Tag: Scottish Blogs

bookmark_borderScottish Blogs

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So, it’s live. Ish. Almost. Well it IS live. Taking submissions and all that. There are a few minor tweaks to be sorted, but overall I’m happy with it.

The main problem has been figuring a way to handle both the webring AND a “directory” site. In the end I decided to leave them as separate entities as getting the two systems talking was just proving too darn hard (especially as one of the systems is outwith my control).

It’s been fun really, learning all this new PHP stuff, and that process will continue as I tweak the site, fix known bugs, add new features, but for the meantime I’m just happy to say that THE NEW SCOTTISH BLOGS SITE IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS.

Thanks to those of you who helped out by answering all my stupid questions, it was very much appreciated, as ever, and I know this site has little bearing on a lot of you, but I REALLY would appreciate some feedback – ohh and I’ll be hand checking all the new sites for the first wee while, so no funny business!

bookmark_borderBut is it Scottish?

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CL:AIRE aka “Contaminated Land: Applications In Real Environments” has just been submitted to the Scottish Blogs webring.

That’ll be a reject then.

I think this is my first instance of ‘form based spam’. Ick. I feel all dirty. I’m off for a shower.

bookmark_borderFlow increasing

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I’m slowly remembering how to do this thing called ‘blog’.

Next up, a question: Anyone know of a small (light on resources) PHP web server I can run on my home machine (XP Pro), for testing purposes only.. it’s a real pain to have to make changes to a PHP script, upload it, refresh the page, change the PHP, upload, refresh… etc etc..

You see I’m determined to launch the Scottish Blogs website. It’s almost there. Almost. But not quite. I just need to figure out a couple more things and it’ll be ready. Sort of… ach, it’s as near as dammit, and I can add more code to it later.

bookmark_borderTHAT'S why!!

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I love it when it happens, especially as my muse seemed to have escaped me recently. Admittedly it did mean I was up until 1.30am but such is life. I know that when I get into that mode the worst thing to do is stop.

What am I talking about? That ‘lightbulb’ moment, the fulcrum of a project where suddenly everything falls into place (kerchunk) and you start to see how it all works. I had one last night, the muse returned and 9pm turned into midnight in the blink of an eye.

What it does mean is that the Scottish Blogs website has moved on a fair bit, and I’m almost ready to properly open the BETA to the existing members – you guys got a sneak peek. It also means that I can move onto other websites that I’ve been neglecting, HRL and Instant Ideas (site down at present) for example. Although to be honest, I think once I get Scottish Blogs completed I’ll take a break from all this web design malarky. For a week or so anyway…

bookmark_borderWhat are you doing?

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I’ll be working tomorrow, trudging to work whilst the majority of the country … don’t. I hope you all have something planned or you will be making a mockery of the fact that I’m in work and you’re not. It’s your duty to do something!

Sigh.

I’m distracting myself at the moment, NBA is on in the background, but I should really be working on Scottish Blogs. Progress has been zero as I’m increasingly struggling with PHP and I’m considering buying an off-the-shelf ‘member site’ package and customising that to help out. Mind you it’s the last thing I want to spend any money on as it’s, essentially, a hobby site. I’ve kind of lost the excitment of doing it to be honest, but I’ll keep pegging away.

One thing I DO want to spend money on is a new car. We still owe a few thousand on the current car, but I reckon that the trade-in would offset that. We’ll be getting something smaller as we don’t travel far anymore and the car’s main use is getting Louise to work, a 15 minute journey at most. Not sure what though. We’ve had Renault’s for a few years, but it may be time for a change.

So, what to buy? I fancy the new Mini but it’s a bit pricey when new, not mad keen on the Clio, the new Fiesta might be an option… not sure to be honest.

Ideally I’d like something top of the range but that’s not gonna happen – one of our reasons for changing is to try and save a little money. Guess I need to pick up a copy of Auto Express this week.

bookmark_borderSo…. emmm… hi…

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Still stuck for some reason, maybe there is too much going on.

Work is getting hectic and veering from the normal everyday work to discussions of a bigger nature about processes and business analysis and … etc etc. But then it’s always been like that, well it has for me anyway, and to be honest I’m quite glad that it’s headed back to that state – shows that things are picking up. Ohh I forgot. “I don’t blog about work”. Moving on then…

I want to write about abortion, prompted by Green Fairy. I want to write about smoking bans in Scotland, prompted by Peter. I want to write more about the redesign (and continue it), prompted by Scrivs at White Space.

But I won’t. Can’t. What? Ohhh go on then. I’ll keep it brief.

Abortion – I believe in the woman’s right to choose.
Smoking – I believe a ban is a good thing. I like air.
Redesign – I WILL implement a style sheet switcher and allow both bigger fonts and a more minimal site design.

There. I did it. Composed a blog post from nothing. Ain’t I clever.

I’m off to bugger about with Scottish Blogs – if you hear a muffled scream that involves PHP code don’t worry, it’s just me.