Question about Grid images

[gardenapple]

So, I've noticed that on the Gamepedia wiki you have to upload a tilesheet of all the items and blocks in a mod along with their names to a moderator. I want to ask why is this a thing. Is it optimized better/easier to maintain? Do you not want regular users to be able to edit grid files for some reason?

 

[Nerixel]

So, I've noticed that on the Gamepedia wiki you have to upload a tilesheet of all the items and blocks in a mod along with their names to a moderator. I want to ask why is this a thing. Is it optimized better/easier to maintain? Do you not want regular users to be able to edit grid files for some reason?

It was a result of our navboxes that went at the bottom of all pages. The GregTech navbox had grown so large that it crashed the wiki when someone edited it, and the wiki went slow when someone loaded it (it took over 20 seconds to load for the client too).

I think Retep and Jinbobo convened to create the tilesheet system, which a fair amount of sites in general use to lower server load and client load times. At that point, I believe Retep was the tilesheet manager, you'd send things to him to get them added. There were staff tools which he used to add icons to the tilesheets, but I don't know how easy they were to use or how much they automated things (I never used them; they scared me).

@retep998 do you still have anything to do with this?

 

[retep998]

The tilesheet system was implemented because loading one large image was significantly faster than waiting for hundreds of individual images to load, never mind how long it takes for a page to build when it references hundreds of different files. It also meant we wouldn't have to upload tens of thousands of individual images to the wiki, or keep track of which mod each grid image was from. The result, while having a higher barrier of entry to setup the tilesheets, results in a convenient system of templates, and scales a lot better.

@Nerixel I'm still the only one with software to automate the process of creating and updating tilesheets, and all requests for tilesheets still go through me. Anyone with staff rights is able to modify the tilesheets though, and staff often will fix typos in the naming of tiles.

 

[xbony2]

I need to work on my own tilesheet software, it's going to be way cooler then Retep's version :3

 

[gardenapple]

OK, that kinda makes sense. Thanks for the fast answers!

I just thought that this procedure was kinda pointless and long, but now that I know about it I can start doing stuff and things on the wiki.

 

[Nerixel]

The tilesheet system was implemented because loading one large image was significantly faster than waiting for hundreds of individual images to load, never mind how long it takes for a page to build when it references hundreds of different files. It also meant we wouldn't have to upload tens of thousands of individual images to the wiki, or keep track of which mod each grid image was from. The result, while having a higher barrier of entry to setup the tilesheets, results in a convenient system of templates, and scales a lot better.

@Nerixel I'm still the only one with software to automate the process of creating and updating tilesheets, and all requests for tilesheets still go through me. Anyone with staff rights is able to modify the tilesheets though, and staff often will fix typos in the naming of tiles.

Yeah probably should have just tagged you instead of trying to explain myself

 

[Jinbobo]

@retep998 @SatanicSanta heyo just wanted thank you guys for fixing the crap I left behind. everything looks awesome on the wiki. Kappa

 

[retep998]

@Jinbobo u wot m8?

 

[Padfoote]

First time I've seen Jinbobo in forever. Good to see nothing's changed.