New Site - New Hosting

[Dyyryath]

If all goes as planned tonight, Thursday morning should see the site in it's new format on a new host. I've decided to move the site from my house to a data center. This should ensure that there are never any connectivity or speed problems. Once I decided to make the move, it seemed like a reasonable time to migrate away from the old site design to the new one. There is, however, a catch...<br><br>The new site design isn't finished. The customization stuff still needs to be completed, some new themes need to be added, new matching forum skins need to be created, and I've got a bunch of 'plugins' to finish as well.<br><br>So...for now the new site is going to be pretty limited. You'll find that some things don't work quite as expected. Don't worry about that, though, it's a work in progress and it'll be getting finished as we go along.<br><br>So, now that you know what's going on, you should probably find something to hang on to, this could get a little rough! <img src=http://www.free-dc.org/images/news/icon36.gif>

[FoBoT]

do whatever you have to! its all good

http://www.free-dc.org/images/news/icon36.gif
http://marco.tedaldi.net/smileys/duhard.gif
http://forums.quakeshit.com/html/avatars/duhard.gif

[Dyyryath]

Well, I'm starting to see people in this (the new) version of the board, so I guess the DNS settings are propagating.

Is anyone having any trouble?

[wirthi]

Hi,

great work Dyyryath! Looking really good.

Just two things I noticed (Well, I know size doesn't matter, but ...:D ):

The edit box I'm just using to type this message is rather small. There was a bigger version of it before, I remember.

Second would be the Iframe on the homepage, that seems to be drawn with absolute size (400 pixel). Would it be possible to give it a relative height? It's looking rather small on my sceen (1400x1050) while there is plenty of free space below the "Design by Dyyryath, 2003" line (btw, make that a 2004 :) )

Wirthi

[rshepard]

ooooohhhh, shiny!!! :D

Looks great :thumbs: :thumbs: :cheers:


edit: one thing- is the STATS button on the main page supposed to go anywhere yet? It doesn't seem to...

[pointwood]

It's freakin' cool Dyyryath! :smoking:

One little "bug" I found: the textarea input field in the forum (when you create a reply) has become small again. At least it is in Firefox...

[the-mk]

Where is the login-button on the frontpage if my username isn't cookied? I can see a username-field, a password-field, but there is no button "login"... I can press enter, but there is no reaction.... need to enter the ./forum/ to login...

With Internet Explorer 6 it's looking good, but there are some issues with Mozilla 1.5 and 1.6: The "Forum Threads"-links on the frontpage have a different font than in IE6, maybe a CSS-issue...

And the messagebox where I write this text at the moment is very small! Please enlarge :Pokes: (it's in the "Modern"-theme, in the "Legacy"-theme it's big enough)

cygnussphere is missing one the "Contacts"-list on the frontpage.

In the "Projects"-section on the frontpage... you should open a new window if someone clicks on the project-linkgs

But the rest looks cool! Great work Dyy! :thumbs: :cheers:

:notworthy Dyyryath :notworthy

[Dyyryath]

Most of these are things on the 'to-do' list. I warned you that it wasn't done yet. :)

I'll be working on that list over the next couple of days, but keep the suggestions coming in case you find something I didn't notice myself. :thumbs:

the-mk: I'm not sure what you mean about the links under Mozilla. In fact, I've only briefly checked the site under IE. Every stitch of development was actually done under Galeon (Mozilla renderer). :D

Can you post a screenshot of the problem?

Also, the login box on the homepage won't work yet. I haven't finished writing the code to connect it to the vbulletin backend.

[Dyyryath]

wirthi: The iframe will be customizable soon. You'll be able to set it's length & width. You'll also be able to set the left hand column's width. It's one of the page options that I haven't finished coding yet. ;)

[Dyyryath]

rshepard: Yup, the 'Stats' button is going to go somewhere, but the page for it isn't finished yet. Soon, though...

[Dyyryath]

Alright, the edit boxes should be big again.

One down, 52,384 more to go. ;) :D

[the-mk]

:cheers: much better to write in a larger edit-box :D

Here are the screenshots from the Internet Explorer 6 and Mozilla 1.5 (both on W2k SP4):

http://the-mk.dbestern.net/pics/internetexplorer.png
http://the-mk.dbestern.net/pics/mozilla.png

Could you give us some details about the new host of www.free-dc.org?

[Dyyryath]

I can't replicate the font problem, but I may have fixed it. Check it for me, will you?

The new hosting is through these guys:

http://www.imhosted.com

We're on the 'Standard' package (http://www.imhosted.com/compare_plans_detailed.shtml) which, with a static IP costs about $16/mo. So far, I'm really pleased with it. The speed is good and they have all of the tools I needed to make the site work (MySQL, PHP, Perl, etc). On top of that (and most importantly to me), I've got SSH shell access to the server which makes my life MUCH easier than it would have been otherwise. Of course, if you don't know enough to use a shell account, their control panel is absolutely fantastic as well.

All in all, I think it's going to be a good fit for us. After we've been on it for a bit, I'll decide what to do about my Arachnid stats stuff (http://stats.zerothelement.com). I'm thinking about a major overhaul (and possible move) for them, too.

[Bok]

Dyyryath,

want to run them off my dedicated server ?

It's in a secure datacentre. A P4 2.4 (HT) running RH9 (yuk), but there is plenty of space, I get 1000GB transfer per month and have root access.

Let me know and I'll give you a shell account.

Bok

[Dyyryath]

That's an interesting idea...and it might go along with something else I've been considering. I'll email you about it tonight. :thumbs:

[magnav0x]

I have a dedicated server, same setup as Boks :) P4 2.4 HT, 1gb RAM, 120GB HD, and 1000GB bw/mo. What kind of backbones you have Bok? My datacenter runs through AboveNET and XO.

[Dyyryath]

Well, until I have time to sit down and put it all in an email tonight, let me just put this out there for consideration:

Are you guys interested in 'collaborating' on one 'unified' stats system? A single system built around a project-agnostic database backend with a MySQL/SOAP/XML/whatever interface for any rendering front end (remote or local) that we'd like to write might be neat way of doing things. That's sort of how my current system works, but I've learned enough playing with it to realize that it needs some modifications that probably suggest a complete re-write. Having two high speed hosting locations would also be cool. It'd be easy to round-robin DNS them to split the load and offer some redundancy.

While I haven't worked out the details yet, if our other stats guys are interested, I suspect we could do something exceptionally 'cool' and really extensible...

[Bok]

Sounds good to me. I'm playing with a rewrite of my db engine right now actually. Real work can get too boring :P

Magnav0x,

it's hosted at nocster.net (subsidiary of burst.net) and has fiber connections to verizon, ppl, ctsi among others.

They are good value, though I've had some packet loss at times.

Bok :cool:

[magnav0x]

I'd be interested in collaborating with bok and yourself on working out some sort of scalable hosting solution between the two servers. I also feel that an arachnid type system for all our statistic databases would be very reasonable. I'd like to help on that front as well, though my lack of experiene with SOAP/XML may damper that effort.


They are good value, though I've had some packet loss at times.

They had some big problems not long ago, but that wasn't realy their fault. Seems a vital switch somewhere went down causing everything in the area to be out. I feel sorry for them though, because a lot of people flead nocster after that even though they are a very reliable datacenter.

My datacenter runs Dual Gigabit Ethernet (1000Mbps) fiber-optic connections to AboveNet and Global Crossing.

[pointwood]

Bug report: When you create a post the smileys in the box on the left doesn't work :(

[wirthi]

Originally posted by pointwood
Bug report: When you create a post the smileys in the box on the left doesn't work :( They do work for me ... ? :bouncy: :elephant: :drums:

[pointwood]

Damn that was a fast response time :rotfl:

I made a forced refresh in my browser (Firefox, what else ;) ) and now they work here too :thumbs:

[the-mk]

@wirthi and pointwood: I think every bug- or suggestion-message should name their browser and operating system to make bug-finding easier. But the problems should have cleared now :D

@Dyyryath: you've got PM about our IE6 vs. Mozilla problem. I think I've got the solution...

[pointwood]

I know, but I didn't think the issue was browser related and hence wasn't neccesary, but I should probably have added that info anyway :)

Unless otherwise stated, I'm always using the latest version of Mozilla Firefox - I'm close to getting crazy just by using IE6 sometimes to check whether something works there :crazy:

[wirthi]

I'm using IE6, and it's working just perfect :D

[magicfan241]

Errr, the site won't open when I use Netscape 3 Gold for MacOS 7.5.3.

Someone needs to get me a new mac(I don't really, but I think I should have one, just to kick ass at RC5)


magicfan241

[PY 222]

Dyy, looking good there!

I can't wait to look at the stats for this new site. :D

[Supp]

This new site looks just great!! :notworthy

[rshepard]

Would it be possible to have the forum threads back above the news, the way it was in the old layout? I only ask because I've got this dinky monitor here at home, and I end up scrolling down to catch the threads listing. <whine, whine>
Maybe the mainpage elements could be arranged to suit the user, the way some portals are set up? Or maybe I should just dip into the old beer fund and ante up the cash for a decent monitor? :rotfl:

My 2 cents worth-- still love the new design :thumbs:

[Dyyryath]

Yeah, I can easily make the order of the home page sections 'customizable'. That'll be no problem at all.

[rshepard]

Somehow, I knew that'd be the answer :D
You sir, absolutely ROCK!

:notworthy :notworthy :notworthy

[Chinasaur]

All Macintosh browers:

Opera 6.0.3 - The box highlights on front page for Projects, Forums, etc do not show up.

Mozilla 1.5 - Looks/behaves great. Looks best of all browsers. Box highlights are Orange. All other browsers show white highlight

Safari 1.1 - The box highlights are larger than the boxes which makes the page jump a bit as your mouse over them. Safari not picking up FreeDC URL icon.

Camino 0.7 - Looks/behaves great

Firebird 0.7 - Looks/behaves great. Fastest render.

iCab 2.9.5 - Looks/behaves great


You be the shiznit Dyyryath. Thanks.

[willy1]

Originally posted by Dyyryath
Yeah, I can easily make the order of the home page sections 'customizable'. That'll be no problem at all.


There's a front page other than www.free-dc.org/forum ? :|party|:


Who knew???
:rotfl:


(sorry - it all looks good here) :thumbs:

[tim]

Hey . . . uh . . . I must've missed something, but . . .
the stats button on the project list page doesn't do anything, and . . . [lip begins to quiver] . . . I miss my seti stats! Boo hoo hoo hwah hwah uuhhh . . .

[pfb]

using FireFox 0.8 under Windows - none of the link-boxes do anything for me (clicking Forums does nothing, etc.)...:(

[PY 222]

Originally posted by pfb
using FireFox 0.8 under Windows - none of the link-boxes do anything for me (clicking Forums does nothing, etc.)...:(

I am currently using FireFox 0.8 under Win2k and all the link boxes work for me except the 'Stats' box.

Weird.

[pfb]

hmmm - doing a bit more clicking...it works if I have no tabs open - any more and it won't work. Clicking 'Chat' in either format (one tab or multiple tabs) crashes FF irrespective.

[gopher_yarrowzoo]

Dyyryyth - You as they say Rock, you Da Man...
:thumbs: @ new design and layout I didn't even notice the changeover:blush: except notice the new logo and colors :) :thumbs: Me like...
yeah that collarberation between people doing stats would save 2-3-4... etc people having the same headache and 2-3-4... sets of stats from what is essentially the same stats data... hmm
This new style is more fun that you can poke a :Pokes: at :D

Hmm Bug Spotted - Front Page
The News Item "Box" width and frame width look to be the same and with a
small left hand border it causes a scroll bar to appear at bottom.. just a minor bug
Win 98SE - IE 5.00.2614
Will check on Opera 6.05 and NS 6 as well but It does look good :smoking:

[PY 222]

Originally posted by pfb
hmmm - doing a bit more clicking...it works if I have no tabs open - any more and it won't work. Clicking 'Chat' in either format (one tab or multiple tabs) crashes FF irrespective.

I've tried navigating with FF 0.8 with 4 tabs loaded to different website. Free-DC's main page still works ok for me.

Clicking the 'Chat' brings up another browser and ask for the plugin.

I cannot replicate the problem that you have pfb. This is indeed very strange.

[gopher_yarrowzoo]

Dyyryth - I've Taken Screenshots to show ya what I mean about the Above problem hope it helps ya
http://www.yarrowzoo.freeserve.co.uk/free-dc/layout_ie5_00.png < IE 5.00
http://www.yarrowzoo.freeserve.co.uk/free-dc/layout_opera_6.png < Opera 6 http://www.yarrowzoo.freeserve.co.uk/free-dc/layout_NS_6.png < NS 6.2
as you can see Opera Renders it perfectly - NS 6 does it too apart from mis align in "login password"
IE does it fine apart from the "box" error :thumbs:

[pfb]

Originally posted by PY 222
I've tried navigating with FF 0.8 with 4 tabs loaded to different website. Free-DC's main page still works ok for me.

Clicking the 'Chat' brings up another browser and ask for the plugin.

I cannot replicate the problem that you have pfb. This is indeed very strange.

I'll see if I can detail the prob a bit more...'tis odd tho :confused:

[Moogie]

Man! I'm NEVER moving again! I come back on line (albeit dial up) and everthing has changed. :D I don't have everything up and running but will check it out. Supposed to get DSL tomorrow (I'm not holding my breath - don't ask). Man..it's been a long time without my puters. :)

Looking good Dyy..as always..."you da man!"

[ECL]

The artist formerly known as http://www.free-dc.org/images/free-dc-black.png has vanished and left an ugly gap on our team page at S@H. We either need to get the old one back or something else in its place.

[matrix_fan]

the D2ol one is out too

[Dyyryath]

As soon as I'm done working on this firewall, I'll get those graphics replaced.

Anybody see anything else missing?

[ECL]

Grid.org image is also missing: http://www.free-dc.org/images/free-dc.jpg

[dragongoddess]

Well I've been thinking about setting up a web page but had no idea who to host it. I guess if these people are good enough for Free-DC then I should be ok with them. Now with who to host the site out of the way whats next?

[matrix_fan]

You could host with Magnav0x's hosting: www.hostingyourdot.com , my website was up and running within minutes. :D, pretty fast server too, at least compared to my other host i use. I would go with him, he's got small to large plans..:thumbs: , he also had a special going on: http://www.free-dc.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5168 , i bet he still has a slot open. And after you order your webhosting package, you would need a domain name. I used www.godaddy.com to register my newest domain, and my other domain was registerd through: www.inexpensivedomains.com . After that, you'd want to login to your control panel for your domain and edit the nameservers to the ones that your webhost provided you with.

[magicfan241]

I personally use 1&1 hosting www.1and1.com , for all of my hosting. I have Team Crab Cake's site up there, and it worked just fine when I had worked with a PTR site for some PTS stuff. (we had 3000 hits within a span of 3 hours, with close to 10,000 hits in the next two days)

magicfan241

[magnav0x]

Patatima hosts his DF mirror on my server. It transferred out 16GB of bandwidth in less than 2 hours in the latest DF protien change. I was a bit worryed to say the least, because DF servers always come to their knees during protien change. Luckly our server wasn't phased by the DF client requests. I've thought about getting a server with 1&1 because they are cheap, but I've heard numerous not so good comments about them.

[PY 222]

I have an account with 1and1 and let me just say that their Administrative Panel leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Might I recommend http://www.powweb.com or http://www.ipowerweb.com, just to name a few.

But I think its best if you check out www.webhostingtalk.com for more information regarding hosts and opinions regarding them.

[magicfan241]

I guess I don't have many problems with 1 and 1 because I use their Admin pages very little.

I have 27 POP boxes set up, with 53 fowards (some of these are for friends, not team admin stuff).

I use about 4.5GB of bandwidth a month now, I used close to 105GB in one month at one point (no DF server stuff)

My friend runs a counterstrike pay-per-player setup on there, and he pays for 8 seperate servers for that (and he makes close to $300 a month off of it :shocked: )

I have had no bad experiences,but I may be very lucky, or those people who have problems may be unlucky, or used to better stuff than me. :)

magicfan241

[magnav0x]

I typicaly don't suggest hosts other than my own (I don't suppose that's good for buisness), but I suppose while we are on the discussion of personal experiences. I'd highly recommend http://Flexihostings.com. When I was with them I never had any problems and their customer support was outstanding.

[dragongoddess]

One thing we need to remember is I'm a total newbie when it comes to web pages and how to construct them.

[matrix_fan]

then, i'd go with http://hostingyourdot.com , great support. Or if you don't have ANY idea how to construct webpages, and you don't have any wysiwyg HTML editor (what you see is what you get) such as: frontpage, you could go with http://geocities.com , they have the Yahoo! pagebuilder, which i started out with :)

[dragongoddess]

Any suggestions on a software package for the creation of web pages.

[matrix_fan]

Micrsoft Frontpage?

[magicfan241]

I prefer Webobjects Fusion.

Sorta like frontpage, but not as much junk code put in when you publish.

No need for special extensions installed on the webhost either.

magicfan241

[Chinasaur]

Dyy,

On the front page..the news area gets in my way as I scroll down...Can you create a style with the latest posts at the top page vs bottom of the page? Like it used to be?

As it is now, I have to move the cursor to the right of the page to scroll down otherwise I scroll the news section.

Thanks even if you can't/won't/don't :thumbs:


:cheers:

[magnav0x]

I second the option to have latest posts near the top of the page :D

[IronBits]

:hiya: :D

[Chinasaur]

Any chance of getting the latest Forum Threads put at the TOP of the page like they used to be?

Dyyryath?

[the-mk]

Originally posted by Chinasaur
Any chance of getting the latest Forum Threads put at the TOP of the page like they used to be?

Dyyryath?

Congratulations! They're back on the top :D

[Chinasaur]

Thank You Dyyryath!!!!


:notworthy


:cheers:

[PY 222]

As usual, quick and quality service provided by our great Admins. :|party|: