Blue Kirby now have access to the Smogon source code. Since I am too busy to work on it, they will be learning how to code for Smogon by making (with my guidance of course) the new version of Smogon bash. Anyone with programming experience (any language is fine, but Python knowledge is preferred) may contact me for access to the Smogon source. Setting it up is a time consuming process; I recommend only those who are serious about coding for the site attempt it.
Those who are approved for access to the source will most likely be given a small coding project to work on or alternatively assigned to an existing small coding project (such as the one Shiv, et al. are working on).
Damage Calculator
Doug, I haven't gotten the chance to talk to you recently. I have a skeleton of the damage calculator layout done... it should be completed relatively soon (right now it is my #1 priority).
Improving Google presence
ATM our pages don't have the Google presence they could. If you notice, when googling "Smogon", the description is something ridiculous like "Provides information on pokemons moves and types." Our other pages don't have great descriptions either. This is a simple problem to fix; we need to have meta description tags on each important page of the site describing the content. For articles, we can reuse blurbs from the index pages. For other pages, we'll have to get creative. If you're interested in helping out, feel free to post. No technical skill required, just some good old fashioned "manual" labor.
In addition, Google seems to get confused with our generation specific pages because we don't have the generation in the title. I'm working on a general solution to this problem (#3 priority).
Breeding guide, still
Sorry X-Act, I got your attention on the last update but never really followed up. Since it's such a long article, we should probably partition it. If the 4 partitions it is currently in is optimal, then that's okay. I'd just upload each part in /dp/articles/ so we can see what it looks like... from there we can make improvements.
... on that note...
X-Act, if you want to edit in links to your user.smogon.com pages containing applets on your articles, feel free. I didn't want to link to geocities because their advertising is obnoxious.
"Main section"
Probably our most serious problem with the site is that there are no links to the "main section" of the site. You know, the section with our about page, credits (more to say on this in another topic), philosophy, general Pokemon articles... the closest thing we have to a link is at the top "About" and at the bottom "contributors". I'd like to find a good way to integrate links to main section pages on the front page. The problem is, they don't currently fit in the 3 categories listed on the front page.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to accomplish this? I had a small idea: changing "Participate..." into a combined "About Smogon" and "Community" section. Articles could go under Learn..., but I don't know if this is the best solution. Your feedback would be highly valued!!!!!!!!!!! (#2 priority)
Items
As you may have noticed, only the D/P items are available on the Dex. I've dreaded working on items for a while now but I've gotten to the point where it's almost the very last thing to work on in the Dex before I give it the "grand polishing" it needs.
At the moment, ALL items show on the D/P page. This sucks because most people don't give a shit about the effects of X-Accuracy or what have you. My initial thought was to scrap everything in the items database that didn't have a function in link battles, but this is impossible because the WFTC needs all of the items available. So instead, Brain had the idea of categorizing them and showing only items that have an effect in link battles by default.
There are several ways to categorize items; the most obvious is "Has an effect in link battle/Does not have an effect in link battle". I don't think those categories are great to be honest; at the very least there should be an additional category for TMs & HMs. It's possible to refine categories even more, however. Should we have a category for berries? A category for stat uppers like X-Accuracy? A category for useful EV items like Protein? My personal suggestion for items would be "Link Battle/TMs & HMs/Non Link Battle" but I'd really love some feedback on this.
Also: what do we do about RBY? I guess we could initially show TMs & HMs or Non Link Battle items but I don't know. Help me out here.
Article Revamps
A whole lot of revamps have been successfully completed and put on the site! I give my thanks to those who have participated in this project so far. Unfortunately, however, progress seems to have halted - there are a number of incomplete revamps in the forum and AFAIK no articles out of the backlog have been completed. Can we get this going again? We're so close, I'd really like to kill off those temp forums.
Stickies in Congregation
We decided a while back that if the Face of Smogon stickies were to be placed in Congregation, that "How did you find Smogon" and "What has Smogon done for you?" should be merged. Could someone make a new thread and come up with a good first post to kick it off (and also make sure it stays free of garbage)?
Leaves of Absence Thread
Could someone keep this thread clean? It's hard to figure out who is gone or here.
Let's get down to business:
Smogon Training
Shiv, ryubahamut and Blue Kirby now have access to the Smogon source code. Since I am too busy to work on it, they will be learning how to code for Smogon by making (with my guidance of course) the new version of Smogon bash. Anyone with programming experience (any language is fine, but Python knowledge is preferred) may contact me for access to the Smogon source. Setting it up is a time consuming process; I recommend only those who are serious about coding for the site attempt it.
Those who are approved for access to the source will most likely be given a small coding project to work on or alternatively assigned to an existing small coding project (such as the one Shiv, et al. are working on).
Damage Calculator
Doug, I haven't gotten the chance to talk to you recently. I have a skeleton of the damage calculator layout done... it should be completed relatively soon (right now it is my #1 priority).
Improving Google presence
ATM our pages don't have the Google presence they could. If you notice, when googling "Smogon", the description is something ridiculous like "Provides information on pokemons moves and types." Our other pages don't have great descriptions either. This is a simple problem to fix; we need to have meta description tags on each important page of the site describing the content. For articles, we can reuse blurbs from the index pages. For other pages, we'll have to get creative. If you're interested in helping out, feel free to post. No technical skill required, just some good old fashioned "manual" labor.
In addition, Google seems to get confused with our generation specific pages because we don't have the generation in the title. I'm working on a general solution to this problem (#3 priority).
Breeding guide, still
Sorry X-Act, I got your attention on the last update but never really followed up. Since it's such a long article, we should probably partition it. If the 4 partitions it is currently in is optimal, then that's okay. I'd just upload each part in /dp/articles/ so we can see what it looks like... from there we can make improvements.
... on that note...
X-Act, if you want to edit in links to your user.smogon.com pages containing applets on your articles, feel free. I didn't want to link to geocities because their advertising is obnoxious.
"Main section"
Probably our most serious problem with the site is that there are no links to the "main section" of the site. You know, the section with our about page, credits (more to say on this in another topic), philosophy, general Pokemon articles... the closest thing we have to a link is at the top "About" and at the bottom "contributors". I'd like to find a good way to integrate links to main section pages on the front page. The problem is, they don't currently fit in the 3 categories listed on the front page.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to accomplish this? I had a small idea: changing "Participate..." into a combined "About Smogon" and "Community" section. Articles could go under Learn..., but I don't know if this is the best solution. Your feedback would be highly valued!!!!!!!!!!! (#2 priority)
Items
As you may have noticed, only the D/P items are available on the Dex. I've dreaded working on items for a while now but I've gotten to the point where it's almost the very last thing to work on in the Dex before I give it the "grand polishing" it needs.
At the moment, ALL items show on the D/P page. This sucks because most people don't give a shit about the effects of X-Accuracy or what have you. My initial thought was to scrap everything in the items database that didn't have a function in link battles, but this is impossible because the WFTC needs all of the items available. So instead, Brain had the idea of categorizing them and showing only items that have an effect in link battles by default.
There are several ways to categorize items; the most obvious is "Has an effect in link battle/Does not have an effect in link battle". I don't think those categories are great to be honest; at the very least there should be an additional category for TMs & HMs. It's possible to refine categories even more, however. Should we have a category for berries? A category for stat uppers like X-Accuracy? A category for useful EV items like Protein? My personal suggestion for items would be "Link Battle/TMs & HMs/Non Link Battle" but I'd really love some feedback on this.
Also: what do we do about RBY? I guess we could initially show TMs & HMs or Non Link Battle items but I don't know. Help me out here.
Article Revamps
A whole lot of revamps have been successfully completed and put on the site! I give my thanks to those who have participated in this project so far. Unfortunately, however, progress seems to have halted - there are a number of incomplete revamps in the forum and AFAIK no articles out of the backlog have been completed. Can we get this going again? We're so close, I'd really like to kill off those temp forums.
Stickies in Congregation
We decided a while back that if the Face of Smogon stickies were to be placed in Congregation, that "How did you find Smogon" and "What has Smogon done for you?" should be merged. Could someone make a new thread and come up with a good first post to kick it off (and also make sure it stays free of garbage)?
Leaves of Absence Thread
Could someone keep this thread clean? It's hard to figure out who is gone or here.