Unless you are blind, (and even then I think the text readers saw a change too..) you have by now noticed the BB has changed a bit.

My time here is often limited as work and life intrude from time to time. I had a major push to get a demo done last week, and found myself with a weekend that wasn't booked. So, I thought I'd go play with the new color scheme in a private unseen area. Well, when I entered the admin area I was blasted with the YOU ARE BEHIND IN UPDATES!!! prompts the other admins have been nice enough not to kill me over. Ergo, I decided to update the BB Friday after midnight.

Well, IF THIS WERE A REAL JOB... I'd have done it on a test machine or at least with a copy of a db.
BUT IT'S NOT A REAL JOB... Ergo I backed up everything, and applied the patches.

To say it was a surprise to me is an understatement But the update changed the templates in a manner that was .. umm.. difficult. Ya, that's a good word. But it had some really cool things about it. Also since I know how much you all love change (especially Denny) I had a choice. Go for a REALLY BIG CHANGE and deal with the unknowns. Or put it all back to the way it was.

IF THIS WERE A REAL JOB... I'd have put it all back and done more testing. Then rolled it out later.
BUT IT'S NOT ... Since my time is limited, it may have taken months before I got the time to do this again. As it is I had to cancel out on attending a really cool Android developer meeting in Seattle I had been looking forward to going to. Such is life.

Well, that left me with a problem. As soon as I unlocked the BB I was locked into the new version as the database would loose any new entries if I had to roll it back. I spent ALL WEEKEND trying to figure out the new variable scheme for this beast. Still don't have it figured out so things are changing as I can get to them.

THINGS THAT ARE BROKEN..
  • Behind the scenes stuff most don't ever see.
  • The old ad rotator - IF YOU SEE A SPONSOR AD (Broken image) Put your mouse over it and let me know which image url I fat fingered (I already found 4)
  • The drawing (the db structure changed, I have to redo the scripts now)
  • Links that used to be there went away (GIVE ME TIME)

THINGS I AM SEEING COMPLAINTS ON.
  • This micro size of the edit fields.. Still working on that one, it's not in their style variable area.. I have to find it first and it's not the top of my list.
  • COLORS.. Ya I know, and I'll keep playing with them until I get it the way I like.
  • ARCHIVES.. This has nothing to do with the BB, YES THE ARCHIVES ARE weird. NO NOTHING IS MISSING. READ The archive page!!!! It clearly states the old archives are here.. and the new articles are cataloged in Readers Voice and if you click on that link it will open JUST the specified articles.

The new FAOL site is changing, we have to to attract new people (you have been reading Dee's articles RIGHT?)
The old FAOL is a wealth of information even I can't find easily - that HAS TO CHANGE.
We want to streamline everything, and make it more seamless. That means you have to put up with a construction zone for a while.

IF THIS WERE A REAL JOB.. I'd have a team of IT guys working around the clock to get it done and life would be grand.
BUT IT'S NOT.. So to make your favorite Internet haunt better, we all have to be patient.
KEEP comments coming I do scan them, but lets keep them constructive, My time is limited you know

--Ron--