I've been working fairly steadily on client jobs, but in terms of finishing my big software project (what I've called Geneva here before,) I have been totally stuck. Since about early December. Haven't moved more than a few inches. And it's been getting me down a bit (which then adds to the stuckness, which then gets me down a bit more, which then....)
But yesterday I made some progress and then today I had a pretty big breakthrough. Or I found a shortcut, which I guess amounts to the same thing. It's not quite as elegant as the piece I couldn't implement, but I need to prioritize. I really have to fight the desire to just keep working on this thing forever (it's really fun for me to be in the middle of it.) I have to finish up, yet I've never been good at finishing up.
So I'm going to start telling myself that I will launch this thing on April 1. It's software, but it runs on my server and the product is something you use in your browser over the web. Basically, it builds websites (what else?) My target market is people who want to build websites, and know a little bit about HTML, but not all the other stuff you need to actually build a modern website.
Geneva is nothing revolutionary or world changing, but at the same time I don't know of anything exactly like it. Possibly because there is no market for such a service. But it at least has a shot of turning into something. Not sure I can really finish by April 1st, but I guess I can get something out the door by then. Polish can always come if there is any interest.
We'll see.
The comment system is the last major piece. Yesterday and today I finally had the time to dig in. I've got the data structures created, and I can add comments to anything. And I've got the number of comments tracking system working. That was the hard part. Feels like I'm almost done, but it will probably be several more days. I have tomorrow set aside, but then next week I have to get back to paying work. Probably can't finish it all tomorrow but we'll see. Maybe with a really long day.
Anyway, it's all stuff I've done before since I've implemented comments a bunch of times. But as usual it's a little different this time. The end result will be pretty much the same, but with a few added features on the admin side.
Comments can be open to the public or only to registered users (or only to certain groups of registered users - the whole permission system is much more robust in Geneva.) Comments can be live or moderated (moderated comments go into a queue and aren't posted until approved,) or open for registered users and moderated for guests. Or comment threads can have an expire time attached to them so they are open, or moderated in some way, for x amount of seconds, and then either changing from open to moderated, or open to closed, or moderated to closed. (Expiring comment threads is a sort of last resort against spam.) And although all these comment settings are attached to a blog (or anything else) as a whole, they can also be set on a thread by thread basis.
It's a little hairy in there with all those permutations. I'll need some smart testers. I promised blogs to a few people, although too long ago and I've been too slow. Hopefully some of them will still be interested. Definitely getting closer now.
After comments I'll tackle the file upload (and categorization) system, and then the referrer logs. I'll be pretty close to first beta at that point. Would be great to get it in use by Feb. 1, and then have 2 months for tweaking and bug fixing and building the documentation system that never was.
I'd be happy to help you test this when you're ready.
The documentation is always the missing link. If you need help composing utterly oblique epistemological instructions I’m available.
Hell, I was just going to send him an email every 15 minutes that read: "SOMETHING'S WRONG!". Damn, you want documentation?????
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But yesterday I made some progress and then today I had a pretty big breakthrough. Or I found a shortcut, which I guess amounts to the same thing. It's not quite as elegant as the piece I couldn't implement, but I need to prioritize. I really have to fight the desire to just keep working on this thing forever (it's really fun for me to be in the middle of it.) I have to finish up, yet I've never been good at finishing up.
So I'm going to start telling myself that I will launch this thing on April 1. It's software, but it runs on my server and the product is something you use in your browser over the web. Basically, it builds websites (what else?) My target market is people who want to build websites, and know a little bit about HTML, but not all the other stuff you need to actually build a modern website.
Geneva is nothing revolutionary or world changing, but at the same time I don't know of anything exactly like it. Possibly because there is no market for such a service. But it at least has a shot of turning into something. Not sure I can really finish by April 1st, but I guess I can get something out the door by then. Polish can always come if there is any interest.
We'll see.
- jim 1-15-2008 2:13 am
The comment system is the last major piece. Yesterday and today I finally had the time to dig in. I've got the data structures created, and I can add comments to anything. And I've got the number of comments tracking system working. That was the hard part. Feels like I'm almost done, but it will probably be several more days. I have tomorrow set aside, but then next week I have to get back to paying work. Probably can't finish it all tomorrow but we'll see. Maybe with a really long day.
Anyway, it's all stuff I've done before since I've implemented comments a bunch of times. But as usual it's a little different this time. The end result will be pretty much the same, but with a few added features on the admin side.
Comments can be open to the public or only to registered users (or only to certain groups of registered users - the whole permission system is much more robust in Geneva.) Comments can be live or moderated (moderated comments go into a queue and aren't posted until approved,) or open for registered users and moderated for guests. Or comment threads can have an expire time attached to them so they are open, or moderated in some way, for x amount of seconds, and then either changing from open to moderated, or open to closed, or moderated to closed. (Expiring comment threads is a sort of last resort against spam.) And although all these comment settings are attached to a blog (or anything else) as a whole, they can also be set on a thread by thread basis.
It's a little hairy in there with all those permutations. I'll need some smart testers. I promised blogs to a few people, although too long ago and I've been too slow. Hopefully some of them will still be interested. Definitely getting closer now.
After comments I'll tackle the file upload (and categorization) system, and then the referrer logs. I'll be pretty close to first beta at that point. Would be great to get it in use by Feb. 1, and then have 2 months for tweaking and bug fixing and building the documentation system that never was.
- jim 1-18-2008 12:37 am
I'd be happy to help you test this when you're ready.
- L.M. 1-18-2008 1:01 am
The documentation is always the missing link. If you need help composing utterly oblique epistemological instructions I’m available.
- alex 1-18-2008 4:23 am
Hell, I was just going to send him an email every 15 minutes that read: "SOMETHING'S WRONG!". Damn, you want documentation?????
- L.M. 1-18-2008 4:54 am