Tonight I'm going to start working on the Revamp again (NIFE is on hold for now) because the back-end really needs it at this point.
My strategy has changed a lot over the last year. I want the revamp to feel as customizable as the old site (if not more so). I want to make the forums solid first and then build new features and other areas of the site later. I want to preserve the new-school look and the nostalgic look (while still focusing on a modern "granite" look).
Instead of all at once, the revamp will launch a piece at a time (starting with when the new back-end is done soon). Working on the current site and working on the Revamp have converged lately; at this point the first few steps of the revamp are in fact fixing up the old site.
My basic strategy is to add a piece at a time, and then fix bugs/build new features while simultaneously working on other pieces. I also want to work on GTX0's new game engine, NIFE, here and there. It's pretty close to done.
----- Tonight ------
1. Restore all of the posts up to July 2013.
2. Polish off the new database structure.
3. Export GTX0 to a different database and start configuring it to work under the new structure. Save my notes here since I'll have to do the same thing again when the revamp goes live.
--- Probably another day ----
4. Set up James' framework and try to get it working on this server (there are some different access settings, and apparently he gave me a broken version...) or build a new framework or hack his framework together into a new framework.
5. Lay out the structure of how I'm going to program the revamp.
------ Definitely another day -------
Okay so at this point my strategy is to make the revamp resemble the existing site (with slightly snazzier aesthetics). The main point is to make the back-end easier to work with so I can go in and create some outstanding features that have been requested (or are just generally needed).
So I'll need to do something like:
1. Top area (login/people search/etc)
2. Forum headers
3. Forum Indexes (Which I'll just import my existing code really since that's gone through a rehaul).
4. View a post
5. Add a new post/ Add a reply (slight differences here)
6. Edit posts
7. View documents
There's really no reason to *not* implement the new permissions system here, but I'll have to wait and see if I can work it in (there's still a decent amount of back-end panels to be built).
--- Later ----
Okay, my plan after this is to start building new aesthetic assets. So in addition to the current look, you'll get a very retro Mike's GT look if you want it, and a modernized "granite" look if you want that (this will actually be the default).
At this point, the Revamp hits "Early revamp" status, which was an earlier launch date I had at one time. Basically, the core of the site will be fixed up, there will be better aesthetics, some new features will exist, and there will be a framework in place for building new chunks of the site.
---- Much later ----
My plan after this isn't really set in stone, but I have a bunch of GTX0 projects I mapped out to a large extent in early 2013 (and really, some of them have been bouncing around since 2010). These form the basis of the "full" Revamp.
---- Status Updates ----
I will be using this forum to give status updates on the project. Basically I'll create a post every day I work on the revamp with my objectives, and then post status updates into it as I work through things (as well as answer questions/etc if there are any).
Work on the Revamp will definitely be intermittent, and I can't give any kind of reasonable timeline (because I do this in my free time), but it will definitely start happening.
