RnD Documentation Pre-release

[Zomis]

Maybe this thread should be split into content and layout discussion ...

That's good thinking, and is a good question whether or not to do so. But until later, I leave it as it is.

Francesco, I am very impressed of your work. I have, if you haven't noticed, awarded this documentation with a Golden Rockford at the archive. If anyone disagrees about this decision, please let me know

I just changed the description of the file, it's very strange that didn't work... But oh well, I will probably take a deeper look into the archive one of these days, if there's time.

[Francesco]

Maybe this thread should be split into content and layout discussion ...

That's good thinking, and is a good question whether or not to do so. But until later, I leave it as it is.

To split or not to split, I'd like to go on reading your comments and suggestions.

Francesco, I am very impressed of your work. I have, if you haven't noticed, awarded this documentation with a Golden Rockford at the archive. If anyone disagrees about this decision, please let me know

Too kind of you. Sincerely, the work isn't bad. Only... I wonder if there could be a prize even higher than the Golden Rockford to aim to... you know, just for a better motivation, foreseeing the new CEs Walkaround...

I just changed the description of the file,

Did you? It doesn't seems so...

Edit:
Ehehe, sorry, reading again the lines above, they seem a bit "rude"... it wasn't intended. I really appreciate the help and the discussion, and also I appreciate the award and the effort you are spending on the FA, Zomis, I've just forgot a couple of smilies.

---

Just an auto-highlight for the page splitting... assuming that the page splitting doesn't change :

Here is the online version of the (updated) documentation:
http://spazioinwind.libero.it/entuland/rnd_doc

The whole updated package is available from the same old location:
http://www.zomis.net/rnd/download.php?id=612

[Francesco]

I've made some change to the online version:
- Used a lighter blue as background color for the manual page ("Colorful" style)
- Changed all the borders from "dotted" to "double" (both the "Colorful" and the "GrayScale" styles)
- Narrowed down the text respect to the visible page - it's a deal between the fixed size of the first version and the 100% size of the doc package RC2

Please let me know if the page is rendering correctly with your browsers - in particular about the slide-in menu on the top-right corner and the style switcher that it contains.

Unfortunately, I don't see any other way to change the style by clicking a link, I must use a script...

About the overall styling, please let me know if you have any suggestion about which style should be the default one, or whether you'd prefer one even different from the three I have already made - all your comments are welcome!

[Jannik]

Thank you for changing so many details I complained about before, especially for the background and the navigation links (directory-style)!

The slide-in menu is also very handy, but unfortunately it doesn't work with IE 7.
Also the hover effect on the elements table doesn't work with IE 7.

Why is the Index of the Manual at the end, in FAQ, REF and TUT it's at the top?

Personally I don't like the thick black borders of the elements in the elements reference. It makes it difficult to imagine the exact tile dimensions and harder to recognize the elements.
In the "Index with images" there are thin borders, that's much better! Or what about no border?

[Francesco]

You're welcome, Jannik.

The hover and slide effects could be achieved with javascript, I have to dig it a bit. Unfortunately some things are not supported by the poor CSS engine of IE7, just like the highlight in the elements table.

The index is at the bottom side for no particular reason. I think I'll change that.

About the thick element-border, in effect I could make it smaller, but not completely absent. I don't like the elements pushed all together, but OK, it's matter of tastes.

I hope that the style selector works right in IE7.

[Zomis]

When will this documentation be officially released on the Artsoft.org page?

[HerzAusGold]

Please make a proper "sticky" topic,with download link aso.

[Holger]

> When will this documentation be officially released on the Artsoft.org page?

Probably together with the release of the game package that will contain it (or maybe earlier when it's brought to the format that will be used for the release with the game package).

[Francesco]

[...](or maybe earlier when it's brought to the format that will be used for the release with the game package) [...]

Uhm, which format are we speaking about? Should I repack the whole documentation in a different way?

[Holger]

> Uhm, which format are we speaking about?

Good question! :-D

I thought that there was something that I still wanted to change, but now that I look at it again, I have no idea what that might have been -- it's just great as it is! :-)

One thing I noticed (again) was the navigation thingie (in the top right corner) that works with Konqueror, but not with Mozilla (does it work with Firefox, btw?), but this is really not a big problem, as the navigation is very usable also without it.

The other thing I noticed was that you've changed the filenames of the element graphics from the <nnn>.gif style format (with <nnn> being the element number, like "042.gif") to a "name based" format (like "yellow_gem.gif"). Maybe it's better to either use the numbers like before, or use the exact element names like in the configuration files -- that way it would be easier to reference certain element graphics, if needed (without having to "guess" its name).

Besides that, I think I could (and should) just put it on my site and announce it right away!

If there should then still be some changes before the release in the game package, we can do it between releasing it to the public on the R'n'D web site and the time when 3.2.4 is ready for release!

Any further comments on it by others before releasing it?

[Zomis]

Navigation in top right corner works fine in Firefox.

http://spazioinwind.libero.it/entuland/ ... m_Elements
"Custom Elements use a default graphic, that is a wall of bricks with a red question mark"

I think something should be written there about Custom Elements being able to look like any element. (It's very easy to miss that "default" word) (Without having to scroll down to the property pages of a CE)

Maybe instead write something like:
"By default, Custom Elements use a graphic that is a wall of bricks with a red question mark. However, Custom Elements can be set to look like any element"

[Francesco]

I effect, using the correct tokens for each image should be the right solution (and we would get rid of any possible future change in the number sequence). I'll do my best to fix that as soon as possible, just like the change suggested by Zomis about that CE description.

[Holger]

> I effect, using the correct tokens for each image should be the right
> solution (and we would get rid of any possible future change in the
> number sequence).

Absolutely right! As element numbers have indeed changed in the past, this is the best solution. A list of all element token names can be found in "src/main.c".

> I'll do my best to fix that as soon as possible, just like the change
> suggested by Zomis about that CE description.

Cool! We won't necessarily have to wait for this for the release of the documentation on my web site, but maybe for the release in the game package. (This is due to the fact(?) that installing newer versions of R'n'D over older versions using InnoSetup just overwrites the old files, so it's best to use the same file names to not duplicate identical files with different names. That's why I will have an extra look at the final filename and directory layout of the documentation.)

[Zomis]

Absolutely right! As element numbers have indeed changed in the past, this is the best solution. A list of all element token names can be found in "src/main.c".

I do believe you mean main.h

Edit: No wait, that's only the element variables... but well... those are pretty identical to the token name I've just learned

[Francesco]

I am glad to see the official release of the documentation on the Artsoft website, unfortunately I have very little spare time to go on working and fixing it... maybe in the next months it will become better - I should also put my hands on some of my levelsets to be released in the contributions 2006... well, we'll see.

Have nice time people!