Recent Posts

14101

Site/Forum Features / Re: Shortcomings of DC and How to Improve

« Last post by mouser on March 03, 2011, 12:08 PM »

Since i think there is some general agreement that we have structural features we want to address (software repository, some more group-editable wiki like pages, clearer organization of content), i think it probably makes sense to agree that giving the site an aesthetic face lift is at the very bottom of the list of priorities. Personally i'm fine with the basic look of the site, though i'm not against a face lift.  

So no change just for the sake of change -- we don't have the time for such stuff.

BUT i think perhaps most of the suggestions of improving the look and feel of the site should be taken in the spirit of: *ASSUMING* we are going to move to a proper CMS for the site and the look will change anyway, here is how the look could be improved.

So I think if we can all agree to that basic framing of the issue:

• Focus on specific areas of functionality improvement that the site needs,
• In the process of discussing possible solutions, think about how a CMS or other restructuring might give the site a facelift (almost as a side effect), and how changes in organization and aesthetics might make the site easier to navigate.

14102

Skwire Empire / Re: Release: sWeather (tray-based weather app)

« Last post by mouser on March 03, 2011, 10:19 AM »

Love it! 

14103

Official Announcements / Fundraiser Day 3 - Part 2 - New Software Release: sWeather

« Last post by mouser on March 03, 2011, 10:16 AM »

To celebrate the fundraiser, DC member skwire has released a new application: sWeather.

But before I describe sWeather, I need to say a little bit more about Skwire.  Over the last year he has released an absolutely astounding number of brand new freeware programs over the last year - almost all in response to requests from everyday people who have stopped by and posted on the DonationCoder.com Coding Snacks Request board.  He's almost threatening to break the record for releases by DC member Skrommel.  It's great fun to watch Skwire create new tools based on user requests.

Ok back to the new app, sWeather.  It's a tray-based weather tool.  There are a few of these kinds of tools around, some good, some bad.  sWeather is nice because it looks great while being pretty minimalist, and does all of the important things well.  There are tray icons for weather condition and temperature, and it's easy to switch quickly between locations and perform update checks. Overall a very sweet tool.

• Program Web Page: http://skwire.dcmemb...oftware/sweather.php
• Direct Download Link: http://skwire.dcmemb...weather/sWeather.zip
• Forum Discussion Thread: https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=25940.0

Important Note: During the fundraiser we ask people to make new donations into the site.  And these donations help cover site hosting costs and other expenses.  But we also have a system we created (called DonationCredits) in order to let people direct their donations to specific members on the site who they would like to show support to.  The best thing you could do with your donation is actually to send your donation credits out to specific people on the site like Skwire, whose work you want to support - as a way of letting them know that their work is appreciated.  So don't just donate, spread the love a little by sending your donation out to people on the site like skwire.  Actually skwire has his own direct paypal donation button on his website, and that would also be a great way to let him know he is appreciated.

14104

Site/Forum Features / Re: Fundraiser ONE-A-DAY Planning Calendar, Please Volunteer

« Last post by mouser on March 03, 2011, 09:57 AM »

tomos, you are in for the 5th!

14105

Living Room / Re: Lift: Short Film on Everyday People

« Last post by mouser on March 03, 2011, 09:52 AM »

I didn't find it depressing.  Here's my take: There is a lot of sadness and loneliness in this world.  This video shows some of that.

But it also shows how much even just a single act of stepping through that imaginary forcefield that we all have that isolates each of us from one another, can make an impact on someone who is craving some connection with their fellow human beings.  I think sometimes the smallest anonymous gesture of just reaching out to talk to someone can have a real and lasting impact on their life.

There are more purely positive uplifting examples of this, most notably the amazing Free Hugs video, which is more than likely to make you cry.  But this one still moves me.. to see people open up and respond to someone who is willing to non-judgmentally listen to them, and see how it's a meaningful event for them.

14106

Official Announcements / Fundraiser Day 3 - Part 1 - Introduction to DonationCoder.com

« Last post by mouser on March 03, 2011, 09:19 AM »

It's day 3 of the fundraiser, and we're doing well: Almost $4,500 raised from about 200 donors so far!

I thought today I'd make a post to introduce the site to those of you who may not be so familiar with it.


Many people arrive on our site for one of our larger free software applications, like Screenshot Captor, Process Tamer, URL Snooper, or Find and Run Robot.  You'll find these and many more on our main Software page (you can also watch some recent videos of these).


Recently one of the busiest areas of the site has been our special "Coding Snacks" section, where anyone can post a request for a small custom utility that they would like to have created.  Coders on the site regularly read the requests and code the programs which are released as freeware.  You can visit the Coding Snacks forum section to post a new request, or view a list of finished requests to download.

And speaking of our forum, you'll find that there are always some interesting discussions going on there, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We pride ourselves on quickly responding to requests for help.  We have some serious software addicts on our site and if you're wondering what's the best tool for a job, you're likely to find someone on our forum with a strong opinion.  Most of the software discussions are Microsoft Windows related, but we also have quite a few Linux users and a handful of Apple users.

Don't be shy about registering at our forum and making your first post -- whether it's a question about a particular software program, a feature request for one of our tools, or just to post a photo of your dog or cat.  We are a friendly and diverse bunch from all walks of life.  You can also sign up at the forum to receive our monthly newsletter where we recap the month's most interesting forum discussions and new web/software discoveries.  We even have an online (text) chat channel where people come to unwind any hour of the night.  There's an About page if you want to learn more about the history of the site.


In the past we really focused on writing big long comprehensive software comparison reviews.. But most of those reviews are a bit long in the tooth now, and we have shifted focus in the last couple of years more and more to what we call member "Mini-Reviews", where forum regulars write and share their (usually) brief reviews of software packages, both commercial and free (and sometimes other things like Board Games or gadgets).

Look a bit deeper on the forum and you might stumble onto our "Self-Teaching Programming School" section -- a progression of increasingly difficult assignments in dozens of different programming languages for people who are learning to program.  It's our fun way to encourage and motivate new students to join the exciting world of programming.

Let's see, what else?  You may have heard of us through our yearly NANY (New Apps for the New Year) event, where we encourage coders who hang out on our site to release a new free application at the start of the new year.  There were over 30 entries in the event this past January.  Some are just small toys, but some are seriously cool and useful.  They are all free.  We also provide hosting space for those members on our site who need a place to host their software and website.    


So that's a quick tour of the site. I'm sure I left out a few things but hopefully it's enough to help you decide if the site is something that appeals to you.

14107

Living Room / Re: The March 2011 6th Anniversary Fundraiser Has Begun! Cheer for Victory Thread

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 06:51 PM »

 

someone blind him!

14108

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Error EX4: DBISAM Engine Error #11013

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 04:50 PM »

complete uninstall wont help, but what will is if you simply exit and delete your database files for CHS.
but it would help to know the error you get when you run a repair.

14109

Living Room / Re: The March 2011 6th Anniversary Fundraiser Has Begun! Cheer for Victory Thread

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 03:32 PM »

i love seeing the new or rare faces posting on this thread, hi bootz and jwell200, and epopuI and others 

14110

Site/Forum Features / Re: Fundraiser ONE-A-DAY Planning Calendar, Please Volunteer

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 03:04 PM »

no not on DC.. but everywhere else.

14111

Developer's Corner / Re: Discussion of CMS suggestions for the DC software directory

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 03:04 PM »

gothic sent me this link to people working on code for treating wordpress as a library for a cms:
http://andy.wordpres...ress-as-library-cms/

14112

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: SFTP new file with HotFolder

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 02:47 PM »

there are some good tools to do this aren't there? its a very useful thing but i think it already exists.

14113

Site/Forum Features / Re: Fundraiser ONE-A-DAY Planning Calendar, Please Volunteer

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 02:33 PM »

i vote for b -- there are lots of regex tutorials already.

14114

Living Room / Lift: Short Film on Everyday People

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 01:36 PM »

Many of us spend our days going through life on rails, avoiding strangers.. Films like these make you appreciate how special it can be to step off the track and make a connection with someone you don't know for no other reason than to put a ripple in the waters and share a human moment.

from http://www.cynical-c.com/

14115

Living Room / Re: The March 2011 6th Anniversary Fundraiser Has Begun! Cheer for Victory Thread

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 12:08 PM »

A big thank you to our friends at ghacks for the write-up of the fundraiser celebration event:


And to gizmo at techsupportalert:

14116

Timns Apps / Re: Auspex Build 1.3.5.109 uploaded

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 12:01 PM »

Tim, regarding update posts -- many of us have started doing this:

• We keep one thread for each application's official update announcements.
• When the application is updated, we modify the first post in the thread to reflect the lastest version -- including the version number and date in the subject.
• Then we post s reply on that thread which also announces the new version and changes and bumps the topic.
• We usually make this thread sticky.

For example see https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=3375.0

I think it makes more sense than starting a new topic with each new release.

14117

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Error EX4: DBISAM Engine Error #11013

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 11:33 AM »

Try pressing the "View or Repair Database" button on the "Backup/Maintenance" tab of options:

14118

Official Announcements / Fundraiser Day 2 - Part 2

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 10:55 AM »

As part of the fundraiser celebration, every day this month (March 2011) we're going to post or release something brand new.  A new software application, a review, a screencast video, etc.

Today DC member timns, author of the wonderful Head in the Clouds web comic, posts his mini-review of Centerbase CRM and explains why he thinks its a good Customer Relationship Management program.

It's a good example of what our mini-reviews are all about (you can find more mini-reviews here).

14119

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Error EX4: DBISAM Engine Error #11013

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 10:47 AM »

Is it a new install and did you use the installer?
Can you get into the program options dialog?


EDIT 4/23/15 - SUMMARY OF ISSUE DISCUSSED BELOW:

If you get an error like "DBISAM Engine Error #11013" there are two possible causes:
An antivirus/security tool blocking CHS access to it's database file.
The CHS configuration/database files being on a network drive.

For more information see: https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=25938.0


SOLUTION 1: Add the CHS \Database and Database\Temp directory to your antivirus exclusion list so that your antivirus engine does not lock these files.

These directories will be in your config directory for CHS, which is located by default:
on Windows Vista and Win 7: \My Documents\DonationCoder\ClipboardHelpAndSpell\Database\ and \My Documents\DonationCoder\ClipboardHelpAndSpell\Database\Temp\
on Windows XP and earlier: \Program Files\ClipboardHelpAndSpell\Database\ and \ProgramFiles\ClipboardHelpAndSpell\Database\Temp\

SOLUTION 2: Add CHS to the allowed list of your security application.

SOLUTION 3: If your documents are stored on a network drive, edit the ConfigDir.ini file in your C:\Program Files x86\ClipboardHelpAndSpell directory, and set the configuration path to a local directory.

14120

Developer's Corner / Re: Discussion of CMS suggestions for the DC software directory

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 09:35 AM »

I wouldn't call it a comfort thing.  I guess what i'm trying to say is that Drupal has been designed from the ground up to be very cleanly interfaced with by programmers.  As frustrating and unintuitive as it can be -- and god knows i have attacked it viciously for some of that -- it is just on a totally different level from WordPress in terms of being a general purpose platform for programmers to build a custom web site/service.

Although I haven't done any wordpress coding in years, my belief is that while Wordpress is a much more intuitive friendly system that let's you customize the look and feel and create addons, it's not even close to being in the same league as Drupal when it comes time to really flexible use of the codebase from a programmer's perspective.  You can hack any engine to do anything -- but some things are more natural than others -- at some point trying to use wordpress for things that are so far away from it's designed purpose is going to start biting you hard.

14121

Developer's Corner / Re: Discussion of CMS suggestions for the DC software directory

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 09:17 AM »

I have written frequently about my frustrations with Drupal as you know -- I am actually not a huge fan of it.. But I do respect it from a programmer's perspective.  It is just much much more robust and flexible in terms of using it as a starting point for building a custom non-standard site than wordpress is (in my opinion).  As much as it frustrates me, i'd be much more confident that we could cleanly make a Drupal site do whatever custom stuff we need than I would be for an attempt to make wordpress look like a full fledged cms website.  It's not too hard to see why -- Wordpress is a GREAT *blogging* system.  It can be made to do other things but it's not really designed to fill this kind of role, where Drupal is.

14122

Site/Forum Features / Re: Cannot change DC avatar to new uploaded picture.

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 09:06 AM »

I think that's the mystery solved -- it's a cache issue.

The new changes to the way forum avatars are stored and displayed means that the avatar for a particular user will always be the url:
https://www.donation...rs/avatar_USERID.png

So when you upload a new avatar, unlike before you will not get a different filename for your avatar, it will merely overwrite the contents of your old image.

So it's very likely that you will see your cached older image until the browser refreshes it.

14123

Developer's Corner / Re: Discussion of CMS suggestions for the DC software directory

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 09:03 AM »

Yeah but i don't think wordpress solution is going to be a good match for integration into DC.. I mean if we moved the entire DC website over to being built on wordpress maybe.. but that opens up a whole different can of worms.

I don't think we want the DC software repository to exist as a standalone thing totally unintegrated with the rest of the site.  it has to be something that can be seamlessly merged in with our existing stuff.  Which maybe means moving all of DC to a cms and finding a software repository solution that works with a cms that will be appropriate for that (Drupal?)

14124

Living Room / Re: The March 2011 6th Anniversary Fundraiser Has Begun! Cheer for Victory Thread

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 08:51 AM »

Great to see some people making their first posts on this thread -- thank you chipmunk6 and Ennovy 

14125

Developer's Corner / Re: Discussion of CMS suggestions for the DC software directory

« Last post by mouser on March 02, 2011, 08:22 AM »

One nice thing about a pad-file approach is that authors would only have to update their pad files, and could host those anywhere, and the software listing page on dc could pick up version updates automatically.