Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

1. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

   #41

   Second night and I got the new site working with the forum again. That site is a little more difficult since I have to go through a bunch of extra classes and functions to do the same thing a single function does on this site. It is better in the other site though, much more organized.
   
   I spent some time last night looking at parchment colors and ideas but still couldn't come up with anything. I am so design handicapped it is sometimes scary. I guess the best part of not having a design is that it forces me to develop around an unknown so, hopefully, it will be easier to plug in a "real" design once we come up with one. Oh well, I am just happy that I got the login script working. Now I can safely ignore that and move on with the "viewing" pages.

2. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

   #42

   Well, the military has to play their silly games and because of them we all get sucked into a vortex of extended and odd duty hours.
   
   I went to a High School orchestra concert last night that was pretty awesome. They had like 50+ stringed instruments (many electric), 4 guitars, couple sets of drums, and some singers. Some dude that plays in the NY Trans Siberian Orchestra came with his band and his electric violin and they were fantastic. Played selections from The Beatles, Led Zepplin, Metallica, Guns and Roses and a ton of other like bands. It was awesome to see High Schoolers with violins playing all these rockish type songs. Governor Beebe even came out with his entourage. Probably onle 300 or so people there so it was cozy and a ton of fun.
   
   Tonight I will do a little but not much, just got home and it is 1915 and have much to do to prepare. I am pretend deploying so have to get all my travel stuff together to get on the fake airplane. :) This weekend I will be working 12+ and that will probably last through next Saturday so won't get much done again. Tomorrow I am flying to Mississippi for the day so have no idea how late I will get back. Lots of fun little trips keep me busy.
   
   Will stop in as I can. Later llamas.

3. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

   #43

   Tornado Took Out Our Power Last Night Only Have Phone Access For Another Day Probably

4. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

   #44

   Another bad storm expected over the next two days. Yeah! I actually love them.
   
   Military fun has unofficially ended today. Normal shifts until Saturday when we will work all day.
   
   Finals are coming up 5 May so may lose a few weekends to those well but I am not taking classes over the summer and I intend to finish this damn thing during those couple months! :)

5. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

   #45

   Sort of in the anti-homework, anti-studying, anti-coding, but a little design fun mood lately and did yet another facelift.
   
   It is only partially done as I am tinkering with css and learning some stuff along the way.

6. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

   #46

   I found out the most bestest news I could in a long time. The final I was so worried about turned into an open book, open note exam. Still has to be proctored but I, like many others, am pretty good at open book tests. :)
   
   So now all that effort that I would have put towards hardcore memorization of multiple obscure but important facts will now be used on building the site once again.
   
   The military exercises are completely over as of today so I am free of that barrier as well.
   
   As the late, great Braveheart said, and I quote, "FFFFFRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm."
   
   So tonight I finalized the graphics. By finalized, I mean I am done fucking with them. Oops, did I type that? But enough of the inescapable hardships and morale killing failings of my design skill, lets just get the damn site working, eh?
   
   THAT is what I am talking about. I am rejuvinated and ready to jump back into this!

7. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

   #47

   Got a great start on main submission pages. Got all the infrastructure in place and just need to start pulling and manipulating the data and then format it.  Figured out a little juggling with getting the multiple authors and the link sure is pretty. :)
   
   http://www.readpostplay.com/index.php/viewing/the_stairs_of_kienor
   
   I had to add another field to the database to allow for pulling of the content this way, but that is small potatoes vs the old way of doing it.
   
   Once the site is running without errors I will do some htaccess and get rid of the "/index.php" part of the url so it will look even nicer.
   
   Time to take a break for a few hours but will get back into it tonight.

8. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

   #48

   By the way, if ANYBODY wants to take a shot at the graphics, you are more than welcome to it!

9. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

   #49

   Got a good size chunk done tonight. Re-established goal of doing something daily! Surprising how quickly things add up when you do something daily...eh Moon?
   
   Links still have to be established on a lot of the stuff but I will continue to concentrate on getting the content there and then manipulating it later.
   
   It is moving along!

10. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #50

    Was gone Friday-Sunday to go to a wedding in Lincoln, Nebraska. Long drive, long weekend, pleasant wedding.
    
    Family will be here Wednesday night as well.
    
    So I spent a little time today putting up the comments, comment replies, scrolls, aand scroll replies and doing a little formatting.
    
    Can't say I am 100% happy with them but I think they are workable enough to move on. At least they are there and in the correct place. :)
    
    Next step will be the comment form, sub voting, and comment voting and then formatting those answers.
    
    Right now I am going to completely skip the ajax stuff. It will allow me to make sure that it will all work without it. The next version of codeignitor is going to be a larger upgrade from the look of it since the commercial product expressionengine is going to officially use it as its base. They are going to have jQuery integrated into it and all kinds of other stuff so why spend all the time developing my own solutions when they are going to have it all included with nice little tutorials. :) No rush.
    
    My goal was to have 3.0 ready by the end of Q2. As of now, that is still a good possibility!

11. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #51

    http://www.readpostplay.com/index.php/viewing/3174
    
    Oh, and get the codices working and their table of contents back.
    
    Those codices are BEASTS!!

12. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #52

    Like the new look!

13. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #53

    Me too, though you need eye-friendly fonts.

14. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #54

    I forget about the want for Arial type fonts. I will give that a try.
    
    Stealing a neighbors wireless connection on my laptop as my cable seems to be down...again. It was up just long enough yesterday to get some work done but has been dead for the most part since we got home Sunday night...damnit.
    
    No technician till tomorrow unfortunately and tomorrow the relatives arrive. Alas, nothing till the weekend.

15. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #55

    Kudos for listening to us normal users. You could go with your own thing, or do the admin only approach, but the fact that you listen to us when it comes to stuff like vote decimals (or not) is awesome.

16. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #56

    If you are normal then I am afraid. Very afraid.

17. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #57

    Changed the font, that is about it.

18. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #58

    
    If you are normal then I am afraid. Very afraid.
    

    
    
    Feeling cute I see :)
    
    As normal as you are I guess! :p

19. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #59

    I have survived yet another set of Arkansas tornados, what a wild ride.

20. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #60

    Added the comment and voting options to the bottom of the page. In the process of building the background that will accept the form inputs.

21. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #61

    I really wanted to say "Go to hell", but my momma raised me too well. :p

22. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #62

    It took you over a month to come up with that reply? :)
    
    I spent the weekend on comments and, surprisingly, I didn't get to far.
    
    There is a list of convulted logic in there to get all the different updates, XP figured out, permissions, da da da.
    
    I got that sweet HTMLpurifier working as a library AND (manfred) I got the url writing working correctly. I still don't autolink submissions or any of that jazz yet, I fear I am still in the basics.
    
    But you can add a comment, vote, use whatever html you want and put in urls that will get automatically linked. Instead of the old way of sending all the stuff to the same page, I created a new page where it all goes, comment gets worked on, then redirects you back to your finished comment. In that way all the changes you may have done (vote, added comment/scroll) will be updated in the stats. It won't increment the hit count on this redirect. Stops the chance of duplicate posts as well which is nice.
    
    Still a lot to do on just the comments however. Editing/deleting/voting on (+ -)/replying to etc.
    
    Feel free to experiment, it all goes to a dabase that will be overwritten. Valadaar, tables seem to work although it seems to remove any of the formatting. Might just be a purifier setting though. :)
    
    

23. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #63

    
    It took you over a month to come up with that reply? :)
    

    
    It had to age first, just like fine wine.
    
    

24. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #64

    I want to rid the site of the main site refresh bug. (Shoutbox duplicates)
    
    Mind if I have a look?

25. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #65

    I got that sweet HTMLpurifier working as a library AND (manfred) I got the url writing working correctly.

    
    
    IF it works correctly at last (extensive testing please first), can you port it to the current incarnation of the Citadel?

26. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #66

    Unfortunately it uses some codeignitor specific functions to do the url stuff. I can't claim any credit for that, although I will happily imply that until confronted.
    
    Not really portable.
    
    The shoutbox is IMPOSSIBLE to fix. There is no way to get it to not double post short of an advanced alien life that imbues us with their super human intelligence.
    
    2.0 doesn't have but a month or two to live anyway so not worth the effort. It is not in cvs either, 3.0 is taking up all that room. Sorry AG, can you handle it for a bit longer?

27. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #67

    Oh well, I installed turtoisecvs last night. Once I find the lockmor cvs server stats I will plug in and rui... fix everything.
    
    One step closer to world domination:
    http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=143131

28. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #68

    I will have to be more vigilant about updating the cvs then. I haven't done it for a little bit.
    
    Only 3.0 is in cvs though, you caught that right? If you want to mess with 2.0 I will have to give you raw access to the live site.

29. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #69

    Yeah, I noticed.
    
    If 2.0 is dead in one month I might as well divulge all my juicy hacks, so people can cause havoc the last month...
    
    *creates the first of many threads about 2.0 vulnerabilites*

30. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #70

    There are NONE. I am 100% secure.
    
    I lock my door AND windows when I leave the house! Wait, AND I have 2 dogs...that bark....loud...high pitched, but loud.

31. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #71

    They are nice dogs actually.
    
    They love beef and if you promise to scratch them behind the left ear they will open the door for you.

32. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #72

    Another step forward on the comments. Put some AG proofing in there to ensure we are getting the correct variable types that we are expecting and forcing them if they are not. Added some more checks to make sure the voters can vote and rearranged a little logic to make it flow a little nicer.
    
    I am annoyed that comments are taking so long, but when it comes down to it, the comments and the submission page are the most important and require the most checks so it makes sense that this takes me a few days. Besides the Admin pages, once I am done with the comments and sub page the rest is really just data calls and the most time consuming of that is how they look. So I believe we are doing well and it is only the 8th.
    
    The submission's page should be easier as it is even more cut and dry with far fewer moving parts and with the experience I gained here it should be done in a weekend....and for me, Memorial Day weekend is a 4-day weekend! :)

33. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #73

    Day is not quite over and I got a lot of the crap I wanted to do.
    
    You can now add comments and delete your own. (no warning, you click on the "x" it is gone - thinking about doing a quick confirmation but that will come later)
    
    You can upvote and downvote comments with little graphics and the voting number is a little more obvious now.
    
    I will hopefully get the comment editing up tonight and the functionality will be there.
    
    I need to start another thread with all the rules I am putting in place so we (I) know what the hell is going on. Darn documentation!
    
    If you are in the mood to check it out, let me know what you think of the setup.
    
    www.readpostplay.com (go to any of the subs at the bottom)

34. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #74

    Got a crapload done but need comments to fine tune it.
    
    Codices: Had grand plans for them but I defaulted to a lighter weight version of the old ones. The exact format will mold to your desire but I don't think I like the new concept we had about only one sub in the codex showing at a time.
    
    Sort is default to Alpha for now.
    
    Bizzare Life-Forms
    http://www.strolen.com/content.php?node=1236
    
    Old way =
    234 database queries
    1.0774 page creation initial
    .7789 refresh
    
    http://www.readpostplay.com/index.php/viewing/1236
    New way =
    
    10 queries
    0.2609 page creation
    0.0792 refresh
    
    I got a little carried away with the zebra striping of everything and it works OK but there is probably a better way to do that.
    
    I am going to take a break of this main submission page and start on something else that I haven't decided yet.

35. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #75

    Following the link:
    Page created in: 0.8775 seconds.
    271 database queries used.
    This server has been up 70 day(s) 3 hour(s) 24 minute(s) and 22 second(s)
    [ Current server load: 0.09 ]
    
    You got a link to the new way? (I can find it, but can everyone who are reading this?)
    
    
    
    ******
    
    
    Also: Just checked out the layout of readpostplay.com
    
    I like it. Although the current version is sleeker, Kate being awesome and all, the new readpostplay version made me feel... Inspired. Roleplayish. In the mood.
    
    I am easy to please. Continue with that setup and I will post.

36. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #76

    Thanks AG.
    
    I spent some time validating and from what I can tell with the viewing page I am XHTML strict compliant. Issues abound with the submission text that hasn't been cleansed though. Might figure that our later but at least what I wrote isn't too bad.

37. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #77

    Input:
    As per today, Strolen's seems like a place with many admins, much debate and constant changes. In 3.0 I, personally, would appreciate:
    - Restricted admins, with one super admin (you) and regional admins (Ria - Freeform, manfred - code/anti-spam/security officer, MoonHunter - Articles & Worlds, etc.)
    - Stability, meaning less code experimentation and no v4.0 until, perhaps, 2012.
    - A stable, persistent layout and design. No seasonal changes. I like the old parchment-ish Citadel. It is proper. In ways the old design was more "The Citadel" than the current.
    - Division into three sections:
         "Roleplayers Guild w/main site & roleplaying oriented forum which includes the freeform and moderated sections",
         "Technical stuff, debates and suggestions / bug reports forum", and finally
         "Off topic section - non rpg related rants, inane natter and the like (socialicing forum) & the chat"

38. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #78

    Also, I think Murometz would be the perfect peace officer. He is diplomatic, tactful, well liked and has the balls to tell people what he really thinks. You ain't around enough and from the remaining candidates he would be the logical choice. I think you could safely entrust that burden(?) to Murometz.

39. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #79

    I have not tackled the admin/mod/permissions yet. That is going to be a beast and it will have to be done sooner than later. That will have its own thread. I don't think they will be limited to regions though. Maybe have a primary.
    
    You bring up some good points.
    
    Stability. I would love to have everything in place and be satisfied with it. The new base it is built on will hopefully allow a better stability and more simpler, less intrusive upgrades than the major shifts we went through.
    
    V1.0 = major hack with minimal features
    V2.0 = rewrite with major feature upgrades, format update, and changes to the systems
    V3.0 = rewrite of core system with minor feature upgrades and format change
    
    

40. Re: Lockmor 3.0 Blogish Kinda Thread

    #80

    More input:
    It seems that many a new user is awed by the high threshold of acceptance at the Citadel. How many times have we seen a potential future fixture disappear because his sub was torn to pieces?
    
    How many others have turned away just by sensing this threshold, or witnessing how users disappear?
    
    I still remember my own dread before I began posting here...
    
    Yet, it can be no other way.
    
    This poses a problem.
    I have thought about how to remedy that problem, and, well, here is the idea:
    
    "Strolen's Playground"
    - No votes
    - Xp for subs and comments
    - Lower threshold of acceptance.
    - Instead of "Hall of Honour", "Golden Submission" and XP ranking we could have "Magical Focus" (Based on views and comments) and "Orc Camp" (based on replies and comments) and the like.
    
    It would be a haven for the general public, the Drizzt fans, the users that love fantasy, that have that feverish gleam in their eyes, but have yet to become picky, difficult, acid tongued old farts like the rest of us.
    
    I know you guys have something in the backburner for that. I read about it somewhere, but it wasn't good enough. My idea ain't either, but the playground should happen. If done right it would probably become the most popular part of the citadel.
    
    Do you think it is possible for the Citadel to have two identities such as this?

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