OK, the new Sinews of War website is underway. I really want to make this a site that fills in the gaps of the OFP community. There are alot of people out there contributing content for OFP and it isn't organized in a very useful way. I mean that it's great to display 'new' stuff (especially only add-ons) but there isn't alot of ways to get old stuff or even simple script modules. Most of the sites out there right now simply have a system that is like a big basket. As the basket gets full, it gets harder to 'dig' into the basket for older material. Most of it is organization. However, the amount of organization needed would put alot into the hands of the searcher. For example, to find a specific unit type (add-on) one must first go to the add-ons area... then search under the name... then perhaps make sure it is the most recent version... then make sure he/she can download it. My proposal is simply to allow lone developers store their work and display it on a personal "Project" page that will show everything done to the piece from day one to current. Searching would be as simple as either knowing the name of the work or searching keywords. Instead of 3 steps... it's one step for the person doing the search. Additionally, the developers of 'scripts' can allow their project to live on beyond their own interest. Imagine liking a script by someone and wanting to expand upon it without breaking the old code. This would allow others to open the project back up and continue it's life forward while still displaying the previous work for people in search of the original authors work.

I believe I have a system in mind that allows this, but this will be awhile.

I have a Project Management system for the Developers here and I need to modify it a bit to allow some features I want to add. For now, it has everything I want EXCEPT document versioning. I really want a check-in/check-out system. It really helps preventing others from overwriting changed code. The other thing about this system is that it is overly complicated IMO. I want a system the developers here will find a useful and simple tool. Not a process of 'work'. Who knows how much I'll change.... I may even rewrite the whole thing. It will depend on the time needed I guess.

Also, I'm deciding on which photo gallery to use. The only difficult part is that some are licensed which kinda sucks because of the number of DotNetNuke installations I am running (on other sites). So I am looking for a good one that allows some users to create their own albums and manage it themselves. One thing I do not want to do on this site is maintain every bit of content that comes in.

Anyways, thats my first entry. More to come in the following days