Site Restructure

[Nnnnsic]

I don't anticipate any errors or issues, but in case you encounter something and you're not sure what's happening I'll just fill you in...

We're doing a little bit of a site restructure at the moment to make it easier to find things and to provide members with better defined places to post.

By the time I'm done, it should look a bit cleaner (maybe) and will be easier for us to moderate and easier for ya'll to put your posts in the right place to begin with.

[stubbsy]

Not much to do here ATM anyways. Pixspot is useless and SmugMug is down for some server maintenance. Maybe I'll have an early night!

[Alpha_7]

Come Stubbsy, plenty of PP you could be doing don't go to bed yet. And then when Smug Smug comes back we'll have plenty of images to check out.

[Nnnnsic]

In fact, I might even go through the horrible Important Links section and update that sticky thread.

And pull Pixspot from it.

[Alpha_7]

In fact, I might even go through the horrible Important Links section and update that sticky thread.

And pull Pixspot from it.

Awesome idea, (almost felt like making a Pixspot Macro...) But I'm not that lazy...

[leek]

So will part of this site restructure reintroduce the RSS facility????????

I've been missing it...

[Nnnnsic]

Indeed it should.

I just have to remember where I put it...

[leek]

Indeed it should.

I just have to remember where I put it...

Yay!!!

[Onyx]

Can you unban me from the .net domain yet? I promise not to suck the CPU resources. I currently can't see the front page's images (eg. POTW, merchandise images).

[Nnnnsic]

Alas, that's not my area. Wait until Dad wakes up.

[Alpha_7]

Can you unban me from the .net domain yet? I promise not to suck the CPU resources. I currently can't see the front page's images (eg. POTW, merchandise images).

I've suffered the same fate, but it doesn't bother me too much, although POTW would be nice, I think I've seen the merchadise enough not to need to see it every time I view the front page.

[MCWB]

Can you unban me from the .net domain yet? I promise not to suck the CPU resources. I currently can't see the front page's images (eg. POTW, merchandise images).

Hmm strange. I can see them from .com?

[Alpha_7]

Can you unban me from the .net domain yet? I promise not to suck the CPU resources. I currently can't see the front page's images (eg. POTW, merchandise images).

Hmm strange. I can see them from .com?

Well I actually checked and my laptop is fine, but my desktop machine can't see the images.. Bizarre but my heads to sore to wrap itself around that one tonight.

[Nnnnsic]

I'll see if I can handle that tomorrow.

Let me get this restructure underway, eh?

[Alpha_7]

Hehe, doesn't bother me Leigh so please proceed, just thought I'd chime in and mention I was getting some variable responses from the .com as well.


Good Luck Mate, hope it works smoothly.

[Onyx]

Wow, good work Leigh. I hadn't really noticed it at first, it was subtle but effective. The first thing that struck me was that you trawled through the entire important links forum and summarised it. What a handy resource that would be if people took the time to read through it. I reckon it might even make the forum redundant as everything that could be asked could be answered from links in there.

Also splitting the Nikon specific stuff - that's heaps choice, bro!

[MattC]

Okay, now I am confused. I haven't spent a lot of time around here lately and I have lost track of whats what. Which is the current site .net or .com... or are they the same thing? To add to the confusion there is .net and .com in the title area of the index page.

Cheers

Matt

[sheepie]

Which is the current site .net or .com... or are they the same thing? To add to the confusion there is .net and .com in the title area of the index page.

It's all part of Gary's plan - April 1 is coming soon

Good work on the links section Leigh - I wonder if it's worth putting these into a seperate page in the wiki, and linking direct to that from the front index? (this might already be in the wiki, dunno)

[MattC]

Which is the current site .net or .com... or are they the same thing? To add to the confusion there is .net and .com in the title area of the index page.

It's all part of Gary's plan - April 1 is coming soon

Aaargh!!!! You guys! Never a straight answer!!

[MattC]

Okay .net it is. That is where topic reply notifications point me.... until it gets change again....

Cheers

[gstark]

Can you unban me from the .net domain yet? I promise not to suck the CPU resources. I currently can't see the front page's images (eg. POTW, merchandise images).

That will be a local issue.

I do not use the .net site either, but I do have a fully functional front page, including images. Yes, POTW, merchandis, etc.

The best advice I can give you - everyone - is do not use IE.

[gstark]

Which is the current site .net or .com... or are they the same thing? To add to the confusion there is .net and .com in the title area of the index page.

It's all part of Gary's plan - April 1 is coming soon

Good work on the links section Leigh - I wonder if it's worth putting these into a seperate page in the wiki, and linking direct to that from the front index? (this might already be in the wiki, dunno)

The physical code bases for the .net and .com sites are the same, and they both use the same database, but they're using a slightly different server resource. The .net site should be used by most members, unless I've asked you not to, because of your "heavier" usage of the site.

It's a very crude way of atempting to load balance, because of the very crude way that DH decides how much CPU time you're able to use.

The only major and visible difference in the sites is that avatar updating is delayed - avatars are uploaded directly to the site that you're logged on to, but the uploaded files exist in a subdirectory within the codebase, and those folders need to be matched periodically.

Any other issues that are presenting themselves to you will be entirely local, and, most likely, due to your use of IE.


And there already is a link from our front page directly into the Wiki.

[gstark]

Can you unban me from the .net domain yet? I promise not to suck the CPU resources. I currently can't see the front page's images (eg. POTW, merchandise images).

That will be a local issue.

I do not use the .net site either, but I do have a fully functional front page, including images. Yes, POTW, merchandis, etc.

The best advice I can give you - everyone - is do not use IE.

I just had a thought (shock, horror!)

If you're not seeing these images from the .com site, please pm me with the IP address that is affected.

[sheepie]

And there already is a link from our front page directly into the Wiki.

Yeah, what I'm suggesting is a link direct to a wiki page which has the important links listed. Nicer formating that way than in a thread as they are now. Just another one of those 'unreasonable' suggestions

[thaddeus]

Can you unban me from the .net domain yet? I promise not to suck the CPU resources. I currently can't see the front page's images (eg. POTW, merchandise images).

That will be a local issue.

I just had a look at the .com site and source of the POTW image is the .net site, so anyone banned from the .net site wouldn't be able to see it.

As I have said, I am happy to host the entire site + a gallery for free - no bandwidth problems, no need to ban IPs, no need for the confusion and hassle of multiple sites etc

[gstark]

Yeah, what I'm suggesting is a link direct to a wiki page which has the important links listed.

Ahh, my apologies.

I misunderstood the detail of your post.

Thanx for clarifying that. I'll have Leigh looki into creating that links resouce on the wiki. Unless you're offering.

[gstark]

I just had a look at the .com site and source of the POTW image is the .net site, so anyone banned from the .net site wouldn't be able to see it.

That actually depends upon the nature and mode of the banning., and it's why I've asked for the affected IP addresses, so that I can look more closely at this.

As I have said, I am happy to host the entire site + a gallery for free - no bandwidth problems, no need to ban IPs, no need for the confusion and hassle of multiple sites etc

And this is still something that we're looking closely at. I've had more than a few similar offers, plus a couple of other options have come up, and I'm trying to assess which of them will be easiest to implement, and be best for the site.

[stubbsy]

Thanks for the good work leigh. The changes are subtle, but the new structure is a lot cleaner. Interesting to see the Canon Corral has more topics than the Nikon one. Go Canon

[moggy]

Great work on the links section Leigh, awesome.

Bob.

.

[MattC]

I have just spent the last hour or so trolling through the links section. Good work there. It is a excellent resource.

Leigh, Gary, Mods, are you going to put in place a system for others to submit links for consideration that may be worthwhile additions to the sticky... or will it be just a case of someone trolling through all of the other posts from time to time?

Cheers

[Glen]

I view through .com and everything works just fine for me, POTW, merchandise, etc

[gstark]

or will it be just a case of someone trolling through all of the other posts from time to time?

It's exactly that, Matt.

The Links section is open to all members, and thus anybody may post a link that they've found (or that they think) is useful. Leigh periodically ges through and cleans it up, adding them to the sticky as needed.

[Mal]

Oh Mr Sheen, Oh Mr Sheen,
it’s the cleanest website I have ever seen………

Seriously well done Leigh, love the links section…nice…

[Nnnnsic]

I'm not actually done with the site restructure, people.

I just did some of the sections and I'm still going through all 70 pages of the General Discussion and the pages of the other sections trying to put them in the right places (which is why there's more in Canon than Nikon).

I've still got quite a few restructuring bits to do and will do them within the next week.

Likewise, the links section is being done by hand and I'm not done yet. I'm pretty much only going to add those that I've found important and still valid so the links section is still there for any links you want to post that you'd like other members to know about.

I'm also going to have some level of indexing in that first post, which is why it looks a bit awkward at the moment, so people can better find the link they want much more quickly.

A few more sections will also be opened up in the coming weeks to users who normally wouldn't be able to use them mostly because we have a lot of users who I think should be able to get access to things like Film & Non-Digital (already done) and Computers (will be done soon) as they're things non-DSLR users who will want to get more active in the community should be able to find ways of getitng involved.

[johndec]

It's coming together nicely Leigh, you are obviously slaving over a hot keyboard.

Although it doesn't really bother me, but I was just wondering whether you are going to tidy up the membership list? A quick look reveals that there are 884 "members" who have never posted. If we cut a bit of slack to new members who like to look around a bit and get comfortable before they summon up the courage to post (say 3 months), that still leaves 720 stale members (including member #2, strangely enough named Gary ).

I don't imagine that their details take up much disk space, but this is such an alive and healthy forum that the dead wood annoys my sense of order My wife says that is because I'm a Virgo, my 16yo daughter says that is because I'm anal retentive (a shrink in the making)

[Onyx]

...my 16yo daughter says that is because I'm anal retentive...

I'm anal retentive too John, I've retained my anus since birth...

[Nnnnsic]

The thing is John, it's hardly our place to tell someone that because they don't post we're going to remove their account.

I see no reason to delete accounts even if they've posted nothing.

[johndec]

The thing is John, it's hardly our place to tell someone that because they don't post we're going to remove their account.

I see no reason to delete accounts even if they've posted nothing.

No problem. The only reason I originally asked is that it can be a pain to find a member via the member list if you wish to PM them and will be 5 times the pain in 5 years time. However, I've since realised you can find a members details easily via the search function.

[gstark]

(including member #2, strangely enough named Gary ).

That's my non-admin test account. When I make chamnges to the forum - or to the codebase - I sometimes need to see how it looks from an ordinary member's perspective, and so I use that account.

And no, we're not going to cull any of the members. How do we know that some of them aren't simply lurkers?

[gstark]

However, I've since realised you can find a members details easily via the search function.

There's an even easier way.

When you're in the PM window, there's a find a user function. Pop up that window, feed in a few characters (wildcards are ok) and selecxt the member from the dropdown.

[johndec]

Not a big issue, but I've noticed that the "Headlines" box on the front page hasn't updated since the 28/1/06.

[Nnnnsic]

Indeed.

Problems seem to be constant with the DPR RSS feed and the aggregator I use