Geek Articles - Codename: Shorthorn

HowdA All,

I thought I would start a new thread here instead of watering down the current release of Geek Articles 2.0

Basically, I released Geek Articles as a cheap and cheerful way to give explicit forums an 'Article system' feel without all the hullabaloo with adding a major addition and hacking your vB code within an inch of its life.

I was aslo desperate for an Article System that actually integrated with vB in the sense that it would be searchable (with the other threads), use vBs user permissions, Attachment system, wysiwyg, etc...

Well, Geek Articles 2.0 does that. However I quickly learned that as soon as you release a hack, about 502.3 people start asking it to do things it wasnt designed to do (anyone know what I mean?).
I dont mean that to sound like a drag as I thought most of the ideas were actually quite good - however they were out of the scope for Geek Articles 2.0

In to your life walks Geek Articles codename: Shorthorn.

This is a project aimed at merging the best of Geek Articles 2.0 (the simplicity, searching, permissions, etc...) with a heavier duty article system (adding a byline option, multiple pages, etc...).

I have my first milestone in beta and has the following features:

• Everything Geek Articles 2.0 has
• Byline addition
• Multiple page support

Once I have finalised these features (I want to give them a test over the next few days on my site) I will then release it for private Beata testing and then finally on this thread for open beta testing.

What I would like to do is to get feedback on the direction that it is taking. Does it look sucky? Is the functionality crappy? Are you really just after a really neat Hangman system for vB?

Here is a live version of a multi page article

So please, come one, come all and let me know if I am wasting my freaking time.

Toodles

[yinyang]

all i can say nailgeek, is well done! i would like to request a reply button where you can order a pizza anytime you read an article. cool? i prefer it to link to pizza hut takeout delivery than dominos.

kudos to all your hard work!!!

[Ghostsuit]

Looking excellent, I currently use the Geek articles on my site and find them easy and excellent to use. So will be keeping an eye on this.

[Erwin]

You can't post in Beta Hacks until there is something to download. I'll leave this here to give you a chance to upload something - otherwise I or another mod will move it to another forum.

[TCB]

Great to see you keep on working this mod. You have no idea how much I appreciate your (and other hackers/modders) time and work

My ideas/requests:

1. Attachments are uploaded with a description and are shown in the v3articles way on the bottom of the article:


2. A more visual way of rating an article. On the bottom of the article a v3articles style of 'please rate this article/you have rated this article' display:


3. The first thumbnail of attached images will also be used for the featured article option (v3articles style):


4. Option to enter the name of the original writer/publisher (instead of the poster of the article), like with Cinq's article mod.

5. Option to enter an article summary (like with Cinq's article mod). This summary (plus the thumbnail of request 3) will be displayed for the random/featured article mod.

6. Multiple pages when a [pagebreak] command is been given. A visual display of the number of available pages directly on the bottom of the article (like Cinq's mod):


7. Currently the article mods are using the whole width of the messageboards table. This makes very long lines and less pleasant to read for people than shorter lines. Cinq's article mod makes the table where the articles are in less width, because he's added a column to the right where 'print this article' and 'sent this article' are displayed. Since this column is further empty, it would be a great place to add two new lists there: 'simular articles' and 'more articles of [username]':



Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

[The Geek]

Sorry Erwin - I tried to put together an intial Beta release to keep this thread here, however I have decided to wait until I am confident that there wont be any known issues when it goes out.

TCB - Hey King. Some of these are pretty do-able. Ill break them down here:

1 - The images are not hard to display like that, however the descriptions raise a slight problem.
I can easily alter the table to accept a description field (easy enough) but I really hate altering default tables (its always been my practice to make as little disruption as possible to existing systems which makes upgrades and things much easier).
I guess my question is - how critical is the description? Would you be happy with attachments displayed as you requested for a Phase 1 or Phase 2 and have the descriptions as a phase 3 or 4?

2- More visual way of rating article. Don't think this is too much of a problem. I looked into this originally when Geek Articles only changed the postbit and it wouldnt work there. Now that it is changing Showthread, it should be a bit o cake (Is there a better way that you can think of doing it than simply copying vBarticles?)

3- Think that shouldnt be a big deal. What if it isnt an image ? What if the attached media is a zip file?

4- I already have the byline function running on the demo I linked to in the first post. If a byline is included, the 'written by username' is omitted and the byline is used. I will most likely add a 'posted by username' when this happens and I am still debating to remove the avatar or not (maybe replace it with the thumbnail if applicable?)

5- The summary will be a phase 2 kind of thing. I have it in place, but I am still juggling how to have users enter it.
My Q to you would be: Does it need BB code ability? Whats the character count looking like (a simple 255 or does it need to be a BLOB field?)? Does it need to be searchable? Does it need to appear on the first page of the article?

6- As per the demo I linked to - I have sorted the multipage option... however:
I could do the page break option instead. Which is more intuitive? One long butt honkin article that gets truncated between page breaks or entering a new post for each page?
Each has pros and cons - The page break is certainly a much easier option than the multi page=multi post option I have done.

7. Thats a good point though it really really depends on the users design. I can look into making something like an optional sidebar for a phase 2 or phase 3 as it wouldnt be difficult to do.

Glad to get your feedback, I look forward to hearing more.

Both vBarticles and (as far as I can see) Cinqs systems seem pretty comprehensive and cool. I dont mind borrowing and trying to improve on some of their ideas, but I dont want to just recreate something that has already been done well. If there are any fresh and new ideas, Im am game to hear them

Thanks guys.

[TCB]

Originally Posted by the nail geek

TCB - Hey King. Some of these are pretty do-able. Ill break them down here:

1 - The images are not hard to display like that, however the descriptions raise a slight problem.
I can easily alter the table to accept a description field (easy enough) but I really hate altering default tables (its always been my practice to make as little disruption as possible to existing systems which makes upgrades and things much easier).
I guess my question is - how critical is the description? Would you be happy with attachments displayed as you requested for a Phase 1 or Phase 2 and have the descriptions as a phase 3 or 4?

It's a feature I can totally live without. It was just a fun request, but really not essential

Originally Posted by the nail geek

2- More visual way of rating article. Don't think this is too much of a problem. I looked into this originally when Geek Articles only changed the postbit and it wouldnt work there. Now that it is changing Showthread, it should be a bit o cake (Is there a better way that you can think of doing it than simply copying vBarticles?)

I like the v3articles way, but it depends of the template/skin the messageboard is using I guess.

Originally Posted by the nail geek

3- Think that shouldnt be a big deal. What if it isnt an image ? What if the attached media is a zip file?

Perhaps a check that will take the first attached image?

Originally Posted by the nail geek

4- I already have the byline function running on the demo I linked to in the first post. If a byline is included, the 'written by username' is omitted and the byline is used. I will most likely add a 'posted by username' when this happens and I am still debating to remove the avatar or not (maybe replace it with the thumbnail if applicable?)

Well, that's simply fantastic

Originally Posted by the nail geek

5- The summary will be a phase 2 kind of thing. I have it in place, but I am still juggling how to have users enter it.
My Q to you would be: Does it need BB code ability? Whats the character count looking like (a simple 255 or does it need to be a BLOB field?)? Does it need to be searchable? Does it need to appear on the first page of the article?

I think that codes like bold and cursive are more needed than smilies. But since it's only a 'featured article' display (using the summary?), plain text will do (along with the thumbnail).

Originally Posted by the nail geek

6- As per the demo I linked to - I have sorted the multipage option... however:
I could do the page break option instead. Which is more intuitive? One long butt honkin article that gets truncated between page breaks or entering a new post for each page?

I don't really like the breaking article into posts option (don't see the benefit for it). Breaking it in multiple pages will give it a more professional look (with the comments only visible on the last page?).

Originally Posted by the nail geek

7. Thats a good point though it really really depends on the users design. I can look into making something like an optional sidebar for a phase 2 or phase 3 as it wouldnt be difficult to do.

Great news. I have checked many vbulletin boards and many are quite width. Compared with websites with articles the current layout (using the whole width of the forum) is a bit too much for most of the boards that I've visited.

Originally Posted by the nail geek

Both vBarticles and (as far as I can see) Cinqs systems seem pretty comprehensive and cool. I dont mind borrowing and trying to improve on some of their ideas, but I dont want to just recreate something that has already been done well. If there are any fresh and new ideas, Im am game to hear them

Thanks guys.

No thank YOU

The biggest advantage of your mod is that articles are archived, searchable, clearly part of the messageboard and all permissions and other forum setups still work.... Looking forward to future updates and plans

[The Geek]

mmmkay.

Ill look at image descriptions after a stable release
Ill look toward moving ratings for the initial release
Ill Look to doing first attached thumbnail as article image for first release
Byline is done and dusted
Summary will be a second phase release
I have almost finished changing from multiple posts making up the article to page break option. In all reality; this was a far easier option anyway (I will post a demo when I finish it most likely tonight)

So, here is where I am at:

First phase beta features:
Obviously, complete integration into vB (permissions, searching, etc... as per Geek Articles 2.0)
Multiple pages via a page break BB code option
Article layout, phrasing etc...

I should be able to have a private beta for those interested by maybe tomorrow? If not, then it will take until next week as I am away on business all weekend again

[limey]

Nice job NailGeek, this is looking good, but more importantly the name is great.

[tormodg]

Originally Posted by limey

Nice job NailGeek, this is looking good, but more importantly the name is great.

I'm in for this one as soon as it's out!