Let’s just say it’s very…shiny.

I’m still using the same blues, and there is no new logo this time (although there were attempts at creating a new one). But it combines the look and feel of tsnV with the 2 years of design experience I’ve gained since then.

No screen shots yet; I don’t have it set up with any forum information yet to show what it would look like. But if you would like to join the testers that will be using the tsn.7 theme while it gets built, then you can change it in your User Control Panel, under Board Preferences.

Technorati Tags: phpbb, phpbb 3.0, style, template, the-spot.net, tsn.7

There will also be some integration to popular social sites right on the My Spot page, like twitter and flickr – community based sites with an API that doesn’t require you to visit their site in order to view content.

Last night, I worked with the twitter.com API and with the RSS reader that I’ve hacked up in PHP, and turned out the twitter stream for the-spot.net’s twitter friends. That will go on the front page of the My Spot page so that everyone on tsn can know what all the other tsn members are twittering about.

The next thing I’m going to be doing with that is working on a way to allow the users to update their twitter status directly from tsn. That’s going to take a bit more work than displaying the feed, but it will be a good challenge.

On the previous version of the site, there was a flickr flash app that showed the new photos from the tsn flickr group. That will be coming back as well.

I’m also going to try to make the User Control Panel more accessible and integrate the Buddy List into the My Spot page so you can see when your favorite posters are online (since the information box at the bottom displays the last X minutes, and not “Currently” online).

I’m still trying to gather new ideas from everyone about what they’d like to see on the page…and I hope to make it modular like that previous My Spot page was so they can just be plugged in to the template based on information in the new database determining whether or not they wish to see that.

if you have any ideas – leave comments, or message me directly.

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Tags: the-spot.net, tsn7, my spot, flickr, twitter, api, programming, hacking, rss, php, tsn, community, integration, mashup

Technorati Tags: api, buddy list, community, database backend, flash, flickr, front page, members, PHP, phpbb, RSS, rss reader, style, template, the-spot.net, tsn.7, twitter

We’re shooting for a end-of-may release for tsnX…and I really hope that I can do that. Designing the new site is going to take time too, and there are about 10 days till the end of the month, and about 5 days of coding left (assuming that every code implementation goes as planned) and then 5 days left for modifying the template of the site to look like tsnX.

I hope to make it on time, but as version releases in the past of indicated, I rarely am able to get a site out on schedule, because of difficulties and other things that intrude on my time. But it’s coming. Yesterday it was 26%, today, 43%.

Technorati Tags: job, template, the-spot.net

The reason: I cannot figure out where the code errors are, and the updates that I did to the forums to bring it up-to-date with the latest code were done in, what I thought was a sufficient way, but what appears to have been possibly faulty. I updated the code slowly, and effectively, but either due to errors in the code changes (which is likely, because I found them as I looked at the instructions to change) or lack of sleep while coding (which is not AS likely, but possible) there was something, somewhere in the code that caused it to not work properly.

The good thing about this, is that there is already a phpbb 2.0.20 forum that comes with this Category Hierarchy pre-installed, so I don’t have to go through it again. The down side is that I have to redo the small mods that I did already. About half of them can be run through the easy mod…and the other half will have to be done by hand – but this time, I have the time to do them by hand, where as I was doing them piecemill during lunch, class, and after work before.

Hopefully I can get this thing back in operation the right way and soon, but I don’t think that it’s going to happen in 2 days like originally planned. Even at the present situation, I cannot get the site out by the 15th of May.

And while some of you might be getting frustrated with no tsn…I assure you that there is no one more frustrated with this situation than myself, having to scrap a perfectly working site and design by force of the server admins.

So for now, I sleep…because tomorrow, I start over…knowing what I know now, and what I don’t need to install, and what it will take to actually install some of the other things that I want.

When I get the site code done, I’ll start on the design of the template, and then I’ll start on the code of the My Spot page, and then I’ll create the design of it. After that – I start work on the-blot.net, and FINALLY get that going. That’s the mini game-plan…and I want a tsnX well before the LAN Party…but recreating a site as large as tsn is not an easy task. It took 3 weeks to create tsnIII…and one year to create tsnV…to get tsnX done in 2-3 weeks will be nothing short of amazing.

Technorati Tags: knowing, phpbb, template, the-spot.net

Soooo I spent another great deal of time WRITING my OWN code to implement this feature, and to my amazement, the code actually worked, on the first try. It’s not every day, or even every year that my code will do what it’s supposed to on the first try – especially without me knowing anything about the context in which I’m writing it. However, now that I know how to do it, I’ll be doing the same thing for the Gtalk info, and Skype info as well. And I might create a couple more “website” fields for people with multiple websites.

I spent yesterday working on the private messaging setup, and found that the mistakes were because of a “switch_standalone” tag that was being put around certain parts…such that it was allowing only the posting page for the forums to access the code required to make the page work, and not for the private messages….but that both pages required the same template. So I went back and took out the standalone tags that were around things needed in both pages (I had originally went in and created a “switch_privmsg” tag to work around it, but that would have been too involved) and left it around one part that is required on the forum posting page, but not in private messages.

Anyway, enough about the technical stuff (although this is the tech-source for the-spot.net), the point is that it works now.

Aside from getting around the use of caches, all the bugs that I had reported are fixed. I still need beta testes to go in and break things, and report the bugs. The people that are in the forums are too scared to break things…and that’s frustrating, because when I release the site, I don’t want a repeat of tsnV where we lose people the first week because of errors. GO BREAK IT!!! PLEASE!!!

Technorati Tags: knowing, template, the-spot.net

The next updates that I’ll be doing are the Calendar update. I’m also going to include a mini-calendar on the My Spot page this time, so that upcoming events will be more noticeable.

After that will be a Moderator Control panel, in which they will have some more control over things like Usernames, Smilies, managing user accounts, etc…and have a link like the Admin do for the Admin Panel. This will help disperse some of the work that the admins have to do around the site…since for the most part people know what is allowed on the forums, and don’t need much moderating.

Then a FAQ Manager – where the admins can easily update the FAQs for the n00bies that like to ask questions about what’s going on…we can get the “unwritten” rules down in one place, and keep it easily updated for new guidelines.

And then I’ll work on the Template Switcher, a dropdown menu that will let you change templates easily between tsnX and the original theme – and any other templates that we might design. For a while now, I’ve wanted to bring back the tsnI template, but there is so much of that which is just the basic forum, it’d be really hard to update. I’ll look into it though eventually.

After these, there are just a ton of little mods that will enhance the user experience…spell check, other IM support, skype, gmail/gtalk, profile tidbits, posting enhancements, and a ton of other stuff.

Once those are all in place, I begin work on creating the tsnX design – which will be the most exciting part of it all. After that, I create the My Spot page, and we’re done.

Technorati Tags: mail, smilies, style, template, the-spot.net

I’ll still post updates here, but I’ll also use the RSS Reader code to put the updates in the forums too.

Also, I’ll actually leave the original theme (SubSilver) once it’s modded out, up for people to choose to run that theme instead of the tsnX theme. I’m pretty sure you’re going to want to use the tsnX verison, because it will have all the cool things in it that are specialized for tsn, but some people like options. Everyone will be set to tsnX as their default theme though, they can change it later.

So, the feature list:
New things:

• Podcast Feed section. This is for the new Spotcast that wizard and I are working on.
• My Pics/User Pics feeds. To bring more attention to the Photobook.
• Auto-updating New Posts Table. Using the AJAX technology (of sorts) that powers the tsnXchat.
• Spell Checker (for all those that have requested it in the past
• Multiple spaces allowed in a post (I know that’s frustrating for people that like tabs…the [tab] will till be there though)
• Auto-resizing of the remote-avatars. You’ll be able to link to an off-site avatar, and it will still stay within the size limit.
• Per-User Avatar/Signature displays. With this you can choose whether or not you want to see avatars or signatures when viewing posts. I know SigImgs have been a discussion in the past, and UPS brought this up to me, so now it’ll be implemented in tsnX.
• Gtalk, Jabber, and Skype screenname boxes in the profiles. They’re increasing in popularity, and we (the admin) use them as I’m sure most of the users do.
• And a ton more features!

Moved features:

• The Buddy list is going to be moved to the MySpot page to get people accustomed to seeing/using it more. It’ll be one of the driving forces behind the-blot.net
• There will probably be some more changes, I can’t think of any right off though.

Changed features:

• TSN Special Report – will show the last 3 special reports, and allow you to click through each, only displaying one at a time, while on the same page. You’ll have to see what I’m talking about.
• Direct Link to the message when you get a Private Message Email (not a link to the inbox)…as well as the entire message itself.
• You’ll also be able to see the message you’re replying to, as you would when posting a reply in the forums.
• And some other changes too…to make things easier

A Couple Nifty Features:

• You’ll be able to see when Google, MSN, or Yahoo is scanning over the site. Their bot will show up in the list of online users
• Some better online/offline graphics, as well as on/off status for AIM and Yahoo and some other IM clients.
• And then there are a couple more features that you’ll get to explore when the site is released

Most importantly is the new interface. It’s going to be the smoothest, cleanest tsn yet. We’re talking soft, round, uncluttered pages…and some abilities to hide/view certain tables and boxes. Some of those abilities might come as upgrades to the template, some will be available from the official release. But it’s “tsnX – The Next Step in Evolution.”

Technorati Tags: google, mail, template, the-spot.net

When I get a working site up with those two features, the Sub-forums, and PCP, then I Will start allowing people to access it and use it to post temporarily. Your posts and stuff won’t stay when I put the database info on it, and you’ll get to see the site rise from simple phpBB to the essence of tsnX right before your eyes.

Once I get the mods installed, then I’ll start creating the template for the site. I’ll also post a couple of the features in a post here soon, to show SOME of the things that are new, that are changed, that are moved, and that aren’t going to be in this one.

I haven’t forgotten about the tsnlocal either. I’ll be posting that information here for those that want to join it this weekend too.

Technorati Tags: phpbb, template, the-spot.net

Because not only do I now have to start over with a new code base, but I also have to merge a database. And I have to create a new template for the tsnX version – which means new graphics, and new code pages, and new bugs.

Hopefully all this new stuff (along with the ditching of some old stuff) will bring back new members.

Here’s the plan things I’m getting rid of:
– Cash Mod – no more spotics, l33t points, or bling.
…
Heh, that’s the only thing I can think of. I’m sure I’m ditching quite a bit, I just can’t think of all of it right now. But I’m adding a ton more things:
– User security
– More profile options
– More interactive forum features
– Better, smoother, softer Design
– and maybe a bit of Ajax.
– integration with the pizzy, the-blot, the freeformfrog, and the other sites that we’re working on.

So check back to thepizzy.net/blog for more information on how things are going with the site. And be telling your friends that used to come to tsn about the change. I’m hoping that this new change, which will be taking it back to the old-skool, and bringing it forward to the future, will bring back a lot of the members that used to come around.

It’s time to go back to the “glory days” of tsn, when people came all the time, and we averaged 1000 posts a week. This will require new features, and better support from the mods/admin…bother of which are being put into tsnX, as well as the tsnXport Services.

So keep checking here, or subscribe to the RSS feed for thepizzy.net/blog, to get your latest news on the teck of tsn. You can even subscribe to the tsnX tag’s RSS to get only the tsnX news updates.

Technorati Tags: template, the-spot.net