Told you that I’d shake things up.

July 10, 2003

Welcome to AGSHender.Net v5.0. I’ve been trying to implement a good content management system for quite some time now, but after lots of frustration and the prospect of having to spend money, I decided that the best thing to do would be to use someone else’s. This is the result of several day’s hard work by me, though most of the hard stuff was done by talented programmers elsewhere. I just had to implement it, which did take some time.

But this is how I think things are going to look for awhile. The dust still hasn’t settled but I wanted to drop you all a line anyhow, just to let you know that while this is under construction I haven’t forgotten the pictures I promised. I actually worked on some of my trip pictures, but it’s a bit moot right now anyhow since I don’t have a place for any pictures yet, not even the shots of me after a post. I’m working on that. I also don’t have any of the other pages up yet, just a good portion of my blog entries. Do you have any idea how tedious that it to import them to this new format? At the very least it’s given me a chance to reread some of my old entries, but the bad news is that I Have to do it in a special format, one at a time, and give then each a title and a date and time (which I thankfully provided for myself already).

So what does this new layout give me that I couldn’t do before, you might ask? Well firstly, it’s much easier for me to manage. Making new updates is a much easier process than it was before. I doubt I’ll even need an HTML editor, or at least not the same powerful one I used before. I think that the ease of updating will actually allow me to update more frequently. Secondly, it implements a search feature on my site. That doesn’t sound like much, but if you’re looking for something specific I wrote about, that’s what to start. Another neat feature is the comment system, which you can see below each entry. It’s quick, it’s painless, and it’s easier than emailing me (although you can still do that). But if you have something to say or a question to ask, leave a comment. You don’t have to put your email address, but I would appreciate it if you left your name just so I know who posted it. Fully anonymous posting is allowed, though, if you’re in *that* much of a hurry. The comments give you a way to both interact with me and with other people who read my site. Another nice feature is an auto-notification of when I’ve posted a new update. I haven’t implemented that quite yet, but very soon, I’m going to stop sending out emails of when my site has been updated, and I’ll let my readers decide for themselves if they want to be notified of a new entry. That takes the burden off me, and it makes things fully automatic. If I’m not at my computer when I post an update (I can do it from any browser anywhere), then you’ll still be notified. I just need to work on that, and I’ll get back to you about it.

Lastly (or at least lastly of things that are important to my readers), this new system links me to other blogging sites, and so readers of other places will be linked here=, drawing more traffic than I did before (maybe). I’m going national, baby! How nice it is to let other people into my life. If the frequency of my updates increases, I’ll probably be writing about more stuff, which means that my entires will get more personal, making my content much more interesting. In any case, things are looking up for AGSHender.Net. Pictures are still planned, as is everything else that I had before. My first priority is to get all my entries in the database, then to get the miscellaneous pages up and running (contact information, etc.), then to get the pictures up, starting with the oldest and working my way up to my trip pictures. It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it.

I hope things are to your liking so far. Test out the search feature if you like. Find every entry where I talk about movies. See what the date was when I mentioned watching “The Shawshank Redemption.” When did I first read Harry Potter? They’re all there. Well, most of them are there so far. I have about 20 months to go, but it’s still coming.

Enjoy your day, all. I”ll probably check in later once I get some more things straightened out. Don’t forget to leave a comment or three. Later.

Posted in Geekery, General