Pimp irrlicht website

[randomMesh]

No matter what happens, i think it would be good to (in order of precedence)

- be standards-compliant (XHTML 1.0 or HTML5, CSS 2.1) (The frontpage states it is, but it is a lie)
- avoid Flash, JavaScript or similar web diseases
- get rid of ancient content (API.NET)
- don't change the color scheme much

[netpipe]

just pimp it already

[Virion]

Well, bitplane has almost vanished from earth's surface

how many irrlicht devs are actually still around?

[hybrid]

Well, all of them should still exist, but some of them are just not that easily reachable. The active core team is currently just two.

[DeM0nFiRe]

- avoid Flash, JavaScript or similar web diseases

JavaScript is not a web disease, when used properly

Also, maybe it's just me, but I hate going to a page and seeing that their front page is just a wordpress blog. I think all that you guys need is a simple CMS for handling static pages (like feature list) and then just have the news be generated by posts in a news section of the forums. (Speaking of which, how come there's no news section of the forums? )

[Josie]

- avoid Flash, JavaScript or similar web diseases

JavaScript is not a web disease, when used properly

Also, maybe it's just me, but I hate going to a page and seeing that their front page is just a wordpress blog. I think all that you guys need is a simple CMS for handling static pages (like feature list) and then just have the news be generated by posts in a news section of the forums. (Speaking of which, how come there's no news section of the forums? )

No news?

Seriously, Perhaps we need more core developers before considering a large overhaul. 2 core developers on an engine this size is ... disheartening.

[oginnam]

I think the web needs more tutorials with their corresponding sample files that are better explained ...

[Josie]

I think the web needs more tutorials with their corresponding sample files that are better explained ...

Which tutorials are ambiguous? How can we improve them?

[netpipe]

also we need to ditch the green on white code boxes, gray would be more suiting and easier to seeeeeeeee

[slavik262]

Well, all of them should still exist, but some of them are just not that easily reachable. The active core team is currently just two.

I realize the developers have lives which obviously take precedence over Irrlicht, but how is it going to keep up with the growing requests for features with two devs? Will development pick up more in the summer? If Irrlicht is going to stay in the race to be a "modern" engine, users will want features like post processing support, the vertex rework everyone is talking about, etc. What is the stance of the developers on taking on new ones? I know originally Nikolaus wanted to keep the team small so it didn't get unwieldy, but there's a great community here and I'm sure some of us would be more than happy to help out.

At any rate, back to the website:

• My main concern is a lot a the content is ancient. The development section hasn't been updated since 1.3. Yes, I'm aware of the development wiki, but then the old data should be removed. Otherwise it looks like the webpage is accumulating mothballs and that Irrlicht isn't nearly as active as it actually is.
• More/Better Screenshots from Irrlicht Projects: A lot of guys are using Irrlicht and turning out great, if not beautiful, looking games. I mean no offense to the projects currently showcased in the screenshot section, but their geometry and textures make me feel like I'm back in the early 2000s. Take a look at the OGRE Gallery. All the screenshots there look like modern games. I know that the quality of models/textures/shaders has nothing to do with the game engine, but someone who doesn't know that would think OGRE is >9000 times "better" than Irrlicht. It takes one look at the screenshot of the month contest to see all the awesome things being done with Irrlicht. Let's show some of those shiny pictures to the public.

[hybrid]

There haven't been much more active developers at any time. So the pace will keep almost the same as the last years. More developers are enhancing the situation. But it also needs certain amount of organization, which easily eats up all of our free time. Anyway, people should first start to submit high quality patches via our patch tracker, in order to help us. Right now, most of the add-ons and fixes are still only targeting at a minimal technical solution, instead of a clean and proper integration. And also accept the situation, that not every patch can be added right away, and that constructive criticism is a must in order to find the optimal solution.
About the project screen shots: We already have the new gallery, where we collect high quality shots of recent projects. I've often asked for more screenshots for a project gallery. However, no such requests or responses came from the community. I'm open for any such things, it just has to avoid any additional work for us besides maybe some uploading.

[ACE247]

So why isnt anything happening? I'm very sure everyone will like to see a new website for Irrlicht.

[Frank Dodd]

Personally I think the Devs are doing a fantastic job with the engine, the onus is really on us to serve them up with some great screenshots and videos to post on the site.

[Ulf]

Personally I think the Devs are doing a fantastic job with the engine, the onus is really on us to serve them up with some great screenshots and videos to post on the site.

I more than half agree.
Besides screenshots and games etc, the onus is on the whole community to start providing patches and new functionality.

However, in saying that, I feel that the Devs could do a lot more to facilitate these new things. It seems like a whole lot of arguing, and often in the end we hear them say "well that's never gonna happen" or "this engine has always been for the old systems and that will always be the case so we don't care about integrating openCL or directX 10 or whatever...."

The Dev team should make a priority list on what should be fixed and what new functionality should be worked on first. As after all, the devs will be the ones integrating the code into the engine.They have to be happy with it, even just the idea of it.
The tracker system is no good for that, noone even looks.
And maybe they could provide some hints and links and advice on what to do or how to do it. Maybe set up project page for each thing being worked on (separate to the engine updates). Maybe set up a template or class diagram, you know? The engineering side of things, keeping things to Irrlicht standards.
This way, the less experienced coders can still contribute.
A lot more could be done in terms of organisation and moving forward.

A word I am looking for is DELEGATION.

[hybrid]

This is free software, so you have everything you need. I don't have a class diagram or whatever. If someone provides it, we can link to it. If it's put into the Wii, you can even do this on your own. Without any dev interaction.
We have a priority list only for our own stuff, things which we are currently working on. Other things should just be posted. People will use it, we will consider it. I don't see why nyone would suddenly work on a DX10 driver, just because we say that we'd love to have one. After all, there had already been approaches. So obviously some of you are already working on it.
Organizational charts or development plans are nice, no question. But I prefer to invest my little amount of time into writing the actual code, and not documenting my thoughts for the rest of the world. This was possible in a short period between 1.4 and 1.5, where we all had more time and also more active team members.