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  • This topic has 106 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 13 years ago by Tim.
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    • #5949
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Just a little thread to keep you updated with any developments of the slightest interest re: the blog.

    • #7038
      Tim
      Keymaster

      The front page now has an “Articles from the archive” section, which gives you three random articles from our back-catalogue of 240-odd articles. Commenting is still open on old articles, so do feel free to chip in on something old even if there hasn’t been any discussion on it for years.

    • #7176
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Just a question about server performance – when you post a comment or something on the forums, would you say the site responded quickly or slowly? (Or, of course, somewhere in between the two)

    • #7178
      Annette A
      Participant

      When I’m posting from somewhere with a decent broadband speed (ie at work) it’s pretty fast, I’d say. It takes a while when I’m at home, due to the pathetic phone network BT have saddled us with in our village, and a lack of will on the part of virgin or anyone else to cable us. So I’d say the servers themselves were pretty good.

    • #7180
      Hairy Gnome
      Participant

      I would say the servers were a little on the slow side, but not so bad that it poses a problem even for someone with such a low tolerance of slow sites as me.

    • #7192
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I do find the site slightly slower to render than some others. Not really problematically so, but I have noticed that there’s a noticable delay on domain lookup, even before the page renders, and a slightly slow load while things gradually get themselves hidden/visible and all in the right places (I’ve always assumed this is the javascript/ajax loading in combined with jquery waiting for pageload to complete before executing)
      </geek>

    • #7193
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @mike – see if you think the site’s a bit quicker since 27-09-10 – it’s now moved to a new server and it’s a touch quicker I think. I might also move the mySQL database to a new server too…!

    • #7194
      Stephen
      Participant

      Site is much quicker since the 27th for me :)

    • #7195
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Good good good!

    • #7363
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Latest developments:
      BuddyPress updated to latest version, you now see icons in the activity stream. Woo!
      – Right hand navigation tidied up with a “quick links” box at the top with links to the main parts of the site.
      – Facebook box on right hand size made less irritating and nice logos with links to other social media guff put in
      – Sticky welcome post on front page

    • #7402
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Eagle-eyed readers will notice the sticky welcome post on front page has a sub-title – this week it’s “laughing to hide the tears”. I fancy I might change it from time to time, so if you’d like to suggest a sub-title let me know here!

    • #7438
      Alison
      Keymaster

      @Tim I love the “Articles from the archives” bit on the right hand nav. There’s stuff in there I’d forgotten I’d written!

    • #7443
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @alison – I know! As at today’s date we have 256 articles – and there’s some really good stuff in the archives. Even though I say so myself! :-D

    • #7683
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Minor update – posts now have the date at the top instead of the time. A two minute fix for something that’s really been annoying me for months!

    • #8004
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Site updates:

      1) the much neglected “Resources” section has been tidied up and prettified. http://www.shootuporputup.co.uk/resources
      2) the top menu has been tidied, removing the “Groups” and “Members” tabs which were never used
      3) A new page for posting up Excel templates for blood glucose logging – http://www.shootuporputup.co.uk/resources/logging-templates/

    • #8006
      lizz
      Participant

      Aha, I was wondering where all the tabs had gone. I find when I’ve logged to the ‘forums’ page, often the time of the last posting is say 59 seconds ago or something, but if I go to that posting in fact it was 20 minutes or 2 hours.

      I have found the site less easy to use than others, which make sense very quickly.

    • #8007
      lizz
      Participant

      PLUS for instance, I just posted that comment above, and after posting I was still on the first page, and my comment was here, on the second page. That is very illogical.

    • #8009
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @lizz – the time thing being wonky is a “feature” (or “bug” as we like to call them) in Buddypress, so there’s not much I can do about it I’m afraid.

      I agree – I think the Forums and Activity features aren’t entirely user-friendly; but I’m stuck with Buddypress as it was, frankly, the best of a bad lot which fitted my criteria for blog / forum integration. There is better forum software out there (older readers will recall the forums used to be completely separate from the blog and were accessed through a sub-domain and which used some different forum software) , but it just doesn’t mesh so well with the blog. I guess we just have to take the rough with the smooth.

    • #8010
      Stephen
      Participant

      Hey @tim – how do I navigate to my scary article from the Resources section? Can’t find it! :)

      PS – CGM one will be written on Monday.

    • #8034
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Blog updates:

      1) mySQL database moved to a new server, so hopefully better performance and fewer crappy timeouts!

    • #8035
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Good work @tim
      Just to bug ya.. Need to short your blog description out for us using mobile like devices. I know, I know you could not give a rats ***, but we live in hope.. Emailed you a screenshot.

    • #8036
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Done and done Mike!

    • #8039
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Good and good! :-) ” iPad say’s hi **wave** ”

    • #8041
      Tim
      Keymaster

      You haven’t got an iPad have you Mike? You didn’t mention that in our last 300 emails at all ;-)

    • #8048
      Stephen
      Participant

      @tim – what you done to the theme? It’s hideous!

    • #8049
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @stephen – he he! Thanks! What specifically don’t you like? I only updated the header…

    • #8050
      Stephen
      Participant

      You’re welcome :)

      Personal opinion : don’t like the gradient – just seems to darken the whole page.
      Professional opinion : blue text on grey background (subtitle) is not a combination I would use on a web site Blue text is dodgy due to poor reception by the eye anyway (especially my knackered ones!) but when used on grey it’s not terribly readable.

      In my humble opinion …….

    • #8051
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Didn’t you get the memo about not being allowed to express personal opinions on here? :-)

      There was a dark gradient there before (black at the top to navy blue below), so this one’s actually a bit lighter. TBH, I’m not really that keen on the look and feel of any of the site, but I don’t have the mad design skillz to improve it that much.

      If you fancy re-doing the banner yourself to something you would like to see, then it needs to be 1250×125 pixels in size and the font is “London Between” which you can get from dafont.com. :-D

    • #8052
      Stephen
      Participant

      The memo was in blue text so I couldn’t read it :P I wonder if the green used on the “Reply Posted” and other notifications would work ….. I’ve got some serious astronomy to do tonight but if I get 10 minutes I’ll see if anything springs to mind :)

    • #8053
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Open it up to the floor, perhaps a little competition and mini poll/vote to decide which one?

      Just a thought?

    • #8054
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Vote? Poll? Common consent? All sounds dangerously communist to me.

      All I want is for a talented designer to come forward and offer to redo the entire for free. I do realise the prospects of this happening in reality are very slim.

    • #8055
      Annette A
      Participant

      The blue subtitle is almost invisible on my screen, as the hue is too close to the grey.
      (I’m a born critic, I know :-) )

    • #8057
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Ooh, I’d love to offer to help if only I was a talented web designer. In my opinion the banner that mentions rotting toes (nice) should be in orange (i.e. the same orange that shows times since recent activity) or white. It would stand out a lot better, unless you don’t want it to stand out :o)

    • #8058
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      And by banner I mean the text in the banner that mentions the toes thing, not the whole banner! :o)

    • #8060
      lizz
      Participant

      OMG never noticed the rotting toes! I may have stayed away if I had!

    • #8062
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @claire – I kind of wanted the sub-title to be more subtle than the main title. It is, after all, a sub-title. I might play around with it a touch more as it does all look a little goth.
      @lizz – the sub-title is designed to put off anyone without a sense of humour. :-D

    • #8066
      Alison
      Keymaster

      As co-writer of this thing I suppose I should care about all of this but I’m afraid my anorak is in the wash so I won’t be able to join the pixel/banner/theme/colourblind/ipad geekfest. If I was to summon up every ounce of effort and force myself to have an opinion, I’d say that I like the new banner thing less than the old one but I’d struggle to say why.

    • #8067
      Stephen
      Participant

      @alison, did you miss the revolution? Geeks are no longer anorak wearing losers! I present to you Geek 1.0 (yes I admit I stole the image for my avatar) vs Geek 2.0 (and yes I am that cool!)

      http://zoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/geek2_0.gif

    • #8068
      Tim
      Keymaster

      It’s not that bad a new banner, damn you all!

      I wanted to use a new and more distinct font – which we could also use on the forthcoming video blog titles. So I redid the header and the colours too while I was at it. (As an aside, I’m really into fonts now, having read “Just My Type” (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Just-My-Type-About-Fonts/dp/1846683017) – a book all about fonts – over Christmas).

    • #8069
      Alison
      Keymaster

      @Stephen Loser is a bit strong. I’d have settled for the fact that you’re all a bit special. The husband is a fully fledged geek so I am experienced in these matters. I know you no longer have real anoraks, but I’m convinced you all have virtual anoraks that you put on at times like this. I’ve seen it happen too many times ;-)

    • #8070
      lizz
      Participant

      It’s a slippery slope into geekdom when you start bandying around phrases like ‘I read a book about fonts over Christmas’. And think that a remark such as ‘I’m really into fonts now’ can pass as an aside.

      Although, actually, I have to admit… I LOVE browsing font sites. I often download something special for the weekend. Or a particular project. In fact I have a regular weekly update by email of new, spectacular, bright, crazy, cool or smoooooooth fonts.

      Just off to put my bedtime anorak on.

    • #8071
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @Lizz – well, I would highly recommend said book above ^^ it’s quite an entertaining read. Especially the bit about the infamous antics of Mr Gill Sans.

    • #8072
      Annette A
      Participant

      I hate the Gill Sans font. (It has bad memories for me). I must get hold of this book, it sounds interesting…(Being a geek just means you know more about the subject in question (fonts? Banners?) than the person calling you a geek :-) .)

    • #8080
      Stephen
      Participant

      Hmm @tim – does the Facebook Connect not persist your logged in state? I hate having to log in each time I go to a site :)

    • #8082
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @stephen – I’ve no idea – evidently not. You can still use your old Shoot Up log in if it doesn’t do what you want.

    • #8149
      Annette A
      Participant

      @stephen has found a minor glitch in my logging sheet (cheers Stephen!) – It only affects the graph of the bolusing on the 8th day. I’ve sent a new version to @Tim to upload, (for those who know how to use excel quite well it’s straight forward to correct, for those who dont, just use the new version when it arrives :-) )
      (If anyone finds any other problems, let me know – I tried to find all of the them (its mainly to do with where the graphs are taking their data from), but there’s always one that sneaks through…)

    • #8150
      Tim
      Keymaster

      New version uploaded and the old link should now grab the new file!

    • #8212
      Hairy Gnome
      Participant

      @Tim – is there any possibility you can allow editing of one’s own posts on the main blog? Not essential I know, but despite my best proof reading efforts the occasional typo slips through, it’s embarrassing! :)

    • #8213
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @teloz – you should be able to as you have “Contributor” rights – I’ll drop you an email.

    • #8343
      Tim
      Keymaster

      This is only a test after an upgrade – remain calm!

    • #8411
      Tim
      Keymaster

      I’ve just re-jigged the links page to make it more user-friendly and actually slightly useful:

      http://www.shootuporputup.co.uk/resources/useful-websites/

      I will have missed approximately 16.9 million useful websites, so could you reply here or drop me an email with the ones I’ve neglected to list please? Ta!

    • #8414
      Dave
      Participant

      All good. Can I add http://www.bdec-e-learning.com/ that I was directed towards by @Alison for a quick carb counting guide? Just completed the course and whilst I’m sure it’s nowhere near as good as the the full-on DAFNE it’s a start.

      Also for the manufacturers I’d add http://www.accu-chek.co.uk/gb/ as I like their meters and you can quickly ask online for replacement batteries and books etc – just don’t expect them to be too quick in delivery.

    • #8416
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I would second the BDEC course, good intro to carb counting.. Also something complete away from Diabetes – http://theoatmeal.com/ We all need a larf from time to time. :)

    • #8420
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Thanks chaps – duly added!

    • #8434
      Tim
      Keymaster

      In other news, I was looking through the stats today and loads of our traffic comes from search engine searches for terms like “king charles spaniel, king charles cavalier, cavalier king charles spaniel” and “Woof!” (http://www.shootuporputup.co.uk/2010/07/woof/) is one of our most popular articles.

      More people come to Shoot Up by searching for dogs than diabetes. This is so depressing I don’t even know where to begin! :-D

    • #8603
      Annette A
      Participant

      Any chance of adding another converter to the RHS – one that covers the change from % to mmol (or whatever the new version is actually in) for HbA1Cs?

    • #8604
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Next you’ll be wanting the moon on a stick! I’ll have a look…

    • #8605
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Do you know if there’s an easy formula to convert one to the other?

    • #8606
      Annette A
      Participant

      Is it sugar free? If so, I’d like 2 please :-)

    • #8607
      Annette A
      Participant

      Oh, yes there is. I have seen it, I’ll go hunt.

    • #8608
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Wikipedia says IFCC-HbA1c (mmol/mol) = [DCCT-HbA1c (%) – 2.15] × 10.929

      Hmmm….

    • #8609
      Annette A
      Participant

      Voila:
      />
      (old value HbA1c (%) – 2.15) x 10.929 = new value in mmol/mol.

    • #8611
      Annette A
      Participant

      Mine came from Diabetes UK, so for once you can believe Wikipedia!

    • #8612
      Annette A
      Participant

      Why do square brackets (and contents) disappear when looked at in the Activities tab?

    • #8613
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Square brackets and what not get stripped out to (probably) prevent insertion of rogue code! I’ve got a new box down at the bottom right with a converter. Amusingly it gives the wrong answer.

    • #8614
      Tim
      Keymaster

      I’ve taken it off and given up! If anyone is better at me at basic Javascript functions (!) then could they drop me an email please? :-)

    • #8615
      Alison
      Keymaster

      That would be handy. My head is currently in the sand about the HbA1c changes – after using the old way for practically my entire life, I feel like a pensioner who’s suddenly been told they have to measure things in centimeters and kilograms!

    • #8897
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Blog latest: just a small technical tweak so that member profile pages don’t get indexed on search engines. This should protect you from stalkers and Internet wierdos. There are more than enough already on Shoot Up ;-b

    • #8898
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Blog latest: another minor tweak – the section with the user pictures on right hand side now displays the top twelve contributors in terms of comments on blog posts in the last 30 days (excluding me and Alison). It used to display the last 15 logged-in users. Thought it might make a change.

    • #8899
      Alison
      Keymaster

      Ah, I sense someone trying to start some competition!

    • #8900
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Indeed! Sadly it doesn’t count forum posts – which is a bit of pain, but hey hum!

    • #8902
      Cecile
      Participant

      @tim: Thanks to your site’s apartheid policy, my suppressed horde of limericks have no voting power…tut, tut, tut 🙄

      Oh, and while your hands are all greasy with tweaking, can’t you enable users to specify their therapies (pump,pens,pills) in their profiles?

    • #8903
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Thank heavens for that – there’s 320-odd posts in that thread now!

      In terms of greasy hands, your wish is my command – I’ve added a “About you & your diabetes” text box to the profiles, so you can fill in a bit more detail. You can edit your profile by clicking on your name in the top right corner > Profile tab > Edit profile > Fill in new box.

      Don’t say I’m not kind to you!

    • #8904
      Annette A
      Participant

      You’re not kind to @ckoei …Oh sorry, you said don’t…

    • #8905
      Cecile
      Participant

      @annette: 😆 (this, along with @lizz‘s McTit, will bless me with a jolly smirk ’til doomsday)

    • #8906
      Tim
      Keymaster

      src=”smileys/frown.gif” width=”” height=”” alt=”:-(” title=”:-(” class=”bbcode_smiley” />

    • #8921
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Changed it back to the old style thingy as I preferred it.

    • #8940
      Tim
      Keymaster

      I’ve added an “Off topic” section to the forums – for discussion of things non-diabetic, for example what I’m planning to read on my holidays. We’ll see if anyone uses it and will maintain / delete it as required!

    • #9007
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Upgraded blog to latest major release of BuddyPress – which might give us some new features to play with. Chief amongst these is the ability to use the search box in the top right to search the forums *and* blogs posts from the same place. Hurrah!

      Updated the theme to latest theme – will fix the header soon.

    • #9019
      Annette A
      Participant

      But I’ve lost the little link ‘View’ which allowed me to jump straight to the post, rather than the start of the thread. Can we have it back? Or has it moved somewhere I cant see it?

    • #9020
      Cecile
      Participant

      Click the time-link to view&see…

    • #9021
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @ckoei – cool! I hadn’t noticed that!

    • #9022
      Annette A
      Participant

      Hey! Cheers @ckoei – it didnt even look like a link anymore.

    • #9023
      Cecile
      Participant

      I’m just relieved this is Shoot up – if it had been Twitter, a blind poking at meaningless symbols would’ve caused friends, favourites & retweets (phew!)

    • #9027
      Tim
      Keymaster

      If anyone cares, we’ve just turned down yet another offer for advertising on the site. Aside from the stripykat advert on the bottom right, we’ve always had a strict no advertising policy. Even ads from reputable pharma companies. This is because I hate blogs covered in ads and I presume you do too.

      If you’re interested, Alison and I share the hosting costs for the site between us. They’re pretty modest and so we’re not prevented from running our second yachts, etc.

    • #9195
      Tim
      Keymaster

      More updates on the site – a new look (which is pretty similar to the old look, but just tweaked a bit). There’s also a new front page – which is designed to allow quick access to everything that’s on the site – both the forums and the blog in one place. Hopefully you’ll hate it and yearn for the old format again.

    • #9199
      Annette A
      Participant

      Don’t like the font… :-)

    • #9201
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Interestingly enough the one at the top in one of Google’s web fonts that’s generated on the fly. Technology and all that!

    • #9202
      Annette A
      Participant

      It is easier to use/see on a mobile device now though (that’s an android smartphone, not a fruit based product, although I’m sure it still applies…)

    • #9203
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Is it? I’ve had another user on Twitter saying it’s worse to look at on a mobile device! I haven’t actually looked at it on mine – that would imply some sort of design process, rather than just making it up on the fly

    • #9219
      Cecile
      Participant

      My cheapskate non-fruit chops the front page category headers in half…and gives Shoot Up an athletic flavour :)

    • #9227
      Cecile
      Participant

      The home page’s “Recent sitewide activity” takes about half a day to update (though you do get it clicking the “Activity” tab at the top).

    • #9228
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @ckoei – that’s a feature not a bug – the feeds on the front page are cached to save them having to be reloaded every time someone visits – thus saving wear and tear on the server.

      I guessed that most people come and have a look at the site at most once a day or so or every couple of days, so it should give most people an overview of what’s going on. The activity tab is – as always – the place for your latest Shoot Up fix!

    • #9232
      Cecile
      Participant

      @tim: Pah! You should change “Recent” to “Past”, then… ;-)

    • #9234
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Well I like the new look!
      Its rather tastefully done in ;

    • #9235
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Thanks @Mustard – I wanted it to be easy on the eye. I hate forums that have too much going on – especially forums that allow signatures at the bottom of every post – awful, just awful!

      The blatant advertising is a very important part of the site – I think everyone should do their Christmas shopping over at stripykat.com – the Kindle cases are selling like hot cakes! :-D

    • #9286
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      @tim

      Anyword on how the mobile side of the site goes?
      I’ve gone from it being rather cluttered to just getting a blank page when I click on forums (the blogs page works though)

      Is this payback for complaining?

    • #9287
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @furrypaul – damned right, next complaint and you’re banned from the site! ;-)

      Nah, I haven’t looked at it yet, but it’s working its way up the list.

    • #9373
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @furrypaul – I’ve tweaked the site and it should now display better on a mobile device. Can you let me know if it doesn’t? :-)

    • #9435
      Tim
      Keymaster

      If anyone cares, Shoot Up is now on a new hosting platform. You shouldn’t really notice any difference – aside from, hopefully, a slight speed increase.

    • #9440
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Whatever happened with the transfer at Lunch its sorted my phone out!
      I can see the site again in a readable form, don’t press any more buttons on the server & I’ll do the same with my phone!

    • #9453
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @furrypaul – I fixed that about a week ago! But yesterday I also had to remove the compression doubry*, which might effect how you see the site too if you were using an older browser.

      *”doubry” being a technical term

    • #9455
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      The update last week let me access the site on the phone again but this ones actually made it so I can use it.

      I’d been meaning to drop you a line to let you know but I’m more often on phone than by a pc.

    • #9457
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Ahhh – that’ll definitely be the compression thing then…

    • #9458
      Tim
      Keymaster

      In other news, I’m working on tweaking the front page so that it updates more quickly. You have to wait a day or so for the latest posts, etc., to appear, which isn’t ideal. If any readers are experts on incorporating feeds into WordPress pages, then please do get in touch :-)

    • #9469
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Front page now tweaked – should update recent activity, news posts and so on instantly. If it looks a bit weird then it might be you’re caching the old CSS file – it’ll sort itself out soon enough

    • #9558
      Tim
      Keymaster

      There’s a new front page – I would like to say this was a planned change. However, a plugin update destroyed my old front page and *cough* I didn’t have a backup because I’m an idiot. So a new page was rapidly rebuilt from scratch. D’oh!

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