[Preview] Mod Portal: Weekly Highlights

A place to talk about the official Factorio mod portal (https://mods.factorio.com)
Post Reply
User avatar
vinzenz
Factorio Staff
Factorio Staff
Posts: 195
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2021 6:45 pm
Contact:

[Preview] Mod Portal: Weekly Highlights

Post by vinzenz »

We've added a new page to the mod portal: Weekly Highlights . Every week the mod portal picks 4 random highlight categories and from each it chooses 5 mods to feature. It's currently in a "preview" kind of state, where it's mostly done but we wan't to monitor it for a bit. Eventually we will promote this page to take the frontpage spot from "Recently updated".

The mod portal tries to highlight a diverse set of mods by avoiding mods and highlight categories which have been featured recently. It's also a heavy user of the random.sample function.

To ensure a high quality mod selection it will also not highlight mods for which one of these is true:
  • Mods in the Internal category
  • Mods without thumbnail
  • Mods incompatible with Factorio 1.1
  • Deprecated mods
The highlight process is 100% automated and hands-off at the moment. Maybe in the future we can do community or creator spotlights, but there are no specific plans for this currently.
bringing the oops to devops

Xorimuth
Filter Inserter
Filter Inserter
Posts: 639
Joined: Sat Mar 02, 2019 9:39 pm
Contact:

Re: [Preview] Mod Portal: Weekly Highlights

Post by Xorimuth »

Awesome!

"Highlights from 2023-02-05 until 2023-01-30" I think your start and end dates are wrong :D
My mods
Content: Lunar Landings | Freight Forwarding | Spidertron Patrols | Spidertron Enhancements | Power Overload
QoL: Factory Search | Remote Configuration | Module Inserter Simplified | Wire Shortcuts X | Ghost Warnings

FuryoftheStars
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 2767
Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2017 2:01 pm
Contact:

Re: [Preview] Mod Portal: Weekly Highlights

Post by FuryoftheStars »

This just gave me a reason to go through my mods and make sure the categories and tags are correct. :)
My Mods: Classic Factorio Basic Oil Processing | Sulfur Production from Oils | Wood to Oil Processing | Infinite Resources - Normal Yield | Tree Saplings (Redux) | Alien Biomes Tweaked | Restrictions on Artificial Tiles | New Gear Girl & HR Graphics

curiosity
Filter Inserter
Filter Inserter
Posts: 407
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 4:13 pm
Contact:

Re: [Preview] Mod Portal: Weekly Highlights

Post by curiosity »

I'm not sure I see the point of highlights that aren't hand-picked.
vinzenz wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 2:39 pm
It's also a heavy user of the random.sample function.
From Python, if someone was wondering.
vinzenz wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 2:39 pm
To ensure a high quality mod selection it will also not highlight mods for which one of these is true:
  • Mods without thumbnail
Let's hope this doesn't reduce their quality.

User avatar
Stringweasel
Filter Inserter
Filter Inserter
Posts: 367
Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2017 8:22 pm
Contact:

Re: [Preview] Mod Portal: Weekly Highlights

Post by Stringweasel »

vinzenz wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 2:39 pm
Eventually we will promote this page to take the frontpage spot from "Recently updated".
Will the "Weekly Highlights" also contain a "Recently Updated" section? I think it will fit nicely with the idea. :)
Alt-F4 Author | Factorio Modder
My Mods: Hall of Fame | Better Victory Screen | Fluidic Power | Biter Power | Space Spidertron | Spidertron Dock | Weasel's Demolition Derby
Official Contributor to Space Exploration

FuryoftheStars
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 2767
Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2017 2:01 pm
Contact:

Re: [Preview] Mod Portal: Weekly Highlights

Post by FuryoftheStars »

Stringweasel wrote:
Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:08 pm
vinzenz wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 2:39 pm
Eventually we will promote this page to take the frontpage spot from "Recently updated".
Will the "Weekly Highlights" also contain a "Recently Updated" section? I think it will fit nicely with the idea. :)
If the "Recently Updated" page doesn't actually go away, just is no longer the front page, then that shouldn't be needed, right?
My Mods: Classic Factorio Basic Oil Processing | Sulfur Production from Oils | Wood to Oil Processing | Infinite Resources - Normal Yield | Tree Saplings (Redux) | Alien Biomes Tweaked | Restrictions on Artificial Tiles | New Gear Girl & HR Graphics

User avatar
Stringweasel
Filter Inserter
Filter Inserter
Posts: 367
Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2017 8:22 pm
Contact:

Re: [Preview] Mod Portal: Weekly Highlights

Post by Stringweasel »

FuryoftheStars wrote:
Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:23 pm
Stringweasel wrote:
Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:08 pm
vinzenz wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 2:39 pm
Eventually we will promote this page to take the frontpage spot from "Recently updated".
Will the "Weekly Highlights" also contain a "Recently Updated" section? I think it will fit nicely with the idea. :)
If the "Recently Updated" page doesn't actually go away, just is no longer the front page, then that shouldn't be needed, right?
Technically, but with the same thought you can throw out other things from the page as well. It's already possible to get "Top mods from category: Content" somewhere else, so why add it to the front page?

Generally speaking, if you have a front page showcasing some a small amount of mods from different metrics, then there should also be a recently added metric. Just another row in the page, along with the other categories.

It seems to me the goal is to have a nice front page with a few categories that regular users will enjoy looking at and maybe find nice mods. If that was me using the front page I would enjoy seeing which mods was added recently being it means they're still being maintained. Might even be cool to see some recently added (brand new) mods.
Alt-F4 Author | Factorio Modder
My Mods: Hall of Fame | Better Victory Screen | Fluidic Power | Biter Power | Space Spidertron | Spidertron Dock | Weasel's Demolition Derby
Official Contributor to Space Exploration

FuryoftheStars
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 2767
Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2017 2:01 pm
Contact:

Re: [Preview] Mod Portal: Weekly Highlights

Post by FuryoftheStars »

Stringweasel wrote:
Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:40 pm
Might even be cool to see some recently added (brand new) mods.
That I think may be great for a row.

For just recently updated, though, it would make more sense with the new page if it were "Recently updated in category X". Otherwise it's an exact replica of the recently updated page, just showing the first 5 items. The new top mods row at least filters to a category, so it's not an exact clone.
My Mods: Classic Factorio Basic Oil Processing | Sulfur Production from Oils | Wood to Oil Processing | Infinite Resources - Normal Yield | Tree Saplings (Redux) | Alien Biomes Tweaked | Restrictions on Artificial Tiles | New Gear Girl & HR Graphics

User avatar
Stringweasel
Filter Inserter
Filter Inserter
Posts: 367
Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2017 8:22 pm
Contact:

Re: [Preview] Mod Portal: Weekly Highlights

Post by Stringweasel »

FuryoftheStars wrote:
Fri Feb 03, 2023 2:00 pm
if it were "Recently updated in category X"
I would compromise for that :P It will also be nice.
Alt-F4 Author | Factorio Modder
My Mods: Hall of Fame | Better Victory Screen | Fluidic Power | Biter Power | Space Spidertron | Spidertron Dock | Weasel's Demolition Derby
Official Contributor to Space Exploration

User avatar
vinzenz
Factorio Staff
Factorio Staff
Posts: 195
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2021 6:45 pm
Contact:

Re: [Preview] Mod Portal: Weekly Highlights

Post by vinzenz »

The recently updated page will stay, but it won't live on / any more. The highlights page will also feature recently released mods but the chance for this category is quite low currently.
bringing the oops to devops

lyvgbfh
Fast Inserter
Fast Inserter
Posts: 165
Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2020 6:48 pm
Contact:

Re: [Preview] Mod Portal: Weekly Highlights

Post by lyvgbfh »

This would be a great place for infinite-scroll. I'm against shoving javascript where it doesn't belong, but I think it would aid discoverability here.

FuryoftheStars
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 2767
Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2017 2:01 pm
Contact:

Re: [Preview] Mod Portal: Weekly Highlights

Post by FuryoftheStars »

vinzenz wrote:
Mon Feb 06, 2023 8:27 am
The recently updated page will stay, but it won't live on / any more.
As I'm not proficient in web hosting and what have you, so I don't exactly know what this means? I would hope that whatever the plan is that the Recently Updated tab would stay or at least be readily visible and available to those who want it? Or, having some kind of easy to access "sort by" option that has this? Recently updated has its uses, too.
My Mods: Classic Factorio Basic Oil Processing | Sulfur Production from Oils | Wood to Oil Processing | Infinite Resources - Normal Yield | Tree Saplings (Redux) | Alien Biomes Tweaked | Restrictions on Artificial Tiles | New Gear Girl & HR Graphics

User avatar
vinzenz
Factorio Staff
Factorio Staff
Posts: 195
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2021 6:45 pm
Contact:

Re: [Preview] Mod Portal: Weekly Highlights

Post by vinzenz »

FuryoftheStars wrote:
Mon Feb 06, 2023 4:27 pm
As I'm not proficient in web hosting and what have you, so I don't exactly know what this means?
It means navigating to the mod portal frontpage at https://mods.factorio.com/ will show you the highlights tab instead of the recently updated tab
Screenshot from 2023-02-07 09-09-22.png
Screenshot from 2023-02-07 09-09-22.png (233.12 KiB) Viewed 2889 times
bringing the oops to devops

FuryoftheStars
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 2767
Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2017 2:01 pm
Contact:

Re: [Preview] Mod Portal: Weekly Highlights

Post by FuryoftheStars »

vinzenz wrote:
Tue Feb 07, 2023 8:23 am
FuryoftheStars wrote:
Mon Feb 06, 2023 4:27 pm
As I'm not proficient in web hosting and what have you, so I don't exactly know what this means?
It means navigating to the mod portal frontpage at https://mods.factorio.com/ will show you the highlights tab instead of the recently updated tabScreenshot from 2023-02-07 09-09-22.png
Ahhh, thanks for that. :)
My Mods: Classic Factorio Basic Oil Processing | Sulfur Production from Oils | Wood to Oil Processing | Infinite Resources - Normal Yield | Tree Saplings (Redux) | Alien Biomes Tweaked | Restrictions on Artificial Tiles | New Gear Girl & HR Graphics

heyqule
Long Handed Inserter
Long Handed Inserter
Posts: 56
Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2017 1:35 am
Contact:

Re: [Preview] Mod Portal: Weekly Highlights

Post by heyqule »

I think each highlight row should only promote 1 mod from the same modder.

I noticed it often promote multiple mods from same modder. For example, this week's Great mods tagged with "Manufacturing" promotes 3 mods from the same modder.

I think having "1 mod from the same modder" filter should give other modders more exposure.

Post Reply

Return to “Mod portal Discussion”