- Welcome to Brian's Corner.
Recent posts
#21
Site News / Search - New, Improved, Everyw...
Last post by brian - Dec 1, 2008, 1:31 amThe Search function has now been moved from many different and inconsistent places. It now appears in the header, by the date and time. Click the magnifying glass to switch between an internet search and a site search (just brianjd.com). It will default to an internet search... that's probably what you want.
The setting is stored in a cookie on your computer. If you change it, the site will remember your setting. You can easily see which search you are using. When empty, the search box will show either: "Google Search", an internet search; "Google Site Search", for brianjd.com only.
The setting is stored in a cookie on your computer. If you change it, the site will remember your setting. You can easily see which search you are using. When empty, the search box will show either: "Google Search", an internet search; "Google Site Search", for brianjd.com only.
#22
Site News / Updated Login System / Menu Ba...
Last post by brian - Sep 1, 2008, 6:30 pmThe Login System has been revamped. You can now login or logout from any page on the site. Just click on the small user icon below the date. If the user icon contains a green check mark, then you are logged in.
The Menu Bar has also been redesigned. You may not notice the difference, but it is no longer using unique images for each button. The buttons are created dynamically by the web site. This allows for custom menu items to appear depending on who is logged in. As part of this change, I was able to go from two separate templates (one PHP and one JavaScript) down to a single PHP template that can dynamically create the JavaScript version when needed. This saves time when adding or removing site components.
The Menu Bar has also been redesigned. You may not notice the difference, but it is no longer using unique images for each button. The buttons are created dynamically by the web site. This allows for custom menu items to appear depending on who is logged in. As part of this change, I was able to go from two separate templates (one PHP and one JavaScript) down to a single PHP template that can dynamically create the JavaScript version when needed. This saves time when adding or removing site components.
#23
Site News / Faster News / Enhanced Weather...
Last post by brian - Aug 5, 2008, 10:39 amThe News system has received a speed boost. Instead of loading the news every time you visit the page, it loads it on the server in the background. This trims off a few seconds to load the web page. News updates occur every five minutes... the news will never be old.
Weather radar changes have been implemented. The radar is now opened with a radar icon in the upper left of the weather system. The radar expands out with an enhanced topographical map. It will size down to your screen size, if necessary. You can also show and hide some of the layers, like: cities, rivers, counties, etc. This change has also been added to the detailed forecast radar section.
Other minor changes include better zip code resolution, and ensuring the radar image is more up-to-date.
Weather radar changes have been implemented. The radar is now opened with a radar icon in the upper left of the weather system. The radar expands out with an enhanced topographical map. It will size down to your screen size, if necessary. You can also show and hide some of the layers, like: cities, rivers, counties, etc. This change has also been added to the detailed forecast radar section.
Other minor changes include better zip code resolution, and ensuring the radar image is more up-to-date.
#24
Site News / Weather is Better
Last post by brian - Jul 23, 2008, 12:03 amToday marked the completion of many of the missing pieces. Entering incorrect Zip Code / City information is now handled properly, as are ambiguous locations (you'll get a list to pick from). National Weather Service warnings, watches, and advisories will now display on the home page here. The Forecast Details now also contains Past Weather. You can create a PDF for your location with the forecast on it. The weather pages are cached for better server performance and the shading and colors have been adjusted.
You may need to re-select your location, as I moved from my own cookie storage to the built-in storage. This will only simplify things down the road. If you have any comments on the new weather system, please let me know.
You may need to re-select your location, as I moved from my own cookie storage to the built-in storage. This will only simplify things down the road. If you have any comments on the new weather system, please let me know.
#25
Site News / Weather Is Back
Last post by brian - Jul 21, 2008, 10:35 amAfter disappearing in early May, the weather forecasts are back and better than before. The site has switched from using Weather Channel data to using National Weather Service data. The engine that is powering the site is courtesy of HAMweather.com. You'll notice there is a lot more data available now. This is just the start... more updates are planned in the coming weeks. Future improvements will enhance the Radar display, provide severe weather notification, and other improvements.
#26
Site News / More Updates
Last post by brian - Dec 31, 2007, 11:39 pmFixed the Captcha on the Gallery for public comments (it wasn't working before). Links Settings page no longer needs to reload when a setting is changed. Changes apply instantly without reloading the page. There is a new option to use AJAX for the details popups as well. The Forum, Gallery, and Links now generate Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URLs. Weather code has been optimized and loads faster. The weather module also remembers which day you were viewing when it auto updates. News system auto updates are faster and most of the processing happens with no noticeable impact. It only notifies you when it is ready to update the display. It also keeps the same article open (if it is still visible). There are also minor changes to the column widths on the home page.
#27
Site News / Enhancements To The Site
Last post by brian - Dec 24, 2007, 1:36 amThe Site Authentication has been optimized and rewritten as a module. This simplifies management of the site - with a minor speedup. The Weather System has always allowed searching by city, but now it handles "city, state" as well. The "more quotes" page now has 15 random quotes, and a quote search function. The News System has improved the time display in the list, and has an auto reload feature. By default, it will auto update the news articles every ten minutes. This setting is configurable. The Home Page and News System both have improved image preloading on them. They might take a little longer to display, but the images should already be loaded.
#28
Site News / What's That? Another Update
Last post by brian - Dec 17, 2007, 9:03 pmThe news system has received another round of updates.
[b]What you'll see:[/b] new smaller loading indicator, cleaner display that shows more articles (alternating row shading & rows slightly closer together), enhanced article parsing to reduce wasted screen space, articles selected by clicking in row (not just article title), background highlighting for article selection, article time display goes back 24 hours in headline list, time display in article (xx minutes ago) now calculated when browser loads (not when feed loads), better use of accent colors.
[b]What you won't see:[/b] simplified back-end code, consolidated functions, removed unneeded database connections and queries, enhanced back-end security.
[b]What you'll see:[/b] new smaller loading indicator, cleaner display that shows more articles (alternating row shading & rows slightly closer together), enhanced article parsing to reduce wasted screen space, articles selected by clicking in row (not just article title), background highlighting for article selection, article time display goes back 24 hours in headline list, time display in article (xx minutes ago) now calculated when browser loads (not when feed loads), better use of accent colors.
[b]What you won't see:[/b] simplified back-end code, consolidated functions, removed unneeded database connections and queries, enhanced back-end security.
#29
Site News / Another News System Update
Last post by brian - Dec 10, 2007, 10:56 pmThis update completes the most critical pieces of the new news system. Your settings are now saved. Any options configurable in the news system will be saved in cookies on your computer. Category filtering now re-queries the database to return as many matching articles within your limit as possible. For example, if you want to view 25 articles only from World. The new system will query the top 25 World articles. The old one would have only displayed the World articles out of the top 25 of all articles (maybe 2 or 3). The new system also respects that an article may be in multiple categories, such as a Top Story and a US article. This along with minor bug fixes and performance enhancements... the news system is better than ever!
#30
Site News / Minor News Update
Last post by brian - Dec 3, 2007, 12:15 amThe News System has undergone another modest update. The search is now always visible. The tool icons were updated. Articles that were opened now remain open when searching and refreshing news. There is a Close button on the right side of any opened articles. The "Please Wait..." dialog is nicer. The article count is now at the bottom of the display. I have more changes planned... 