Ideas for Image/Resource hosting site

General talk about the map making process.
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blast
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Ideas for Image/Resource hosting site

Post by blast »

I'm trying to get some ideas for how to improve/replace the current texture hosting system for BZFlag. The current one is kinda clunky to use, both for users, and moderators.

Here's somewhat how I envision a new site:
  • Able to host various types of files (images, audio, models, etc)
  • Allow uploaders to choose where the file will be uploaded to (no more of that "uploader name is the folder name" stuff)
  • Allow meta data to be attached to files (keywords, tags, whatever)
  • Allow searching the resource repository (based on meta data, filename, type)
  • Add a more streamlined upload process
  • Have some method for allowing batch uploads (upload a ZIP file, and then choose where files will go)
  • Allow rejecting/approving multiple images at a time (currently moderators have to go through each one individually)
  • Allow adding comments during the moderation process and changes to the file info (license, author, etc) so that the info can be corrected without reuploading
  • Allow adding more info to "cite sources", such as source URLs, email messages from the author, additional author contact details, and so on. (Wouldn't be required, but would be nice in the event that moderators question an upload)
There's some other things I'm wondering about, mostly licensing. Let's say we have resources that required attribution (any of the CC licenses). Does the allowed method of attribution depend on the author? Is having the author's name listed next to the file in our resource site enough? Or does the map or game server need to list it in the server message?

So, what other things could be improved/added/removed/tweaked? I know we have a good number of people that have used the site, so I'm wondering what your thoughts are.

Also, here's an example of a resource hosting system that another game made/uses:
http://wiki.worldforge.org/wiki/Wombat
http://wombat.worldforge.org/

That one is written in Python, which I unfortunately do not know (I'm a PHP guy), but it has some neat features, and the content (and meta data?) itself is stored in a Subversion repository.
"In addition to knowing the secrets of the Universe, I can assure you that I am also quite potty trained." -Koenma (Yu Yu Hakusho)

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Cobra_Fast
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Re: Ideas for Image/Resource hosting site

Post by Cobra_Fast »

Good plan, really.

Check SWFUploader for a nice multi-file upload.

Additionaly I'm totally for something that brings more organization for map makers into it (to prevent duplicates and find fitting textures), which would be the search. The metadata stuff would only make sense if it was searchable too.

Letting people decide where to save their files could end in a mess. I'd rather give users(/uploaders) their own "home"-directory in which they may create more directories and place their files.

I dont see need for a versioning system (like you said wombat has one) for a media database with my proposed home-directory setup. Everyone would maintain their own files as they like and wouldnt have to mess with versioning much.

I cant tell much about the moderation process as I don't know how it works now.
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blast
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Re: Ideas for Image/Resource hosting site

Post by blast »

I mentioned that the meta data would be searchable in the first post there. Otherwise, yeah, it wouldn't make sense.

This is another possibility for handling the uploads (thought looks like it does way more than we need, and might depend on jQuery):
http://www.plupload.com/

And here's another one:
http://digitarald.de/project/fancyupload/
(Not sure if that one works with the latest Mootools or not)

EDIT: Also, I think giving people the option of placing files where they want would be a good thing. Let's say eight people upload wood textures. They could all be within /textures/wood/ instead of one over in /user1/wood/ and another in /joebob/trees/ and so on. Then you would not even need to search to find wood textures.

Oh, and another thing is that I wouldn't want there to be a separate "upload" section. It should all be part of the same website.
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mdskpr
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Re: Ideas for Image/Resource hosting site

Post by mdskpr »

It would be nice to have every image 'tagged'(like they do in blogs) so that if it was wood(or any other category, or multiple), the uploader would tag his image as 'wood' and then you could browse a corresponding category. You could even have a tree browser with categories.
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Re: Ideas for Image/Resource hosting site

Post by Cobra_Fast »

MDSKPR wrote:It would be nice to have every image 'tagged'(like they do in blogs) so that if it was wood(or any other category, or multiple), the uploader would tag his image as 'wood' and then you could browse a corresponding category. You could even have a tree browser with categories.
Another nice feature would be browsing the search results in thumbnails (like with google images).
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