The current dargh website has been neglected lately. This is mainly my fault, due to my slackness with my dargh duties in recent times. Anyway, I thought it would be good idea to give the website a much needed overhaul. I'd thought that it would be best to let you guys give me ideas on things you want to feature at the website. All ideas will be considered, and I won't be so negative like I have been in the past. This post will be updated as more ideas are thrown around.

At the moment, these are the things I'm planning on doing with the website (constantly updated):

- scrap unique anime page idea. Have single base design for all anime pages, similar to previous website design.
- introduce login system for members at website. Have access levels per user similar to previous website design.
- update anime database design to include more anime information, similar to previous website design.
- redesign anime page setup.
- introduce anime review section.
- improve main page layout, focussing on automatic page update (for event display.. etc).
- improve banner CSS layout.
- introduce and test anime fanart/fanfiction section.

I spent some time recently looking at the old website design that was hosted at DUSA. I've finally come to the realisation that perhaps I focussed too hard on trying to change things for the new website. I had grand visions for a super-site, and failed.

This is one of the reasons why I have decided to re-introduce the basic elements from the old site back into the current one.

I don't mean to be idiotic, but as for the review elements, why not make use of the forum?

Is it possible for you to expand the forum code base to support ratings?

As for user levels, can't you already do that with this forum? I played with phpBB and I think you can create your own use levels. The problem is the rights are set to a per board/forum basis.

Yeah, incorporating sections into the forum, negates a lot of hassle with web design... and it makes it a lot more user friendly for those on the cusp of the IT field to add content through attachements and stickied threads...

Which reminds me... I am drawing Chan as our mascot ASAP... before I forget again...

He he he Chan would be an awesome mascot

Expanding the phpBB code is a bit trickey, mainly because it's very messy. While it can negate alot of the webdesign with the website, actually building the system would take a while. I must admit, the same thing applied when I first started working with Sam's website/forum code all those years ago. Look what I was able to achieve with that!

If I were to use the phpBB code, the way I'd incorporate it to the website would be to include the forum login system into the website. That way, whenever someone logs into the website, they can check via a personal page of some sort: updated forum posts, any private messages, and updated posts to thread they created. The anime review section would be created seperate from the actual forum, since it would rely on the anime database. The forum login system would be incorporated into the review system. It would basically be similar to how to old site worked.

Your idea is to incorporate the whole website into the forum system, similar to how aussie-nintendo have done their website, with news articles, gaming features and other stuff. I can't see the anime review thread being kept heavily moderated by a single person or group of people. Modifying the phpBB code to restrict the thread to one post per user could be an idea.

The other problem I see with using the phpBB is that it would make the website easier to hack.. given that phpBB is free to download, and anyone can easily figure out how certain things works. One can only see all the spam we get. Imagine if someone started spamming ads for bed linen in the dargh news section of the website.. Actually, that would be kinda funny.

Ok, after thinking more about some of the ideas and suggestions, I've come up with 3 options that could be implemented to the website.. They are:

[list]- Fully incorporate the phpBB forum into the website. News, Events, Anime (library), and Anime Review Pages would be incorporated to the forum
- Incorporate the phpBB login function into the website. Have everything else (News, Events, Anime (library), and Anime Review sections) seperate, but relying on the phpBB login function.
- Make the forum and website seperate (as it currently stands). Create a new login function for the website, allowing users to place reviews and participate in future website projects (such as the fanfiction section).[list]

At the moment, I'm swinging towards Option 2. Option 3 would be good, but people would probably hate to have 2 seperate logins.