Here a Tweak, There a Tweak, Everywhere a Tweak-Tweak

[Jason Dunn]

Fabrizio, the utterly brilliant developer behind 90% of the magic that makes this site work so well, has been hard at work over the past couple of weeks working on enhancing the back-end engine that runs this site. We're pleased to unveil the following tweaks:<br /><br />• Front page is now faster loading through code optimizations - we've got some further optimizations planned, but right now MySQL is spitting out the front page in around 0.6 seconds (depending on the load of course).<br /><br />• The last six articles are listed at the bottom of the page, giving you access to the most recently published reviews on the site.<br /><br />• We've broken up the front page a little, giving you the ten most recent stories, and access to a second page which will list an additional ten stories. This makes our front page faster and quicker for you to download, but gives you access to more "back issue" posts. It's actually polls our database for the articles fitting those parameters within the last 172,800 seconds, so on the weekends or slow posting periods you might not see a full ten posts on extra. On weekdays, there may be two or more pages.<br /><br />• Top stories are highlighted near the bottom of the page. The right-hand column is easy to ignore sometimes, so we've added a few top stories to the central column.<br /><br />• The mobile page has been enhanced. It's still fixed at six posts to keep the page loading time fast, but it will show all the posts from the last 86,400 seconds (one day), which means on week days you'll have multiple pages to browse through. We've also worked up a mobile-friendly template for articles. Go to the mobile page, and click on the "full text" link for an article, and you'll see a nicely formatted article page that's easy to read on your Pocket PC.<br /><br />Further enhancements are coming down the pike include more speed improvements for the front page, and the launching of our enhanced suite of subscription-based services (here's a hint: think massive customization of your Pocket PC Thoughts experience, and mobile access like you've always wanted).<br /><br />On behalf of the Pocket PC Thoughts team, we hope you enjoy the new changes!

[dean_shan]

Thanks for fixing up the site. I'm glad to see you improved the mobile version as well. Keep up the good work.

[ExtremeSIMS]

Good job. I'll have to check speed on Safari later.

Shame phpBB and UBB do not have mobile friendly code. Current form factors and resolutions can not change too much due to human limitations. They ought to come up with something.

Nice work on pocketpcthoughts.com. I wish I had time to learn more php.... Since moving my site off Microsoft SQL with an IIS/ASP front end, I just use postNuke.

[Abba Zabba]

At first when I got to work this evening I went to check the site and to my surprise it was a link to nfl.com :evil: I thought it was the end the line here a PPC Thoughts :cry: But then I checked it a few ours later and viola...BAM 8O your back.

Thanks for all your hard work and determination in keeping this as the number 1 PPC site on the web Jason. Good luck in all your endeavours.

By the way the site does load alot faster...still haven't checked it with the PPC yet though. But hopefully it will be just as great :D

[fyiguy]

Shame phpBB and UBB do not have mobile friendly code. Current form factors and resolutions can not change too much due to human limitations. They ought to come up with something.

Nice work on pocketpcthoughts.com. I wish I had time to learn more php.... Since moving my site off Microsoft SQL with an IIS/ASP front end, I just use postNuke.

We got it working on our site last week, http://www.bostonpocketpc.com/pocketpc.

I would LOVE to see the same thing implemented here...

Thoughts, now flies!!!

Great job to all the people that make this site tick!!!

[vincentsiaw]

wow i like the idea of splitting the front page into 2 makes loading ultra fast yeah....

[garrans]

Jason, would love to see 3 days of reviews. Very often I miss a couple of days because stuff gets in the way. I go back to the Archives, but the page 1 - 2 is so much better.

As always. Thanks for the great site.

Steve.

[ExtremeSIMS]

We got it working on our site last week, http://www.bostonpocketpc.com/pocketpc.

I would LOVE to see the same thing implemented here...

Thoughts, now flies!!!

Great job to all the people that make this site tick!!!

Ah, that llooks nice. I am using UBB for the forums, though, and no solution. :(

How many changes did you have to make to stock PostNuke code?

[icatar]

:cry:
spitting out the front page in around 0.6 seconds (depending on the load of course)

My front page was generated in 2.3 seconds this morning! Unacceptable! :wink:

Keep up the great work!

[Don Sorcinelli]

We got it working on our site last week, http://www.bostonpocketpc.com/pocketpc.

I would LOVE to see the same thing implemented here...

Thoughts, now flies!!!

Great job to all the people that make this site tick!!!

Ah, that llooks nice. I am using UBB for the forums, though, and no solution. :(

How many changes did you have to make to stock PostNuke code?

As the "lucky fellow" who did the coding, the simple answer is "a lot" :wink:

I would be glad to talk to you offline about it, if you are interested. Nothing worse then bogging down a thread with "boring" PHP coding details :lol:

DonS

[Kati Compton]

I would be glad to talk to you offline about it, if you are interested. Nothing worse then bogging down a thread with "boring" PHP coding details :lol:


You could create an off-topic thread - others may be interested.

[rlobrecht]

I would be glad to talk to you offline about it, if you are interested. Nothing worse then bogging down a thread with "boring" PHP coding details :lol:


You could create an off-topic thread - others may be interested.

I'd be interested. I too just made the IIS/ASP to Apache, PHP, PostNuke switch. I'd be interested.

[Gerard]

Now if only my Casio EG-800 could stay logged in... :(
Oh, and I've checked twice, and your mobile page has 100% of the text underlined. A dangling &lt;u> tag, perhaps?
.... now I'd best save this thread as a Favorite in case there's a reply, since email notification still seems spotty...

[Don Sorcinelli]

I would be glad to talk to you offline about it, if you are interested. Nothing worse then bogging down a thread with "boring" PHP coding details :lol:


You could create an off-topic thread - others may be interested.

I'd be interested. I too just made the IIS/ASP to Apache, PHP, PostNuke switch. I'd be interested.
If anyone is interested, I actually created a thread here (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=71465). It's in the Developer Forum, which seems a bit more appropriate than "Off Topic".

[pocketpcdude1024]

I don't think you mentioned the most important update: the names of the front page posters are now silver, not blue! :D

[Jason Dunn]

Now if only my Casio EG-800 could stay logged in... :(
Oh, and I've checked twice, and your mobile page has 100% of the text underlined. A dangling <u> tag, perhaps?
.... now I'd best save this thread as a Favorite in case there's a reply, since email notification still seems spotty...

You have the most unique problems Gerard! ;-)

I've only been testing this on my Axim X5, but:

1) I stay logged in when moving from page to page
2) The text isn't underlined on my Pocket PC browser
3) Email notifications should be working for everyone - I'm surprised to hear that they're not working for you! We solved the domain issues a few months ago.

Email me privately to discuss this further if you want. :D

[Brad Adrian]

Fabrizio doesn't get nearly enough credit for the work he does. He's a wizard when it comes to adding features to this site.

Thanks, Fabrizio!

[pocketpcdude1024]

Fabrizio doesn't get nearly enough credit for the work he does. He's a wizard when it comes to adding features to this site.

Thanks, Fabrizio!

You could have a "Fabrizio Day" where it would be celebrated with tons of giveaways and open-source Thoughts code! That way, we could all get a true appreciation for his apparent genius. Or perhaps the "About" link could read "This site was created by Jason Dunn and designed by Fabrizio" instead of "PLACE TEXT HERE" :wink:

[bbarker]

I access Pocket PC Thoughts most often on my Pocket PC because I have more time for it when I'm not at my desk. Is it possible to have multiple pages available for the mobile version as well? The more the better.

I can't wait for the full mobile version that's coming. I was among those who urged you to do that on a subscription basis.

Great job everyone!