Ok, so I've been tweaking my website more and more again recently.
This week's updates brings monetisation to my website in the form of adverts. Google approved my request for adverts on my site, so it now brings in money for me (according to Google's predictions ~£123 a month[!], which covers my site costs and more).
I'm also marketing my site better, and will in the next few months be using tools to improve the outlook of my site.
I've also brought back my calendar. My previous calendar was created by One.com, and while it was useful, it was a nuisance trying to update it because I had to go onto my email account to update it. So I decided to build my own. It comes with it's own update system as part of my own content management system (CMS) called BlackCat.
Just a little bit more about the adverts. Currently they reside only on my desktop site. I intend to keep it that way. I aim to keep the tablet and mobile websites free from ads because of the space limitations of both devices.
I will in the future be improving BlackCat and adding a blogging mechanism to it. The only reason I have not done this yet is because of the fact that I still love WordPress. For now BlackCat remains a part of my website, but in the next few months to years I will release it for free on to the web where it will feature four major features:
- Calendar
- Themes
- Blog
- Page creation
Now my blog is up and running on my new host and new database.
Here is where the initial problems occurred:
Firstly, I wanted to remove the prefix of my blog tables as they were going to be placed in their own database rather than just having prefixes. The way I did it was to move each table into the new database and rename each of them without the prefix. Then I downloaded that whole database (using phpMyAdmin, not WordPress). Next I changed wp-config.php such that it had no prefix and pointed to my new database. I dropped (deleted) the database and created a fresh new one with the same name. I then took the whole database SQL commands to Notepad (thank you Notepad!!!) and removed all instances of the old prefix. To finish off, I then used the Import feature to import all of the SQL commands into my new database. And that's all there is to it!
All my tables are now divided up into databases for each, therefore there is less of a security risk (I have a set of users, each user manages a certain database and has no access to others).
The other thing about this multiple database idea is the neatness and organisation. I'm really happy to have changed hosts and later I will post about what's really nice with this new hosting package.
Whilst I am a .NET programmer, I am also a big fan of *nix based operating systems like Mac OS X and Linux.
My heart was set on improving my .NET skills by learning ASP.NET. I hoped that I could move my website to a Windows Server based host and have no trouble, but oh no!
Not only have I been having real troubles sleeping at night, but I've been really having worries about how smooth the transition will be.
So, I though that this post would interest those of you who like Linux (especially you Ben). I have decided not to change to a Windows Server, I feel it is too risky and may be considered to be a step backwards.
To finish this post, I am staying with my current host until May, but changing to a better Linux host and nothing more.
Whilst it occasionally hurts me to say that I am considering a change from Linux to Windows, on this occasion I feel I have to. My ears (from all the stuff I have heard) have been in pain with this decision and I've been loosing sleep thinking about what is good about this idea.
In the next few months or weeks, or maybe even days, this website will undergo a massive change. I will no longer be hosting on a Linux server but on a Windows server. This change comes at a time when my site is at it's best and I don't want to lose it.
After a presentation today, and my inner .NET development skills crying out to me, I have decided to change to a host that provides PHP so my site stays the same and MySQL so my database can be transferred directly, that also provides ASP.NET and MSSQL.
Whilst I have nothing massive to hold against Windows (I do after all develop my software for Windows), I have been very happy with Linux. However, this change is necessary if I want to improve ASP.NET and I can promise that there will be more interesting things to come from it also. I also cannot stand the disorganised mess that my single database provided by my current host provides is.
As I say, this will likely come sometime soon, so if I can I'd like to keep this domain and keep on going with it. I hope in the next few weeks I will have made the change successfully.
It has been a long time since I last posted to my blog. I am quickly just coming on to tell you that whilst I may have closed down the other blog on my site, We Blog, a community blog, I intend to keep this going and keep using it more and more. At the moment I am finishing my first semester of second year (after a long time waiting to get back into the swing of things after hospital, I've finally made it here) at university.
Now that the design of my site is finished (as of last month), I want to take a look at what I have actually changed and managed to construct, my achievements with the site and what I have learned.
New features
The new design
During version 1 of my site (circa April 2010 - Dec 2012) I had no real theme to my site. It became a cluttered collection of pages using a cheap template offered to me by my host.
In December 2012 I had a thought to redesign my page by the end of January 2013. By January 2013 version 2.0 was released. It had barely any real CSS involved in it, in fact most was included in the pages. In April 2013 I rebuilt my blog using Word Press and then added my community blog We Blog as well. By the end of May 2013 version 2.2 was released and there was new PHP and MySQL content powering the pages.
As much as it does not seem that long ago it was that bad, in June 2013 the redesign started again and by 4th of July 2013 version 3.0 was released. It now featured HTML5 and CSS3. The site was built with PHP and DHTML that made the site more dynamic. I made the site in to my own CMS (content management system) that made updating sections of it much easier. I was very impressed with how it turned out. Just last month, version 3.1 was released which featured so many new features over 3.0 such as the new menu which allows me to put many different sections and pages on my site without cluttering the menu and added a new fresh design to a few of the older designs using PHP. I no longer need to update the page when I add a new article, review or tutorial as it is all done by PHP. I now have my own liveblog, gallery and a special way of updating my site.
The gallery
Whilst I was building my site, I added a photo gallery for my photos. This one was attractive and was actually built by my host. But by version 3.0 I was thinking about replacing it with my own custom gallery and by version 3.1 when I released the new design I launched my new gallery as well. The gallery is constructed with the server side language PHP. PHP builds up the page using the images on the server already. I can create an album or section within an album which gives more detailed information about a photo. For instance, in the album Gismo and Petro, you can see there are two sections; namely Gismo and Petro, and they are divided automatically by the PHP which generates the site. Of course, this would be demanding on the server, so I developed JCATCH, which is my own caching system for PHP. It assesses the cached content to check if it needs updated and updates it or throws the user the cached version.
Liveblog
An easy to update blog that I can post like on Twitter. It will automatically update with the latest news when I post. I will be using this to cover live events, as I have been invited to a few events (Nintendo and a few other software companies in the past).
CMS
Content Management Systems are designed to make it easier to put information on a site. I have built my site to make it as flexible as possible. If I want to upload a new review, all I do is open my CMS application (I built it) and give it a HTML file and any images or other content and all the rest is done for me. The CMS is called BlackCat, to go alongside BlackRabbit.
What I have learned
JavaScript
I learned quite a lot of JavaScript when creating this website. In fact, I have made my own library on my site of JavaScript that allows me to easily reuse it for other sites. The JavaScript on my website is used for many things. One of the most important is the menu. I did not however, write the menu. The menu is by MenuCool.com. I did however write the code that maximizes the page and sorts the menu for different user agents. I also have managed many other smaller JavaScript uses through out the site that make the site the way it is.
CSS3
The site is full CSS3 and has many CSS3 features in it. This was something I learned to the full from no knowledge of CSS at all within about one week. Once I got the hang of CSS the site was just to be built (this was the starting point, after all).
HTML5
HTML5 is the new standard of HTML and it really is fantastic for producing sites. No more of the end tags for instance with images (that's XHTML only) but more focus on the requirements such as alt on images which means you never forget it. My site is now fully HTML5 which means that I can easily embed video into it without the need for making some crazy video plugin or using something like the QuickTime plugin.
What is still to be done
I have made a good design with some features I had only dreamed of before. This year I will be focusing on what matters on my site, content. On top of that, BlackRabbit will be getting a redesign and version 2 will be fully released by the end of the year. If you are unsure on what BlackRabbit is, I will be producing an article for my website that neatly describes its purpose and functions.
Some software pages are still not complete and will be undergoing work this month. I hope to have a preview of every piece of software by the start of November.
What I have achieved
I hope that you would agree with me in saying that I managed to achieve a nice website that looks smart and finished. If not, please do say what you do not like about my site and what you do like as a comment below. Feedback from my site has an average of 7/10 so somethings must be missing (I do realise that a few pages are inconsistent since they use the version 2.0 edition of my website).
If you want to quickly fill in the feedback survey, just click here. If you wish to contact me about my site and feel that you have interesting feedback, you can contact me using the sites contact form.
This blog was spammed and sabotaged over the last week which is why I had not posted over the duration. I have since then managed to obtain control of it again and have freshly reinstalled WordPress on to my site, put in three new security measures and totally stopped spam on the blog.
I'm not sure how this happened but it could be related to the recent attack on WordPress blogs. I have also used this opportunity to improve security on the WeBlog WordPress blog.
Finally, a WordPress We Blog. The old blog has been scrapped and replaced with a new one. Anyone can now join and write with me and other bloggers! Here's why you may consider it:
- My personal blog brings in about 30+ views a day which can easily transfer over to this blog as I recommend and write for it
- The blog is run by me, and I know how to run the blog to make it successful
- It may encourage others to view your own blog
- It is created with WordPress
So if you want to be an author or editor, please get in touch.
A long time ago, I used to have a Facebook page. But during late 2010 to late 2011 (the bad era for my website) I did not maintain the page, and Facebook discarded it as a deprecated blog.
I am happy to announce the page has been reopened. It can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/jamiebalfour04
Some pages have now been turned into PHP equivalent pages, i.e. from HTML to PHP. This marks an important change in the site which is now going through a major change to bring more of an interactive PHP experience. Pages such as Articles, Reviews and Tutorials, as well as the Development subpages have all become PHP pages, as I have updated the site to automatically display articles when I upload them. This makes it much easier for me, but also guarantees the accuracy.
So despite what I said a few months ago about never going to become a web developer, I'm really starting to get some where now and many people have begun commenting on how good my website is beginning to look!
