You know, suddenly I understand why commenting is so important. What was the moron who made that script thinking????


(P.S. I'm only posting that because the new Tabulas is rewritten from the ground-up so none of that code will ever be used ;))




... You can tell I'm an amateur from that.


The posted file is one of the many functions that currently serve up entries right now


Yeah, I talk too much about Tabulas and show nothing in return. Today is the first I put in noticeable work into the new site... I'm primarily working on the outputting display engine at this point; functionally the new control (minus templating / stylesheet stuff) works fine. The UI is really weak .. but I can work on that later.
]
Some things I'm planning on changing that have required a lot of work:

Remove the 'attach directly to entry' option.
Instead I want to rely more on a widget that will input textual commands for the imageid into your actual entry; a spiffy little interface that will link to both your Tabulas and Lightbox will be used (similar to the way smilies are done right now; a window pops up...). This also goes fro media files and such; you will be able to use IDs in your entry to input your stuff.

Moving away from a 'simple' and 'advanced' entry mode option
This made sense to me a long time ago. Not so much anymore.

Everyone gets categories
It's so much easier for me to deal with categories liket his ... all free accounts will get 1 category (haha, sucks for you!) ... this allows me to not have to put in complex commands into the templating engine for "should the categories change?") and will also allow people to get more familiar with cateogires.

No more free HTML templating
Free users will be limited to the premade ones. The premade ones will obviously be a lot better than the shitty ones right now. So people won't complain.

Moving away from "pick any color for every possible CSS style
I will actually create alternate stylesheets for each template so people can use those as 'primers.' The 'color scheme' feature will now limit to changing the font face, the font size, and the font color. Everything else will be CSS-only.

Yeah, standards!
Better markup. In both the default templates and what Tabulas outputs. I've kinda gone overboard; I've actually written an extra layer between the data and outputting where the data gets formatted nicely for the HTML; instead of keeping the nasty carriage and newlines breaks that mySQL keeps in; they're stripped out and I use wordwrap() function in PHP to keep the HTML 'clean.'

If I'm going to make it all nice and clean, might as well get down to the gory details.


Oh yeah, does anyone have any good book suggestions? I just finished "Guns, Germs and Steel" and I'm looking to enrich my mind some more while I work here in Korea. I bought "Godel, Escher and Bach" and Charles Barkley's "I May Be Wrong, But I Doubt It." Any other great books you'd recommend?

And also, one of my students took a picture with his camera phone ... of me and the "caricature" the students drew on the board before class. As you can tell, they fear me and have the upmost respect for me ...

Posted by roy on July 1, 2004 at 02:49 AM in Web Development, Tabulas | 22 Comments

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MacDaddyTatsu (guest)

Comment posted on August 1st, 2004 at 07:11 PM
I just keep reading this thinking \"YOU have to be kidding me if you think that the price that this man is asking is too much for you to afford!\"

I mean, a single lunch\'s worth of spare change buys you some pretty sweet shit. Get off of it, you just want shit for free. It really upsets me that the ammount that he is asking is really causing shrieks of Nazi horror proportions. I am actually upset about this...
Comment posted on July 5th, 2004 at 11:53 PM
what are you talking about?
Comment posted on July 4th, 2004 at 07:45 AM
are you really gonna remove the customize template thing? *stares at Roy with puppy eyes*

MacDaddyTatsu (guest)

Comment posted on July 2nd, 2004 at 05:01 PM
Seems to me like that characature from the kids hit directly on somehthing that I have noticed some time back...

<a href="http://trent.blackspherestudios.com/site_images/tabulas/roy.jpg">http://trent.blackspherestudios.com/site_images/tabulas/roy.jpg</a>
Comment posted on July 2nd, 2004 at 08:25 AM
No more free HTML templating ----that\'s the only thing that\'s keeping me here in tabulassss!
Comment posted on July 2nd, 2004 at 08:24 AM
No more free HTML templating
Comment posted on July 2nd, 2004 at 07:40 AM
The Lexus and the Olive Tree, by Friedman- about globalization and the preservation of local culture. Also Eats Shoots and Leaves- it\'s about grammar and the lack thereof in modern English, it\'s funny and good, but don\'t read it if you don\'t like grammar!

Ben* (guest)

Comment posted on July 2nd, 2004 at 06:09 AM
I personally think its a step in the right direction.

Jeese, u look so much like the caricature... XP.

Are your students aware of the net empire u pwn?
Comment posted on July 2nd, 2004 at 04:04 AM
Please... not the <b>NO FREE HTML TEMPLATING</b>...

Tabulas is my one and only!

Anna_Ganda (guest)

Comment posted on July 2nd, 2004 at 02:01 AM
Well, we now have the option to save two HTML templates in our site. Perhaps you can just provide one for free users.
Comment posted on July 1st, 2004 at 11:14 PM
<a href="http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1919710">http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1919710</a>

\"Dressed in Corduroy and Denim\" by David Sedaris.
Comment posted on July 1st, 2004 at 10:48 PM
awww, you look so happy
Comment posted on July 1st, 2004 at 07:54 PM
That\'s a pretty good camera phone
Comment posted on July 1st, 2004 at 06:08 PM
yes yes... not the templating thing!! it is the one thing tt keeps me here... if not for the ease of use in changing templates and making new ones for myself, i might as well be at xanga!

PLEASE NOT THE HTML TEMPLATING!!!
Comment posted on July 1st, 2004 at 03:06 PM
Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami
Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen
Comment posted on July 1st, 2004 at 02:49 PM
I understand why youre doing this move but please not with the single template for all free users... its the only way to exercise our creative imagination....

and by the way, I recommend before reading The Da Vinci Code try The demons and Angels by the same author..

The Alchemist is also a good one..
Comment posted on July 1st, 2004 at 08:08 AM
I forgot to write this down because I was shocked by that plan of yours.

I recommend The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown or The Gulag Archipelago

I also wrote something about you in my journal.
Comment posted on July 1st, 2004 at 06:40 AM
<b>No more free HTML templating</b>

not this one please. this is one of the few places that allow us to exercise our creativity freely.
Comment posted on July 1st, 2004 at 08:09 PM
Well, you can still continue to express your creativity ... but you\'ll just have to purchase a paid account 8) It\'s not too costly and goes a LONG way in supporting this site. Currently I\'m losing more money running this site than I\'m earning, so I\'ve had to cut back on a few features that will hopefully push some people to crack open their wallets.
Comment posted on July 2nd, 2004 at 06:11 AM
if only i could pay for my account, i would. the problem is, there is no way for me to pay you by any means.

unlike you, most of us still don\'t have jobs. and most of us don\'t even know what a money order is.

i\'m sure the other measures are enough to <b>coerce</b> people to purchase a paid account, but not the templating please.
Comment posted on July 2nd, 2004 at 07:07 AM
i agree on this. i for one would definitely purchase a paid account if i could.. n will definitely purchase one once i start working! in the meantime, surely it wun hurt to leave the templating alone, or limit it in some other way? like Anna_Ganda said, perhaps can limit the number of templates we can save to just one, instead of two?

PM5K (guest)

Comment posted on July 1st, 2004 at 11:14 PM
That\'s what I\'ve told you before Roy, you just give away far too much away which limits peoples desire to upgrade to paid accounts.

Of course cheap skates will be cheap skates but you have to do what you have to do, don\'t be afraid to try different things, try giving less for a while, then try giving more for a while, maybe people will feel guilty getting so much and offering nothing in return.

You could also try giving new accounts the features of paid accounts for one month, then offer them the chance to pay for the upgraded account or have them downgrade to free accounts, give them the option in the beginning to go straight to the free or trial the paid....

Just some ideas, as you know I run a business and for me I\'ve had good success by not being afraid of trying do things differently.

Good Luck...