Return of the downloads

[Lord_Chris 213]

I'd like to take this opportunity to point out some of the things I've changed in the downloads section. First though, all the download section maintenance has been completed, and all pages are fully functional once more.

 

I've changed the ratings system so that you don't need to comment to rate anymore. I'm hoping this will encourage more people to rate more files, and I feel that the old system prevented people from doing so properly. Instead of having to write, now head toward the stars at the top of the page. Hover over them, and then select your rating. You will be alerted if there are any issues, otherwise the colour of the stars will be slightly brighter. Once that happens, you can no longer hover over until you refresh the page.

 

Note that once you've rated a file, this cannot be changed, even after refreshing the page. You only have one rating per file, which has one use.

 

Next, I've added a new category to Stronghold 2: In light of siege maps being able to be created, and my tutorial (see http://www.strongholdnation.co.uk/article/205-how-to-make-proper-siege-maps) I've added a siege category. I don't expect we'll get a massive mount of them but siege maps don't really fit into custom war, peace custom, kingmaker, free build, or saved games. And to alienate them into miscellaneous just doesn't seem right.

 

I've also removed the report feature on downloads. This was pretty redundant seen as files need manually checking both after updating the archive, and after first upload. If anyone has problems with a file, or needs to report anything, you can send a PM to an administrator, or just report a comment (if one exists) and say in your message it's for the file. In light of this fact, I've moved the subscription link into the nav-bar, which is where I would have preferred it if I'd been able to originally.

 

I'd also like to request that on uploading images inside your .zip, you compress it using TinyPNG, which also works with JPEGs. Preview images, and gallery images do not need this, because the site automatically runs them through the compression tool on upload, but images inside archives do because the site does not open them, this is done manually. The difference can be a entire Megabyte of file space saved, as seen in @Tokamaps' file The rescue of the king, the images in total take up a whopping 10 megabytes of server space, whereas the maps take up a total of 700 Kilobytes, the difference is staggering. I will be compressing these images later today and re-uploading the new archive, so the size may have changed when you read this.

 

I'm not saying don't include images, all I'm saying is, try not to make them an excessive size. The only exception to this rule is the BMP type of image. I for one, will be removing any BMP images I find in archives because they are just too big, not very nice for users to download with bandwidth limits .etc, and take a while to load due to their size. Personally, I recommend using PNG or JPEG images wherever possible, not only for the best quality, but also the best experience for all users.

 

And as always, any issues let me know and I'll sort them out ASAP.

 

Finally, it's time for a promotion! Unrelated to the downloads maintenance, @Mathew Steel is one of the hardest working users here, and has been faithful since he first came in early 2014. I therefore feel that we can't not take notice of this, and I've decided to promote him to a contributor!

[Crusader1307 258]

Good stuff (as always Chris). And congrats to you Matthew for your well earned Promotion (Purple, how Imperial :D )

Edited September 1, 2015 by Crusader1307

[Mathew Steel 147]

Wow this was most unexpected. I appreciate it, hopefully I can continue to contribute for many years to come! Thank you Chris and thanks to you also Crusader :)

[Lord_Chris 213]

Yes, your files, and contributions really are very good, you (and Crusader) keep this place alive! Keep up the great work! :D

[Nigel 53]

Congratulations on your new purple coat, Matthew.

 

Now there is three of us.

How do they say? "One for all and all for one". :D

[Mathew Steel 147]

"One for all and all for one"

 

Now that brought back memories :D thank you Nigel!