So the current veekun is already one game behind. In six weeks, it will be three(ish) games behind. This sucks.

I don't work on current veekun any more, it's slowly falling apart as I upgrade the server (look at the resources page), and I want to get rid of it as soon as possible. Ideally, I'd like the beta to replace current veekun by HG/SS's release (or maybe the day of, although I'll be out of town at the time).

However! The beta is still far from complete. I've been putting a lot of work into the staples like Pokémon pages and some gaping holes like encounters, but that means I've had to put off stuff like recreating the Pokémon search for quite some time. And I haven't even started on anything like a forum, which is a giant undertaking.

If I made the beta the real site today, there would be no advanced search and no way for anyone to communicate. I can't even post real news right now. Hell, the front page of the beta is blank. This sucks.


So! I have six weeks. Assuming I keep the old site around for emergencies, what does the beta critically need for it to replace veekun? In order of important, right now I think I can get away with:
- advanced Pokémon search
- Pokémon and move lists
- user stuff (registration, login, permissions)
- a shoutbox
After that:
- barebones forum (so I can post news)
- breeding chain calculator (because it's fairly unique)
- item/ability pages
And then I guess everything else in the current order.

I do have a roadmap of everything I wanted by release, which I consulted for the above list.

Thoughts?

Your plan sounds good so far. Keeping a straight link to the old version of the unique parts features of this site on a temporary front page would be helpful, but not really necessary if you have a little link up top like you do now.

The only suggestion I would have is too maybe "tack on" the current forum for now,(link to that section of the old site?) That way you can focus on the other things you would like to accomplish.

I don't think it will be a huge loss if the forum doesn't really work out of the gate; it barely sees any use now. I just need it so I can post news, and writing a very simple forum isn't much more difficult than writing a very simple news app.

Hey Eevee, haven't posted in a while so I thought I would chime in on the latest:

The beta looks fantastic. I had some notion that it was gonna be cool, but you seem to think of some really great ideas for making things easy to display. The javascript sort buttons for the move tables are great, as well as the dynamic input boxes found throughout.

Looks like you're still finishing up the locations data, but I like what I've seen so far. I'll be interested to see how you handle some of the pokemon that are found in locations other than the wild, such as event pokemon.

Are you planning on releasing the updated database and source? I tweaked around with the old one quite a bit and I'm sure you've made improvements. You may have it already posted somewhere but I couldn't find a link. Damn, I wish there was some way I could volunteer to help more, but I'm really a Java/C type guy so I think the learning curve would be a bit much. I think your implementation for this site is way cooler than using a wiki like Bulbapedia. Obviously, the 2 sites are very different, but personally I'd rather have a database to mess with rather than wiki markup.

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I adore the beta, but it's still missing things the main site has, and HG/SS release is looming especially close. I might have to release it before finishing, which kinda sucks. Alas.

Event Pokémon are the bane of my existence. :( Still not quite sure how I'm going to do those, but I'm saving them for after I finish with regular encounters. Just two gens to go...

New source is at http://git.veekun.com/.
Pokédex data is in pokedex.git; Web frontend is in spline-pokedex.git; Web framework is in spline.git; veekun-specific layout/configuration are in veekun.git.
The tables are in the repository as CSV dumps in pokedex/data/csv; table definitions are in pokedex/db/tables.py.
There's a script in pokedex.git for loading all the data. Install the code (sudo python setup.py install), then run pokedex load -D -e rdbms://user@host/database -- "rdbms" can be postgres, sqlite, mysql, and hopefully anything else. You'll need the right Python driver, though; psycopg for Postgres, MySQLdb for MySQL.

I really need to write this all down somewhere on the beta. :V

I like the way beta is looking so far, but I -really- think you should keep a link to the old site as well. It works so well methinks.

Only real complaint I have with the current site is something with the items. It was only brought to my attention when I was trying to make a list of grouped items for something.

In the categories you have, DeepSeaScale, SeepSeaTooth, Razor Fang, and Razor Claw are all needed to evolve a certian pokemon (respectively.), but they weren't under the evolution categorey, so I ended up skipping over them by accident, and had to go back and alter my work to include them in.

Its a really small thing that could've been avoided if I were more careful, but I just thought I should bring it up to help save others the same trouble later on, hopefully. <_<

how bad would it be to leave the current dex up under old.veekun.com until the beta has everything (to your satisfaction)?

It wouldn't be very hard, and I'll certainly do it until I think the old site can be killed off. But stats and anecdotes indicate that a lot of people haven't noticed the link to the beta, so my main concern is that people would likewise not notice a link to the old site. :V

My biggest gripe with the beta 'dex is that it seems really cluttered. It would be nice to be able to hide sections of information. When I'm looking to build a team I don't need to know how tall a Pokemon is or how much it weighs; those things just get in the way.

fuck 'em
or have a super simple redirecty thing with large font on the main page
<a href=old.veekun.com><font size=72>old stable</a>
<a href=beta.veekun.com>new hotness</a></font>

my hopes, nurtured by the preview, have now been shattered :emo:

even if they dont notice it, it'd be nice to have that option to go back to this current site and layout, for the people who want to use it.
i know i'd use it a lot. i do like the beta, but as Komepelu said, its a bit cluttered if youre trying to look up a particular piece of information, such as stats for team-building.

I don't understand that sentiment. The new layout is extremely similar to the old; what big change has been made that makes it harder to find stats/moves?

And someday the old site will vanish, so.

The inclusion of the "Flavor" section on the Pokedex page seems kind of unnecessary when you have a separate Flavor page, for one thing.

That's been there. And I have a "locations" section as well as a separate page, too. :T Hm.

Out of curiosity, what you are using as a development environment Eevee? Sounds like you have everything running in Linux. Are you running any sort of IDE?

I just develop on my desktop, which yes runs Linux. I don't use IDEs; just vim and screen.