FsfsfsfsfsfsfsfsfsfsfsfsfsâŠâŠâŠ. Letâs rock!
Something Iâve not mentioned so far is that StoryDevs has what I call âmodesâ. Modes determine whatâs inside the columns, which columns are expanded by default, which order the columns should collapse in as the window narrows, and how wide each column should be.
Above you can see me switching between two modes: talent and asset. The gif demonstrates the different default columns that Iâve assigned the talent and asset modes. (Itâs just an example â in reality the talent and asset modes both happen to expand only the left-most column by default).
Above is another example, this time demonstrating the different default widths columns might have for each mode. Again, the asset and talent modes would likely have the same widths in practice but for modes I add later this may be applicable.
Notice in the picture above that while weâre viewing the about page the right-most column is labelled âassetâ â the mode is still active in the background. If you were to visit talent and then go to about it would be the talent mode thatâs active in the background instead. This also applies in reverse: if you expand a column thereâs still a page loaded in the background.
This might sound more complicated than it actually is. In a nutshell all it means is that the last thing you looked in the columns will still be in the columns. Likewise, when you collapse all the columns youâll see the last thing that was there.
In those above gifs Iâm switching between modes and the contents of the columns changes each time I do this. The first time you switch to a given mode you have to get that new content from www.storydevs.com â i.e., you get it from the server. You canât just magic the data onto your computer instantly, you need to load it across an internet connection.
Communicating across a network with a server is slower than your computer accessing its hard drive, and network communication it only gets slower the further away the server is. Incidentally, Iâm in Australia but the server Iâm renting is in a data center in San Francisco!
So then, itâs preferable to avoid communicating over a network. How can we do this less often? Well, if the user switches from the talent mode to the asset mode and then back to the talent mode again, weâre downloading the talent mode twice. We can prevent this by just downloading it once and storing it on the usersâ computer:
The pic above is a little confusing because the keys are in alphabetical order, but under keys you can see two things:
the names of modes and pages (e.g., âaboutâ, âassetsâ, âhomeâ, âtalentâ)
the names of columns that end with a modeâs name (e.g., âsearch_talentâ, âbrowse_assetâ, etc.)Â
When you switch modes the site carries out the following steps:
If youâre trying to visit the same mode that youâre already in (i.e., youâre in the talent database, and you click âtalentâ) it will just set the columns to their default positions and stop here.
If youâre trying to actually change modes, letâs say from talent to assets, it will get the name of the current mode, âtalentâ, and store it on your computer with the value âtrueâ. When the site does this itâs making a note to itself saying, âIâve already got a copy of the talent modeâ.
Next, it removes the contents of each column and stores it on your computer, giving it the name of the column plus the mode. For example, it stores the talent modeâs search column under the name âsearch_talentâ. See the entries in the image above that begin â<div class=âcol_innerâ><styâŠâ? Thatâs the code for the columnâs contents.
Now that the columns are emptied and their contentsâ are stored on your computer itâll check to see if the new mode is stored on your computer. So in this example itâll look for an âassetsâ entry. If there is one, itâll load search_assets, browse_assets, and detail_assets into their respective columns.
If it canât find the mode saved on your computer itâll ask the server for a copy.
Thereâs other concerns, such as making sure the data saved on a userâs computer is up-to-date, being conscious of security (e.g., XSS, accidentally saving private data, etc.), but this is the gist of it. And of course knowing what a mode is wonât be necessary to use the site â itâs just a technical detail.
First Video Update Has Been Re-Uploaded
The video I shared in the previous post had some artifacts in the video and the audio was kinda quiet so Iâve fixed those and re-uploaded it here. Iâve also updated the post it was in with the new version but Iâm pretty sure that wonât affect reblogs⊠which is annoying but oh well.
I wonât do a video update with every post since I kind of forgot you have to edit, render, and upload video â not just record it! Watching it again, I can also see that I shouldâve had a list of things to cover rather than just winging it. Lastly, itâd be nice to have a proper intro / outro section but Iâm too busy to make it right now.
Couple of quick reminders: firstly, Iâm speaking at VNconf on the 14th of January! Second, the recent updates Iâve been sharing are from a local version of the site I have on my computer. Iâve left the IM and gamepad demos on the beta version of the site for now which means itâs pretty out-of-date at the moment. Iâm really hoping to have something solid & presentable ready for VNconf but I donât know if thatâs realistic given how much work is left for the re-write.
StoryDevs is a place for developers of visual novels, interactive fiction, and story-oriented games to find each other and collaborate. The site is under development, but handle reservations are open: www.storydevs.com/reserve
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