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3301

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of a lightweight multi-user cms/blog for hosting coders

« Last post by mouser on September 02, 2017, 10:43 AM »

I'm not talking about changing the existing member pages.. More for new ones.

Some people prefer to have complete control over the look of their site and design something unique and want to be able to choose what web framework they like best -- but some would prefer to be part of a larger team -- this would be more for people who wanted to be part of a team with a shared look.

Regarding invalidating urls: If we did make a new setup, which is by no means certain, and existing folks wanted to move over to it, we would use redirects to ensure all the old urls were still valid.

3302

General Software Discussion / In search of a lightweight multi-user cms/blog for hosting coders

« Last post by mouser on September 01, 2017, 10:57 PM »

As most of you know we are in the process of migrating the main DC website to a new cms (see here), with the aim of making it easier to maintain the site and add new content.

One of the other things that we have done on DC is provide web hosting for some dc members to create their own websites, on a separate server (dcmembers.com).
We started out thinking that would be a really nice feature to offer dc members, but we have gradually done less and less of that over time.

The main reason is maintenance headaches.. It's basically running a shared server with lots of different user accounts and all the headaches that entails.  There are also security concerns with everyone running different web scripts and some being abandoned and not updated with security releases, etc.

The other reason is the proliferation over the years of free hosting services (blogger, github, etc.).


It still occurs to me that a compromise solution would be some kind of multi-user cms/blog system where we would only have to maintain one central piece of software and could create lots of individual user accounts, where each user could maintain their area and their software and blog writings..

It would be more restrictive in format (i.e. mostly uniform appearance of user pages), but that could also be an advantage in terms of consistency, and would have the advantage of sharing visitors and popularity and being able to have a shared news/release page, etc.

So my question is -- can anyone recommend some multi-user cms thing that is really designed to give each author their own (protected) "area" to create and maintain in, and host software for download, while offering some shared news/search/etc functions?

3303

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: Official CMS Migration Progress Thread - September 2017

« Last post by mouser on September 01, 2017, 10:42 PM »

One of the difficulties of organizing this is, of course, that none of us who hang out on the forum have much use for the website.
And most people will find themselves on the website as the result of a google search that brings them to a specific page.
So perhaps it's not really very important how the site is organized, as few people will ever be actually "browsing" the website..

3304

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: Official CMS Migration Progress Thread - September 2017

« Last post by mouser on September 01, 2017, 10:39 PM »

First things first -- one of the main reasons we are moving to a CMS is so we can easily add and move around pages; this was simply too painful with the old static html system.  So it's easy to reorganize the site to our heart's content.  That's a big win.

Now as to the actual organization..

The struggle is coming up with a small number of top-level sections that result in a mostly-logical organization where people can find things, but also balances the need to put the most commonly desired pages front and center.

Some options:

• 1. Move the (historical) archives section to a non-top-level area (maybe under Help or Editorials or a new top-level item) because we don't want people to spend too much time there?
• 2. Use a different name for the "Editorials" section?  I would like that section to grow in importance after the new site update so that we have more frequent new editorial content (columns, reviews, etc.)
• 3. Make a new top-level section which can hold other sections that are sort of out of place now (for example "Request a fun member kit" and "View Testimonials" are in Archives currently).. Maybe we need a "Miscelaneous" top-level with Archives inside it?
• 4. Are there other things that should be top-level and are worth the real estate (About Us and Donate are top-level in current site, but children in the new site).

Ideas?

Soon I will ask for anyone who wants to help polish the new site to contact me and I can give you login so you can browse it live.

3305

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: Official CMS Migration Progress Thread - September 2017

« Last post by mouser on September 01, 2017, 10:23 PM »

I'm trying to decide what would be the best "hierarchical" organization for the site pages.  If you look at the current site as it is, we have "Home | Blog | Software | Reviews and Features | Forum | Help | Donate | About us"
And then basically everything that doesn't fit into Software gets shoved into "Reviews and Features".

I'm trying to come up with a better organization, which currently looks something like this:


The Help menu now has a bunch of stuff in it:


While Archives is basically an archive of older pages that are being preserved:


Though you should note that the final navigation menu probably won't have all these levels of children -- this is just showing the organization of pages that in the final version you'll have to navigate to incrementally.

Then Editorials is a pretty small section:


The Licensing menu combines Donate with getting a license key,etc. :


The software menu currently looks something like this:


The "Friends of DC" area lets us add pages for as many dc members as we want who have web pages with software.

3306

General Software Discussion / Re: Virtual Visit Software

« Last post by mouser on September 01, 2017, 09:05 AM »

Please elaborate your post -- explain more about what you are looking for and why and what you have looked at already.

3307

N.A.N.Y. 2018 / Re: N.A.N.Y. 2018 Announcement

« Last post by mouser on September 01, 2017, 07:58 AM »

Don't forget you can submit multiple NANY apps -- many of us do

3308

PopUp Wisdom / Re: New books wanted!

« Last post by mouser on August 31, 2017, 04:19 PM »

  for the love quotes!

3309

Living Room / Who uses a 3d printer?

« Last post by mouser on August 31, 2017, 03:15 PM »

My god the 3d printers are getting good and cheap.. So tempting..  Anyone enjoying one currently?

3310

Find And Run Robot / Re: Search word order

« Last post by mouser on August 31, 2017, 03:13 PM »

I have no Aliases/Keywords/Groups configured

FARR comes with a ton of them, all enabled by default.  They are on the Aliases/Keywords tab. And email is one of them (see the Core_Aliases\Core-Internet.alias" selection).  You can disable that alias file if you select it and then uncheck it at top right.

As for the option to only match aliases when you use a specific string, see the option on the Search Behavior tab labeled "Required Alias Prefix".

Another way to solve your problem would be to uncheck the options on the Search Behavior tab that say "Stop search on exact alias match or regex alias match" -- then the alias would trigger but it would still keep searching for matching file results.  That would be a bit confusing though, so my suggestion would be to go for one of the other fixes first.

3311

N.A.N.Y. 2018 / Re: N.A.N.Y. 2018 Announcement

« Last post by mouser on August 31, 2017, 02:54 PM »

There is one big change I would like to make to NANY this year -- it's an idea I've talked about before, but I really do want to try it this year.

That change is the following: Any free-for-personal-use program that was first released ANYTIME IN 2017 (not including last years 2017 NANY entries of course), is eligible as a NANY entry.

This change will mean that coders are no longer "punished" for releasing programs throughout the year and won't feel the need to "hold back" a program until the final days of the year, and makes NANY more a celebration of the new programs that were created in the past year.

There is still much fun to be had by pushing yourself to code something new in the final days of the year -- but now we won't be dis-incentivizing hard working coders, and we will be celebrating all of the new software created throughout the year.

If we don't like the change we can go back to the original way next year.

3312

N.A.N.Y. 2018 / Re: NANY 2018 Ideas Thread

« Last post by mouser on August 31, 2017, 02:46 PM »

[EDIT: I HAVE IMPLEMENTED A VERSION OF THIS AND WILL RELEASE AS A NANY 2018 SO CANCEL THIS REQUEST]

I'd like to suggest that someone make a web-based clone of the new awesome two-player cooperative board (card) game called Codenames Duet.






Copyright restrictions will keep you from making this commercial or too wide spread, but you could start off with a clone and then we could all brainstorm how to let it evolve into something novel.

It's a terrifically fun programming challenge for someone looking for one.

You'll find a word list here:
https://boardgamegee.../codenames-word-list

Basic rules of the game:

• A random grid of words is laid out for both players to see.
• Each player receives a secret "key" telling them which of these words they want the other player to guess or avoid.  These keys are coordinated in the sense that there are a specific number that will be the same as the other player (read rules for details).
• Then players take turns giving a clue to the other player of a specific form (see detailed rules) and the other player will try to use the clue to identify which card they should choose.
• Players win as a team if they guess all the correct cards.

It's a really great game, that would translate perfectly to a two-player online experience.  An official web-based and mobile version will probably be released eventually, but this is a great project for coders of all skills.

The only tricky part is how fully you want to implement the multiplayer stuff.  You could make a basic version of this game that does not worry about handling any of the multiplayer coordination, and just let players communication over another means (telephone, chat) but let the computer do the work of presenting them with complimentary boards on screen (using a seed # that one player would tell the other).  And just have the computer help keep track of board state.


[EDIT: I HAVE IMPLEMENTED A VERSION OF THIS AND WILL RELEASE AS A NANY 2018 SO CANCEL THIS REQUEST]

3313

N.A.N.Y. 2018 / NANY 2018 Ideas Thread

« Last post by mouser on August 31, 2017, 02:36 PM »

Use this thread to suggest ideas for people to code for NANY 2018.

3314

N.A.N.Y. 2018 / N.A.N.Y. 2018 Announcement

« Last post by mouser on August 31, 2017, 02:36 PM »

Since 2007 we have held an annual event that we call NANY (New Apps for the New Year), where we ask the coders who hang out on DonationCoder to create some new piece of free software and share it with the world on January 1st of the new year.

NANY is really the funnest thing we do on this site, and it's one of the few times we can all play together.  There are no winners or losers, it's simply a celebration of programming and creating new software and sharing it with the world.  You can target any operating system (desktop or mobile) or even make a web-based tool.  It can be a game, utility, large application, whatever.  DC takes makes no claim on your software, it's just an event to encourage you to share a creation with others.  Best of all, everyone who participates gets a free commemorative coffee mug.

Browse previous year entries here: https://www.donation.../index.php?board=323

3315

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: Official CMS Migration Progress Thread - September 2017

« Last post by mouser on August 31, 2017, 01:55 PM »

Let me just reiterate something I've said before -- all of this work on migrating to a new cms backend is focused on making it easier to maintain and update the website.

It's not really about improving the experience for the visitor -- at least not initially.

But making it easier to maintain and update and add content should over time make the experience better for visitors.

3316

General Software Discussion / Re: Automated ftp uploads

« Last post by mouser on August 31, 2017, 11:25 AM »

Mwb's solution will work, but Wraith's suggestion would be what I would go for: Use Automatic Screenshotter and then a standalone tool that monitors a directory and automatically ftp's files from that directory to your destination.  I think that would offer the most flexibility and lowest impact on your pc.

3317

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: Official CMS Migration Progress Thread - September 2017

« Last post by mouser on August 31, 2017, 11:12 AM »

My eyes are wide open regarding the final details taking a lot of time.. There are still a lot of finishing touches.  But it's well into the home stretch with no turning back and no chance of not going live before the end of the year.
In fact we could basically go live now and do the rest of the improvement on a live site -- but I think it's better if it gets a little more polish and testing before that.

Hopefully by the end of September I can ask some of you to test out the beta site and look for any issues before we go live.

Then there is the matter of actually adding new CONTENT to the new site.. Like maybe bringing back the days when we had weekly columnists...

3318

Find And Run Robot / Re: Search word order

« Last post by mouser on August 31, 2017, 10:32 AM »

If that is the propblem you could simply disable the email alias by unchecking it in your alias list, or use the option that tells farr to only match aliases when you start with a certain keyword/symbol.

3319

Find And Run Robot / Re: Search word order

« Last post by mouser on August 31, 2017, 10:31 AM »

In the example you give, FARR should still find the result whether you type "email vpn" or "vpn email".

It will give a result a higher score match if the words are in the same order as you type them, but will still find both results.

I suspect the reason it's not finding your result when you type "email vpn" is because you are starting your search with the term "email" which is probably matching an alias.

To test this you could start your search by typing "-alias email vpn" and see if it finds it.

Let me know.

3320

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: Official CMS Migration Progress Thread - September 2017

« Last post by mouser on August 30, 2017, 07:11 PM »

Just a quick update that the new cms site has been marching forward relentlessly.. Not that much more to do..

3321

Living Room / Re: Any native english speakers?

« Last post by mouser on August 30, 2017, 05:11 PM »

That question at the end is very awkwardly phrased, and is not written in a way that has a real answer.

The question, after the story, is: "A doctor would report to the police a patient who was a danger to others: True | False | Cannot say"

This doesn't quite make sense as a question.  It sounds like it should be asking your opinion, as in: "SHOULD a doctor would report to the police a patient who was a danger to others"

As written, the most generous way to answer it would be that the story tells you that "MOST" doctors believe that they should report such things.  So that the answer to the question "A doctor would report.." would be: "most doctors would".
Whether the closest answer in that case would be "cannot say" or "true" is in the eye of the beholder.

Your question:

This one says "a" doctor "would" report. Is this talking about a random doctor or all doctors?

The statement is very unclear and not something a native speaker would write.  I would say the closest interpretation would be "a random doctor".

But I suspect that the question was mistranslated, and the best answer to such a question on a test would be "I REFUSE TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION BECAUSE IT IS MALFORMED."

3322

Living Room / Re: For those with a CrashPlan...

« Last post by mouser on August 29, 2017, 09:29 AM »

Agree that versioning is key for an online backup tool.

3323

Coding Snacks / Re: Open a folder with autohotkey assigning a hotkey combnation

« Last post by mouser on August 28, 2017, 08:38 PM »

highend01 your comments to Contro did seem pretty harsh -- we are here to support one another and find constructive ways to offer criticism and learn from one another without insulting each other.


Having said that..  Contro I do think it would be helpful if you tried a little harder to search for solutions to things before you post so many posts on different subjects.. If you post 30 posts in a week they will inevitably tend to get lost in the clutter, almost like the boy who cried wolf.

It would be better I think for you to plan out posts a bit more and spend more time on each one explaining what you have already searched for, etc.

There are no hard and fast rules about this kind of thing, but I think a good piece of general advice would be to spend more time crafting your posts and space them out a little so that you don't have so many posts asking for assistance in so many different areas at once.

And then when you do post asking for assistance I think you will get a better reply since those of us reading will know that you have tried to solve the problem a bit yourself and that you actually care about the replies we give.


Again, there is nothing wrong with any one of your posts -- I think the reaction was more to the sheer quantity of short posts (about different issues) in a short time frame.

3324

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Release: Color Warlock

« Last post by mouser on August 28, 2017, 12:24 PM »

Nice work, ham 

Add some new screenshots to this thread maybe?

3325

Living Room / Re: (Online) Activities to do with a (long distance) friend or partner

« Last post by mouser on August 28, 2017, 09:29 AM »

f0dder going through a rough patch with a long-distance partner?