Hi guys, long time no speaky
I know I've been away for a while, and I'm not really coming back now. However, I know I made a promise before that I wouldn't let qbnz.com go to the "dogs" as it were, the same way that qbasic.com did.
However, between work, sport and other commitments, I really don't have time to code a new website to replace qbnz.com, which as some of you may remember is entirely hand-coded HTML. I did try to set up a drupal once but I never found enough time to get it really going.
So what I'd like to do is see if anyone here in the community (or a group of you!) would like to have a shot at making a new qbnz.com. I would still manage the domain and hosting (I still pay for qbnz.com every year), but other than that you'd get a chance to code up a cool website to plonk into place on top of the old one which is now #6 in google for "qbasic" searches
It's hosted on a server with no real disk space limits, a MySQL database and PHP 4.3 available. All I'd ask is that you keep the "Qbasic New Zealand" name, and also hopefully a layout similar to the blue/gold one that is there currently (of course it needs updating tho).
So if you're interested, please post here!
Quote:Hi guys, long time no speaky
I know I've been away for a while, and I'm not really coming back now. However, I know I made a promise before that I wouldn't let qbnz.com go to the "dogs" as it were, the same way that qbasic.com did.
However, between work, sport and other commitments, I really don't have time to code a new website to replace qbnz.com......
Hi, Oracle, nice to hear from you. Here's some dumb questions from a QBNZ member who knows nothing about websites:
1) Other than the fact that you, the administrator, have no time to devote to QBNZ, and that the homepage is quite out of date, what is technically wrong with QBNZ as it is now?
2) Why is it necessary to code a new website to replace QBNZ?
3) Will a replacement website make QBNZ more appealing and draw more posting activity?
Regards,
Moneo
*****
Quote:Hi, Oracle, nice to hear from you. Here's some dumb questions from a QBNZ member who knows nothing about websites:
1) Other than the fact that you, the administrator, have no time to devote to QBNZ, and that the homepage is quite out of date, what is technically wrong with QBNZ as it is now?
It's all hand-coded HTML. This means that, for example, when I was adding a new download, I had to manually increment the count for downloads for that section on the homepage and the section page. Also, news items were done by hard coding and then moving the oldest news to the archive page.
This way takes way too much time, which of course I don't have. I did try to code a dynamic site but I was obsessed with phpBB at that time and thus made the mistake of trying to integrate the site into a phpBB.
Let me just state this now: phpBB SUCKS. I'm talking from a code point of view here. Poorly documented, repetitive, procedural code. No wonder they keep releasing "security" updates and we never see a new version...
Quote:2) Why is it necessary to code a new website to replace QBNZ?
Well that question could be interpreted two ways, I'm not sure which you mean.
One way is: Why replace QBNZ? Well, I'd really like the new site to have the same old features and sections etc., with a bit of a style update and be dynamic. So really all that would change would be that it would look a little different and it would be updated much more often.
The other way is: Why *code* a replacement? I covered that above, coding is much better than manual editing.
Quote:3) Will a replacement website make QBNZ more appealing and draw more posting activity?
To be honest, I don't know. QBNZ was one of the few places where you could upload your programs and get them featured on the website, and that was part of the popularity. Of course now I haven't been approving or uploading any downloads so that may have caused a popularity slump, but if that could be got going again I think some people (esp. new people) would go there more.
Besides, it is on the first page of the google search for qbasic, so it must be being linked to. I just would rather the site not become a dinosaur the same way qbasic.com did. I don't mind too much about the traffic.
Oracle,
I appreciate your frank answers. I have a much clearer picture of the problems now.
*****
Have you considering using a CMS instead of writing the entire page from scratch? It would save a lot of coding, though it might cause some limitations on the site. Personally I prefer writing it myself, I believe that way you have more control over the site. But if you don't have much time on your hands, a CMS would maybe be a good idea.
If the site is written from scratch, it could maybe be a good idea to add support for moderators right from the beginning - that way several people could work on the site, which could mean more frequent updates and maybe more contents.
Also, I like the current design. Whether a new site is written from scratch or a CMS is used, I don't think a new design is needed.
Just my thoughts
Quote:Have you considering using a CMS instead of writing the entire page from scratch? It would save a lot of coding, though it might cause some limitations on the site. Personally I prefer writing it myself, I believe that way you have more control over the site. But if you don't have much time on your hands, a CMS would maybe be a good idea.
I did try a drupal, as I mentioned above. However, again I didn't have the time...
If whoever is doing the new website wants to use a CMS that's fine with me btw.
Quote:If the site is written from scratch, it could maybe be a good idea to add support for moderators right from the beginning - that way several people could work on the site, which could mean more frequent updates and maybe more contents.
Yeah, that would be a good thing. The other thing I'd like built in would be the file uploading thing, since I don't have a problem with disk and my PHP is good enough to spot any security holes. Besides, that was the best part of the old site, and the reason why people kept coming back.
Quote:Also, I like the current design. Whether a new site is written from scratch or a CMS is used, I don't think a new design is needed.
Just my thoughts
I quite like it still as well, although there's a couple of things I'd change, like the link colours and hover effects.
Hello oracle. Nice to see that huge "smiley" face again.
Hey agamemnus, still a fruity personality I see
It's very good to see The Oracle back.
Maybe we can talk a bit for a while later.
Yeah, we have some "unfinished code".
Actually, I was going to try and write TD again - in python. Just because it's new to me, it looks like a really cool language and I know of a cool cross-platform gfx lib for it (I wrote a model of the solar system with rotating planets in ~200 lines).
Of course, this is all time dependent, which means I might start in 2007
