GarageGames Website Changes: March
by Jacob Fike · 04/07/2009 (5:31 pm) · 56 comments
You may have noticed a few changes today. Here is a comprehensive list of what changed over the course of March (and this first week of April). As always, please give us your feedback.
New Features
- RSS Feeds! - Yes, RSS feeds are back! You will find them right here
- jQuery - Our javascript library is now jQuery instead of Prototype/Scriptaculous, so hopefully you will notice some speed improvements and this also will pave the way for some fancy new features (like the mini-profiles described below).
- Mini-profiles - Clicking a user's name on the forums or on a blog will drop down a small profile tooltip with some handy information and links in it.
- Page header improvements - You can now quickly view your profile and change your settings from any page with the dropdown menu that appears when you hover over the My Account link. The Cart link now shows how many items are in your cart. Also, be sure to checkout the Games dropdown menu.
- Checkout process - Fill out billing and shipping information (when needed) on the same page, simplifying the checkout process.
- Activity Feed - Now we show a recent activity feed on each user's profile so you can more easily see what people have been up to instead of searching through all blogs or threads separately.
- Engine screenshots - Screenshots for engines now have comments, letting you know what game the screenshot is from.
- Code in blogs/threads - You should now notice a spiffy new look for code blocks in threads and blogs/resources with syntax highlighting. You can specify the code syntax in the code tag by using [code=X where X is cpp (for C++), c#, php, python, java, js, sql, or xml. If it is not specified it will default to C++ syntax highlighting.
Bug fixes
- Fixed whitespace issues and wordwrap issues in code blocks
- Fixed lots of display issues in Opera
- Posting and editing blogs and threads should be faster now
- Better messaging when trying to purchase a product that requires owning another product
About the author
As the CTO of Avalon Labs LLC, I am responsible for the technology behind Fellowstream, our team-based to-do list.
#42
Take these for example
http://www.garagegames.com/community/resources/view/13640
http://www.garagegames.com/community/resources/view/2286
http://www.garagegames.com/community/blogs/view/10462
04/08/2009 (10:04 am)
There seem to be a number of bugged resources, no content showing up for them Just the title, author, and comments.Take these for example
http://www.garagegames.com/community/resources/view/13640
http://www.garagegames.com/community/resources/view/2286
http://www.garagegames.com/community/blogs/view/10462
#43
As shown in the picture by the previous poster, I can see names if the G or the TGE triangle isn't visible but if I can see those, I can't see names...
04/08/2009 (10:05 am)
Yeah, I'm also forced to use IE on the lab stations at work and the names do not show up on the new boxes.As shown in the picture by the previous poster, I can see names if the G or the TGE triangle isn't visible but if I can see those, I can't see names...
#44
04/08/2009 (10:08 am)
Holy cow, what kind of workplace would constrain you to using IE6, and for what possible reason?
#45
04/08/2009 (10:57 am)
Blank resources are fixed and the font should be back to normal on forums. 
#46
nice looking, but pic at the top eats too much place, please make smaller
and still no "dev snapshots"... :(((((
but going better and better with every update, keep it going guys...
04/08/2009 (10:58 am)
u still got my soul GG :Pnice looking, but pic at the top eats too much place, please make smaller
and still no "dev snapshots"... :(((((
but going better and better with every update, keep it going guys...
#47
04/08/2009 (11:47 am)
There is zero chance of us supporting ie6 from here. I can't even imagine what the web must look like today through ie6. * shudders * 
#48
04/08/2009 (11:59 am)
Is there a way to filter the RSS to just show the forums I care about? I really don't look at the forums for products I don't have and would rather get the feeds for just my products.
#49
(untapes binoculars from his head)
04/08/2009 (12:01 pm)
Thanks for the font resize in unread posts.(untapes binoculars from his head)
#50
Cost/compatibility. Remember for a company that has 20,000 employees if you upgrade to IE7, every single application must be CERTIFIED to run in that browser or you don't get tech support from them. I work on several apps that will not run in IE7 or Firefox and upgrading would cost millions of dollars. Uh... Kinda like GG upgrading the wiki...:)
In other words it's complicated and political:) (from a business standpoint).
04/08/2009 (1:51 pm)
@Kenneth,Quote:Holy cow, what kind of workplace would constrain you to using IE6, and for what possible reason?
Cost/compatibility. Remember for a company that has 20,000 employees if you upgrade to IE7, every single application must be CERTIFIED to run in that browser or you don't get tech support from them. I work on several apps that will not run in IE7 or Firefox and upgrading would cost millions of dollars. Uh... Kinda like GG upgrading the wiki...:)
In other words it's complicated and political:) (from a business standpoint).
#51
Someone should be able to tell you my IP address from this post and you can see where I work. My employer is the leading company in its industry. Like any big company, however, things are slow moving and there isn't always motivation to use the latest technology (even in a software / technology company). We have SAP here which cost millions of dollars and apparently SAP will not work in any browser other than IE6.
Edit: Edited to add that I installed Google Chrome just to view GG with ;P
Not sure what kind of weird stuff is being done to prevent a site with such a simple layout from appearing on IE6 but Chrome (and later versions of IE) seem to work fine.
04/08/2009 (1:58 pm)
Quote:Holy cow, what kind of workplace would constrain you to using IE6, and for what possible reason?
Someone should be able to tell you my IP address from this post and you can see where I work. My employer is the leading company in its industry. Like any big company, however, things are slow moving and there isn't always motivation to use the latest technology (even in a software / technology company). We have SAP here which cost millions of dollars and apparently SAP will not work in any browser other than IE6.
Edit: Edited to add that I installed Google Chrome just to view GG with ;P
Not sure what kind of weird stuff is being done to prevent a site with such a simple layout from appearing on IE6 but Chrome (and later versions of IE) seem to work fine.
#52
04/08/2009 (2:14 pm)
@Matt: I didn't IP stalk you, but I know this sort of thing is still unfortunately common. SAP is the suck. I would be bringing a laptop to work with me daily if I couldn't use a non-IE6 browser though.
#53
SAP is definitely a horrible piece of software. Its amazing what they get away with charging for it -- you can spend tens of millions and still not have a working SAP system, e.g. the Toys R Us / SAP fiasco (and people complain about torque pricing! ha).
Chrome works great for the site (although annoyingly it keeps prompting me for proxy username/password info) but everything is readable.
As I mentioned in another post the new {code} tags are awesome (and that was before I knew about being able to specify the language with code=xxx -- nice!).
04/08/2009 (2:27 pm)
@Brett: I completely agree. I remember when IE7 came out that I disabled the tabs because I was so used to IE6. Fortunately a few months later I gave them a try again and don't know how I ever lived without them.SAP is definitely a horrible piece of software. Its amazing what they get away with charging for it -- you can spend tens of millions and still not have a working SAP system, e.g. the Toys R Us / SAP fiasco (and people complain about torque pricing! ha).
Chrome works great for the site (although annoyingly it keeps prompting me for proxy username/password info) but everything is readable.
As I mentioned in another post the new {code} tags are awesome (and that was before I knew about being able to specify the language with code=xxx -- nice!).
#54
04/09/2009 (9:42 am)
the rss feed links (at least for Latest Forum Threads) are incorrect. for example the feed link is http://www.garagegames.com/community/resources/view/88901 and the actual link is http://www.garagegames.com/community/forums/viewthread/88901 
#55
And yeah, that whole "Community" banner graphic can certainly go. It's just wasting space.
04/09/2009 (3:22 pm)
Nice job! The site is starting to feel cool again... =)And yeah, that whole "Community" banner graphic can certainly go. It's just wasting space.
#56
04/13/2009 (5:57 pm)
You'll note the big ol' banner is now gone. We still want to improve the visual appeal of the community pages, but for now, it sounds like less is more. 
Torque Owner Ryan Mounts
CornerstoneViz
The new features look great, but I have a weird problem. On Firefox everything works fine... but on IE6, I can't see the name in the dropdown box of anyone who owns a Torque product. I also can't see the "Previous Blog", "More Blogs", or "Next Blog" links, although I can still use the arrows to navigate. When posting, if I click the "MarkupLite is enabled", I can only see the "Video" section.
I realize upgrading IE or just using Firefox would solve this problem, but our IT department constrains us to use only IE6 at work, and I like to see what's going on in Torque world during my breaks. :) Below is a pic showing what I'm seeing in IE6.