The new Doomworld Layout

[Rachael]

TIL running a website is not as easy as my teachers made it out to be.

Running a small personal website is easy.

Running a popular major website is not. Once you hit the size of even DRD Team, you have to start thinking about security. The size of ZDoom - security is mandatory. Doomworld - there's simply no excuse by the time you reach that size.

[Nevander]

Better to rebuild and replace the toothpicks and gum with actual purpose-made framework than to wait.

I understand that, but why can't this actual-purpose-made framework look the same way the old did but be new at the same time? Kinda like how when your shoes get worn out you can just buy a new pair of the same shoes. They are newer and firmer, smoother and work better but still look like the same shoes you're used to.

mobile support - something that I miss here as well

I must be in the minority but I actually prefer using desktop view on my phone.

[Gez]

I still don't understand what was wrong with the old layout. Why can't you fix the security problems (which I never noticed or even heard of) without touching layouts?

The layout was fine, if dated, at least on a desktop. The problem was that the software was so old that it started causing problems because it required keeping an old server around.

(PHP is a pretty poorly designed language, it grew in a haphazard fashion and the old ways have been deprecated and replaced by less insecure ways over time. Eventually old PHP software just stops working when you upgrade the server.)

Once you upgrade the frontend and backend, you're not going to keep the exact same layout as before, because guess what, it's new. Despite the cosmetic changes, though, it's still mostly the same old Doomworld, with a very similar color scheme, the same top banner (no longer randomly changing but that'll probably come in due time) and so on. Honestly it's overall an improvement, even though there are parts that I don't care much for.

[wildweasel]

TIL running a website is not as easy as my teachers made it out to be.

Especially not with the staggering amount of content that must remain accessible to thousands of users. Once in a while I'd check the Blogs area and find Linguica had posted an update relating to, say, converting the entire news archive plus comments (something like 1996 onward?) to the newer database format, which IIRC involved writing a converter from scratch because there just isn't anything ready-made for this specific purpose. Basically, there's enough stuff going on behind the scenes here that I simply don't understand the need to outright insult Ling and company just because the design isn't to one's liking. It's new, it needs time to grow, it needs time for the admins to adjust it, it needs time for the users to adjust to it. But I'm already seeing a marked improvement over Doomworld of old.

[Rachael]

I understand that, but why can't this actual-purpose-made framework look the same way the old did but be new at the same time? Kinda like how when your shoes get worn out you can just buy a new pair of the same shoes. They are newer and firmer, smoother and work better but still look like the same shoes you're used to.

That's not possible with dynamic website content. As time goes by, it gets patched and changed and the looks change along with it - often following trends.

And right now the trend is imitating Bootstrap because someone thought if they could look like twitter they'll be more popular.

[Nevander]

trends.

You said the word!

[Viscra Maelstrom]

i think my only chief complaint so far is that the forum software feels slower than what was used before. it's not painfully slow as it was on day one, but it still feels like a bit of bloat compared to what was there before. other than that, it seems to be okay for me.

[Beed28]

One thing I can't find in the new layout is the ability to hide avatars. Does anyone know where it is?

[InsanityBringer]

ling's mentioned its not in there yet.