Vesta Transition

[Riseoftheg 25]

Hello, I was considering switch to Vesta from Jcink.

 

I just wanted to know the pros/cons about switching? I mainly use jcink for switching accounts, dice rolls, awards. As much as I liked the store/bank I couldn't integrate in the story.

 

I was also excited to hear that it integrates with Discord. I have been reading up on various topics and checked out Winterlight, it seems pretty straightforward. I'm checking out Vesta Athens now.

 

Any help or info you could provide would be GREAT.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Riseoftheg

[Arceus 1,082]

The only cons I can think of right now:
1. You either need hosting server space of your own, or you have to put up with me and Cloudflare.
2. The theme system is overly complicated right now. This will change in Salerno, but Salerno's kind of slow-going because 2020 is kicking everyone's ass, and I'm included.

3. Ah, there are no software converters right now, so you'll have to manually transfer things; Vesta does make it easy.

 

And these are just things people have gushed over a lot:
1. Set up is a breeze. I've seen people get Vestas up and running in mere hours.
2. It's notably more secure and modernised. Vesta was built on PHP 7.2 and then transitioned to 7.3, using object-oriented PHP. Layman's terms, it's not archaic and nigh obsolete. Love John and all but, he's working with a dinosaur, and to make matters worse, it's not his dinosaur, so he can only do so much to it.
3. Way better integration for the character system. Characters are not separate accounts. There's no switching. You can't. Built in NPCs, built in customisable character bios that are way easier to format, your users don't have to touch any code at all.
4. If you know PHP, you can probably make Vesta dance. I've seen people do some pretty cool stuff with Vesta. Rotating character banners, for instance...
5. Built in block control. Yeah, no more doing the census tallies yourself, Vesta will do it for you.
6. Full control over the approval system, if you want one. If you don't, it makes it quite easy for your users to sort and manage their characters themselves.
7. Speaking of no more doing tallies yourself, actually, you don't have to do face claim and who's who lists manually anymore. If you can connect it to a bio field, you can make an auto-list out of it. Players fill it in, it appears on the list automagically.
8. If your players do joint-posting, you can turn that on.
9. Automatic chronological thread time-line. Nice for keeping track of events.
10. Post reactions... yeahp that's a thing.
11. Clean default theme, in both light and dark colour schemes, and they're mobile-friendly.
12. Vesta clocks really high on most scoring rubrics for performance and SEO. By the way, this means your site is very likely to appear high on search engines once they're in the database.
13. WYSIWYG posting editor. Oh, and drafting system for PMs and posts. So if your computer crashes, Vesta still has a copy of that post you were working on.

 

I could probably keep going, but... 

[Riseoftheg 25]

15 hours ago, Arceus said:

The only cons I can think of right now:
1. You either need hosting server space of your own, or you have to put up with me and Cloudflare.
2. The theme system is overly complicated right now. This will change in Salerno, but Salerno's kind of slow-going because 2020 is kicking everyone's ass, and I'm included.

3. Ah, there are no software converters right now, so you'll have to manually transfer things; Vesta does make it easy.

 

And these are just things people have gushed over a lot:
1. Set up is a breeze. I've seen people get Vestas up and running in mere hours.
2. It's notably more secure and modernised. Vesta was built on PHP 7.2 and then transitioned to 7.3, using object-oriented PHP. Layman's terms, it's not archaic and nigh obsolete. Love John and all but, he's working with a dinosaur, and to make matters worse, it's not his dinosaur, so he can only do so much to it.
3. Way better integration for the character system. Characters are not separate accounts. There's no switching. You can't. Built in NPCs, built in customisable character bios that are way easier to format, your users don't have to touch any code at all.
4. If you know PHP, you can probably make Vesta dance. I've seen people do some pretty cool stuff with Vesta. Rotating character banners, for instance...
5. Built in block control. Yeah, no more doing the census tallies yourself, Vesta will do it for you.
6. Full control over the approval system, if you want one. If you don't, it makes it quite easy for your users to sort and manage their characters themselves.
7. Speaking of no more doing tallies yourself, actually, you don't have to do face claim and who's who lists manually anymore. If you can connect it to a bio field, you can make an auto-list out of it. Players fill it in, it appears on the list automagically.
8. If your players do joint-posting, you can turn that on.
9. Automatic chronological thread time-line. Nice for keeping track of events.
10. Post reactions... yeahp that's a thing.
11. Clean default theme, in both light and dark colour schemes, and they're mobile-friendly.
12. Vesta clocks really high on most scoring rubrics for performance and SEO. By the way, this means your site is very likely to appear high on search engines once they're in the database.
13. WYSIWYG posting editor. Oh, and drafting system for PMs and posts. So if your computer crashes, Vesta still has a copy of that post you were working on.

 

I could probably keep going, but... 

 Please keep going!  Thank you so much! Do you have a recommended hosting space or would you recommened Arc/Cloudflare? *is seriously considering transitioning*

Would you be able to take a gander at my current site to see if it would be a good fit for Vesta?

[Arceus 1,082]

Of course, I'd recommend hosting with the initiative. If you're not good with technical things, though, it might be better to let me set up something on toaster. 

Currently my power is out, I'll get back to you on that one when I have a chance, but I don't imagine it's not. Vesta was designed to be customisable, and change to suit the needs of the site that's using it, so it fits a wide range of site types. 

[Riseoftheg 25]

Sounds good. What do I need to do to get started?? 🙂

[Arceus 1,082]

Are you going with RPG-I's hosting or toaster?

[Riseoftheg 25]

What's the difference between the two? Or what would you recommend?

[Arceus 1,082]

Depends on what you need.

Hosting with the Initiative gives you full control over your hosting. Access to your files and databases, as well as domain and email controls, among other things. If you're a more advanced self-hoster that likes control over everything, this one's the option you want probably. You'll also still have access to assistance from me via the ticketing system. If you host with me, you only get access to what's on the front-end and have to wait for my slow ass sometimes, but it will be updated automatically and I'll have direct access to your back-end files to fix anything that goes sour. It is on a dynamic IP address in a residence, so the power goes out and our IP address changes sometimes. We also use Cloudflare.

 

Either way, you can have Vesta installed by someone else if you'd rather it was. ... well, if you host with me you'll have to. Lol

Vesta's donationware tho, so you'll need to login at IP Tech (inpopul.us), and donate at least a dollar to get rights to use it. Since the automated sign-up function for hosting with IP Tech isn't functional right now, it's missing some functionality and later when Salerno is released, your site will probably suddenly get ads and subscription controls.

[Riseoftheg 25]

I think I'll probably go with Initiative for e-mail and domain controls. It's good to know there's a ticketing system. So I would get the hosting first or would I donate for Vesta first. And the future subscription controls in Salerno means I can pay a fee to remove the ads?

[Arceus 1,082]

Either one, doesn't matter what order you go in. And since you'll be hosting yourself, not on toaster, you won't have ads anyway. c:

[Riseoftheg 25]

I just requested self-hosting. Once it's set up would I use the same hosting option for Vesta or contact you?

[Arceus 1,082]

Sorry, got super busy!

You can put Vesta on the hosting here? (If I understood the question right?) If you need it installed for you, I believe you put in a ticket to request that (I'm not 100% sure if it's automatically entered in now or not). Hosting 'set up' here should be instant, as well.

[Riseoftheg 25]

2 minutes ago, Arceus said:

Sorry, got super busy!

You can put Vesta on the hosting here? (If I understood the question right?) If you need it installed for you, I believe you put in a ticket to request that (I'm not 100% sure if it's automatically entered in now or not). Hosting 'set up' here should be instant, as well.

No worries. I had requested a software install but I can't 'manage' that or the hosting in my account (unless I'm in the wrong area). 

 

I submitted a ticket for the hosting and figured I'd tackle requesting the Vesta install next.

[Arceus 1,082]

Cool deal then. c: You should have the cPanel URL and login information in um... you get there from your name at the top, account settings, find purchases in the left sidebar, and then click manage by your hosting package. If that's where you've been going then I suppose Morrigan needs to look at that lol

[Riseoftheg 25]

Ok yeah that's where I was going. I submitted a ticket for it, so that'll be the first step. 🙂 Afterwards, how would I submit a ticket for Vesta?