Modding Discussion Updating The Unofficial Lua Api Documentation website, what do you think and what do you want to see

Hello Internet!

As some of you may know, I am currently working on the website sblaud.net, sblaud stands for StarBound Lua Api Unofficial Documentation.

Though the website looks a bit weird and doesn't really work's well and work in a really weirdly. since I have a lot of time to spare, I have decided to completely overhaul the design of the website. so here I am wondering... What can I do more or what can I do better.

Since I am updating the website, I would like to know what the community would like to have in the website and how i could make it look better. Since the new version will force me to completely overhaul the website, this is a good opportunity to add features to the website.

with this post you will find the source of code of the website so that you can try to fiddle with the code if you want to.

UPDATE 1:
I"ve made a bunch of changes since the last time and also created a new dark them, so please tell me how you like the new dark theme!

Link to the beta version of the update
light: http://sblaud.net/beta/test.html
dark: http://sblaud.net/beta/testDark.html

Thank you for your feedback, C0bra5.

 

I don't get the full version of the website
Can you speak in non-nerd language?
Pls (sorry if i hurt your feelingz m8 :C )

 

I think it looks great! Once it is more fleshed out, it could be a really good resource!

 

i am updating the website, basically re making the whole website you can see the current version of the website at sblaud.net

so ya. the full version just means the current non beta version of the website.

 

still dont get it

 

Here's a helpful link that explains what an API is: http://readwrite.com/2013/09/19/api-defined

Basically the gist of it is that an an API is a set of functions (Lua functions in this case, created by the Starbound devs) that other people can use to do stuff (in this case, we can use these functions to write our own modded Lua scripts).

As far as terminology goes, a "function" is a piece of code that takes input, does something with that input, and outputs something. You can think of a "table" as a category of functions. An example table could be the 'world' table that holds all the functions that affect the game on a planet-level scale.

Hopefully that helps!

 

that's a good way to explain it.

 

The best way to present a website is to make it simple. White, light backgrounds and dark text are also friendlier to the eyes. I prefer the new forum theme because it is proven to be easier to read text that is dark against a light background. The text is a good size ( though people can adjust that to their liking with the Crtl+ or - ) Everytime I work with pictures or text I like to have either a pure white background or a pale, very light coloured one. Hope I was a bit helpful!

 

soo this website is a prototype of modding program? something like that?

 

Its an attempt at documentation for modding starbound using Lua.

 

not really, it's a documentation of starbound's current api. the api is what allowed us, modders to create lua scripts and i am currently documenting the whole api. there is no up to date documentation of the api so we kinda really need one seeing that starbound has a no tools to help us to understand how to correctly use the lua functions that they allow us to use.

 

alright i think now everyone reading this gonna get whatcha doing
good work on that!

 

Those that this applies to knew what he was doing already.

 

welp i just posted a new closer to reality version of the page if anyone is interested. I've also updated the source code available with the post.

 

I can read the site clearly in a text-only konsole. That's... actually an improvement over many commercial websites. I'd like if you kept this format. Of course if you make an ugly-buggy-awful API documentation the community would still owe you big time. So thanks putting time into this.

 

ya i many websites uses weird templates, i prefer creating everything from scratch and then applying css later. it makes it so much easier than having my code all over the place.

 

UPDATE! i've just made a new theme and tried to enhanced the current theme of the website by going form the deep sea colored theme to a more "starboundy" dark theme.

i've also updated the links and download to contain the newest updates!
New Theme: http://sblaud.net/beta/testDark.html
Old Theme: http://sblaud.net/beta/test.html

 

I like the old one better... it's more readable. Light text against dark background hurts my eyes.

 

ya i still need to blast some more styling to it. the text is still pure white.

 

I like the new theme better. The old one was alright, but I wasn't a fan of the colors.