jbClan: Looking For Feeback
How's it going folks!
I'd like some feedback regarding jbClan (jbApp/jbRoster). I'm working on getting a stable release of jbClan v3.03 out the door, but I've been thinking of discontinuing development of jbClan after this release. Would you please be kind enough to respond and answer a few questions?
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Are you using jbClan:
If not, what are you using instead:
What do you like about jbClan:
What do you not like about jbClan:
What would you like to see changed in jbClan:
What features do you want added to jbClan:
Would you really care if development stopped:
Additional feedback:
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I'd really appreciate any feedback you have to offer. If I get enough positive feedback, then I plan on doing a complete rewrite of jbClan for v3.04
Thank you!
Welcome to jbWebWare.com v2.0!!!
I've decided it's time to make the switch to Drupal.
All I've been doing this past month is going through "Pro Drupal 7 Development", and I've fallen in love.
Until I decide what I'm going to do about my e107 development, I've decided to close the forums. If you need any help, please join me on IRC (see the Support page for server info), or you can send me an email using the Contact Us form and I'll get back to you ASAP.
Portable Apps, Everything You Need On A USB Drive
I've got most of the software I need for development and general computer use on my 8gig USB drive. The great thing about this is I have my favorite applications and custom settings no matter what computer I'm using.
Here's a list of the software I've installed and links to their downloads or setup instructions. Some of them have some tweaking to get them working, so if you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email.
Web Browser:
Firefox 4.0 Portable - http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable
Email Client:
Thunderbird Portable - http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/thunderbird_portable
Web Development IDE:
Eclipse PDT - http://www.eclipse.org/pdt/
FTP Client:
Filezilla Portable - http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/filezilla_portable
IRC Client:
X-Chat 2 - http://www.silverex.org/download/
You can find directions to make X-Chat portable in the faq - http://www.silverex.org/faq/
Image Manipulation Software:
Gimp Portable - http://portableapps.com/apps/graphics_pictures/gimp_portable
PDF Reader:
Foxit Reader - http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/addons.php
Make sure you download the (.zip) package and just unzip it onto your USB Drive
Compression Utility (similar to Winzip and WinRar):
7-Zip Portable - http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/7-zip_portable
Text File Comparison Software:
Winmerge - http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/winmerge_portable
Audio Player:
Winamp - http://www.pendriveapps.com/winamp-lite-portable-mp3-player/
Just follow the instructions in this article
Development Environments -
Cygwin - http://www.latestintech.com/portable-cygwin/ (Click on the cygwin for USB text link in the article)
Here is a link for instructions to create your own portable Cygwin installation: http://sites.google.com/site/devinsezer/Home/software/portable-cygwin
I use this for C/C++ development. I also use the built in SVN client a lot.
Python Portable - http://www.portablepython.com/
Digital Mars C/C++ compiler - http://www.digitalmars.com/download/freecompiler.html
Download the "Digital Mars C/C++ Compiler" and unzip it to your USB drive.
You can find a lot of portable applications on http://portableapps.com, check it out.
Working On Development Part Time For A While
I haven't been around for a while due to a sickness in the family. Time has allowed no free time until now.
I should have some hours in the week opening up for development time again (fingers crossed). If you post in the forums, PM me or send me an email, it might take a couple days to get back to you, so please be patient, I will be responding to all inquiries.
Let me know if there are any issues that need to be addressed. Two issues that I will be looking at are:
1: Fixing the "You Do Not Have Permission to View this Page." members get when truing to edit their own profiles.
2: I'm going to make e107's default profile fields, including custom fields, available to the roster.
If anyone would like to help test any fixes I have, please shoot me a PM or an email.
Thanks, and happy fragging!
Looking For A Graphic Designer To Colaborate With
Graphic Design is my weak spot. Give me a text editor and a server and I'll work wonders, but put Photoshop or Inkscape in front of me and I'll give you deformed stick figures lol.
I need to pick a Graphic Designers brain while working on a Theming System for the Open Source CMS I'm working on. I've thought of adopting either the Blueprint or 960 CSS framework, and then adding my own custom CSS ID's and Classes that Themers will need to use to create their own Custom Themes.
What do you think? What kind of considerations do I need to keep in mind while designing this system? Please stop by the forum and post your thoughts on the matter. If you are very comfortable with CSS and you'd like to have a little more input than just a forum post, please shoot an email to jburns131©jbwebware.com.
Working On A Social Networking Web Site For Gamers
I thought I'd elaborate a little more on my plans for the Social Networking Web Site for Gamers that I've been working on.
At first I'm going to focus on FPS Clans and MMORPG Guilds. A Clan/Guild leader will be able to sign up for their own "Den" (my terminology for web space). The Clan/Guild Leader will be able to choose a pre-built theme or create their own custom theme. They will be able to install plug-ins that will be individual to their own "Den", and they will have control over where menus/blocks are displayed.
It's going to be like a very, very configurable myspace site. There will be roster and application plug-ins, a challenge us plug-in, their own separate forums.
The main site will also have it's own forums, and I'd like to have planned events, like leagues/tournaments for FPS Clans, and maybe schedules Raids for the MMORPG Guilds.
There will be a buddy system, and other social interaction features.
I'd like to offer a downloads section, but I'm not sure how I plan on working that into the scheme of things, as that will be a huge drain on bandwidth. My thought's on that would be to charge an individual fee, or maybe a flat fee for Clans/Guilds that have accounts. We'll see how that works out in the future. There is plenty to work on before I hit that hurdle.
Stop by the forums and let me know what you'd like to see in the way of features and services.
Working On A Social Networking CMS
I've been working on a two in one project in my free time. I've been working on a Social Networking web site for gamers. I also plan on releasing the custom CMS (Content Management System) I've been working on that will be the backend/infrastructure of the site.
Why bother creating a new CMS, rather than adopting an existing Open Source solution? Because from what I've found in my research, none of the existing Open Source CMS's out there focus on Social Networking features specifically. The CMS I'm working on is specifically designed for Social Networking/Many-To-Many interaction web sites.
Right now, from what I gather from my existing research, Drupal is the most well known Open Source CMS out there that barely even comes close to the features that I'd like to have when it comes to building multi-site/multi-user web areas. If you take a look at Drupal Groups, that's not bad when it comes to plug-in Social Networking features. But that's just add on features that allow you to put together a few Social Networking features, and it's very limited at that (I'm no expert when it comes to Drupal's Multi-Site system and Organic Goups modules, so please provide any feedback you have regarding it).
The CMS I've been working on is designed for Social Networking web sites from the ground up.
Right now the majority of Open Source CMS's out there focus on a One-To-Many relationship: One person or organization reaching out to the masses. One organization blogging to many readers, one organization selling goods to many customers, one organization offering services to the masses.
And that's just fine and dandy, we need that functionality, and there are plenty of solutions that excel at One-To-Many interaction, e107 and Drupal being just two fish in a very large sea.
But when in comes to Social Networking web sites, everything takes place in a Many-To-Many user space. Many people can create their own web presence and interact with Many other users on the same service/web site.
I think it's great that Drupal makes efforts towards the Many-To-Many user space, but I want to develop and use a system that focuses on this type of Many-To-Many interaction from the get-go, where every feature focuses on Many-To-Many interfaces, from the Log-in System to the tool set 3rd party plug-in developers will use.
I'm looking for volunteers to help design and develop this system, so please let me know if you'd like to lend a hand, and please stop by the forums and throw out any suggestions or feature requests you may have.
I am in the process of adding two new sections to jbWebWare.com. One for collaboration regarding the Social Networking web site for gamers, and one where we can work on the Open Source CMS. I'll be sure to let you know when they are complete.
Till then, feel free to use the forums to post any feedback you have. Thanks!
On "Using Drupal"
The progress with "jbWebWare.com v2.0" is coming along nicely, if a little slower than we had anticipated. Due to the longer transition time, we will be re-opening the Forums and Bug Tracker.
I've started This Thread to let you know what we already have planned for "jbWebWare.com v2.0". Please stop by and let us know what you'd like to see added.
e107 vs Drupal
(Note: The following comparison is focused primarily on building your website with e107 or Drupal. Once the site is constructed, adding and/or maintaining the content on your site is quite easy, regardless of which CMS you decide to go with.)
Drupal's learning curve is steeper than most web based CMS's out there, but this is due to a more powerful and flexible system.
e107 is great right out of the box, has many great Plugins and Themes, and a great Community. I'd highly recommend e107 to anyone that doesn't have much coding experience, or doesn't want to invest too much of their time learning how to setup their online presence. If you want to get something up and running quickly, with minimum fuss, e107 is where it's at. I definitely plan on using it for future projects, and will continue to write about it and develop Plugins for it.
But if you're really focused on flexibility and customization, and don't mind taking the time to learn how to use a more advanced system, then the time and effort to learn the "Drupal" way of doing things is well worth the effort.
If you decide to use Drupal for an upcoming project, I'd like to suggest that you pick up the book "Using Drupal". It is well written, the authors are major players in the Drupal world, and you'll learn about more than just "Core Drupal". They teach you how to use some of the more popular and very powerful community modules (Drupal Module == e107 Plugin), and provide great advise and direction regarding doing things the "Drupal Way".
What's Going On In The jbWorld
All's Quiet On The Eastern Front, What's Up With That?
I'm sure you've noticed some changes around here lately, the two main changes being the disappearance of the forums, and a lack of blog posts.
Don't worry, all is not lost, and I've still been working hard in the depths of the jbWorld. In fact, so much so that it's taken my attention away from my open source dev and support.
I've been working on a few hush hush projects. I regret to inform you that they are closed source, proprietary solutions, and I will not be able to contribute them back to the community.
But on the bright side of things, there are going to be some major changes around here, changes that I'm very excited about (code name: "jbWebWare.com v2.0").
A New Player Enters The Fold
I've decided to adopt Drupal as my CMS (Content Management System) of choice. There are many reason for the adoption, so many that it calls for an entire post in and of it's self.
To sum it up quickly: I started to develop my own custom CMS because there were many features and theories/methodologies that I wanted to implement that I wasn't getting in my current solution. But after doing a little research, I realized that Drupal had already incorporated many of those features. After reading up on the "Drupal Way Of Doing Things", I became really excited about the possibilities.
Once I've finished porting "jbWebWare.com v2.0" to Drupal, I'll be talking about the reasons for the move, and I even plan on documenting the process of installing and setting up my new Drupal installation.
I am still undecided as to what I plan on doing regarding jbClan for e107. As of right now, jbClan v3.02 is still very stable, and there are only minor changes needed for the e107 v0.8 release, so jbClan for e107 will still be around for some time to come. I'm just not sure if I will be adding any new features to the e107 release of jbClan.
Either way, I will be focusing on porting jbClan to Drupal before adding any new functionality to the e107 release of jbClan.
Where Do We Go From Here
I will be quiet for just a little bit longer. When I release the next rendition of jbWebWare.com, I will not be moving over any of the current content, so I feel that adding more content before the unveiling of "jbWebWare.com v2.0" would be counter productive.
I will be focusing on "jbWebWare.com v2.0" exclusively until I release it upon the world, but you can still receive support for jbClan through email: jburns131©jbwebware.com
An Interesting Article Looking Into The Psyche Of Emacs And Vi Users
Do Pirates and Ninjas use Emacs or Vi?
Here's an article I stumbled upon while in one of my many "need to stretch the brain and browse aimlessly" moods during a recent coding session of mine. This particular article takes more of a scientific approach, rather than a biased view, that looks into the pyche of Emacs and Vi users.
Being an Eclipse fan, I have no preference to either Emacs or Vi. Being a web developer, having ssh access to my server and preferring Linux as an OS, I know just enough of both to get around and no more.
But I do find the Emacs/Vi debates and flame wars interesting as a spectator sport.
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