FurteanTimes Development

Oh God, here we are again…

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:06:08 +0000

Oh God, here we are again…

1. I really need to update the development blog more often. 2....

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:55:41 +0000

1. I really need to update the development blog more often.
2. Look! Pretty website!

A preview of the user profile page, it’s not the final...

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:24:44 +0100

A preview of the user profile page, it’s not the final design, but it’s close enough.

Notables include:
* Much larger profile picture (automatically cropped for avatars)
* The user blog, which now takes up the majority of the centre column
* Stats and pie chart, I like pie.

A preview of the homepage. It changes layout depending on what...

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:13:53 +0100

A preview of the homepage.
It changes layout depending on what type of content is available at the time. At the moment this is just images and text, but may expand into video at some point!

The new branding strategy (that, knowing me, will only last some...

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 10:19:49 +0100

The new branding strategy (that, knowing me, will only last some four months or so before being replaced) for FurteanTimes.com.

Comes in both colour and black and white variations!

A new name?

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:09:26 +0100

I’m currently pondering a new name for FurteanTimes.com in the future, partly in an effort to not directly rip off ForteanTimes.com (which it is horrendously easy to mis-type) but also to choose a catchier name that is more relevant to the subject matter.

The name “Newshound” keeps coming to mind; it’s relevant, provides an idea for a future mascot (Media Dog go!), and comes in easy to design type. However it’s somewhat cliché, overused and just about every domain in the world for “newshound” is taken by a squatter.

If you lot have any other suggestions or comments, then just post them below!

Furcast is gone, by the way.

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:00:25 +0100

I took Furcast offline some couple of weeks ago due to general lack of use and horrible, not-easily-resolved backend problems that I would need to call in the host to sort.

It was a good experiment in coding a CMS, as well as providing me with good code for groups, uploading and somesuch; however as a website it ultimately failed at it’s goal.

Maybe some other day, eh chaps?

FurteanTimes.com on Twitter

Tue, 26 May 2009 17:03:50 +0100

FurteanTimes.com on Twitter:

Yeah, we got a Twitter, forgot to mention that.

FurteanTimes.com suddenly looks different.

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:08:53 +0100

FurteanTimes.com suddenly looks different.

Okay scrap that, here's something completely different.

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 02:06:14 +0100

A slight deviation in plans, it seems. I’m now working on a complete visual overhaul of FurteanTimes.com. No backend changes going on, I stress, only front-end rejigging.

The most dramatic of these is the homepage, which will take on a categorical view as opposed to a chronological view, with news and media being displayed higher than other content regardless of when it was added.

Userpages are also being changed (differing from the initial plan to remove them from the body of the site completely) to integrate better with existing FurteanTimes services.

April 8, 2009 downtime

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:37:00 +0100

It would appear that every site in the FurteanTimes Network is currently offline for reasons unknown.

We’ll leave it to the host to sort that one out *prods them*

Edit (12:25 UTC): All is well!

Furtean Accounts

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:21:20 +0100

Well, now that the very base of Furcast is online, it’s time to work on account unification between FurteanTimes.com and Furcast (as well as other services, both present and future).

Thus work on Furtean Accounts begins today, which will try and compile user contributions to all FT sites into one place. It will be fairly minimalist but (like Furcast) provide some customization options for those who love a little bit of uniqueness.

Furcast

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:38:03 +0100

Furcast:

Furcast Beta 0.1 (Devensian) - now online!

What next?

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:35:57 +0100

Furcast is, in effect, finished. Okay, so there will be more stuff going on in the next week or so - particularly on the design front, but otherwise it’s done and dusted. So, what next?

Well, now that there’s more than one website running off the same profiling mechanism, it would seem fitting that profiles themselves are moved off the main FurteanTimes.com website to their own little area. It will take the login/registration infrastructure with it to keep all account-related things on the new site. This will likely be my next move.

Following this I’m going to do some things that have been on the FT todo list for months, as well as make some extra tweaks to the FurteanTimes.com design.

Oh, and we’re getting a mascot, which will probably look better than generic blue beams of light that we have now. Look out for that!

Just redid the Furcast default media thumbnails, I think they...

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:10:21 +0100

Just redid the Furcast default media thumbnails, I think they look pretty!

The Furcast splash page. Awesomely uninformative!

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 23:37:16 +0100

The Furcast splash page. Awesomely uninformative!

Rejoice, for I have just fixed the timezone related issues! (Although there’s no Daylight...

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:16:54 +0100

Rejoice, for I have just fixed the timezone related issues! (Although there’s no Daylight Savings stuff yet.)

Furcasting

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 15:11:16 +0100

This weekend (and the days following) mark the time when I try and finally get Furcast Beta online.

Stuff’s been pretty near completion for a while now, but personal procrastination and the bane that is education has lead to a pile of delays. But no worries, the site could be up as soon as in a couple of days.

Rejoice!

Domain name transfer

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:43:00 +0100

The FurteanTimes.com domain name is being transferred at some point in the next week. When this does happen the site will likely be offline for some time. So expect it.

Disregard that, it turns out domain transfers are a lot simpler than I expected!

Welcome to the new Furtean Times Status and Development blog. It’s all fancy and new, and will...

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:28:45 +0100

Welcome to the new Furtean Times Status and Development blog. It’s all fancy and new, and will be updated when I feel like it! :D

~ Alex Grey