On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 5:26 AM, gdgqler <[email protected]> wrote: > > On 25 Feb 2011, at 08:37, Norman Dunbar wrote: > > > Morning Dilwyn, > > > >> However, the failure to explain all this publicly and the fact it went > on for a long > >> time without explanation does give the impression of negligence in > updating the > >> website, whereas the truth is that the whole sorry situation is > > actually down to > >> the CMS not working as it should on the free server spaces used, making > it > >> impossible to provide a decent website while that system is in use. > > > > I sneaked a peek at the home page source code. Looks like Quanta are > > using TYP03 as the CMS (www.typ03.org) which is not one I've heard of in > > the past, but a qucik web search shows that some pretty big > > organisations use it - Thomas Cook, Unicef, Lidl etc - so it can't be a > > problem with the CMS per se. > > > > Maybe it's the people using it? Maybe the free hosting company can't > > cope with the load, who knows. The system itself seems pretty light on > > resources, so maybe the switch to a paid for host will help. > > > > My own website (http://qdosmsq.dunbar-it.co.uk) - or maybe I should call > > it George's web site as he is doing most of the updating at the moment > > (thanks George) - is run on a simple Wiki (www.Dokuwiki.org) which is > > useful and simple and works pretty well even when broadband is reduced > > to an 11 mbs (bits not bytes!) wireless connection! (Which is what I > > have to use at work!). However, I don't think that would be suitable for > > Quanta. > > > > It's a pity that it wouldn't be suitable for QUANTA. Even I find it pretty > easy to alter. (Only one trap or vector left to create.) > > > I do think that CMS is the way to go with a enterprise web site these > > days, it takes far too long and is not really cost effective to be hand > > coding HTML - even with a WYSISWYG HTML editor - you need to be able to > > connect, edit, save and disconnect, not messing about with HTML and then > > trying to FTP the results to the right place etc etc. > > > > However, I've been on the site (using the above mentioned wifi link) and > > it's very responsive, quite fast - and it looks good. So, I'm rather > > concerned at the fact that you have problems with it when editing or > > updating - I'm loathe to believe that the free hosting is at fault, > > unless your bandwidth is throttled somehow and the editing process is > > hitting a limit? > > > > Not much help I know, just random thoughts mainly, and a bit of > > encouragement. > > > > > > I recently had to move my tiny, rudimentary website from the "free" > ukonline to 123-reg. I imagine that there are fewer and fewer "freely" > hosted sites these days. The new host was very helpful when I failed > initially to get the thing working. > > I look forward to the time when my site address will eventually appear on > the QUANTA site which is quick and easy to follow - but a bit slow on the > update. >
I have my own web server, which is somewhat of a luxury for me :) I have used wordpress, and when my needs grew beyond it, I installed Drupal - which in the end I considered too heavy and which demanded too many resources from the server. When it has 2000+ simultaneous users, it gets a bit resource-intensive. For Quanta's needs, I would recommend either Wordpress, php-nuke or slashcode. All use a MySQL backend, all are free, open source, and all would be better than what is in use now. All also have many very flexible themes available... One thing I think would help Quanta is to acknowledge that the internet is a primary form of communication - I know this seems obvious and they could say "we're doing it" but, c'mon, really? :) Where's the Quanta forum? Where are the public areas and the members only areas within it? It's so easy to run a great forum if you have a captive membership. Look at qlforum.co.uk, which is run on free phpBB (which I have also hosted.) One trap with running a forum - which qlforum has fallen into... It is not necessary or desirable to have the first two or three entries be "the rules" and info about "the forum". It's undesirable to have "the rules" on every page when you post. Show it nice when people sign up. Every decent forum has the same basic rules: treat people with respect, don't flame, come back more often! People know how to behave, and if they don't a quiet word to one side can happen, without telling everyone all the time what the rules are. I know y'all over there live in a Nanny State, but... don't! And it's still the only game in town, forum-wise. Another trap with forums: people use net-names and it's hard to keep track of who is really who. I would have a "please use your real name" rule on sign-up. I have privately received an offer to put up or shut up with regard to the Quanta website... *grins* I think I will put up, but have no desire to be on a committee, or converse with one. It'll be a month or two to find the membership fee (because making things is my primary goal)... but yes, I'll rejoin Quanta after all these years. :) Additionally, I will be adding a pbpBB forum to my new site in the coming weeks. It will have a very limited focus on developers - I am not trying to compete with qlforum.co.uk but to enhance and support what they're doing. I am uploading my current site update. It'll be live in a few minutes. In a week or two, I will be moving my site to a new location: http://www.sinclairQL.com [1] The forum and a few other nice things will go live at that time. I have received some nice information on QL microdrive expansion, including circuitry for interfacing OPD microdrives to the QL. I've also received some nice QL-related into. It's a bit photocopied-to-death so I need to recreate the schematics. Dave [1] I live in the US, which is the country of registration and publication of the site. In the US, the Sinclair trademark has been abandoned, and I have good legal advice from a business law attorney that I am allowed to use the domain name. It will be used for non-commercial purposes only. _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
