Idea for an online reference

[chrissifniotis]

A while ago a bloke managed to reproduce, and recently update, the Civilopedia from Civ5. I've been thinking about a similar Civilization-based online reference site, but providing different information not already in the Civilopedia, or any of the others for that matter.

Horrendously newbie question here; how do I go about starting up and working on a shiny new website?

 

[Pouakai]

Similar in sorts to the Civ 4 Info Center?

 

[chrissifniotis]

It's been a while since I've seen the Info Center, but no really. Without revealing too much it's more along the lines of an extension to the Civilopedia. If you need more I'll try to elaborate better, but I want to keep it close to the chest right now.

 

[The_J]

Horrendously newbie question here; how do I go about starting up and working on a shiny new website?

Do you mean this as technical question, how to set up a website, or is this meant in another way?

And some more elaboration please .

 

[chrissifniotis]

Do you mean this as technical question, how to set up a website, or is this meant in another way?

Technically, yes. I haven't done any work with HTML in years and forgot nearly everything. Where can I find a place to establish a website without paying fees to keep it there? And just a refresher course in basic HTML and site design will do for the time being.

And some more elaboration please .

There really isn't any other way to say it without spilling, so off it goes!

I don't know exactly how well this may or may not trend, but the idea I had in mind is to create a database of the Great People used in the Civilization games and then produce a Civilopedia-like site that catagorizes them and posts descriptions of their lives and the acheivments they made, all in as much of a Civilization context as possible.
I won't deny that every time I get a new great person in game that I haven't heard of I do ask the question; what are they famous for? And coming to realise that I find myself doing that I then think that I can't be the only one, so I thought to try this.
Good? Bad? 1 Turn of Anarchy?

 

[The_J]

Technically, yes. I haven't done any work with HTML in years and forgot nearly everything. Where can I find a place to establish a website without paying fees to keep it there? And just a refresher course in basic HTML and site design will do for the time being.

If you're searching for webspace, then you should first take a look at your internet contract, there might be some included.
Else I'm not sure if there are any good free webhosting services out there. Just made a quick google search, found a german list (this), which has one serious english site in it, http://www.100webspace.com/, but if it's good or not.

It sure also depends on what you need. Just website hosting? Do you need a MySQL backend? Access to PHP, Python, Perl? FTP access?

And I'm out for HTML + design. I've only fiddled around with a few websites, and they look awful .

There really isn't any other way to say it without spilling, so off it goes!

I don't know exactly how well this may or may not trend, but the idea I had in mind is to create a database of the Great People used in the Civilization games and then produce a Civilopedia-like site that catagorizes them and posts descriptions of their lives and the acheivments they made, all in as much of a Civilization context as possible.
I won't deny that every time I get a new great person in game that I haven't heard of I do ask the question; what are they famous for? And coming to realise that I find myself doing that I then think that I can't be the only one, so I thought to try this.
Good? Bad? 1 Turn of Anarchy?

mmhh...nice idea (really), but only if you can offer more than wikipedia can. Because for a pure summary of Sun Tzus or Magellans life I can also go there.

 

[chrissifniotis]

If you're searching for webspace, then you should first take a look at your internet contract, there might be some included.
Else I'm not sure if there are any good free webhosting services out there. Just made a quick google search, found a german list (this), which has one serious english site in it, http://www.100webspace.com/, but if it's good or not.

It sure also depends on what you need. Just website hosting? Do you need a MySQL backend? Access to PHP, Python, Perl? FTP access?

And I'm out for HTML + design. I've only fiddled around with a few websites, and they look awful .

I have to sleep so I'll be brief; I know that no web space is available from our provider. I'll check out the links in the morning.

I don't know what I need, which is in part the point of the thread. These languages are entirely meaningless to me as I haven't learnt anything about them, so for the moment I can't answer that.

mmhh...nice idea (really), but only if you can offer more than wikipedia can.
Because for a pure summary of Sun Tzus or Magellans life I can also go there.

Reasonable point, which is why I'm aiming for as much of a Civilization context as possible, use the art from the game to highlight main points of the history; ie use the picture of the wonder this person built, the picture of the technology they had a hand in discovering - populate the entry with a summery of the persons achievements with Civ art before exploring the entry in detail, something a bit like the Civ5 pedia right now.

 

[Jacques Lamerde]

Sounds like a cool idea. J is correct that you can find a lot of this info on wikipedia, but having all the civ related stuff with the artwork in one place is definitely a site that I would enjoy perusing. Learning about all the people, wonders, concepts in this game
is part of what I love about this game. I also thought it would be cool to have a bibliography of civ related people. Even a list of with reviews, and discussions on films.(Such as Mongol, Kingdom of Heaven, Elizabeth etc.) Good luck I hope you can make it happen.

 

[The_J]

I don't know what I need, which is in part the point of the thread. These languages are entirely meaningless to me as I haven't learnt anything about them, so for the moment I can't answer that.

-> so probably not relevant.
I guess it's doable without any programming, but it might be a good bunch of work more than with some scripts.

Reasonable point, which is why I'm aiming for as much of a Civilization context as possible, use the art from the game to highlight main points of the history; ie use the picture of the wonder this person built, the picture of the technology they had a hand in discovering - populate the entry with a summery of the persons achievements with Civ art before exploring the entry in detail, something a bit like the Civ5 pedia right now.

Could be an expansion for the civ5pedia...
maybe Nebular can say something about that...

Not sure if it might be interesting enough as a stand alone page, but worth a try.

is part of what I love about this game. I also thought it would be cool to have a bibliography of civ related people. Even a list of with reviews, and discussions on films.(Such as Mongol, Kingdom of Heaven, Elizabeth etc.)

You'll laugh, but I already thought if we here shouldn't make a Civ TV program.
Discarded the thought due to our global audience.
But general reviews might be a good idea .

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

lots of very popular websites use certain blog formats like wordpress or blogspot. those are generally free until certain amounts of bandwidth start getting used. if you are looking to control this yourself it would be easier with one of those as there is already a nicely established community for layouts and design ideas. if you want it to be something like a user-submitted and controlled place then im not sure if those resources would be good for you.

i think regardless of the easiest method this will take up a lot of time. even learning the pre-formatted free blog sites will initially have a learning curve. but once that curve is met, any new websites you might want to start get faster and easier.

 

[Jacques Lamerde]

There are lot's of TV shows about video games in general. A Civ specific show has potential to be interesting. There's a lot of interesting things you could do with that, and what I gather from regularly reading these forums a very big community of serious
gamers, and interesting , cool people who could contribute.

 

[chrissifniotis]

Sorry for the late reply chaps, been trying to fix my new computer and failing so far;

@The_J: I've had a look at 100webspace.com, the ads are annoying but it seems to be what I'm after, but I should stress the word 'seems'. I need more time to look into it some more.

I've found the updated c5pedia.com, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to aim for a similar look and feel to that pedia - being an extention to the pedia, and I am interested in contacting Nebular on the matter, but I don't know how. Is he here?

@Jacques Lamerde: Thanks for the words. Not too sure about the bibliography idea, but I'll keep it in mind all the same.

@Hammer Rabbi: I've quickly peeked at both WordPress and BlogSpot. I'm not sure that are te right fit for me, but I'll also look them both some more.

 

[Pouakai]

Yeah, Nebular is here, and actively checks his PMs. Here's his profile

 

[chrissifniotis]

Thanks Pouakai, I've been in contact now and he likes the idea but doesn't have any time to help. Coupled with the fact that my computer is failing to boot up and I can't connect the caddie and new hard drive to it, I'm in no position to start any work. For the moment it's still theoratical but with the help and support I'm getting, this'll turn out great.