Photics.com website development has been a little bit slow at the moment. I thought I'd inform everyone on the plan for the future.

We can start by blaming Nemi!

I wasn't expecting to bring back the Photics Forums. Nemisari asked for their return. I liked the idea, so here they are! I'm glad that the forums are back, and I think it's going to be awesome in the future. But right now, it brings us back to the dueling systems problem.

When it comes to running this website, vBulletin and WordPress are not the best of friends. Here are some issues...

• Harder to maintain (Two databases)
• Multiple logins
• Different Look (WordPress Themes vs vBulletin Themes)
• Redundancy (WordPress is blog & vBulletin has a blog)

When I look at both systems, vBulletin is just better. The plan is to drop WordPress and move my articles into the vBulletin Blogging system. It's not going to be a perfect fit, but I think it's an important decision. If I'm off using a separate Blogging system, why should you use the vBulletin blog?

There's a problem with this plan. I'm running a beta version of vBulletin. It has lots of great features. Unfortunately, I don't have any working themes for it. The Photics Forums aren't going to look very pretty without an improvement to the themes. Supposedly, new themes will be available shortly after vBulletin 3.7 leaves beta.

Also, there's supposed to be an update to the v3arcade, which will be available for vBulletin 3.7.

So basically, vBulletin is a better match for this site than WordPress. Unfortunately, not everything is ready just yet. I guess that's OK. Things will probably be quiet until Guild Wars 2 hits beta. Photics.com should be ready by then.

__________________
Michael Garofalo
Webmaster - http://photics.com

Progress Report...

The transfer project has begun. While the site looks quite dull right now, I'm quite happy with the technological changes. Here are some of the highlights...

• Search Engine Optimized Links
• New features with vBulletin 3.7
• One system... with blogs for everyone!
• An integrated chat room!

I really like the chat room. It uses the same login & permissions information as vBulletin. If you'd like to test it out, you can go here...

http://photics.com/ChatRoom/ChatRoom_fixedvB.html


To Do List...

• Upgrade to vBulletin Gold 3.7
• Import old Posts... and maybe old users
• Install a new vBulletin Theme

This really isn't a lot of work. It would already be done, but I'm actually waiting for the upgrades to be released. The new theme might happen as soon as this weekend. The other stuff, probably the weekend after that. I'm figuring that the site should be back to normal by the end of the month. No, not normal, BETTER THAN BEFORE!


The Good Part...

I had a little chat with Gaile a while ago. I can't really go into details right now, but I will release a little bit of information. When this site is back to normal, I can start preparing for a Guild Wars fansite contest. The prize should be... interesting

__________________
Michael Garofalo
Webmaster - http://photics.com

The new chat room is great! I can't wait to see what the new Photics.com front page is going to look like

What happened to the Comics, and the videos you used to make?

Dx

I'm glad that you asked and welcome to Photics.com!

This site is under heavy construction right now. The old Guild Wars content is scheduled to return. The plan is to have the old Guild Wars videos, comics and ezines back online by the end of the month.

That's not an ArenaNet style deadline either.

I'm really aiming for this weekend, but my schedule depends on when vBulletin goes Gold. The beta / release candidate versions of vBulletin do not have ImpEx, which means that I cannot easily import the old posts. Instead of cutting & pasting all the old content, I'm just going to wait for some automation.

__________________
Michael Garofalo
Webmaster - http://photics.com

Thats awesome! I can't wait to go back to forums and comics!

Update: The transfer project is nearing completion. I'm still waiting for vBulletin 3.7 to go Gold, but everything else is looking good. This weekend, I moved a lot of content from WordPress to my vBulletin blog.

http://photics.com/blogs/photics/

Hopefully that will show you how easy it is to have your own blog.

Also, the new theme is almost complete. I've modified the new theme based on preliminary feedback. The left column is now 40 pixels slimmer. I also have the ability to add custom themes for specific sections.

I'm not sure if it's worth the extra effort to maintain additional themes, but I have a WoW style that's sitting on my desktop. It could easily be modified to give the Guild Wars section of this website a unique look.

OK, I'm going back to work. The project is wrapping up nicely.

__________________
Michael Garofalo
Webmaster - http://photics.com