Changed front page (again!)

If you're reading this, that means you've clicked the news links at the side of the Asterism's newly changed front page! That, or you've somehow stumbled upon my blogger account. Either way, there's been some changes.

I've removed the twitter from the front page, moved the news updates to where they used to be, and added a random image/poem to the front page, just so people get a better idea of what the website is about. Well, it's not quite random. It'll only display things I deem worth of the front page.

When I get the free time, I'm going to code automation into the 'Viewings" section as well. Maybe internalize the blog into the website, instead of using Blogger and RSS parsers to do it.

Comments, Headers, and Notes

New, improved header! It's centered!

Check it out! I've made it so that you can comment on things in the gallery!

I've also coded support for multiple pages of gallery stuff, though you won't see that in effect, yet, since I don't have enough gallery items to actually need more than one page. I'll be remedying this eventually.

New philosophy notes are being uploaded as you read this, or already have been.

Layout changes and comments

Okay, so I've reverted back to 1000-ish pixel layout, because I liked how the ads framed the right side better. I've also shuffled things around a bit on the front page- the updated items are now at the top, instead of on the sidebar, they take up less space, and now they give you a preview of what it is when you mouse over them, if it can. There are now only two news posts on the front page.

I'm also going to work on a way to post comments on each of my things, and even possibly apply my gallery system to the media page.

Expect a better looking header in the next few days. This one doesn't quite line up with the website, and doesn't quite seem as sharp as the rest.

Altered Layout!

Upon changing to Project wonderful, I decided to put multiple ads instead of one large skyscraper ad, because they had no option for a skyscraper of the same dimensions made out of smaller ads. It looked strange when I was done, and I decided that since the right sidebar was meant to balance out the page, and didn't have much justification in being there if it was going to be mismatched, that I should just scrap the sidebar altogether and put the ads in the left one.

While I was at it, I fiddled with the site layout in general to make it fit into a 800 width, rather than my 1000-something width, so now older screens can fit it all. I don't like it quite as much as the old layout (except for the lack of a huge ad-dedicated column), but I think I'll be able to touch it up to look better soon enough, and now it's closer to being same-ish across the board.

More Updates!

I've made the switch to Project Wonderful. Go put ads up! It's free (until someone actually bids something higher than $0)! Secure one of those boxes on the side and you'll get that corresponding slot on every page for that ad!

Also- I'm using a new RSS parser, though you might not see the difference (except with the Twitter feeds). The old one decided to break overnight, and not come back, and this one is more flexible.

I've updated the About page ("Regarding").

Coming soon: mouseover previews for the update list over on the left of these news posts.

Poetry/Prose Added to the Gallery

Coded text capabilities into my submission and gallery pages, so now I am fully capable of subjecting the internet to my creative output with ease (with the unfortunate exception of animated .gifs- I need to upload the images and update the database by hand for those).

Also, I will soon be changing over to a new ad system- Project Wonderful, rather than Google Adsense. Even if it doesn't earn any more money than the 38 cents that Google has garnered me (which I shall never, ever see), it'll be interesting to see who would actually bid to get the spot. I am just waiting for approval.

Gallery Functional!

After sporadically working on it for the past two days, I've finally fixed up the Gallery page, now entirely MySQL, PHP and CSS based.* I've also rigged together a page for me to submit my stuff to my own site, which eases things up in the long run. Yay! It's not the most elegant of codes, but it works, for now, provided I don't try to do certain things which will make the database unhappy with me. I'll load more content up and maybe pretty up the actual interface tomorrow.

I've gone ahead and nixxed the Writings page until I've got it up and running as part of the gallery page. Cut down on the links in the header, you know?

*That is, of course, except for the Javascript used for handling the menus in Internet Explorer, which continues to be the slow child in the web browsing classroom, and the Adsense Javascript, which will take something around a generation or two to actually get Google to pay out.

Oh, and you might also notice that the menu bar at the top may be weirded out over the next few days. I'm redoing it for more minimalistic goodness.

Still working in the gallery...

Started learning how to deal with MySQL to give myself a complete set of internet tools to work with. I might merge the writing and drawing sections into something like 'viewing'. Also, the more I deal with these, the more I realize that I'm more or less now making a (very) rudimentary CMS. But I can't work on the site too much this week- my classes seem to be bent on getting their stuff out of the way before spring break this week, so I'm caught up until then. Maybe I'll get it all done next week.

Mission (almost) Complete!

I've pinpointed the problems in my IE compatibility! Anyone who looks at this in Internet Explorer 7 should see approximately the same thing as the rest of them, give or take a few pixels, now.

Also, the gallery page (Drawings) backend is now up. You won't find anything in it yet (I'm unsure how I'll organize everything still), but the coding is in place for a basic gallery. I'll probably redo the entire thing once I figure out databases, anyways. If you want to check out something before I actually set up links, head over here.

I've also set the UTexas Asterism site (webspace.utexas.edu/fli58) to redirect to the new one (asterism.x10hosting.com).