It would appear that I haven't updated the world on v4 in a while. I need to do so.

So, what's been going on with Side 7 v4.0? A LOT, that's what!

First and foremost, aside from taking a day out of my schedule to play and beat my gift of Portal from a friend of mine in Arizona (Thanks, 0berong !), I've been spending almost all of my free time writing code for Side 7. I haven't been this busy with code-work in years, and it's paying off. Unfortunately, what I've been working on is the high-level administrative tools for running the site, so I have no new major screen shots to show anyone. Well, not at this time, at any rate. I might show off screen shots of the administrative screens at a later date, simply because they're cool, but not right now.

So, why has it taken so long to get them done? Well, as I said, they're high-level administrative tools. This means that they have to be written very globally and generically. Why? Because the code library I'm writing is designed to be used by multiple websites, on the same server, without needing customized libraries and repetitive code. In other words, the library is GLOBAL and works for all of the sites I'm working on and running. The tools, themselves, are written so that customizations can be introduced on a per-site basis, without having to alter the global code. It's hard to explain without demonstration, but the nutshell version is: Tool X that is in use on Side 7 is the exact same code that runs Tool X on any other site that I host and run, from the same library, with no duplication of code or unnecessary changes. And what kinds of tools are these? Account management tools, calendar management tools, file management tools, news management tools, and the like.

Side 7-specific Admin tools are still in production, and will go much more quickly, since those tools can be written to perform Side 7-specific tasks, and I don't have to worry about ensuring that the code will work for other sites (since it's not designed to be run on other sites). So, each site I run uses the global library, and then has its own local, private code library, too. Works really well.

At this point, I have 21 tasks remaining out of the original 48 tasks, pertaining to the public portions of Side 7. These include tweaks, enhancements to code that's been written, polishing of code, or fixing small bugs that have developed.

The site member administration tools (your image management, biography management, friends management, etc. stuff) will be started, probably this week. At this rate, I can see v4.0 being completed and ready for beta-testing within the next few months.

I suppose it is fair to put out the head's up that Side 7 v4.0 will include a mailing list that everyone's accounts will be added to. This is designed to be an announcement-only list (as opposed to an anyone-can-post list), with fairly infrequent traffic. The goal is not to flood your e-mail account with messaging from Side 7. This list is designed to send out announcements from the Admins about important things that occur on Side 7, in case someone doesn't read the news and announcements. These kinds of things might include, for example, contest announcements, contest winners, important changes in code or features, security alerts, and other such information. So, I ask everyone to spread the word about this, and to ensure that the e-mail address you have on your Side 7 account is correct and active.

-- BK

Lots of work, indeed. Good work.

I can see how the high-level administrative tools would be useful, especially if you decide to add "sister sites" to Side 7 in the future (eg. a story gallery, a comics site). Even if you decide not to go that route, designing the tools to all work the same would certainly cut down on amount of things you would have to remember.

Again, keep up the good work.

And there are definitely sister sites in the works. The greatest part of writing the high-level code is the fact that I don't have to re-write foundation code every time I want to develop a new site. I drop the high-level codebase into the new directory, and immediately I have a browsable website (granted, there would be no content), with all the tools for managing accounts, templates, etc. ready to roll. At that point, more time can be spend on layout and site features.

-- BK