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New RSS feed linksGreetings RSS users! I've recently made some changes to my feeds including their URLs. The new default feed URLs are located here:
I did create a rewrite rule in my .htaccess file for anyone accessing the old URL to be automatically redirected to the new URL. So if you or your RSS reader is using the old URL then you shouldn't see an issue. But I don't want to keep that rewrite rule around forever, so please update your readers. I also somehow removed the RSS links from the <head> of my page (probably while rebuilding my template system for the 100th time), but they're back now.
It's that time of year again. Or is it that time of quarter? I don't know. Either way, I'm tired of looking at my current site design and so I'm creating a new one. I've actually been sick of my current design for awhile now. It's just that I haven't had the time or effort for creating a new one. Plus, I needed to update my template system to play nice with any new templates that I create. Anyways, I finally got motivated and you can check out a preview of the new design here:
I finally integrated the anti-spam tool called Akismet into my comments system. Akismet is a third-party app that checks all comments that are submitted and declares them as either spam or not. They use their own methods to run a newly submitted comment through hundreds of tests. If the comment comes back as legitimate then it'll be posted on my site. If it's considered spam, then my site will still save it but mark it as spam so only I can see it. From there I can then go ahead and either delete it, or mark it as non-spam.
*Sigh* For the past few weeks I've been working on a new template system for my site. The previous one I implimented was rushed and based off the Smarty Template Engine. I didn't use Smarty but tried to develop something similar to it for my site. While it did work, it was still very limited and not very user friendly when it came to creating new site templates. So I decided to scrap it and redesign my system based off Wordpress' template design. This new system I've actually put a lot of time and effort into and finally got it to my liking last night. So today I decide to go live with it and sure enough, a few thousand things break.
In my ongoing effort to stop comment spam from getting through, I've decided to implement IP address blocking and referrer blocking. I never really wanted to block IP's or visitors from certain referrers from accessing my entire site, but decided to build a little script to do so anyways. I guess I should start being a little tougher on these spambots.
Well, in a certain sense anyways. Most of the time they're just pathetic little programs that try their hardest to post Viagra ads on your site. But over the past few years WebNV has seen more and more spammers access this site and try to post their garbage. I hate to say it but some do get through. And since I'm running my own cms, it means a lot more work for me to try and stop them. Luckily I like a challenge.
In my previous post I stated that for the Fall Reboot I was completely redesigning my site. This included building a new CSS file from scratch that will help to determine the layout, colors, and overall theme of my site. Let me tell you right now that building a site completely off CSS is a pain in the ass.
Never do I feel such a sense of accomplishment as I do when I spend over a week doing some hardcore coding, and logic thinking to finally see my finished product. After several trials and errors I finally have a working tag cloud. For those who don't know, a tag cloud pretty much shows what I post about the most. The bigger the tag (category) in the cloud, the more post that are related to it. You can check out an official definition of a tag cloud here.
Hey everyone. This is just an update. I've been beefing up a lot of the security on this site lately. I've mostly been upping the security for the Comments and Search forms on this site. I did have some checks and security in place to stop crap like SQL injections and such, but it was kind of lame. So I've done some proper security updates.
I've gotten a few request these past few months about offering a lighter themed version of this site. Some people I guess don't like dark sites. It's hard for some people to read. So I created a new css file that can be used on this site. Well, actually it's a modified version of my original css theme that I created when I first started this site.
Damn it. For the past few days now this site has been getting a lot of spam comments. I don't know how. I have the security image/capatcha thing in place and working. This capatcha tool is used to stop spam robots from posting tons of shit comments on my site for advertising purposes. It's been working great for the past several months now.
Yes my friends. The homepage that was recently put up no more than a few weeks ago has been taken down. The blog homepage has been changed to only display the newest blog entry with two new blocks under it that show other recent blog entries and comments. The header, footer, and side menu have been updated and changed. The comments system was updated with a new layout, images, and colors. Plus, the comments cookie actually works and will save your info now! The gallery page has been updated to reflect these new site changes (still not showing correctly in Firefox though). And finally, a new search feature has been added to the site.
Whew. Well with the May 1st Reboot underway (see my entry here) I've been trying to clean up my site and coding to get it 100% compliant with web standards. The three main standards I'm working with right now include XHTML, CSS, and RSS. When coding a site you have to meet certain standards. Well, you don't have to meet them, but it is good practice and shows your visitors your commitment to non-sloppy coding.
In my continuing effort to successfully make my own blog I completely over looked the use of search friendly URLs. A search friendly URL is a URL that people, or more importantly, search engines can easily find and index. An example of a search friendly URL is this:
I was never really a Java fan before. As a matter of fact I was never really a fan of any web programming that would run client-side (like Flash or Java). Server-side programming is the way to go with coding like PHP and ASP. When building a web site using Java or Flash you have to wonder if your client will have Java or Flash installed on their computer. Because if they don't then they won't be able to see or use any of the Java or Flash on your site. With server-side programming you don't have to worry about that. They don't have to have PHP or ASP installed on their computers to see your PHP or ASP web site. Makes more sense right.
I originally helped create this web site a few years ago (mainly created the scheduler form).
Right now I'm just working on the most important part of the web site, the scheduler form. This time the form writes and pull info from a database so it's a lot more functional and well managed. You can check out the form here >> AutoAppointment Schedule. The form is mostly done, minus a few cosmedic/informative details. If any willing people want to try it out, go a head. I need a good selection of people to fill out this form and try to break it any way possible. You can just fill it out with fake info and let me know of any issues or suggestions you have.
Yes, I did it again. Sorry. Like I've mentioned tons of times before, I'm never happy with my sites. I'll create something and like it for a month or two. Then I'll start getting bored with it and finding all these design issues I don't like. So what do I do? Instead of making minor changes here and there, I revamp most of the design.
For awhile now, I've been trying to figure out how to have section that list just the most popular or most liked posts on this site. Or maybe list links to the most popular stories on the right hand side.
The comments system is back up and running again on this site. For the past several days I've been fighting spam showing up in the comments area.
It's these damn bots that crawl or surf the site and post 'fake' comments that do nothing more than spam it up with advertisments. I freakin' hate it. It got so bad that every few minutes I would have to go in and delete four or five new entries. I finally disabled the comments until I could figure out what to do to stop the spam.
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Oct 04, 2007
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