Finally got around to editing the main page with something that’s been bugging me for a long time now.  Instead of linking to the latest post in my blog, clicking the link from the Updates section of the main page now takes you to the first page of the blog.

Not much, but it does represent having all my editing programs and files present on this system where I can work on them.  I think I’m going to sit down now and figure out the database for my “Latest Releases” widget.  This will display the latest story that I’ve released next to the Updates section.

On the temporary page, it will only display a simple text link to the most recent story posting, plus a link to the Latest Releases page.

On the actual homepage of the site ( still in beta ) it will display a mini cover image of the latest release, those two links, and probably a date for the release.

The latest releases page will track stories posting on Lit, SOL, and any other site where my work ends up.  Thus, some of the “latest releases” may be the same story posting on two or more sites.  I do this because some people won’t migrate between sites, and some stories may not post the same day on both sites.

This page will have either the last 10 or last 15 releases — haven’t decided yet.  Each release will have a mini cover image that links to the full cover image.  It will have the link to the posted story, the date it posted, a little preview blurb, and probably some other information.

That’s what I’m in the process of deciding.  Once I figure out what data the page is going to display, I can design the database that’s going to store that information.  Then, I move on to writing the admin function that will allow me to enter that information from a simple interface.

Instead of linking to the actual story when I post “XXX out at SOL!”, I’ll just link to the latest releases page.  It will make everything so much simpler and easier for me all the way around.

By the time I finish this simple little widget, I should have refreshed my memory and sufficiently puzzled out the software I’m using to pretty much do anything I need to do.  Even though this widget doesn’t actively do much each time it runs, the admin functions will need to do a lot of re-sorting and other back-end things that should cover most of the coding bases that I need to get back up to speed on.

Thus, further revitalization of the website should proceed at a quicker pace once the widget goes live.

After that, I’ll probably work on the similar story listing database.  I want to get the parts of the site that link to the actual stories all restored first, and then I’ll delve into creating the “informational” pages that give detailed information about the world, characters, etc.  I’ll start with new edits of what was aleady posted on the original site.

Once this widget is done, I might just open the forum up.  Reason being that it will provide a better way than comments ( in my opinion ) to ask what you want to see restored or updated first on the website.  That will guide me to what my readers actually want to know as a priority.

That’s all for now.  Time to start puzzlin’ on the widget.