Thursday, March 18, 2010

Golive Uneditable Page: Solved!

Is the heck that this program has given finally ended?
The un-editable pages it kept creating...they were the main thing stalling up the updates. Every page was a potential risk for this supreme time wasting condition. (Skip this post if you want directly Sonic related content! It only refers to the site-background operation) But now, there's a way to take care of them. If anyone uses golive 9 (aka newgolive) this method may work!

Open the un-editable page
go to the "source view" (of the html it has been making)
Look near the top of the page. Around the HEAD or BODY tag. There should be a whole clump of strange letters/words things. Many lines of it. Sometimes they're yellowish orange. You won't recognize them because you didn't put them. DELETE all of them! Every line in that big odd block. (this grouping of lines is clearly distinguished from the other long sparse lines around it) Do it by highlighting and pushing backspace. Switch back to 'normal editing view' where you have your layout grid imgs/texts and whatever else. It will all be editable now. Save the page!

I don't know what they are. I don't know why they come. But when those letters come, the page becomes uneditable. It's cured by erasing them. It's ok to try it because the uneditable page was broken anyway, and you would have had to re-do it no matter what. Each uneditable page may have a different amount of lines of them, but they're always near the top and deleting them has cured all uneditable pages of gear, every time.

So with the condition cure-able, the fact that the new pc might not ever be able to run oldgolive...may not even matter. The transition can then progress smoothly!

Expect another normal update at the normal time on the weekend!
w00t!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Regular Update!

Wow, a regular update!
What used to be the norm, now may impress as it's been so long since one was able to happen. It's not that everything's back to 'all good', it's more like that the bad has stablized and been worked around hard enough that stuff can still go on mostly as normal. Only 1 page broke down/became un-editable, which was USA School Supplies 2, so only SOME time was wasted, unlike last week.

Quite a variety going on this time with no real theme as I'm still attempting to clear up all the mail. However, lots of different pages with a scattering of items is much better than the mini updates its had so far.

Email Guideline Changed:
Under the 'boring' headline, an Email guideline was added this week. It's the last one on the page, regarding fan items. Due to fans stumbling upon their own things they didn't send in, it needed to be added. PLUS a secret reason was to stop fan item flooding which has become popular. It's too easy to raid fan-centric areas and throw everything at Gear, hoping it'll stay--never mind the people who made the items first. Fan items are easy to find but mass-mailings for credit were choking out every other type of item in the inbox. Hopefully 'creator credit only' will help hold back the tide.

Why?
Because only 1 type of item can't satisfy all the fans all the time! No one would like it if only the "modern shirts" section updated every week. It would get boring, no matter how cool or uncool the shirts were. The same with any section. Different fans love different types of stuff, and everyone deserves to have a chance to see it all! No single section can be allowed to take over all updates, or to take over the site.

Pesty Thing:
The clock change (spring foreward) was this weekend. This is a bogus thing to do. Polls reveal no one likes it, and it messes up the schedule. Most countries don't do it. The USA should quit changing the time. Just select one style, and keep with it all year. Then switch all clocks to 24-hr time no more AM PM. It would all be much easier.

Item of the week:
Has to be the mini bed set. Sonic bed sets are always amazingly popular, yet somehow companies BARELY think to capitalize on this. The instant any of them go off the shelf, prices skyrocket. The original Sonic X theme bed set was NEVER FOUND at retail, that's how strong-arm the ebay scalpers got with the thing. Some store HAD to be selling it, no manufacturer ever says 'we will only sell this item on ebay and never advertise it to the public'. The new set is by NEXT so it's more generally available and reasonably priced. It's a bit plain, just Sonic & Shadow only, with no cool group shots or anything, but it's still stylish with coordinating colors and cropped-art pillow case. The reversable-ness of it is also a cool touch that'll make people happy. The only downfall is it seems to be single-bed only (not a double, which most people have)

Archie Annoyance:
Fan item came in this week for Rob o the Hedge. I don't grudge anyone fandom of any character (Though I will still make fun of big the cat) and I certainly don't grudge anyone making all kinds of Sonic-related anything, because really that's the business of fans. If a char exists it's 100% to be a fan of it, no matter who agrees or doesn't with liking it.

HOWEVER I don't like this guy personally. Archie's effort there just seemed waaaaay too feeble. Make a Sonic clone, name him after robin hood, (and give him a hood! to rob in! You know!) then do the most paltry robin hood story adaptation possible, acting like everyone thinks robin hood is fresh and new. He even got a girlfriend named Maid Mari Ann. Doing homages is one thing but ripping stuff off because you can't think of anything is something else...and I feel it's the something that they're up to. It's stunts like that which keep fans divided over the merit of the only running remaining Sonic comic/s. (Universe & Archie) It's like something/character that could have been cool had they put forth some effort at it regardless of origin.

Next week:
If all goes well more variety. There isn't really anything on the horizon currently (like a major JW release, a new game, or someone coming out with a wave of something) which is decent enough because really, there's tons of interesting things in the inbox for everyone to see--it just needs to be able to be put up when programs aren't getting in the way.

The index should also see better linkage, as it has dropped behind in direct links to many of the sub pages/numbered pages amongst the catagories (those huge lists at the bottom of the home page) This may be done without regard toward it mid-week as well...as really it's a convenience/maint. thing which needs no announcement.