I want to help with creating Character sheet, but I dont have roll20 subscription. Is it possible ?

For long time now ICRPG community have wished to improve the game character sheet. We finally have one volunteer that has Roll20 subscription, in order to work on and add the new character sheet. However I was supposed to help with CSS and design, but I myself dont have roll20 subscription. I tried working on it as html, but in browser its not opening properly. Now I am not sure if its even possible to open roll20 sheet, outside/independently of roll20, and just work on css styling ? Can someone tell me if its possible? And if yes. How?

Twotricks said: I tried working on it as html, but in browser its not opening properly. Now I am not sure if its even possible to open roll20 sheet, outside/independently of roll20, and just work on css styling ? You need access to a test game made by a Pro subscriber, and then have the game's creator to upload your code changes to the editor. For general help with Customizing/Creating Character Sheets, check the Building Character Sheets article. It tells most essential things, and links to the things it doesn't outright address. And when it comes to editing the code HTML/CSS, you just download the files for the the relevant sheet, and then just edit them in a text editor or IDE. Then periodically send your code to the game's creator so they can upload it to Roll20 so you can see how how your changes look like in Roll20. Sourcecode for Index Card RPG sheet Sourcecode for Index Card RPG(Warped Shell) sheet

Thanks for answering. My problem is that when I try to work on HTML/CSS i can not preview the result of layout, without uploading them to editor. So basically I would only be able to work "blindly"... Is there no way to preview them without uploading them to Roll20? At least the visual part, and not functionality?

Twotricks said: My problem is that when I try to work on HTML/CSS i can not preview the result of layout, without uploading them to editor. So basically I would only be able to work "blindly"... Is there no way to preview them without uploading them to Roll20? At least the visual part, and not functionality? You can preview changes to some degree on IDEs or pages like jsfiddle , but the end result isn't anywhere close to how it will look on roll20, as Roll20 includes a big bunch of custom css, and some things can be based on individual values of some attribute tied to the character sheets, or depend on sheet workers, so an accurate view isn't possible. Everyone who work with character sheets review their changes ingame. So you'll have a bit slow development cycle with relying on someone else to see the changes you done, but with more experience, one can do a lot more work at a time, without having to check how it looks in-between.

Thanks for the info.

Somewhere there is a post that has most of the Roll20 base coding in it, that can be used to set up a HTML and CSS editor so you know what it looks like (it wasn't a perfect match).  I don't where to even start looking for that link, and it could very well be more effort than its worth.  When I make sheets, its with the Roll20 custom sheet option.  But that is due to my lack of experience more than anything else. Best of luck!

Coal Powered Puppet said: Somewhere there is a post that has most of the Roll20 base coding in it, that can be used to set up a HTML and CSS editor so you know what it looks like (it wasn't a perfect match).  I don't where to even start looking for that link, and it could very well be more effort than its worth. I remember that post was something around 4, 5 year old. When I make sheets, its with the Roll20 custom sheet option.  But that is due to my lack of experience more than anything else. Um, don't think there really is any other way? I mean everyone just codes with text editors or IDEs, and then copies over to the editor and checks the results now and then.

Some of us 'make sheets' by simply utilizing the Attributes & Abilities tab of the character journal. :)

Andreas J. said: Um, don't think there really is any other way? I mean everyone just codes with text editors or IDEs, and then copies over to the editor and checks the results now and then. I hesitate before I say "everyone".  Sheet authors are hardly a collective- at least I haven't been give a membership card- and I did want to mention there was an alternative, even if not optimal or what I personally use.  I have never touched the big sheets (Pathfinder, anything D&D, etc.) and those may very well be coded in a unique environment I know nothing about.  They are certainty done better than my skill level allows, so...I dunno.  Feels weird not to include an alternative.   Edit : clarifying 

I made a post a while back(4+ years ago) about creating a roll20 wrapper for offline editing. (I believe I stole it from Brian ) I wouldn't recommend it to actually try and code offline though since there are too many limitations.&nbsp; If you're interested, here's a dropbox folder I made with the files and a simple text file with instructions I used at the time... ( <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0d82d967kj50459/AADGzZ306RhhMKKOkXqoj4OIa?dl=0" rel="nofollow">https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0d82d967kj50459/AADGzZ306RhhMKKOkXqoj4OIa?dl=0</a> )&nbsp; It was years ago and I'm sure that roll20's base and app css has changed.&nbsp; Good luck.

One option would be to see if people are willing to chip in and get you a Pro sub for a month. I believe that's only $10 for one month...

Vince said: I made a post a while back(4+ years ago) about creating a roll20 wrapper for offline editing. (I believe I stole it from Brian ) I wouldn't recommend it to actually try and code offline though since there are too many limitations.&nbsp; If you're interested, here's a dropbox folder I made with the files and a simple text file with instructions I used at the time... ( <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0d82d967kj50459/AADGzZ306RhhMKKOkXqoj4OIa?dl=0" rel="nofollow">https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0d82d967kj50459/AADGzZ306RhhMKKOkXqoj4OIa?dl=0</a> )&nbsp; It was years ago and I'm sure that roll20's base and app css has changed.&nbsp; Good luck. Vince thanks. I tried it, but I could not get it to work 100% ( it helped only a little ) It seems subscription is only way to go ....

Coal Powered Puppet said: I hesitate before I say "everyone".&nbsp; Sheet authors are hardly a collective- at least I haven't been give a membership card- and I did want to mention there was an alternative, even if not optimal or what I personally use.&nbsp; I have never touched the big sheets (Pathfinder, anything D&amp;D, etc.) and those may very well be coded in a unique environment I know nothing about.&nbsp; They are certainty done better than my skill level allows, so...I dunno.&nbsp; Feels weird not to include an alternative.&nbsp; Sure, "everyone" might be slightly hyperbolic, but from my experience in Roll20's UC-team, and various talks with other sheet authors, I have a general vibe that this is how most do this. Whether someone uses some additional HTML/CSS frameworks like PUG, SCSS/SASS/LESS, Bootstrap or not, the work is still primarily done with text editor or IDE, and then copied to the editor now and then to see how it renders. Vince dug up his Roll20 wrapper, and by his own words doesn't use it, nor have I memory of anyone else mentioning of using it in recent years, even if it's likely the best option of running things locally. Even if I don't know what workflow Jacob, the GURPS sheet crew, or the Warhammer sheet folks uses, I'd say it's a pretty accurate to speak of everyone. That being said, people could share how they work: I use Sublime Text as my editor(with a few roll20-adjustments to make things quicker), some HTML/CSS/closure validators to catch bugs, and the Developer Tools in the browser to see how changes looks live. Hmm, I just realized that using the Dev tools in the browser to do small changes maybe isn't the most common things, and kinda forgot about it being one of my tools used. I guess that does somewhat invalidate my original claim...