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Seeking your assitance
Seeking your assitance
| Name: | Edward F. Maurina III |  |
|---|---|---|
| Date Posted: | Aug 05, 2006 | |
| Rating: |  Not Rated | |
| Public: | YES | |
| Comments: | YES | |
| RSS Feed: |  or Subscribe with  . | |
| Profile Page: | View profile page for Edward F. Maurina III |
Blog post
Latest goings on
Hello again folks. I have been staying busy as usual, splitting my time between 'the day job', GPGT volume 2, some TGB stuff, and pretty much all the things I listed in my July 24th plan/blog.
I still haven't had time to do more than put a temporary replacement page up on my HOW - For Gamers site, but I have made progress on some other items.
- I finished my outstanding tasks on a contract for the folks at ILL Clan (be sure to check out their Tra5hTa1k series.
- I finished the draft of the GPGT 1 Post-Mortem. I will publish it soon, but because it is kind of long, I am having a couple people review it for me first. It is split into three sections, which I'll probably post separately as blogs:
1. History Of GPGT - In this first section of the postmortem I traverse the entire
history of this project, highlighting the important events that occurred along the way.
The purpose of this is to show how a whim and a hobby can turn into something more
serious.
2. Project Analysis - In this second section of the postmortem I will do a detailed
analysis of the project, providing a more formal look at the different parts of writing
this book. I will discuss such details as schedule, budget, tools, etc.
3. Lessons Learned - In this third and final section I examine some specific things
that I learned along the way.
- I quit my day job. Oh no, I just dreamed about quitting my day job. Are there any rich benefactors out there who would like to just shower me with money? :)
- All of the other stuff is still in the 'work-in-progress' state.
What about that 'assistance' you are seeking?
So, what about the title of this blog? Well, I am hoping to get some assitance from folks on two things.
Item #1 - DRM
I am still running my survey on DRM. I have found that I enjoy this writing thing (actually I have always enjoyed writing), and now that I am thinking of writing more books and other documents, I have found myself in a peculiar spot.
I know how I feel about e-publications and DRM, but I don't have a good feel for public opinion on this topic. The peculiarity of this stems from my being on the 'other side' of the equation. I am no longer the customer.
So, if you can spare me some time, I'd love to hear more from folks on DRM and if you haven't already answered the questions on my survey, here it is!
(Disclaimer: This survey does not apply to any specific product I have or am working on. I am seeking your GENERAL opinion on e-publications and the use of DRM)
Item #2 - iWeb
The second item relates to my web-site. I will eventually be hiring a professional (when I have more than 2-cents to rub together) to maintain my site for me, but until then I have had to use site-generation software.
Yes, I originally hand-coded my site, but I just don't have time for that anymore, so I have given in to the evils of a generated site.
Interestingly, since acquiring a MAC to resolve the recent GPGT OSX Issues, I have found myself with an alternative means of generating a site.
That alternative is iWeb.
Now, I am fully capably of investigating the features of this tool on my own, but I want to ask you, "Do any of you use this tool and if so, have you used it to create a complex site?"
I am only curious about this tool, because like so many things Mac, the've done a fine job of making it 'sexy'. I hope you know what I mean, because if you don't I am going to have a heck of a time explaining why I call some computers and some software 'sexy'.
That's all!
And that, folks is about it, I do apologize for the lack of images (just one) and I'll try to do better next time.
Meanwhile, I hope you're all having as much fun Torqueing around as I am.
Hall Of Worlds - For Gamers
EdM|GPGT
Hello again folks. I have been staying busy as usual, splitting my time between 'the day job', GPGT volume 2, some TGB stuff, and pretty much all the things I listed in my July 24th plan/blog.
I still haven't had time to do more than put a temporary replacement page up on my HOW - For Gamers site, but I have made progress on some other items.
- I finished my outstanding tasks on a contract for the folks at ILL Clan (be sure to check out their Tra5hTa1k series.
- I finished the draft of the GPGT 1 Post-Mortem. I will publish it soon, but because it is kind of long, I am having a couple people review it for me first. It is split into three sections, which I'll probably post separately as blogs:
1. History Of GPGT - In this first section of the postmortem I traverse the entire
history of this project, highlighting the important events that occurred along the way.
The purpose of this is to show how a whim and a hobby can turn into something more
serious.
2. Project Analysis - In this second section of the postmortem I will do a detailed
analysis of the project, providing a more formal look at the different parts of writing
this book. I will discuss such details as schedule, budget, tools, etc.
3. Lessons Learned - In this third and final section I examine some specific things
that I learned along the way.
- I quit my day job. Oh no, I just dreamed about quitting my day job. Are there any rich benefactors out there who would like to just shower me with money? :)
- All of the other stuff is still in the 'work-in-progress' state.
What about that 'assistance' you are seeking?
So, what about the title of this blog? Well, I am hoping to get some assitance from folks on two things.
Item #1 - DRM
I am still running my survey on DRM. I have found that I enjoy this writing thing (actually I have always enjoyed writing), and now that I am thinking of writing more books and other documents, I have found myself in a peculiar spot.
I know how I feel about e-publications and DRM, but I don't have a good feel for public opinion on this topic. The peculiarity of this stems from my being on the 'other side' of the equation. I am no longer the customer.
So, if you can spare me some time, I'd love to hear more from folks on DRM and if you haven't already answered the questions on my survey, here it is!
(Disclaimer: This survey does not apply to any specific product I have or am working on. I am seeking your GENERAL opinion on e-publications and the use of DRM)
Item #2 - iWeb
The second item relates to my web-site. I will eventually be hiring a professional (when I have more than 2-cents to rub together) to maintain my site for me, but until then I have had to use site-generation software.
Yes, I originally hand-coded my site, but I just don't have time for that anymore, so I have given in to the evils of a generated site.
Interestingly, since acquiring a MAC to resolve the recent GPGT OSX Issues, I have found myself with an alternative means of generating a site.
That alternative is iWeb.
Now, I am fully capably of investigating the features of this tool on my own, but I want to ask you, "Do any of you use this tool and if so, have you used it to create a complex site?"
I am only curious about this tool, because like so many things Mac, the've done a fine job of making it 'sexy'. I hope you know what I mean, because if you don't I am going to have a heck of a time explaining why I call some computers and some software 'sexy'.
That's all!
And that, folks is about it, I do apologize for the lack of images (just one) and I'll try to do better next time.
Meanwhile, I hope you're all having as much fun Torqueing around as I am.
EdM|GPGT
Recent Blog Posts
| List: | 04/25/08 - Psssss... Hot! 03/24/08 - "Multiplayer Gaming and Engine Coding for the Torque Game Engine" and other announcements ... 02/28/07 - Its all still good... 12/01/06 - GGE and Writing 08/15/06 - GPGT Postmortem - Part 3 of 3 (Lessons Learned) 08/11/06 - GPGT Postmortem - Part 2 of 3 (Project Analysis) 08/10/06 - GPGT Postmortem - Part 1 of 3 (History) 08/05/06 - Seeking your assitance |
|---|
Submit your own resources!| Tim Heldna (Aug 05, 2006 at 19:03 GMT) |
www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=874342414610
Quote:
The page cannot be displayed
There is a problem with the page you are trying to reach and it cannot be displayed.
Please try the following:
* Click the Refresh button, or try again later.
* Open the www.surveymonkey.com home page, and then look for links to the information you want.
HTTP 500.100 - Internal Server Error - ASP error
Internet Information Services
Microsoft Support
Edit: Looks like the whole survey monkey site is down atm. Will have to try again later.
Edited on Aug 05, 2006 19:12 GMT
| Edward F. Maurina III (Aug 05, 2006 at 19:16 GMT) |
You know, I kind of expected to have a couple minutes to verify links and formatting before this puppy hit the blog rolls. Regardless, it does look like Survey Monkey just went down. Hopefully they'll get the site up soon. I need to verify that I have the correct survey link. 8(
Again, thanks for answering so fast Tim, and for pointing out this issue. I'll stay on this till their site comes back up and then I'll confirm the link. Talk about bad timing.
EdM|GPGT
| Tim Heldna (Aug 05, 2006 at 19:22 GMT) |
You're a bit of a hero to me. Everyone complained about the lack of documentation and you went and did something about it, and you did a damn good job.
Thus, I am happy to help.
| Rubes (Aug 05, 2006 at 20:07 GMT) |
I think it's a really slick product, but only for very simple web sites for things like blogs and photo galleries. I'm trying to play with it a little, but it can be very restrictive for certain things. I think they sacrified some of the flexibility to make it simple and easy for people without web experience to use. But for making a "complex" web site, I'm not sure it's what you want -- but that depends on what you mean by "complex."
If you really just want a fairly simple collection of web pages it really does take a lot of the work out of it.
| Edward F. Maurina III (Aug 05, 2006 at 20:33 GMT) |
Thanks,
EdM|GPGT
| Unsung Zero (Aug 07, 2006 at 01:45 GMT) |
Look into a Content Mangagement System (CMS) like mambo or joomla for your site. After the initial time investment of getting one set up (which isn't difficult), it takes very little time to maintain the site. Mambo is free and very easy to use. I'm sure anyone here who has had experience with it would be happy to help you out with it, myself included.
On a side note: If one had bought a copy of the book that didn't come with a CD (or two, hoping the second copy may come with one), is there a way to get a copy of the disc?
| Edward F. Maurina III (Aug 07, 2006 at 05:28 GMT) |
@Unsung Zero - This thread should take care of you for missing CDs. Hmmm.. My mind must be wandering. Thanks for the web advise also!
EdM|GPGT
Edited on Aug 07, 2006 06:49 GMT
| Rubes (Aug 07, 2006 at 17:07 GMT) |
| Pisal Setthawong (Aug 07, 2006 at 17:25 GMT) |
I prefer books as books because they are kind to the eye and better to use as a learning resource. The ebook version is helpful as a resources as information is easy to find using the search function. My ideal choice would be a book as a book and an ecopy of the book that would be used as a reference. That usually isn't the case.
Regarding topic two, like many people said earlier, Mambo is pretty good. On a strange note, I prefer to use forum based software though. Somehow I find forum software to be more intuitive, though maybe its my own personal opinion. One thing that I've used for a while is the Simple Machine Forums(http://www.simplemachines.org/) and add the tinyportal modification. Its pretty good, and want to recommend that software.
Edited on Aug 07, 2006 17:31 GMT
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