Subscribe to RSS

Change Log's Diary

JEMDiary 3.0

Added: February 28, 2007, 10:54 pm  (104 views)
Well - alot of things have changed with the new update.  As always, visit the Help section for questions on a specific item.  Its pretty sparse, but we'll try to keep it updated.

Now, here are the things that have changed - I warn you - the list is long.  For the most part I'll give you an idea of what the other stuff is in non-nerd lingo too if need be.


-Completely rewritten to MVC framework with PHP5 and mysql5
--Basically, the old site was written in 2003 - with parts from my 2001 codebase.  This being said, technology has come a long way sense then.  There are alot more features, and it should be faster.  The cool things too is that its better designed so I can fix things faster and add new things faster.


-Support for IE 6 and above, Firefox 1.5 and above - english - nothing else
--I know I should really make an effort to support more things - but I'll lay it out in the open here... this is just how it is.  I'll change this in the future, I'm sure - but right now, this is what it is.


-New privacy policy, terms of service and license
-- yah all those boring little things at the bottom of the screen that no one clicks on - well they're updated.  The main things that changed is the licensing of your diary.  You control your content as always, but we've defaulted the license to a specific creative commons license.  You can always say its a differnet license tho, and thats cool.


OK lets keep it positive - lets talk about what we've added...

-search is now based on google - it searches on their website.  they're the man at searching so lets let them do it.  The only search that they don't control is the search for user on the Read pages.

-registration is easier and more robust - you can register for a new account without having to verify it via e-mail.  I keep telling you not to give a fake e-mail address - but we dont force authentication anymore.  Plus now you can quickly register, or take yourtime to go through the steps to complete your profile (and to make it even cooler - you can half customize, and then call it good)

-read, write, share - still the hallmarks of the site.  Links are huge now - if you can't find them... well... yah.

-jemdiary news is different... There are some news articles that random visitors don't needto know about - and there are things that only apply to the site.  At any rate - site wide news is posted on the front page - specific to users is only available when you log in.  Also, now all of the posted information has its own 'diary' - this is cool because you can read it like you're used to reading anyone else's info.

-changelog - what you're reading.  I'm gonna try to keep up with the changes in this log.  *crosses fingers*

-search users on the read pages shows their profile picture now- and if they're online or not.

-online status indicator - shows when people are logged in

-nicknames now - you're not restricted to your username.  YOu can now change your nickname - and your nick name is shown whereever you post information.

-reading entries is cooler - soo much went on here... pagination is better - only five entries per page, you can see a preview of hte entry along with other releavent information about the entry.  you have links to the person's profile on every pages howing their status, etc.  Really cool.

-password protection is handled prettier.

-speaking of password protection, we now allow global password protection of entries  - or individual password protection of specific entries.

-profile pages - we try to show more information on these profile pages - including instant messenger statuses - whatever we can really. - even google maps - flags, and all that fun stuff

-forms are smarter - we try to require information right away and not make you submit the form - and we got rid of those popup alerts - everything should be on the page now.  Its pretty sweet.

-forgot password has changed - it sends you a notice to your email address - which you can confirm you own - and then it allows you to reset your password - no more emailing them through the internet

-when you log in- you now have a custom home page - more customization will be coming to this soon - but it shows you cool user announcements, your recent comments, and more coming soon.

-new layout - your links are on the top of the page now.

- writing an entry is SUPER COOL now.  We support a what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor... so when you highlight a word and click on bold, you see it happen - REAL TIME.  - it also allows for cooler image insertions, previews and alot of other cool things. TOTALLY cool update.

- settings page is changed - instead of being on all one page, its now broken up into functional peices.  the fields are alot more explained now.

- new logo



Ok - so now on to the sadder parts - I removed some stuff because no one was really using them anyways... OR I didn't like them.

-purple and tan - gah - not coming back.  never (probably never) i hated those colors

-subscriptions - YOu can't subscribe to comments, entries or diaries anymore.  It was only used like 100 times... mainly by me! hah.  The only e-mail you get now is when someone comments on your entry and if you're the owner.  In the future, I will be setting up more subscription type things...

- you wont get emailed on news anymore - in the future I might set up some sort of emergency email system or something... but as of right now, just doesn't seem useful.

- newest entries are not on the front page - I will be adding something back like this in the future, however.  It'll be more fully featured.

- it no longer shows who is the newest user - but we will add taht in the future again.  also, it doesnt' show on the front page if the admins are online.

- it also doesn'ts how how many users and entries there are - we may add this back at some point - but no one really seemed to care.  Also no more visitor counter on the front page.  who cares.  

- link to us - not so prominent anymore.

- export as PDF not available anymore - will in the future - but itw as crashing - and so I have to do it differently...

- email from the share section telling people about your diary - just doesn't exist anymore.

- dont show last login and times logged in anymore - no one really seemed to care.

- doesn't show last 5 comments on every page load anymore.

- no search by location or interests - we will be adding this back in - better than ever in the future.

- removed spellcheck link - not entirely sure it was actually working...



Well thats about it for changelog for right now - hope I didn't miss anything!  Check back here as we update more.

-aaron

Newest    Previous