Xith WEB Site

[Amos Wenger]

Okay, first real contribution to Xith :

I thought it would be useful to refactor / make changes to Xith WEB Site.

Here's what I noticed (by order of importance) :
 - The "Intro" page says :

you can also potentally access the underlying rendering API (usually OpenGL) by directally calling the OpenGL commands

  It's not true, it's discussed in Issue #101
 - Same thing in the Q1 of the FAQ
 - In Q5 of the FAQ, it's been said that Xith has a loader interface. It may be true, however none of the loaders use it (apart from ASE loader, maybe)
 - It would be useful to add a table of loaders capabilities in Q5 :

Extension	Format	Texture	Animation	Special features	Package
ASE	3DS Max ASCII Format	YES	-	TransformGroup trees	com.xith3d.loaders.ase
3DS	3DS Max Binary Format	YES	-	-	org.xith3d.loaders.tds
OBJ	Wavefront OBJ	YES	-	-	org.xith3d.loaders.obj
MD2	Quake 2	YES	YES	-	org.xith3d.loaders.md2
MD3	Quake 3	YES	YES	-	Somewhere in Java Cool Dude's demos
AC3D	AC3D Format	YES	-	-	org.xith3d.loaders.ac3d

 - I think the Q on the high resolution timer isn't really useful, but..
 - Q9 about features should be replaced by a section in the Tiki that contains the "Features" post content
 - Q10 isn't useful I think
 - Q17 should be replaced by an article in the GSG

I could do the suggestions above if and only if I had permissions to modify tiki as I wanted. (Will?)
About GSG, I think it would be far better to split it and to give it better visibility. (And also to rename it, because we can write articles that treat advanced aspects of graphic programming, and then Getting Started Guide isn't appropriate).

I'll see if I can do a tutorial "Model loading in Xith3D", showing all the methods of loading different file formats, special features, recommended export options from different programs, and so on.

[William Denniss]

Go for it!  Sounds good - Thank you.

The Xith3D tiki is editable by all registered users, except designated "title pages".  If you think I have mis-categoriesed a page as a "title page" then please tell me.  The front page is an example of such a page that should remain that way (to stop vandalism).  To get access to the title pages one must simply state their intentions and ask (click on the "Perms" tab when logged in to see article permissions).

What is your Xith.org username?  I shall add you to the "Title Page Editors" Group so you can edit those pages.

BTW, There appears to be a bug in tikiwiki when you are logged in - some PHP error messages.  Sorry if you get them, but they shouldn't affect the site - I will look into it.

It would be nice to have Java Cool Dude's MD3 loader in the TK project too.

Cheers,

Will.

[hawkwind]

Full agreement.  Go for it.

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[Amos Wenger]

My username for Xith site is : "bluesky"
I haven't found how to edit FAQs.

[William Denniss]

Done.

FAQ admin page is here:  http://xith.org/tiki-list_faqs.php (it is hard to find, I agree - that's why I have bookmarked it )

Thanks!

Will.

[Amos Wenger]

Is the Xith3D users mailing list still active ?
It's mentionned in the "Intro" and I never heard about it since I use Xith3D...

[Amos Wenger]

After a few investigations, it seems the mailing list contains only ONE post, by Jens Lehmann, he has never been answered.
I think the Xith board on this forum is sufficient, and we don't need a mailing list.

I corrected a few typos in the "Intro" and added the following about directly calling OpenGL commands :

Note : this functionality has been discussed and is actually in progress

So we need to find a solution (ex. of practical applications : multi-pass rendering) about this problem. (I read in IssueZilla and the compatibility is really an issue if we encourage Xith users to write OpenGL code..)

(About the FAQ admin : Thanks Will, now it works, and a magical little button has appeared : "Edit this FAQ" So it's ok now.)

[Amos Wenger]

Added the "happy user feedback" in the "What is Xith3D" Q.
Forums links updated.
Loaders table added.
Several minor corrections and precisions.
Removed the questions about the high resolution timer, about the feature "X", and about the ASE Material (replaced by a change in the loaders table)
Added an info about JSR-231 in the "Applet" Q.
Added a link to the Demos in the "JWS" Q.
Added a link to the GSG in the "What is Xith3D" Q.
Added the "Is Xith3D stable?" entry.
Added the "What are Xith3D performances vs. Java3D?" entry.

[Amos Wenger]

William, how to add a page, like Intro, Credits, or Links so that it appears in the top menu ?
I would like to add a "Features" page.

(Note about the "Credits" page. I think you or I may add c_lilian, cause its optimizations seems very well)

[William Denniss]

I agree that the information about using the mailing list is very out of date, reworking that page to focus on the forum is definitally a good idea.

Other changes look good, especially the FAQ as I am sure that is probably the second page people visit.

I will add c_lilian to credits, but first I should commit his patch!

Thanks,

Will.

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[Amos Wenger]

May I add myself to the "Credits" page, with : Website contributions, Community support ?

[Amos Wenger]

(Note that I want to continue contributing to Xith, as it's useful to my game project(s))