Testing something..
Testing something out that could actually destroy the blog.. hopefully it won’t.
Alien Abduction Triple Homicide
I have two good reasons why I haven’t posted in three weeks:
1: I’ve been busy.
2: I forgot the administrator password to this blog, and couldn’t reset it because the MX records on the server are set up weird to accommodate for Google stuff - so I manually changed the password in the database (which turned out to be using a new algorithm in WP 2.5) which messed everything up to the point I had to completly delete my user account on this blog and start over.
Only I couldn’t start over. So in other words, I locked myself outside of the house and figured that killing the people inside would somehow get the door open. I’m clearly Mensa material.
In other news, I found a picture of me floating around the web from 2003.
I have no idea.
Flash Security Risk
I was having some issues with XUL running local Flash 8 content. A warning dialog would appear, which really made my years worth of work look malicious the second someone opened my program.
Anyway the fix was to create the file “myTrustFiles.cfg” within the Application Data directory on the user’s account and fill it with a list of directories that should allow Flash to run.
Hope that helps someone.
Keeping busy.
How’s it going?
LPC Update
Here’s the latest version of Landing Page Composer, version 2:
Click for a larger version (796×415)
Notice the clearer thumbnails and embedded YouTube video. I just implemented that a few days ago, so you can actually import a YouTube or Google video into a landing page without needing to know any HTML or Flash embedding code - just put in it’s url and click “Embed” and you’re set! And yes, those thumbnails slide left and right like paper sliding across a table.
Still have a few features to add but it’s set to be released on Monday the 31st.
Edit: Here’s the latest screenshot:
Less clutter by using a menu element.
My software version reasoning.
I’d bet a golden monkey on the claim that I have wrote more code on a computer in the past decade than I have spoken or written normal English. One of my first coding projects was a web browser that took up so much space it wouldn’t even fit on a CD - and that was in 1998 (meaning it was bloated). Another project I remember was trying to replicate the Mac OS 8 GUI in HyperCard on the 5400 in computer lab 121 at my old middle school. Good times..
(A side note in between thoughts.. I’d ask to be driven to school 2 hours early, and stayed four hours late, on average. I’d get on any computer I could find, which mostly meant an All-in-One G3 or the 5400 I mentioned above.)
So I’ve wrote a lot of software, and with each new compilation (complication?) comes a new version number. But what do those numbers mean? Well, there are standards, but most of the time those numbers are so arbitrary that they lose meaning. I’ve developed my own system, as follows:
Seven numbers, when put together, provide me with a crystal-clear understanding of a project at any period throughout it’s lifetime. For instance I still remember a calendar application I wrote last year.. all 200 editions! Would I remember this if I had assigned a confusing version number to each version? I doubt it.
So heres what the numbers mean, in detail:
Major Version: An executable product that has been ’shipped’ and ready for sale. Commercial grade, this release number indicates that I’ve tested the program under as many conditions as I can and that every feature included works as it was designed to. (More on my design process in another post)
Minor Version (feature revision): This number goes from 0 to 9, and indicates that a new feature has been included in the major version ‘branch’ and its been tested and working as it should. It also means that all documented bugs have been fixed. These are usually free for the customer when they buy the major version.
Code Change: (bug fixing): The higher, the better, as this number indicates how fast the bug fixing is going for the entire major version branch. Averaging out at around 250, it’s been as high as 2000 :(. These sometimes aren’t actively released to anyone other than testers but customers can request a copy.
Compiled Executable (testing code): This number goes up whenever I type a line of code and compile it. I’m nuts so it could be as high as 20,000!
And so, that wraps up this incredibly boring story that was in my mind recently, as I’ve been prepping for the release of Landing Page Composer 2.0. I’ve put in a good dozen or so features in the past 2 weeks, as well as completely redesigned the user interface using a Flash-based concept. Heres a screen shot comparing version 1.5.5 (really 1.5.5.275) and 2.0 (2.0.1.713)
Version one
Version two
I’ll post more about all this later. Let me know what you think!
What have I been up to?
Lots of stuff.
For the past few hours I’ve been changing this page:
Into this:
Click either image for a larger view.
There’s still work to be done, like replacing those three images with something else, but I like it a lot better than my original design which was done in about 15 minutes.
What do you think?
WordPress 2.5 RC1 Upgrade
I took the hefty 20 seconds to upgrade from WordPress 2.3.3 to 2.5, RC1. I haven’t looked at their bug-tracker, but the upgrade went smooth and everything appears to be working.
The three steps I took to upgrade:
- Downloaded WordPress 2.5RC1 (click here to download)
- Unzip and upload everything except for the following files to my existing installation:
- The entire wp-content directory
- wp-config.php
- .htaccess
- Loaded this WordPress upgrade page in my admin folder.
Keep in mind, it’s a release candidate and not the final version people will refer to when mentioning WordPress 2.5. But, it’s still quite an upgrade from 2.3.3 and offers a substantial update to the administrative control panel. I’m assuming the process is the same when the final version is finally released.
Chat Me Up!
Everyone hurts, and everyone gets lonely. That’s why I added an option to chat with me whenever you’d like!
If you’d look over to the right part of this page, you should see a ‘talk bubble’ with my name in it. It looks like this:
To let me know you’re around, just click the blue link. It will open up a window that looks like this:
On my screen, however, I’ll get a tiny window that says “click this link to talk with guest”, which thereafter takes about 20 seconds to load. I should respond pretty quickly, but if it takes more than a minute, something went wrong and I didn’t get the message. I like testing out stuff like this so it won’t bother me if you click the link 100 times throughout the day.
Chat on!
GPL stuff.
From the GPL FAQ site:
- If someone steals a CD containing a version of a GPL-covered program, does the GPL give him the right to redistribute that version?
- If the version has been released elsewhere, then the thief probably does have the right to make copies and redistribute them under the GPL, but if he is imprisoned for stealing the CD he may have to wait until his release before doing so.
Good to know..
