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Site News (Technical)
News from the Staff, Editors and Developers about the status of the site. This forum deals in the technical aspects of the site itself as opposed to the "General" forums which deals with the content of the site, related events and people involved.
If there are problems or enhancements to the site you want to talk about, post your todos here.
Lewis Sellers
June 06 2007 09:20 PM
This site (along with several others) was moved to a new server over the weekend.
To-Do v3/upgrade notice
Lewis Sellers
May 08 2007 11:13 AM
Either tonight or tomorrow the site will undergo a slight upgrade.
Most changes include usability fixes to0 numerous to list but mainly includes:
1) Online AJAX-based chat groups. I.E., Live browser-based chat.
2) Removal of all Staff approval mechanisms. (Trouble-making members can still optionally be blocked or require approval before posting articles, blogs, comments, etc however). Site-wide "abuse reporting" mechanism.
3) More active menuing for logged in members.
4) A boost in the site-wide caching mechanism
Lewis SellersMay 08 2007 11:13 AM
Either tonight or tomorrow the site will undergo a slight upgrade.
Most changes include usability fixes to0 numerous to list but mainly includes:
1) Online AJAX-based chat groups. I.E., Live browser-based chat.
2) Removal of all Staff approval mechanisms. (Trouble-making members can still optionally be blocked or require approval before posting articles, blogs, comments, etc however). Site-wide "abuse reporting" mechanism.
3) More active menuing for logged in members.
4) A boost in the site-wide caching mechanism
Technical To-Do List pt2
Lewis Sellers
April 04 2007 03:50 PM
* by repeated request: move all submit buttons to top of page for everything in "my options" (?)
• rework email notifications etc for all comments/posts/replies across the site so they are more informative.
Lewis SellersApril 04 2007 03:50 PM
* by repeated request: move all submit buttons to top of page for everything in "my options" (?)
• rework email notifications etc for all comments/posts/replies across the site so they are more informative.
this is a test
Lewis Sellers
March 29 2007 07:24 PM
this is only a test
if this had been a real emergency you'd be too busy screaming to read this
Lewis SellersMarch 29 2007 07:24 PM
this is only a test
if this had been a real emergency you'd be too busy screaming to read this
Technical to-do list (future plans)
Lewis Sellers
March 29 2007 04:16 PM
* rebuild blog database structure. add external blog import options. add enhanced photo and media placement options. migrate all existing blogs. (preliminary new sql tables already built.)
• validate existing styles and create new final graphics if needed. add a few additional styles to round out. add: gtc, red tomato, sunflower styles. add forest, country styles.
• add full titles to locations pages for SEO
• rework locations function code to eliminate cached location sql table. derive all locations from source address tables. wrap all location functions in cached arrays. rework sql selects for speedups.
• add to directory: associations for groups and members (in addition to articles). this allows cross-linking of members to directory entries. ie, for members to be associated with the place they work, or real-world groups there are a member of. rework to display this info on member pages and in the directory itself.
• enhance member pages to have multiple display options and styles. (styles already integrated but not availble from member profile page.)
• replace State of TN graphic in the directory with a flash element. Flash will be feed location data for all listed directory entries and do visual display via pins. (ala google maps). Flash element will also have region select option — do a rectangluar selection of an area on the map and all directory entries in that region will be listed in flash and on plain text page.
• complete staff backend management tool transition.
• complete frontend staff tools and validate security.
• validate all email/sql spam/injection filter points.
• revalidate site on all browsers/platforms.
• complete city — county --> region relationships in database and validate.
• revalidate the site-wide caching mechanism and reduce lead-time on per-page application load.
• rehost to hostmonster ?
• evaluate technical problems to building an optional visual "printer marks editor". (javascript or flash-based.)
• once in feature-lock, clean up individual user interfaces to all "my" tools. expand in-context help and examples. simplfy. reduce options to minimum required to avoid confusion.
• once in feature-lock, look over all tools as a whole and make them more similiar to each other to avoid confusion.
• once in feature-lock, reevaluate system wide style/layout (defaults and anything reachable by first-level site menus) and rework to avoid chaotic style patterns that are creeping up.
• inpliment automatic season/holiday/event system-wide styles (Christmas, Easter, July 4th, Tomato Festival Weekend, etc)
• enhance regional filtering and search results.
• impliment a "search cloud"/"tag" feature. (The site has always logged search terms and number of searches on those terms for staff curiosity and SEO — it should be relatively easy to mine the data and produce the required output.)
• stock icon/photo gallery
• reevaluate all ACCESS systems on the site: classifieds point, directory updates by responsible persons, article authorization by staff, classifieds by staff, and blogs/comments with no prior authorization, comments with abuse reporting. contemplate each indivdually to see if that is appropriate and then all together to see if it causes confusion by having different methods.
• ADD CONTENT: add all quilt trail entries to directory w/ quilt photos (or start it off anyway). add all biz w/ in around rutledge to directory.
• merge default/help styles ?
• complete all HELP articles w/ screenshots.
• make classified BIRTHS . OBITUARIES that use one small photo or less run FOREVER.
Lewis SellersMarch 29 2007 04:16 PM
* rebuild blog database structure. add external blog import options. add enhanced photo and media placement options. migrate all existing blogs. (preliminary new sql tables already built.)
• validate existing styles and create new final graphics if needed. add a few additional styles to round out. add: gtc, red tomato, sunflower styles. add forest, country styles.
• add full titles to locations pages for SEO
• rework locations function code to eliminate cached location sql table. derive all locations from source address tables. wrap all location functions in cached arrays. rework sql selects for speedups.
• add to directory: associations for groups and members (in addition to articles). this allows cross-linking of members to directory entries. ie, for members to be associated with the place they work, or real-world groups there are a member of. rework to display this info on member pages and in the directory itself.
• enhance member pages to have multiple display options and styles. (styles already integrated but not availble from member profile page.)
• replace State of TN graphic in the directory with a flash element. Flash will be feed location data for all listed directory entries and do visual display via pins. (ala google maps). Flash element will also have region select option — do a rectangluar selection of an area on the map and all directory entries in that region will be listed in flash and on plain text page.
• complete staff backend management tool transition.
• complete frontend staff tools and validate security.
• validate all email/sql spam/injection filter points.
• revalidate site on all browsers/platforms.
• complete city — county --> region relationships in database and validate.
• revalidate the site-wide caching mechanism and reduce lead-time on per-page application load.
• rehost to hostmonster ?
• evaluate technical problems to building an optional visual "printer marks editor". (javascript or flash-based.)
• once in feature-lock, clean up individual user interfaces to all "my" tools. expand in-context help and examples. simplfy. reduce options to minimum required to avoid confusion.
• once in feature-lock, look over all tools as a whole and make them more similiar to each other to avoid confusion.
• once in feature-lock, reevaluate system wide style/layout (defaults and anything reachable by first-level site menus) and rework to avoid chaotic style patterns that are creeping up.
• inpliment automatic season/holiday/event system-wide styles (Christmas, Easter, July 4th, Tomato Festival Weekend, etc)
• enhance regional filtering and search results.
• impliment a "search cloud"/"tag" feature. (The site has always logged search terms and number of searches on those terms for staff curiosity and SEO — it should be relatively easy to mine the data and produce the required output.)
• stock icon/photo gallery
• reevaluate all ACCESS systems on the site: classifieds point, directory updates by responsible persons, article authorization by staff, classifieds by staff, and blogs/comments with no prior authorization, comments with abuse reporting. contemplate each indivdually to see if that is appropriate and then all together to see if it causes confusion by having different methods.
• ADD CONTENT: add all quilt trail entries to directory w/ quilt photos (or start it off anyway). add all biz w/ in around rutledge to directory.
• merge default/help styles ?
• complete all HELP articles w/ screenshots.
• make classified BIRTHS . OBITUARIES that use one small photo or less run FOREVER.
Completion
Lewis Sellers
February 20 2007 01:23 PM
The site will be completed by this weekend.
Well, it's taken awhile. We've been working on this project off and on for several months now as we've had the time. Back while it was in beta (still under construction and being worked on, people commenting on what features they wanted, etc) it was at one orginally called 10-east.com, then for a while it was called citizenj.info. The final name however ends up being TennesseeFolk.com.
Aside from a few last minute touch-ups here and there only two things remain uncomplete as this is being written. A) The styles and graphics. Those will be done within the day however. B) The region/county support. That might take a day or two more. But it allows you to filter out happenings in other parts of the state you're not entirely interested in.
Lewis SellersFebruary 20 2007 01:23 PM
The site will be completed by this weekend.
Well, it's taken awhile. We've been working on this project off and on for several months now as we've had the time. Back while it was in beta (still under construction and being worked on, people commenting on what features they wanted, etc) it was at one orginally called 10-east.com, then for a while it was called citizenj.info. The final name however ends up being TennesseeFolk.com.
Aside from a few last minute touch-ups here and there only two things remain uncomplete as this is being written. A) The styles and graphics. Those will be done within the day however. B) The region/county support. That might take a day or two more. But it allows you to filter out happenings in other parts of the state you're not entirely interested in.
Sproose Spider
Lewis Sellers
October 19 2006 06:20 PM
We're being crawled by sproose today. That's new.
Sproose Social Search
Lewis SellersOctober 19 2006 06:20 PM
We're being crawled by sproose today. That's new.
Sproose Social Search
JP Crawler
Lewis Sellers
October 15 2006 09:13 AM
www.logos.ic.i.u-tokyo.ac.jp/crawler
I'm not sure what that says, but it's real busy crawling ever part of the site this weekend. :)
Lewis SellersOctober 15 2006 09:13 AM
www.logos.ic.i.u-tokyo.ac.jp/crawler
I'm not sure what that says, but it's real busy crawling ever part of the site this weekend. :)
Lewis SellersJune 21 2006 05:58 AM
I think that (among other things) we're going to add in a "Stock Photo" option for the site. That is, have a general community poll of images that people can add and use. This will make it a little easier on some people who want to add images to their articles, etc but simply don't have any good approriate photos, etc.
The Caching Mechanism and Blogs
Lewis Sellers
June 10 2006 03:31 PM
For technical reference: There is what we call a caching mechanism that is implimented for this entire site — this includes all blog pages.
What do I mean by that and how does it affect you?
It means that the first time anyone ever looks at your new blog, the page is created on the fly by the code that drives this site which first pulls all your blog information from the SQL database server that the site uses. (If you're not technical, just let your eyes glaze past that last part. The details don't matter.)
The important part is that it then saves the generated page as plain html. Anytime after the first time that someone looks at your blog post, they're getting the cache html version.
The reason we do this is speed. And responsiveness. By caching the pages the site can stand a much higher load of visitors than without. (It gives a 5X to 20X boost to the site currently. That will probably increase as the site become more mature and optimized).
The single downside to this is that sometimes, just sometimes some of the pages seem to be stuck. You update something and they don't seem to change no matter what you do.
That's my fault. The caching mechanism is somewhat complicated. It is almost entirely automatic these days, but on occasion there might be an older page or a section that has not been properly marked and so the cache for that area doesn't get purged when you make changes (as it should be).
If you encounter such a situation, let me know and I'll look into it.
NOTE: The areas where you edit your content are not cached. FYI. Only the public areas.
Lewis SellersJune 10 2006 03:31 PM
For technical reference: There is what we call a caching mechanism that is implimented for this entire site — this includes all blog pages.
What do I mean by that and how does it affect you?
It means that the first time anyone ever looks at your new blog, the page is created on the fly by the code that drives this site which first pulls all your blog information from the SQL database server that the site uses. (If you're not technical, just let your eyes glaze past that last part. The details don't matter.)
The important part is that it then saves the generated page as plain html. Anytime after the first time that someone looks at your blog post, they're getting the cache html version.
The reason we do this is speed. And responsiveness. By caching the pages the site can stand a much higher load of visitors than without. (It gives a 5X to 20X boost to the site currently. That will probably increase as the site become more mature and optimized).
The single downside to this is that sometimes, just sometimes some of the pages seem to be stuck. You update something and they don't seem to change no matter what you do.
That's my fault. The caching mechanism is somewhat complicated. It is almost entirely automatic these days, but on occasion there might be an older page or a section that has not been properly marked and so the cache for that area doesn't get purged when you make changes (as it should be).
If you encounter such a situation, let me know and I'll look into it.
NOTE: The areas where you edit your content are not cached. FYI. Only the public areas.
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