Thursday, May 17, 2007
Totally Off Topic
It gives me goosebumps.
If you want something more on topic I've decided to write a task manager for RW::Download and RW::Hub, the purpose of which is mainly to stagger the sending of emails so as not to spam the server. This is more useful in RW::Hub where it will be sending out daily news digests to hundreds of users.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Metalfans.co.uk
Metalfans.co.uk is a new site part of the Maidenfans.com network and is the next major project for RW::Scripts. Metalfans is going to replace Metal For Life which was originally part of the Maidenfans network but has now ceased to be.
When complete, the Maidenfans network will become the Metalfans network and Maidenfans will become a child of Metalfans.co.uk. Still with me? Good :)
So this is how it's going to work. We intend to build a heavy metal website based on all thats great about Maidenfans:
Metalfans won't be your average metal news site like Blabbermouth or Metal Hammer. This is going to be YOUR metal site. We're not calling it metalfans because it sounds cool - it really will be all about the metal fans. How we're going to do that we're not prepared to say just yet incase anyone else does it before we finish it! But let me just say that the metal community hasn't ever had anything like this before and I hope that it will bring metal fans around the world together and provide something no other website has done before.
At present we've been working on converting Maidenfans database and backend software into something that both websites can share, with Maidenfans news appearing on Metalfans and Metalfans news appearing on Maidenfans (whenever something to do with Iron Maiden is mentioned obviously).
The first step has been updating the news script. This has proved to be quite a challenge as we've decided to embrace the wonders of AJAX. This basically means we can refresh bits of the page without refreshing the whole page. This has been used to provide a search box where you can enter the name of a band and it will provide a drop down of bands matching what you are typing - kind of an auto-suggest for metal bands :)
Buoyed by my success at this I've decided to use AJAX in other parts of the site too. It's coming along very nicely and allows us to offer the fans much more flexibility on what they see. Metalfans is your site so you should have it show the things YOU are interested in and thats just what we plan to do.
We'll post more in this blog as development continues but please feel free to comment on this below.
When complete, the Maidenfans network will become the Metalfans network and Maidenfans will become a child of Metalfans.co.uk. Still with me? Good :)
So this is how it's going to work. We intend to build a heavy metal website based on all thats great about Maidenfans:
- The community of fans
- The regular up to the minute news
- Tour dates, interviews, articles and more...
Metalfans won't be your average metal news site like Blabbermouth or Metal Hammer. This is going to be YOUR metal site. We're not calling it metalfans because it sounds cool - it really will be all about the metal fans. How we're going to do that we're not prepared to say just yet incase anyone else does it before we finish it! But let me just say that the metal community hasn't ever had anything like this before and I hope that it will bring metal fans around the world together and provide something no other website has done before.
At present we've been working on converting Maidenfans database and backend software into something that both websites can share, with Maidenfans news appearing on Metalfans and Metalfans news appearing on Maidenfans (whenever something to do with Iron Maiden is mentioned obviously).
The first step has been updating the news script. This has proved to be quite a challenge as we've decided to embrace the wonders of AJAX. This basically means we can refresh bits of the page without refreshing the whole page. This has been used to provide a search box where you can enter the name of a band and it will provide a drop down of bands matching what you are typing - kind of an auto-suggest for metal bands :)
Buoyed by my success at this I've decided to use AJAX in other parts of the site too. It's coming along very nicely and allows us to offer the fans much more flexibility on what they see. Metalfans is your site so you should have it show the things YOU are interested in and thats just what we plan to do.
We'll post more in this blog as development continues but please feel free to comment on this below.
Whats Next?
What's next after RW::Download?
Our main priority now is to continue development of RW::Hub our content management system. This is unlikely to ever be released to the public. The reason for this that the market is absolutely flooded with good and not so good content management systems. The last thing the world needs is yet another content management system.
So why bother?
Well the biggest reason is because I need one and nothing out there fits the bill. The CMS I am developing is geared up to provide content for music websites and nothing out there is quite that specialist. It is also built on the RW::Download engine so any additions to that will go into RW::Download too improving the feature set of all RW::Scripts software.
When can RW::Scripts users see something new?
Soon I'm very sure. We fully intend to keep supporting RW::Download with additional updates, plugins and skins plus the community is more than welcome to upload their work to our download center to share with everyone. We hope that the community will develop RW::Download into the software they think it should be and we'll be there to provide the additional backup along the way.
Our main priority now is to continue development of RW::Hub our content management system. This is unlikely to ever be released to the public. The reason for this that the market is absolutely flooded with good and not so good content management systems. The last thing the world needs is yet another content management system.
So why bother?
Well the biggest reason is because I need one and nothing out there fits the bill. The CMS I am developing is geared up to provide content for music websites and nothing out there is quite that specialist. It is also built on the RW::Download engine so any additions to that will go into RW::Download too improving the feature set of all RW::Scripts software.
When can RW::Scripts users see something new?
Soon I'm very sure. We fully intend to keep supporting RW::Download with additional updates, plugins and skins plus the community is more than welcome to upload their work to our download center to share with everyone. We hope that the community will develop RW::Download into the software they think it should be and we'll be there to provide the additional backup along the way.
RW::Download 4.1 Complete!
Well its taken some time but RW::Download 4.1 is now complete. We will release 4.1 this weekend along with our first ever 30-day trial version of the software. Many thanks to all the users who have helped BETA test RW::Download over the last few months. We hope you enjoy using RW::Download and we look forward to seeing what the community will do with the plugin capabilities.
We now intend to take a break from developing RW::Download. We will obviously continue to support the product and provide bug and security fixes should any arise but we don't have any plans for any more core features at present. We are now looking to expand into developing other scripts including RW::Hub, our content management system based on the RW::Download Engine. See the blog above for more info on where we're going with that.
We now intend to take a break from developing RW::Download. We will obviously continue to support the product and provide bug and security fixes should any arise but we don't have any plans for any more core features at present. We are now looking to expand into developing other scripts including RW::Hub, our content management system based on the RW::Download Engine. See the blog above for more info on where we're going with that.
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