Outpost 2 Documentation & Wiki

[leeor_net]

Leeor or someone with admin rights:
When we updated the wiki theme to match the rest of the Outpost 2 site, the syntax highlighting for source code was not updated. Due to the dark background, some code had become very hard to read due to its color being too close to the background. Some of the syntax should be switched to lighter colors. See this page and CTRL+F the word NULL to see what I mean: http://wiki.outpost2.net/doku.php?id=op2_sdk:textdialogbox.

I've adjusted the background color -- seems to work a lot better. I can dig into the source code if need be.

On that note -- you've done a lot of work with the Wiki and I could use some assistance with its administration -- if you're up for it I can add you to the admin group. Let me know.

[Vagabond]

Leeor, thanks for the adjustment. It looks like the color scheme works well now.

I would be happy to help some with the admin of the wiki.

[leeor_net]

Done. You should now have backend access, let me know if there are any problems.

[Vagabond]

I just finished a second pass on Outpost 2 helper programs in the Wiki. Basically, each program has its own page now, that is linked from the helper programs index. http://wiki.outpost2.net/doku.php?id=outpost_2:helper_programs

I wanted to give OP2MapImager its own page, so went ahead and gave each helper program a separate page. If any of the original authors want to play with their pages at all it would be encouraged, but since the tools were made so long ago, I don't think it will happen.

Next up, I'm going to revamp the maps/scenarios section with new renderings using the OP2MapImager. It may take some time to get everything uploaded and linked.

[leeor_net]

Nice. I've been meaning to do that myself... seems I tend to drag things out more than I realized.

[Hooman]

Next up, I'm going to revamp the maps/scenarios section with new renderings using the OP2MapImager. It may take some time to get everything uploaded and linked.

This can be automated too.

[Vagabond]

Just finished updating all the maps. The maps shown inline are all scale of 1 pixel per tile. When you click on the image it will bring up a scale 6 pixel per tile image. I picked 6, because the largest map images would come in at about 3.5-3.8 megabytes, which is below the 5 mb wiki upload limit. It also seemed like a good balance on the amount of data to upload to the wiki as it was about 90 megabytes total. The smaller maps could easily be scaled up even more, but I kept everything consistent. Comments or improvements are welcome.

http://wiki.outpost2.net/doku.php?id=outpost_2:maps

I cleaned up some inconsistencies in some of the links in the OP2 Storyline section and fixed some incorrect data in the maps section as well.

This can be automated too.

I'm finished with the maps for now, so feel free to jump in and start automating. Just teach us how to use it as well.

Wiki Main Page
I think the wiki would benefit a lot from redesigning the landing page. It is currently a listing starting with Outpost 1 of the larger Wiki settings. It would be nicer if we could throw up a nice image(s). The left image could be some nice Outpost 1 artwork and the right image an Outpost 2 artwork. Then the artwork could be overlayed with the words "Enter Outpost 1" or "Enter Outpost 2". Maybe a banner at the top that had Outpost Universe logo and was clickable to goto any Outpost Universe Specific content. Then we would need to design separate landing pages for Outpost 1, Outpost 2, and Outpost Universe. (Outpost Universe could be omitted as there isn't a lot of content there anyways)

I could probably create a passable set of graphics for a landing page to start with, but I'm sure others could do a lot better than me.

[leeor_net]

Being able to see the higher resolution maps makes a HUGE world of diffeence, nice work!

As for the redesigned landing page, I'm game. I have some thoughts on how to do it and I like your overall idea. Only think I would change about it is adding a third section across the bottom for OPU community stuff like projects and anything else that would make sense there.

[Vagabond]

Leeor,

I'm happy if either the banner at the top links to OPU landing page or second banner at the bottom links or whatever other variation.

We currently have sort of Wikipedia style overviews of each game as their 'landing pages'.
 * http://wiki.outpost2.net/doku.php?id=outpost_1:outpost
 * http://wiki.outpost2.net/doku.php?id=outpost_2:outpost_2

I was thinking maybe move these to a page called Overview, Summary or something similar.

Then the landing page can be more of a Table of Contents for that section of the wiki with a prominent link to the game's overview page. Maybe a short blurb at the top introducing the game that has the larger summary page as a link.

I think there is a balance between telling a new person what the game is about and making the Wiki index visible and easy to navigate through. IE not making a longtime user always scroll through 2 pages of intro text just to get to the maps or storyline section. I was experimenting some on this on the Outpost 2 landing page. I guess the hard part is probably getting that balance correct.

[leeor_net]

... I was thinking maybe move these to a page called Overview, Summary or something similar.

Makes sense to me. Page renames are pretty straight forward.

I think there is a balance between telling a new person what the game is about and making the Wiki index visible and easy to navigate through. IE not making a longtime user always scroll through 2 pages of intro text just to get to the maps or storyline section. I was experimenting some on this on the Outpost 2 landing page. I guess the hard part is probably getting that balance correct.

That's the hard part. I'm not really sure how to go about this -- my mind isn't in it today but I'll take a look at it over the course of the week. Seems you started some work on the Outpost 2 version, I'll work on the OP1 section then.

[Hooman]

That does look pretty good now. The combo of low resolution and high resolution maps is really nice.

No sense automating any of the map image and info uploading if you're already done.