programmer16's Work Journal

[Daniel]

I have decided to have a place where everyone can go to find out new features or updates that have been added. I will post here every time I add a new feature or make some improvements. Here's my first entry! :

Here are the features that are already present:

• Study Data
• Forums
• Photo Gallery
• Member Profiles

Obviously, each of these features entails many "sub-features", but I'll let you figure that out for yourself!

Here is what is on my "near future" todo list:

• Add links in the navigation bar to all features
• Add/Improve clickable study site map
• Add "original study compilation" page
• Add About/Credits page(s)
• Make website "future-proof" (smoothly allow for future data additions)
• Improve data pages (a few things)

Notice: Because I may move features around the site in the future, no links to the features will be given here.

[Daniel]

Yeah, it's been a while since I've posted here, but I've gotten a bit busy with the start of a new semester of school!

Important note: I just realized that I forgot to set it where anybody can view the photo gallery. I still had it where only I could view it. I apologize greatly, and encourage everyone to view the now-visible pictures!

On another note, I can check a few things off of the to-do list:

• Add links in the navigation bar to all features - DONE! Though I'll add more links as more features are added.
• Add/Improve clickable study site map - partly DONE! Now the map is set up to easily fill in and hyperlink counties in which the data is completely available on this site. County maps are a next minor addition.
• Add "original study compilation" page - DONE! Look under the final results graph on the index page. It's in an awkward location, so once the data summary page is completed, the link will probably be moved there.
• Make website "future-proof" (smoothly allow for future data additions) - DONE! The data page and the database which holds the study data are now prepared for the data of multiple study sites.
• Improve data pages (a few things) - DONE! The big issue was increasing the text size to improve readablility. More features will be part of the next stage of development.

For the next few weeks, we of the IRDS Staff will be adding more data and pictures in preparation for a formal presentation of this website. We will be doing this presentation at the organization with which we are working in conjunction, the Greene County Historical and Genealogical Society.

Unfortunately, this amount of effort (we have eight more study sites' data to add!) means additional features/improvements will have to be on the back-burner for now.

Check the site frequently during the next few weeks for more data and pictures, and (if we work hard enough) potentially some new features!

[Daniel]

Again, I've gotten busy with school.

You'll notice we have 3 new members. The IRDS Assistant Staff are the ones who are graciously interested in entering previous data so this website can "catch up" with the study. Unfortunately, the whole effort hasn't been totally coordinated yet, so no data is currently being added. Hopefully, we can get the whole effort coordinated soon, and start seeing more data!

The other unfortunate news is that we won't be able to have all of the data and pictures uploaded for our presentation on March 16 at the Greene County Historical and Genealogical Society. However, I will upload some pictures (I do all of them) and data (I do data that doesn't fit into our scheme of handling data entry) to add some features that will put the website at Milestone 1 (more details on Milestones soon).

I hope all this "bad" news doesn't get anyone down, because it's just temporary. We can definitely do the presentation without all the data and pictures, and as soon as this presentation is done, we can start working even harder to add the remaining data and pictures, and to add new features!

Be sure to check back frequently to see more data and features, especially after March 16th!

[Daniel]

Well, more not so good news, and some good news.

Our data entry volunteers flew the coop, so we're back on our own with entering data. People keep volunteering, but never contacting me about it or registering an account. Hopefully we can either find somebody who's actually willing to help enter data, or get all the data inputted ourselves.

Anyway, to the good news. SUMMER!!! Now we of the IRDS Staff will be able to do more work on the website, and put up information about events that we currently have no efficient way of putting up.

Also, one of the first features I will add is blogs, to enable (mostly) me to make daily or near-daily posts. That way, people know if I am getting stuff done on the website or are just too busy with school, and not thinking that the website's been forgotten about. We of the IRDS Staff have always had our minds on the website. I'l say it again...

WE WILL NEVER FORGET ABOUT THE WEBSITE!!!

Well, hopefully you'll see more updates soon (just have to finish off this week to be officially done with the school year), and my next "journal" entry in a new place on the website!

[Daniel]

Yay, it hasn't been as long since my last post here!

I've done a couple of important updates to the system the website uses that I've just been putting off. The next step is performing major updates to a feature that hasn't even seen the light of day yet. I installed it at one point, but then just forgot about it (as well as most of the website) as my life got busier.

As soon as I get that done (which should hopefully be later today, even though I have something going on today), I suppose I'll get to work on entering some data, even though we were saving that for potential volunteers (all of which have not done anything up to this point).

Well, there's not much more to say that's not already in a post above, so check back later, and hopefully I'll be able to reveal that feature I'm doing major updates to.

[Daniel]

OK, it has been a looooong time since I've posted on here. The reason being that the "website" you're currently looking at is no longer being maintained.

Now read on before you freak out!

For a while now, I've been working on a revamp of this site (you may have noticed the word "old" in the current URL). Looks probably will not change greatly, but how the site works underneath will change a lot. The first roadblock was a significant update to software we use on this website. The update took quite a while before it was finally released a couple weeks ago, so right now I'm updating what will be the "new" IRDS website. I foresee opening the "new" website within the next week or two, so it'll be your Christmas present from me. The study data may not be available right when I release the "new" website, because migrating the data over will take some work, since I've made some changes to the new data system. Anyway, now that the software is updated, I hope to push out the new site quite rapidly, with more frequent updates as well.

Along those lines, I have some good news that I wish to share regarding the future of the IRDS. Unfortunately, I don't want to share it right now, because it'll get wiped out when I release the "new" website. I promise I'll share the news once the new site's open! Plus, I'll be able to give you more details, since I'm currently waiting on more details from my source.

Well, hope those of you that are interested in this study stick around, because the website's about to get a lot better!

P.S. I finally noticed that the link in the study area map was incorrect, and fixed it. Sorry for not catching that sooner!