Category Archives: Website

Took the plunge

Decided to go ahead and get IPB.  I’m in the process of exploring the integration options now.  With all the features added since I last muddled around with it, I’m hoping to be able to use those features to do what I need to do, rather than actually making modifications to the code itself.

None of this ( including the forum ) will be available for a while.  I want to make sure that everything is working, and take the time to skin the forum ( and the blog, something I’ve been meaning to do ) to provide a consistent look for the site, no matter what section you’re in.

Doubt I’ll ever integrate the WordPress login with the forum one ( which will also be the website login ) but if I find a quick and easy way to do so ( which is possible, considering the profile of both ) I’ll take care of that.

Once I have a couple of widgets working, I’ll probably delve into getting the next major priority online — the listing of my stories.  After that will come restoring all the information about Danica’s world, and expanding it.

If I have a simple data-entry method to do that, as I now do for updating news with this blog, there’s a damn good chance the amount of behind-the-scenes information about all of my stories will expand dramatically.  The addition of a forum will also expand visitor ability to request specific information.

Download and install took bloody forever, so I’m chilling before I even start delving into the code *laugh*  Likely wait until this evening to do so, after the young one has went to sleep for the night.

For now ( after a brief break ) I’m back to writing.

Share

Kicking something around

Wrote another 500 words on Lowborn, almost closing out the first scene.  Once I get that done and a couple more, I’ll know whether this is going to be a long chapter + another before the end, or just a long chapter.  I’m really thinking that I’ll be going for eight, in order to not have the last two chapters be a lot longer than the previous five.

Got a little bit more done on SOTM 18 as well.

Would have been more, but I got a bit distracted with research.  I may have mentioned that I worked with the invision forum software in the past, so I’m at least familiar with the previous version of it, and the general coding style of the developers.  With almost all of my tax check still sitting in the bank and an extra hundred bucks from placing in the Earth Day contest, I’m seriously considering licensing an IP board.

Looking at the latest version, it seems that there are some site integration features that can be purchased as an add-on called ip.content.  I’m still digging around, but it looks like this may be ideal for me to build the interactive and informative parts of the website, getting more than this blog back online at long last.

I’ve coded not only extensive forum add-ons, but back-end administrative functions and even some website interaction in this forum software before, so there probably won’t be as much of a learning curve as with the other free software I was experimenting with.

I’m going to continue to research, but if anyone has working knowledge of coding for the 3.x versions of IPBoard as opposed to the 2.x version, give me a yell in a comment, email, or something.  Likewise if anyone has experience with the ip.content add-on.

If I go with this, and the differences in the way you modify the software isn’t too far off from what I remember, I could get pieces of the website up and running in pretty short order, most likely.  The first thing I would probably tackle would be a “latest release” to replace the section on the front page where I currently link to my old site change previews.

Anyway, gimme a yell if you have any knowledge on the software.  I’m going to chill for a few and see if I can’t get back to writing.  I have Lowborn, SOTM, and a story in my third name all open.  Have to see what’s singing to me before I call it a night.

Share

So much for update frequency

I’ve been fighting a couple of stories in my third pen name *laugh*

One of them eventually worked out, and it’s performing well above and beyond expectations.  The other…  I’m pretty much going to give up on it if I don’t have a major brainstorm before the day is out.

And now, to see if I can update wordpress without crashing it *groan*

For some reason, I have a hell of a time getting the updates to work.  If the site goes for a while, it will be back up in fairly short order.

EDIT:  Well, whadda ya know?  Less than a minute later, I’m updated without a hitch. 😀

Share

Up to dated

Went through the manual update for WordPress.  Really wish they’d get the server issues fixed on my webhost… grrr…

Anyway, got a bit more written, most of the cleaning done, and now I’m off to the store.  Hope to be almost done with Queen before the day’s out.

Share

Hit the hosting

After a few minutes of looking around, it seems that the problem I’ve been having is widespread throughout the hosting company.  They seem to be working on it, migrating all the data off the affected servers.  So, for the time being, I’m just going to let it go and apologize for any glitches.

It’s not as if I’m losing money from it or anything *laugh*  I still need to get 99% of the website content back up, if I can ever get my ducks in a row to start coding it.

Anyway, that’s the update on that.  Waiting for a pizza to finish so I can eat and get back to writing.  The key to getting the young one to calm down was building a solid base for him to construct a giant K’nex tower, so at least that problem is out of the way 😀

Share