The Terminator Files Forum

Being somewhat absent(minded) for more then a month (or was it three?), I thought it was time to lift the veil and tell you folks whats been going on.

As some may have noticed, the main site lacks serious updates. Sure, we have the online news section which still gets updated on a quite regular basis, but in general, all other updates have been halted.

Why?
Well... to say it in the most simple terms I can give: new site coming!

Please give me some more info
OK. I can give some insight in the developments, since most prep-work has been done by me. If you are interested, hang on, read more about whats been, whats done, whats coming, whats expected to be renewed, what gonna be different.

The current site as you see might be concidered good coding, but if you delve into the coding its quite old. The best example of the code behind the site is the fact that we still design with tables, instead of the now-a-days internet must-have, being divs. Now, I've been a big fan of tables my whole webdesigner life (being since 1991), but with the work I've done this last year for clients, I must say I am becoming a DIV lover.

Anyway... the current site has been scrutinised upon by me since over a year, soo I decided to go at it as best I can and do a total redesign. Yup, thats right, a total new interface, new technologies to be implemented, new coding, faster site, faster content, easier to update, and lots more.

New stuff coming
Ooh noo... there you have them again, telling that new stuff is coming. Well, as far as my technical design ideas goes, the new stuff mentioned in our many updates over the years, should be easier to implement with the new site. Given I can get it of the ground what I want with the site. Soo... yes, we are going to have new stuff enabled... and yes, it will be online whenever its online (like we have been prone to say many times before).

ETA?
Mmmm... thats a hard one. Currently I'm on a holiday, which in my case means I have been home working on the site for almost 6 full days already. I actually did a update of the current site into XHTML Strict already, so if stuff seems odd, its the new coding being tested on the current website.

Whats the ETA of the new site going to be? Well... if I get the main interface off the ground like I want (as design in Photoshop, as well as the technical dynamic layout of the coding, which needs to be scalable), then a redesign of the contents should not take more then a few hours (with nifty replace scripting in my HTML editor).

However... the new site will be build from the ground up... and if applicable, old content will be redesigned into new graphics and coding... and pumped into the new site.

I might even concider launching a new refreshed website which is clean, after which certain topics (like for instance video and audio files) are no longer available. Then redesign and recode those, and upload them to the new website.

That said...
Now you know why things seem to have been slow, but we are very busy behind the scenes, prepping some new super awesome stuff for you. And whenever its launched, and you say to yourself, "Whats this? What was all the hoopla about? This aint special?"... at least we (or I) have had fun trying new technologies out on a site that is almost 10000% bigger than I have ever done for any client.

This baby is BIG!!! Soo... lets get back to it.

Take all the time you need.

cool can't wait!

so.. the new site will be faster, stronger and more powerful.

Like an anti-terminatorfiles terminator?

Haha nice

I've read an equivalent of approx. 200 pages of three books about CSS design and new technologies... and tested out new (server-sided)coding for the new website. Also, a general design idea and new functional diagram, including new section definitions are done. Some test builds of the new site are running on undisclosed location online.

This baby is big... so expect an ETA of summer 2012 or something . But I'm having fun, and thats what matters most (not that I do not value you folks).

Just an update that I'm busy behind the scenes.

I've checked several new tools that would make the site work better, including Web 2.0 stuff (interaction). I've also been in talks with some about making the website more of an archive, which means its not needing daily updates, and we can focus on getting bigger sections of the ground. This is still to be decided.

Also done some tests online, of which several persons involved in the main staff (be it HopeOfTheFuture) and other programmers and designers amongst my friends/collegues having given valuable feedback (see this as a good research before beginning with implementing stuff and then finding out some things will not work, or could have been done better from the start).

Just a heads up that we (or I) am full-time busy with getting the new site design and coding off the ground. More info to come in due time, as well as a test phase where limited access will be granted to select forum-members, testing out the new site (also still to be decided).

Actually... I am interested in anybody from around here that still uses Internet Explorer 6, that could test out some functions when the site is done. Don't hesitate to contact me, but also don't mass PM me, since this testing will be done in say three to six months.

ETA new site: 2010 (no longer 2012, as in me previous post... or at least I think it will...some time or the other... or whatever, bleh!).

Small update: I'm still in pre-production stage of the new website. Also very busy at work, soo not much time to spend on the thing. Intitial framework is almost done. Currently testing dynamic loading content and new interactive modules to be implemented in new concept.

In my mind this new site is a real kicker... but typing and programming it all takes conciderable time. And I also have a real life to attent to. More to come in due time.

Small update: Reading up on stuff, servers, programming, css, php and all is basicly done. Template framework seems to be working... though I'm still tweaking the hell out of some advanced options. Also been less active this last week due to work related isssues. Hope to delve deeper in total design of site and modules... and cook up the final product soon. Just a heads up that I'm on the mark with getting it off the ground... or at least I think I am. More to come in due time.

Almost a month of seeming inactivity... but still hard at work getting the big new site of the ground. Checked out new systems, including code being checked by three fellow programmers... since the basis needs to be viewable on ALL browser (which aint hard when you do it in XHTML Strict, but it has some limitations left and right which need checking).

Also been checking out connectability with services like Facebook, Twitter and such. Including their API systems, which means we can connect code written for our site that interacts with theirs. I've also checked out some options which makes the site interconnect with our YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/TerminatorFiles. And some other functions which I am not gonna talk about, yet.

The project has become bigger than I first anticipated, also due to the fact that I have lots more stuff to do at my dayjob, which reflect on activities for making the new site work (aka, being somewhat distracted, or too tired to work on the site at nights during normal weekdays. Weekends are also filled with activities... I'm still human).

This is just another update to tell you fine folks that stick with us... to stick with us some more. Its coming... eventually.

Estimated launch: December 2009
... although I also have a holiday upcoming terminating the snowy mountains again, with possible accompanied videos.

More to come in due time (which has become a sentence I write many times these days... but it really is, folks!)

Just had to leave a message... that our new site will be supa dupa uber cool!!! I think the template is now finished enough to get to recoding all content... but I can't get over the fact that this is really gonna be a beauty!!! More to come in a few...

I've recoded the initial template again, due to some unforseen problems and bigger "future issue resolving". The intial template construct is done, and contents is dripping in to be tested, next with new functions of scripts and streaming video plugins.

Just another heads up that the site looks to be done, and all we now need to do is re-include 14.9 GIG of data .

And as a side-note... I have upgraded the forum to be in line with the new site... soo this is a sneak peak of things to come. Thanx to all that posted the instance when I was rebuilding the forum, to ask why things looked different. Now thats fan devotion, going at it whilst I was updating some scripts the same few seconds and minutes being online .

ETA: End of this year? As a belated Christmas present? Who knows.
(give or take the total time it takes to do a conversion of 14.9 GIG of data)

Added password protected areas to new website. Some of the (new) contents will now be limited to certain people... and we might even start a business that provides that stuff for a monthly fee (mmm... well maybe not ).

Conversion of the website takes a lot longer than expected.
ETA of launch is hereby posponed till next year.

Or we need to find another way to reincude the thousands of old archived news items. I'm thinking about scrapping most of it anyway.

I'll keep ya all posted on the progress.

I thought it was time to talk a little about the new website. For those that read this topic anyway.

Coming back from a hard needed 8 day holiday in Switzerland (you had not notice that, now did ya?), I've since programmed the hell out of this new website and have added a gazillion new options to this what I may now call 'moddafocka' big project. As if the site wasn't big already, its now big in its super new functions.

Even when its launched, you might not notice any big changes but the interface. What I'm talking about in most of the cases, is the coding behind the site that features a lot more interesting stuff (for a programmer, or even its handling on the server). Sure... the total interface and general looks are way off and different than we (or I) have done before, and as far as I think it will be really great to see it come online sooner than later.

I'm brabbling... Anyway. As said... you might not see any changes that are THAT significant, but be assured.. the technology behind the site is a 180 degree turn compared to the coding of the current site (which by the way was still quite advanced if I say so myself... and so I do).

For the technocrats among you, I've implemented a few new features that are not visible appearent, but have great impact on the usability of the new website. These include, but are not limited to;

• Google internal searchengine
  Huh? thats not that special?! EXCEPT... this is internal coding through the API of Google, which makes it possible to produce Google related searchresults, but only for our site alone, yet using their technology
  .
• Lots of other monkeys
  Cause API is almost Dutch for the word monkey... internal Dutch joke here. Anway... already talked previously about the API implementation of services like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, which I now can influence with the help of an external service called 'Ping'... which will enable a lot of cool new features for lots of interesting interactivity for the website. Can't wait to get it launched.
  .
• Password protected areas
  Also finally implemented something that I was thinking about when we first made the second version of our website. Yes... thats about two years ago already... but finally made time for this password protected area. Its currently for affiliates and partners of TerminatorFiles... and will contain appropriate info for them. But also thinking of password protected areas for more 'normal' visitors, where they can get even more exclusive content, made available. Check next item for that.
  .
• Exclusive content
  With the help of some new partners, we might be able to deliver on-demand video in HD quality. This partnership is still in its infancy stages of development, but the partner assured me that I may talk about this already (which I haven't for months, but this is the first time you hear about it. HD content... that would be SOOO cool. Still got me some licence stuff to check out, soo... don't hold it against me if this section of the website never gets launched.
  .
• Supa-dupa advertising solution
  Also finalised the implementation of a new system which will make it possible to advertise a wide range of products on the fly. Sounds very technical, but what this means is that with a flick of a switch (well... code actually... does 'block' and 'none' mean anything to you CSS folks out there?), we will be able to produce custom made advertising on ALL pages of our site. Even simpler: 3000 pages each have their own interface with background... flipping the switch, all 3000 pages are all the same and have the same advertising. That might seem simple if you use a template in a website, but our site (still) does NOT use a template, but HAS indeed have 3000 individually optimised pages. Some programmers call this crazy... I call this ingenious. (For technofobics: having a template might be cool, but its a real delimiter, when designer custom made content for each of your pages. I like to have control over my content, and never use template systems... except for this forum).
  .
• Lots more
  Also found at least four more interesting technologies which I'm keen to implement into the interface of the website. This might pospone the launch of the site even further, but with them implemented, this baby will ROCK!

That said... I'm busy as hell... soo you all know why I'm soo quiet over here .

Now getting back to it...

PS 1: Also found out that this forum is not working in IE8. Might do a hack for it after the launch of the website.

PS 2: I now read that I previously DID talk about the site being a template, yet not being a template lover and our site NOT being a template. To explain: it does have template stuff in it, which makes it possible to influence all pages with the flick of some code in one file, YET still features individually optimised pages. Soo... the site is still 3000 different HTML pages, instead of just one that gets its stuff out of others, or databases for that matter. Just the clearify that it is a template but its not. Can't explain it better.

Sounds pretty cool!

As for Internet Explorer 8, I've had so many problems with it that I stopped using it on both my laptops. If the site isn't IE8-compatible, I won't shed any tears over it.