Simply run localhost.bat to start the local server to preview and auto-compile changes. NOTE: For computers that do no use Windows, the BAT script will need to be modified. OS compatible executables will also need to be downloaded separately for Node.js. You can download them here.
Open a browser and enter localhost:80 as the URL address.
NOTE: If port 80 is already being used by some other service, you change the port number in make.js.
Active webpages will still need to be refreshed with F5.
NOTE: In some cases, the page cache might also need to be cleared. You can do that using Ctrl+F5 instead to refresh with cleared page cache.
FAQ
Error - Error: listen EADDRINUSE :::80
make.js is known to cause this error when the port is already in use with another service. Feel free to change the port value in make.js to a different value.
Error - 302
make.js is known to send a 302 error if you attempt to access a webpage without inserting its .html extension and there is no redirect stated in the localhost.
Getting a 404 error
make.js is known to send a 404 if a URL is invalid, for instance if a webpage or file is missing.
Compiling release notes is slow
Compiling of release notes can sometimes be slow due to the large amount of files that needed to be compiled. If you do not need to compile release notes, you can set the COMPILE_NOTES variable in make.js to false to disable compiling of release notes.
NOTE: Do not forget to re-enable this variable when modifying the release notes source.
Modifying make.js does not seem to update anything
Changes to the make.js script itself require any active instances of make.js terminals to be closed and restarted in order for changes to be updated.
Webpage Development
Introduction
The webpages that reside in the root /armory_web/ directory are the webpages meant to be hosted, not the components.
WARNING: Do not edit the non-component / host-only webpages. Instead, modify the component counterparts that reside in the /armory_web/templates/ directory. On save, the components are dynamically compiled into their host-able counterparts via make.js and Node.js.
With one of the webpages in /releases/ (changelog component).
Asset Guidelines
Best quality
Original formats for static assets should be JPEG or PNG.
Original formats for animated assets should be GIF or MP4.
Original resolution for both images and videos should be of 1920x1080 (or higher) screen resolution in original form for best quality before compression and resizing. NOTE: If assets are already at the required standard of 960x480, no resizing will be needed. Compression may still need to be done however.
Optimal loading times
Images in their final form should be of JPEG format.
Videos in their final form should be of MP4 format.
NOTE: Videos should also be muted (no audio).
Final images or videos should be of resolution 960x480 for correct aspects and optimal loading times/