soldat.pl website discussion [split topic]

[Adam]

you should change the whole site layout as a whole, shouldnt take long

EDIT: Adam received a 14 day ban for derailing the screenshot thread and making me split it

[Adam]

i mean, theres templates that can make a far better and eye catching website than soldat.pl, lol

[Blacksheepboy]

i mean, theres templates that can make a far better and eye catching website than soldat.pl, lol

Original design over templates any day, regardless of how it looks..

[darDar]

i mean, theres templates that can make a far better and eye catching website than soldat.pl, lol

Original design over templates any day, regardless of how it looks..

Isn't a design meant to look good? Aside of the poor look soldat.pl provides it lacks of usual features and a horrible layout and not a single valid reson to not switch over to something better and new template.

[jrgp]

Isn't a design meant to look good? Aside of the poor look soldat.pl provides it lacks of usual features and a horrible layout and not a single valid reson to not switch over to something better and new template.

A lot of effort went into the "current poor look horrible design." Great job being a dick.

[Bistoufly]

Let darDar make the design.

[DarkCrusade]

We all can certainly appreciate darDar's resume of the Soldat community, of the state of Soldat development, and whatever else he has criticised in the past. Now, knowing what's wrong is pretty darn nice! But how about some actual input? That is, constructive criticism, not destructive douchebaggery. Your efforts would be met joyfully, darDar.

I assure you.

[jrgp]

Let darDar make the design.

If someone wants to throw together a html/css template and show it to me I'm up for potentially tweaking it into use.

Nudge nudge nudge xmripper

[Adam]

Isn't a design meant to look good? Aside of the poor look soldat.pl provides it lacks of usual features and a horrible layout and not a single valid reson to not switch over to something better and new template.

A lot of effort went into the "current poor look horrible design." Great job being a dick.

how many years ago was that effort made?

[jrgp]

Isn't a design meant to look good? Aside of the poor look soldat.pl provides it lacks of usual features and a horrible layout and not a single valid reson to not switch over to something better and new template.

A lot of effort went into the "current poor look horrible design." Great job being a dick.

how many years ago was that effort made?

Me and ElephantHunter made the design from scratch in 2009. ElephantHunter drew the layout in photoshop/inkscape and I wrote the backend code. Probably before everyone in this thread even joined this forum.

ElephantHunter left/rage-quit THD. As I'm a systems/programer/ops guy rather than an artsy fartsy pseudo-faggot web designer the UI hasn't changed.

[Blacksheepboy]

Haha, in hindsight, it's effectively the same. Well, shit.

http://www.circleprefect.com/upload/weblayout.png

Basically the "removal" of the buttons. Had the idea of a brighter background.

Edit:

Isn't a design meant to look good? Aside of the poor look soldat.pl provides it lacks of usual features and a horrible layout and not a single valid reson to not switch over to something better and new template.

I have designed some logos, background art and a few website graphics, and I know what goes into the process. Soldat.pl is okay.

Opinions, whatever; ideas :thumbsup:

[jrgp]

Haha, in hindsight, it's effectively the same. Well, shit.

http://www.circleprefect.com/upload/weblayout.png

Basically the "removal" of the buttons. Had the idea of a brighter background.

Edit:

Isn't a design meant to look good? Aside of the poor look soldat.pl provides it lacks of usual features and a horrible layout and not a single valid reson to not switch over to something better and new template.

I have designed some logos, background art and a few website graphics, and I know what goes into the process. Soldat.pl is okay.

Opinions, whatever; ideas :thumbsup:

Yeah that's identical to how it currently is.

@people in this thread: if you're going to post a big image please provide a link to it instead of embedding it and breaking viewing the thread.

[darDar]

Isn't a design meant to look good? Aside of the poor look soldat.pl provides it lacks of usual features and a horrible layout and not a single valid reson to not switch over to something better and new template.

A lot of effort went into the "current poor look horrible design." Great job being a dick.

how many years ago was that effort made?

That's what I wanted to say.

Let darDar make the design.

It's dumb to say that I should be capable to make a better design by myself to make criticising one legit. People somehow always do that, especially if you criticize music, they'll try to convince you that it is actually good cause "omg try it better".

We all can certainly appreciate darDar's resume of the Soldat community, of the state of Soldat development, and whatever else he has criticised in the past. Now, knowing what's wrong is pretty darn nice! But how about some actual input? That is, constructive criticism, not destructive douchebaggery. Your efforts would be met joyfully, darDar.

I assure you.

Honestly, I made this topic a few months : soldat.pl official website [topic].

It was actually me who listed all things which were wrong on that website and honestly that's pathetic.
If someone is in charge of a website he should be capable of at least updating it once a few weeks, which clearly didn't happen here. It wasn't updated for YEARS (aside of the +news+downloads).

Then when I tell people about what's wrong they even want me to sum all things up, when I made it they want me to not post it on the forums but on bugs.soldat.pl [report] for some reason. (which I made either)

I could have fixed the whole outdated stuff in like 5-10 minutes by myself and see how long it actually took now. (In fact it's not even done)

I'm tired about giving any more input if actually nothing ever happens on these tasks. (GUI,Accounts,Maps,Visuals and whatnot) I made essays about that bullshit like 10 years ago.

"Popular Downloads"
1.6
1.5 patch
1.6.3
1.42

and please get rid of that crap which highly distracts people and has NO purpose at all. WHY in hell there should even be something on the website.



I'm not offensive but the "marketing" / "reasoning" part in soldat / soldat development bothers me.

[Blacksheepboy]

It's dumb to say that I should be capable to make a better design by myself to make criticising one legit. People somehow always do that, especially if you criticize music, they'll try to convince you that it is actually good cause "omg try it better".

It wasn't an argument, it was a joke.

Honestly, I made this topic a few months : soldat.pl official website [topic].

Still pretty unhelpful. "Make some new screenshots, takes 10 minutes."

"The long awaited NEW Soldat version is here!" three times is amusing.

and please get rid of that crap which highly distracts people and has NO purpose at all. WHY in hell there should even be something on the website.

Still not very helpful.

[L[0ne]R]

Honestly, I think the current site is fine. It doesn't look nearly as bad as some people here seem to imply. Some pages could use some work and perhaps the categories on the left side could be cleaned-up and reorganized a bit, text formatting and other minor things tweaked where needed, but overall I think it looks alright.

[jrgp]

It's dumb to say that I should be capable to make a better design by myself to make criticising one legit. People somehow always do that, especially if you criticize music, they'll try to convince you that it is actually good cause "omg try it better".

It wasn't an argument, it was a joke.

Honestly, I made this topic a few months : soldat.pl official website [topic].

Still pretty unhelpful. "Make some new screenshots, takes 10 minutes."

"The long awaited NEW Soldat version is here!" three times is amusing.

and please get rid of that crap which highly distracts people and has NO purpose at all. WHY in hell there should even be something on the website.

Still not very helpful.

I don't understand why darDar is making such a rude ruckus over the site falling under the maintenance radar in recent years.

Is darDar losing sleep over it? Is it making him impotent? Is it stressing him out to the point of him performing poorly at his job? Any of those things would justify him getting so mad about it.

Maybe we should meet up and go to a support group and sit down with darDar so he can tell us how he really feels. I'll be your shoulder to cry on but not in this thread.

[DarkCrusade]

I'm not offensive but the "marketing" / "reasoning" part in soldat / soldat development bothers me.

I read that like when kids tell their friends something hilarious and then go NOOOOT to turn the statement around. You remind me of a kid anyway.

[Adam]

seriously though, how hard would it be to actually make an attractive site that teens wouldn't gloss over? every mainpage site in gaming has something eyecatching to hold the viewers attention, soldat.pl doesn't have that. In fact, not to be a total ass, the site is quite dull and gives off an old 2001 vibe. Wouldn't just giving the site a nice background and layout have more of an effect of bringing players? it doesn't even have to be that eyecatching (osu.ppy.sh and http://us.battle.net/wow/en/), thought I don't know how difficult that would be, but I once mad a sick soldat page with a layout that was far more impressive than it currently is.

the page even has an old sv movie on it when there are FAR more appealing ones to show how the game looks, works, the customization, competitive and skill in it. soldat.pl was decent years ago, but I think it's time to at least change the layout of the whole site (the forums look good for a forums though). We know you oldies like to keep things the same and remain it untouched even if it could hinder soldat's success, but a good, attractive, main site with the addition of the new soldat versions would be far more better long term.

if I didn't land on the forums/sctfl.net before soldat.pl, i'd still think soldat was a dead, barren, game, but thankfully I didn't.

excuse the engrich, it's almost 3 a.m

I agree with darDar that things have been kept the same for too long with nothing to bring new players in.

[Blacksheepboy]

seriously though, how hard would it be to actually make an attractive site that teens wouldn't gloss over?

Give us some details. You repeat, "The layout is bad," and "I could make something better," and you give an assload of opinions and essentially memes: "things have been kept the same for too long with nothing to bring new players in."

"Wouldn't just giving the site a nice background and layout" does not suffice.

Do you really think WoW is so much different? It has pretty art with text and boxes. Actually, their website is really not that "great." It's essentially a list on two sides.

[Adam]

seriously though, how hard would it be to actually make an attractive site that teens wouldn't gloss over?

Give us some details. You repeat, "The layout is bad," and "I could make something better," and you give an assload of opinions and essentially memes: "things have been kept the same for too long with nothing to bring new players in." Do you really think WoW is so much different? It has pretty art with text and boxes. Actually, their website is really not that "great." It's essentially a list on two sides.

it's still far more appealing than soldat.pl, and yes, the layout is bad, my idea: change the layout into something new and not as if it was made during the tibia era

[Blacksheepboy]

For people that crave eye candy versus design.

Haha, my opinion's so harsh, but in essence, game websites I see are basic.

But enough, I would say if Soldat.pl had several animated scenes in the screenshots section, but I can't envision how it would work out.

[Adam]

the sites I posted as examples have a better design, are newbie friendly, has a better atmosphere, more eye catching, and are just better as a whole.

and the site (soldat.pl) is like, borderline basic in design, lol

also: shouldn't the aim be to attract teens? the only group of people I think would honestly consider soldat.pl as 'good' would have to be adults reaching seniority

[Blacksheepboy]

Okay.

Define design. Is it efficiency or looks?

[Adam]

both. has a good blend of colors, right away you can tell that it's flourishing game with active players, good easy going atmosphere, very simple yet nice theme that fits the game well, right away it tells you about the uniqueness of the game and shows footage that isn't 10-years-old, very user friendly, and if that already doesn't tell you it's not dead, the online user count does.

 Overall: better than soldat.pl

[Blacksheepboy]

right away you can tell that it's flourishing game with active players

That has nothing to do with design.

A website can be designed well and not look good.

If you don't know what a website is, it consists of lists, boxes (and it's been long enough to where I just forgot the other elements), unless it's flash of course.

The user count is a indicative of activity, but they would find out anyway.

Another layout take

[Adam]

Like I said, the design is still better, and that soldat.pl is just borderline basic

for example, the first thing you see when you join soldat.pl is a long box, and next to it a box half it's length, you're basically asking the one viewing the site to scroll all the way down just to details, links, and footage of the game. Osu's site doesn't have that problem, once you type in that site to join, you immediately see the tabs at the top associated with the forums, download, info, etc, colorful boxes that pop out, footage, news, and features of the game. The site even includes a facebook and twitter tab(link?) at the top.

idk about you, but this is better than soldat.pl

[Blacksheepboy]

you're basically asking the one viewing the site to scroll all the way down just to details, links, and footage of the game.

At least 80% of the websites require you to scroll down. Scroll wheel.

I'm one of the people that doesn't want Facebook integration on Soldat.pl.

On first impression, the buttons on Osu reminded me of ads you see on software download sites. I don't think I'm the only one that prefers some plain text and (in) the semi-transparent download button (I don't think ads or malware shit typically looks like this). And it doesn't flippin capitalize this "osu! is a free-to-play online rhythm game." Makes it look like wannabe hipster because "I didn't take time to capitalize a title on a webpage" (forums doesn't matter much). The information while, located in the same general place, is a little more efficient on Soldat.pl (but this is pretty moot comparatively). And I don't like drop down menus on sites (well, there's exceptions to this rule). You can either compress the amount of links and put them with a little more information stylistically in the page, or have them somewhere a little more visual.

[Adam]

I don't think you realize that's just one of the many layous I used just as an example. I wasn't talking about facebook integration, just that they make it more user friendly by showing they have an active community on social networks. Dude, how can you criticize Osu about their site and such, but fucking act as if soldat.pl is leagues ahead. Be realistic, that page is far more appealing for catching someones eye than soldat.pl. And "more efficient on soldat.pl" LOL, that's because the only real link on soldat.pl is the forums. Soldat.pl is basic of the basics, and that's probably why you like it so much. Just because it has no content on it and lego blocks as boxes with really only one valuable link doesn't make it "efficient", it just makes it basic.

Like I said, it's just one of the many layouts I used as an example that I think is far better then the one now. I don't see why you'd go all technical about it. You even suggested the same exact layout soldat.pl currently has as an improvement, lol. I don't expect you to grasp the fact that soldat.pl is plain, boring, and outdated.

[darDar]

Oh I'm so sorry for pointing out the problems on the official game's website. I'm really sorry if it's too much asked having the site up to date / no broken links / no screenshots from 2002 / no wrong download names / no misleading downloads. It's fun how you guys keep trying to defend the current site for no reason and can't even admit that I have a large point.

There is no reason to keep the existing page in the way it is now.
It will be much easier for all the dev - team to manage the site with WP
I have never been offensive ; at any point (calling something a website bad or a feature "crap" can't be considered as being offensive)
Get your facts straight please.

That's what you can get done in just a few hours and you'll possibly be capable of setting up a WP theme in less than 30-60 minutes.

http://soldat.site88.net/ - no WP

I don't understand why darDar is making such a rude ruckus over the site falling under the maintenance radar in recent years.

Is darDar losing sleep over it? Is it making him impotent? Is it stressing him out to the point of him performing poorly at his job? Any of those things would justify him getting so mad about it.

Maybe we should meet up and go to a support group and sit down with darDar so he can tell us how he really feels. I'll be your shoulder to cry on but not in this thread.

Just update the site in a more frequent time than every 2 years. Rather than trying to make fun of me , be thankful that I pointed out all the problems occuring on soldat.pl - It would have never been fixed either, apparently.

I read that like when kids tell their friends something hilarious and then go NOOOOT to turn the statement around. You remind me of a kid anyway.

That doesn't even make sense.


In the end it's up to you to decide on your layout and theme but make sure it's up to date.

[duz]

Honestly, I made this topic a few months : soldat.pl official website [topic].

on: 24 July 2011, 04:24:04 pm
http://forums.soldat.pl/index.php?topic=40379.msg495639#msg495639

[Blacksheepboy]

Oh I'm so sorry for pointing out the problems on the official game's website. I'm really sorry if it's too much asked having the site up to date / no broken links / no screenshots from 2002 / no wrong download names / no misleading downloads.

Apology accepted.

I've heard not so great things about wordpress regarding security issues.

I looked at the source. Woo baby.

I'm not defending Soldat.pl, I'm trying to make a good point.

[duz]

The current layout is ok, just needs some adjustments.

There's a lot of easier things to do as:
- Fix (one screenshot box out of the row) and replace the screenshots.
- The rating area is confused. 9.8 on gamespot? It's a single user rate dudes, download.com user rating is almost 5 stars now, not 4. Random quotes: "The best free multiplayer game you will ever play, amazing game!! A+++" what the ****?!
- The list of "pros" can be fixed (there's not just 64 maps right now, it's almost 100) and tweaked.
- Put newer videos randomizing every time you visit the site.
- Remove those unnecessary boxes: Latest news (there's only downloads. you don't need it with a download page) and Popular downloads (doesn't make sense if older versions were most downloaded).

[Shoozza]

There is no need to discuss if the current site is good enough or not.
The only thing we need to talk about is if we can make a better website and who wants to help making it awesome.

So if anyone here wants to work on a better version of the website let me know. I would participate in a deeper discussion on what we need and how it could look like and how it could be done.

If there is not enough support for creating a new site (aka nobody wants to help) the fallback would be to just fix the current site.
It is up to you all.

[Blacksheepboy]

I like lines.

If I were to make a site, I don't know if it would look like this.

[darDar]

I like lines.

If I were to make a site, I don't know if it would look like this.

That's horrible, sorry.

I will see if I can make some further layouts / themes in the upcoming week.

Any comments to this one ? http://soldat.site88.net/

[Shoozza]

I like lines.

If I were to make a site, I don't know if it would look like this.

That's horrible, sorry.

No need to make anyone feel bad here.

First thank you both for the templates.

Do you both want to invest more time in creating the new site?
I don't think creating templates is the first thing we should aim for.

[Blacksheepboy]

Haha, no it was bad. I was just getting back into imagining designs, and that was kind of one of the first concepts. Lines and screenshot boxes

[duz]

About the LEAGUES page:
ESL and the Polska Liga website are not updated since 2012 (dead maybe?).
LOF and TNL doesn't exist anymore.

Whats the difference between Official Leagues and Community Leagues? I think that SCTFL has the same category as SWC...
But I think that those league links should be marged with the LINKS page, no?


DOWNLOADS:
Add the bot editor...

[Shoozza]

I think we should keep the ESL and PL pages at least for historical reasons (for now at least, maybe move them to the end and add "inactive")
I see TNL just links to ESL, and LOF links to some unrelated page. I will remove both.

I have no idea what the differences between them are at this point. Someone from the official leagues could probably explain.

Well it depends we could have only a links page where all the links are sorted by type (leagues, maps, etc)

I'll ignore any request to add tools as long as they don't include: tool name, description, tool site/forum thread, download link
Please look that information up before you suggest tools that makes it easier for me to update the site.

[Mokkun]

I don't see any issues with the current website design, I also liked the old one.
I think it's a bad idea to try to make it "eye candy" at all costs, Soldat isn't really a good looking game (I personnaly love the game design but I know it's just me and 99% of people will say it's ugly crap) and isn't really user friendly or "easy" either, I like the current fanbase and even if it's sad to see less and less people playing the game, trying to clickbait normalfags by making an awesome looking website is not the solution.
Maybe we could talk about features, new pages, categories, whatever, but design wise I don't see a problem.