DKC Atlas Forum

[Qyzbud]

I thought a topic of this nature would be good. I can post here to let you guys know about updates to the site/forum before they are mentioned as an 'official' update on the home page, and you can give any feedback if you feel like it.

Okay, I've made a couple of changes to the site - the most noticeable being the Level Info pages of Kongo Jungle.

They aren't complete, but all of them are now somewhat started, and there are arrows linking each level info page to the next and previous ones. A good way to browse through them, eh? Ropey Rampage's at a glance section has been updated, so any comments on the formatting/presentation/content would be appreciated.

All other comments welcome.

Oh, for those wondering, the exact time of day I plan to make site updates is the current time of this post!

--
DKC Atlas prefers Chrome/Firefox... What do you browse with?

[Cyclone]

I really like the arrows that link to the next page. Great idea! but it may make the page look a little neater if the arrows were below the main tittle rather then above.

lol I like the pic you choose for Ropey Rampage. It fits the name perfectly. It may be a tad bit dark though.

by the way I use IE most of the time and theres a formating glitch on the front page where I can't see the guest book link. It's underneith somewhere.

yea I know, I'm a bit picky with things

[Kowbrainz]

Would it be a good idea to turn the arrows into banana arrows later on? :/
Or at least DKC-ify them in some way or another?

Looks good right now.

[Qyzbud]

Cyclone, I get a lot out of your 'picky' feedback, so cheers. You have an excellent eye for design.

The IE guestbook link is something I thought I had ironed out - I experienced it earlier (weeks ago), but it's working fine at my end now. If you mean the 'splash' page at the root of the site (http://www.dkc-atlas.com/index.html -link no longer active), the guestbook link was intentionally omitted, as by that stage the guest hasn't seen enough of the site to leave an informed message in the guestbook. If you mean the home page (http://www.dkc-atlas.com/pages/dkc/index.html -link no longer active), well I guess I've got some debugging to do... the only problem being that I can't see the problem myself.

Thank you both for the feedback about the previous/next buttons. I'll see what I can do to position them in a more aesthetically awesome fashion. They are actually based on the world map arrows in DKC2, but I tweaked them considerably. No doubt I will tweak them considerably again sometime soon.

[Cyclone]

ok I took screens of what I see on my end in Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2. I don't conider this a format error but even the "previous/next buttons" are formated differently in IE/FF. I have the same issue on my website that I need to workout. I think you would need to standardize the code on both ends.

Links no longer active:

Spoiler!

http://www.inspiredvisuals.com/Cgtalk/DK/Glitch1(IE7).jpg
http://www.inspiredvisuals.com/Cgtalk/DK/Glitch1(Firefox2.0).jpg
http://www.inspiredvisuals.com/Cgtalk/DK/Glitch2(IE7).jpg
http://www.inspiredvisuals.com/Cgtalk/DK/Glitch1(Firefox2.0).jpg

[cfh]

What's with the Firefox glitch?? I'm using Firefox and it looks fine. Maybe your computer is weird.

[BlueTronic]

Maybe your computer is weird.

Ghost computer

ooooo-eeeee-ooooo

[cfh]

...no, I don't think it's possessed...

[Cyclone]

well i dunno why its like that on my end. But I had a prob with my website in the past where the menus were working fine until windows update upgrade IE. Then I found out I was missing some code on my page which was preventing it from working. Maybe something similer is happening here?

or maybe there is monkey hiding out in my computer....

[Qyzbud]

ok I took screens of what I see on my end in Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2.

Oh geez, is this how the site has always looked for you? I wonder why on Earth you didn't tear into me for such poor formatting!

Cyclone, I think it's a font-size issue on your end. All of the text looks to be way bigger in those screenshots than it does on any of my design stations. I've tested on multiple computers, all versions of IE from 5.01 to present, and although 5.01 presents some big formatting errors of its own, I've never seen a font-size shift like that. The layout is somewhat font-size dependant, so it would explain the... unpleasant oddities.

The attached files show how it should look in Firefox. (colour depth has been reduced to keep filesizes low)

DKC Atlas Home (Firefox)

dkc-atlas-home-firefox.png (111.27 KiB) Viewed 129340 times

Ropey Rampage's Level Info (Firefox)

dkc-atlas-level1-2-firefox.png (132.52 KiB) Viewed 129336 times

[Cyclone]

ahh that makes sense now. you are correct. I have my dpi setting in the windows "Display Properties" set higher then the normal setting. I like having my resolution set at the highest becuase it makes everything look sharper and especially with lcds because they have fixed resolutions. But then the icons/text are microscopic so I set the dpi a bit higher.

I don't really notice any problems with websites that I visit so I still think you can fix this with a bit of simple text formatting just by specifying the font size on your website. Yes I know you probably done that but there are a few ways of doing the same thing. I noticed this on my website when I set the dpi to 'normal' size. My front page looked the same but some of the other pages the font looked smaller.


Whatever.. in any case don't bother with it just for one abnormality(me ) I'm fine with seeing it glitched up... as long as I can access the content.

[Qyzbud]

I haven't stated an official update on the home page yet, but I thought I'd let you guys know that I've revamped the Level Info pages (most notably the 'at a glance' info sections) for all of Kongo Jungle's levels. If you want to check them all out, the best way is to start with Jungle Hijinxs, and click the 'Next' arrow to skip through.

I have a lot still to do, but it's now 5:10 AM, and I wanted to get my progress online before getting sleep. Sleep can wait... the Atlas can't!

If you want to suggest level-specific content, that should be done in the individual Level Info discussion topics. Formatting suggestions, typo's and other errors (heaven forbid!) can be discussed here in this topic. Any feedback is gosh-dang groovetastic in my eyes, so don't be afraid to comment.

[Kowbrainz]

*comes up behind Cranky with steel keg in hands above head*

Cheeky ape...


EDIT: Lol, this is one of those IE situations: loading the homepage using Internet Explorer mucks it all up, putting the DKC sux logo in the centre of the banner with Cranky to the left.

[Qyzbud]

Heh, Just managed to wrestle my site away from that senile simian. I noticed what you were talking about, Kowz... AS I was removing it.

I have made a change to the way font sizes are specified... I hope that there is no visible difference to anyone who was able to view things properly before. This change should make it easier for me to keep things consistent from browser to browser, and OS to OS. I'm particularly curious to see if it helps in Cyclone's unusual circumstance (mentioned a few posts up).

So Cyclone, my violently rotating windstorm friend, are things looking better from your perspective now?

[Stone]

Anyone made a screenshot of that April-Fool-Hack?
I wasn't online yesterday, damn...

[Cyclone]

Wow I thought there was something wrong with my eyes for a sec. The formatting of your website looks perfect now. I didn’t realize how much better your site would look once it was properly displayed. Thanks!

[Qyzbud]

Lovely, I'm very glad indeed to hear that! I want it to look as good as it can for everyone; even those with wacky configurations.

Now I've just gotta hope this thread doesn't pile up with posts from other users who report that it all looks broken for them now...

[Kiddy14]

I don't know if this has already been reported or it's something with the Add-ons I have in Firefox, but sometimes (not always) the link to Boss Dumb Drum gets messed up:

I'm using:
Firefox 2.0.0.13
Flagfox 3.2.3 Plug-in
Vista-aero 2.0.0.11 Theme

EDIT: To Qyzbud: I don't have Vista ^_^" It's just a theme named Vista-aero I downloaded for Firefox only XD

[Qyzbud]

That's quite odd to have it make errors sometimes, not always... Monkeygirl showed me something similar that seems to happen 50% of the time. She also has Vista, so I think it's most likely a vista compatibility issue with my menu script. I'll have a poke around and see what I can do to fix this.

Thanks for reporting.

EDIT: Okay. Yeah, I thought it was strange that you would have an XP-styled taskbar. The reason I accepted this is that I personally use XP, but have a '98-styled task bar.

[tallrex]

I like it Qyzbud

[Qyzbud]

I have reworked the site menu a little; instead of being struckthrough, inactive menu links are now faded, which I think looks a lot nicer. Of course, it would be better yet if I just completed the site's content... then we wouldn't need to even have inactive links.

Kiddy14, can you tell me if the Dumb Drum link error you were experiencing still occurs, or if you are confronted by any other problems?

I've also uploaded 'dummy pages' for all levels from Monkey Mines and Vine Valley. So far, these pages only include the 'At a glance...' info. Until I've prepared a bit more content for them, I won't set them as 'active links' on the menu (although non-active links are still clickable).

[Kiddy14]

No... the Red mark in the link hasn't appeared since you changed the way inactive links appear =)
And no... there's no other problem in the site! =)

[Qyzbud]

I have updated the Atlas at last! The main addition is the Winky's Walkway level info page.

I'm most curious to hear what you guys think of the new screenshot gallery viewing system.

[Stone]

Either Qyzbud has some serious sleep disorders or he's really ambitious posting an update that late
It's so late at night that it is even getting dark on my side of the world

P.S.: Let's see if everything works fine.

Edit: And it works fine! I like the new screenshot viewing system, such as everything else you add to the site.

[Qyzbud]

Thanks... yeah 4 am is rather late to be up finishing off code and posting updates and the such. I've just set myself some tough targets due to the lack of updates lately, as I want to break that trend and get this darn Atlas kicking in top gear!

Well I'm glad you like it, and cheers for being my primary tester. (you are in the perfect timezone for giving me quick feedback on my late-night additions!)

[Tiptup Jr.]

The screenshots get a thumbs-up, as does everything else. I can't wait to see what this site looks like when it's finished!

...And Winky is cool. God rest his soul.

[Qyzbud]

That's great.

I have added another page to check out; Mine Cart Carnage level info.

This update includes the observation of a mysterious banana bunch, a challenge, and the largest snapshot gallery yet available on DKC Atlas.

[Kiddy14]

Well, I don't know if this is a "bug", but if you move some pages a little down, and then click a link, then return with the back button, the page would be a little more down than it was before; if you repeat, it would be still going down until it reaches the bottom =P Don't know if I'm explaining myself, hope I do =)

[Qyzbud]

I know precisely what you mean, and it has been bugging me since I noticed it (around the time I launched the site).

I have no idea what's going on.

[Cyclone]

About the text size. I always felt it was bordeline too small before. And now its even smaller... I can read it but in terms of an a esthetics I think the text looks a bit squished into the site and it is slightly harder to read. Maybe its about 2 points too small. Is it only me? What do others think?

[Kiddy14]

Oh god!

Firefox 3 seems to mess up with the Snapshots in the Level's Pages!



Noooo!

[Simion32]

The one thing I immediately noticed is that Firefox is randomly anti-aliasing some things, such as the borders on either side of the page. This isn't good if we want images to be displayed exactly as they should be...

Some of the forum's fonts are messed up like one used for the "WHO IS ONLINE" text, as well.
*EDITED*

[Kiddy14]

Simion's right, anti-aliasing is getting on my nerves...



For some reason, the image isn't anti-aliased when I see it in imagehost, but it looks anti-aliased in DKC Atlas.

[BlueTronic]

They both look exactly the same on my end.

[Kiddy14]

Click in the image to zoom in. Is that, or you need glasses or adjusting your monitor configs =P

[Simion32]

The images are indeed anti-aliased... it's as if the browser is loading them as anti-aliased automatically... even when I save a PNG from this site to my hard drive, it's STILL anti-aliased.

There has to be some sort of website option/code to turn this off!

[Kiddy14]

I tried finding something in about:config but the only Preferences I could find somehow related where:

images.dither

and

gfx.use_text_smoothing_setting

I have images.dither value set to Auto and gfx.use_text_smoothing_setting set in False. But I don't want to move it since Firefox showed me a somewhat new warning about changing these values by myself =P

PS I really don't know what dither means, but since it's the most obvious preference, besides it has the image word.

[Simion32]

I tried changing dithering to false, but to no avail. The same effect is still happening.

The "This could void your warranty!" is a joke, by the way.

[Qyzbud]

I'm downloading FF3 as I type this. Hopefully I'll be able to find a fix for the smoothing/layout issues... It's very strange that a browser would actually modify a local file to apply a smoothing technique. Perhaps this could be good for some things (do the snapshot thumbnails look better now?), but annoying overall. I like to have complete control over my design, and it took me a long time to get the gallery system working just right, so something like this really throws a spanner in the works.

Well, the snapshots on the level info pages are really just there to be looked at, rather than 'used' in projects or whatever... so it's not really a catastrophe, but I definitely like the clarity of the pure pixel look. I might take a look around to see if this subject is being discussed on development/support forums around the place. I can't do much about it until I can test for myself... 52% ...come on Firefox 3!

[BlueTronic]

Is the anti-alias thing really that bad?

[Simion32]

Is the anti-alias thing really that bad?

If you're dealing with pixel-ized images such as SNES graphics, or anything that needs to be pixel-accurate, anti-aliasing just decreases the quality.

Spoiler!

Partially off-topic:
In addition, I hate that text anti aliasing feature Microsoft calls "ClearType" - when I did upgrade to IE7 (although I don't use it for browsing, only for windows updates) it really just hurt my eyes because the text was so frrickin' fuzzy and hard to read!

It should be called "MakeYouGoBlindType" because of the eyestrain.

[Qyzbud]

Although I haven't 'fixed' the image scaling (anti-aliasing) issue, I've revised the gallery viewer's styling, so now Firefox 3 (and hopefully, all other browsers) should display the snapshots in the correct position. Thanks for pointing out the problem, Kiddy.

I plan to address the image scaling issue, too; and I have some ideas to that effect. Will update soon.

[Qyzbud]

Just a quick note to let y'all know that I've just made a site update after 11 days of not having done so...

Take a peek, if you're game!

Let me know if there are any problems, and if you like the new 'shadowed' text titles.

[Qyzbud]

I haven't had much time to work on the site lately, so unfortunately there have been no recent updates. This will be the case for the next week or so, too; Monkeygirl and I are going camping tomorrow, and won't be back until around the 14th of this month (unless it gets too cold, and we come back sooner!).

Just thought I would let you all know.

[Super David]

For a suggestion, do you think you could sometime upload a DKC TV show torrent? My suggestion is Speed and Watch the Skies should be in it (since almost everything else is at Donkey Kong.co.nr). Nice site, by the way.

[Kiddy14]

I think the little arrows in the Worlds pages are too small. Both from being clickable, and compared with the level pages.

[gamer_boy997]

I clicked on Tips & Tricks because it was NOT faded, but it said I wandered off coarse.

[Jomingo]

Hmmm, the same thing happens to me.

[Kiddy14]

I'm pretty sure that's just a left over from Qyz. It'll be probably available in the next update.

[Qyzbud]

For a suggestion, do you think you could sometime upload a DKC TV show torrent?

...no I don't think that's going to happen. I'm keeping to the DKC games with this site.

I think the little arrows in the Worlds pages are too small. Both from being clickable, and compared with the level pages.

I made the World Info navigation arrows smaller because I thought people would be less likely to want to skip between worlds like that. I'll switch to the larger arrows for next update, and we can see if they are more appealing.

I clicked on Tips & Tricks because it was NOT faded, but it said I wandered off coarse.

Oops, I forgot to update the site's server settings to allow for this extra section to display. Will fix soon, thanks.


Thanks for the suggestions/error reports, guys.