The prodigal flip - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

The prodigal flip

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
flip
Aug 16, 2004 13:30:41 Okay, so I've been off the boards for a while... Work, and life in general, have been a real time drain. Work, at least, doesn't look to be getting any better -- I just had one of my developers (I'm a tech lead on a software project)

There are pretty much two things, DS related, that I've been working on: The core document, and the site. Yeah, real specific, I know.

I had to restart the document from plain text, because my formatting setup had finally grown so byzantine that Word literally gave up whenever I loaded the document. I've discovered a couple of tricks that can actually aggregate separate files as one document, so hopefully I won't run into that problem again. The translation of psionic powers is still under way, which is the other part of why you havn't seen anything from us on that doc.

And the other bit has been dealing with the site. I've spent quite a bit of time noodling around with a couple different Content Management Systems. The basic idea being that people other than me, can add content to the site, without going through me. We have a little bit of that on the site at the moment, but there's not nearly enough. And rather than spending time trying to implement that myself, I decided to not re-invent the wheel.

However, it appears that my chosen solution, once everything was brought over, is less than satisfactory. The front page ends up taking the better part of a minute to load, and the processor load on the server spikes whenever the front page is hit. In my book, that's pretty unacceptable (although, WotC seems to have no problems with boards1 sucking). And no, it's not that the server is a weak machine.

So, I've got a couple of options: I can restart and look around for another CMS system (The current one was PHPWebSite) ... I have one that I'm at least entertaining giving a shot (e107). OR I can pick up and resume production of the current athas.org codebase.

Regardless, the ability to do custom modules, so, for example, it's actually easy to submit and catalog new spells, classes or monsters, is important. If I use a preworked CMS, I need to learn how to write new modules. If I bite the bullet, and go back to rolling my own, I need to concoct support for accounts, permissions and approval of new material (When I said above that I wanted anyone to be able to add content to the site, I mean that I want to allow anyone from the community to do so, with approval caveats, of course) ... and I don't have the time to realistically do that, which means I'm introducing the hassles of recruiting help, managing a project and deploying updates (which, granted, is my job at the moment, minus the never seeing your developer's face bit.)

Ehrm. Just a sort of brain-dump from someone who's been quiet for way too long on all this behind-the-scenes stuff.

edit: Just remembered what it is about e107 that I didn't like: It doesn't use a template engine, so theming is actually a matter of hacking php. Not that that's all that different than the current site, really, so not all that much of a ding, I suppose.
#2
zombiegleemax
Aug 16, 2004 17:32:48 Great to see your still around (yes, we do start to wonder if the whole Athas.org team is really only the three or four people who post here regularly). Hope life starts to allow you a little more freetime. If not, then simply stop sleeping so you can work more of DS projects and the website. Freeing up 6 to 8 hours of every day will really do wonders for productivity.
#3
flip
Aug 16, 2004 20:36:53
Originally posted by Mach2.5
Great to see your still around (yes, we do start to wonder if the whole Athas.org team is really only the three or four people who post here regularly). Hope life starts to allow you a little more freetime. If not, then simply stop sleeping so you can work more of DS projects and the website. Freeing up 6 to 8 hours of every day will really do wonders for productivity.

Five. I think. Regardless, I could regale you with tales of my caffiene intake, especially during my early college years ... but, it should suffice to say that my innards are well preserved, and due to the diuretic nature of coffee, I wear a catheter and a bag at my waist.

But, I'm working on that whole free-time thing. There's one or two drains on that which I'm working on taking care of (for reasons beyond just "free time" ...) and I should really just go ahead and finish the current game of FFX (so, I'm a little behind the curve. I just got the PS2, so gimme a break) It's probably a very, very good thing that MMORPGs have never, in the slightest, appealed to me ....
#4
nytcrawlr
Aug 16, 2004 21:41:56
Originally posted by flip
and I should really just go ahead and finish the current game of FFX (so, I'm a little behind the curve. I just got the PS2, so gimme a break)

Don't feel bad, I've had a PS2 for about a year now, still don't have FFx or FF X-2. Haven't beaten FFIX yet but on the last disc. Haven't beaten FFV yet, but close, and haven't even played FFVIII yet. Also haven't beaten FFVII yet.

So I'm really behind!

Vacation coming up is good for playing catch up. :D

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 flip Aug 16, 2004 13:30:41	Okay, so I've been off the boards for a while... Work, and life in general, have been a real time drain. Work, at least, doesn't look to be getting any better -- I just had one of my developers (I'm a tech lead on a software project) There are pretty much two things, DS related, that I've been working on: The core document, and the site. Yeah, real specific, I know. I had to restart the document from plain text, because my formatting setup had finally grown so byzantine that Word literally gave up whenever I loaded the document. I've discovered a couple of tricks that can actually aggregate separate files as one document, so hopefully I won't run into that problem again. The translation of psionic powers is still under way, which is the other part of why you havn't seen anything from us on that doc. And the other bit has been dealing with the site. I've spent quite a bit of time noodling around with a couple different Content Management Systems. The basic idea being that people other than me, can add content to the site, without going through me. We have a little bit of that on the site at the moment, but there's not nearly enough. And rather than spending time trying to implement that myself, I decided to not re-invent the wheel. However, it appears that my chosen solution, once everything was brought over, is less than satisfactory. The front page ends up taking the better part of a minute to load, and the processor load on the server spikes whenever the front page is hit. In my book, that's pretty unacceptable (although, WotC seems to have no problems with boards1 sucking). And no, it's not that the server is a weak machine. So, I've got a couple of options: I can restart and look around for another CMS system (The current one was PHPWebSite) ... I have one that I'm at least entertaining giving a shot (e107). OR I can pick up and resume production of the current athas.org codebase. Regardless, the ability to do custom modules, so, for example, it's actually easy to submit and catalog new spells, classes or monsters, is important. If I use a preworked CMS, I need to learn how to write new modules. If I bite the bullet, and go back to rolling my own, I need to concoct support for accounts, permissions and approval of new material (When I said above that I wanted anyone to be able to add content to the site, I mean that I want to allow anyone from the community to do so, with approval caveats, of course) ... and I don't have the time to realistically do that, which means I'm introducing the hassles of recruiting help, managing a project and deploying updates (which, granted, is my job at the moment, minus the never seeing your developer's face bit.) Ehrm. Just a sort of brain-dump from someone who's been quiet for way too long on all this behind-the-scenes stuff. edit: Just remembered what it is about e107 that I didn't like: It doesn't use a template engine, so theming is actually a matter of hacking php. Not that that's all that different than the current site, really, so not all that much of a ding, I suppose.
#2 zombiegleemax Aug 16, 2004 17:32:48	Great to see your still around (yes, we do start to wonder if the whole Athas.org team is really only the three or four people who post here regularly). Hope life starts to allow you a little more freetime. If not, then simply stop sleeping so you can work more of DS projects and the website. Freeing up 6 to 8 hours of every day will really do wonders for productivity.
#3 flip Aug 16, 2004 20:36:53	Originally posted by Mach2.5 Great to see your still around (yes, we do start to wonder if the whole Athas.org team is really only the three or four people who post here regularly). Hope life starts to allow you a little more freetime. If not, then simply stop sleeping so you can work more of DS projects and the website. Freeing up 6 to 8 hours of every day will really do wonders for productivity. Five. I think. Regardless, I could regale you with tales of my caffiene intake, especially during my early college years ... but, it should suffice to say that my innards are well preserved, and due to the diuretic nature of coffee, I wear a catheter and a bag at my waist. But, I'm working on that whole free-time thing. There's one or two drains on that which I'm working on taking care of (for reasons beyond just "free time" ...) and I should really just go ahead and finish the current game of FFX (so, I'm a little behind the curve. I just got the PS2, so gimme a break) It's probably a very, very good thing that MMORPGs have never, in the slightest, appealed to me ....
#4 nytcrawlr Aug 16, 2004 21:41:56	Originally posted by flip *and I should really just go ahead and finish the current game of FFX (so, I'm a little behind the curve. I just got* the PS2, so gimme a break)** Don't feel bad, I've had a PS2 for about a year now, still don't have FFx or FF X-2. Haven't beaten FFIX yet but on the last disc. Haven't beaten FFV yet, but close, and haven't even played FFVIII yet. Also haven't beaten FFVII yet. So I'm really behind! Vacation coming up is good for playing catch up. :D