KuraFire Network

In light of the upcoming upgrade of KuraFire.net to the newest version of the Content Management System Snelsite, which I'm producing myself, I'm writing this post to inform you all about what's going to change, all the cool new stuff that'll finally be added to the site, and more. So, read on!

First and foremost comes the addition of Comments. YES! Finally you'll be able to discuss everything I write about (or in some people's cases, flame ;)) right here on the site. An awful lot of people have been complaining about my lack of comments (Mike, Molly, Anne, Ben, Rob, the list goes on and on...), but sometimes things just take a bit longer than expected. I had wanted the Comments module to be done by the end of February, then, when that failed, by the end of March, but more and more client work came in between and then, just as I was getting there, our office burned down. Yep. It's like comments were just not meant to be. But, I've made some great progress this last week. We're in a new office, but we're still not settled at all: we're without desks, shelfs and proper chairs, so everything is a mess and we're working on makeshift tables and sitting in old and highly RSI-inducing chairs. Not fun, but despite the conditions, Comments are coming along nicely now.

A few things still need to be taken care of before Comments are truly done, but that all should be done this week. I'm aiming for an upgrade starting next weekend.

When I said "starting next weekend" I wasn't just being grammatically peculiar. This upgrade is going to be a very slow one, taking a few weeks in total by my estimate. This because the upgrade is going to add so many new elements to the system (the biggest two being a calendar system and Comments) that a lot of the markup of the site is going to be different. Beyond just different markup, I'm also going to redesign the site. The structure will change, and the look of the site will be completely renewed. It's going to be more elegant and clean, with less clutter and more "hidden" content (meaning some areas of the site will not be linked in the menu).

Now, what makes this redesign a lengthy process, as well as a somewhat novel idea, is this: I'm going to do a CSS update every once in a while, basically when I get round to it, and each of these "steps" will be recorded separately until the entire thing is finished. For the duration of it all, I'll be making a temporary feature on the site where you can see each design stage in a slideshow-like fashion. This animated GIF image (870K) of how a CSS design is made is what inspired me to do this. I won't be creating an animated GIF out of my process, no, I'm going to do it with the live site. Meaning, you'll be seeing the changes happen to a real site, right in front of your eyes.

Basically, here's what you'll be seeing on the site, once I start:

1. a completely unstyled version; in this stage, I'll be upgrading and cleaning up the markup everywhere. Comments will be available from this point on
2. a minimally styled version, with only my "trademark"^[1] initial.css loaded
3. a hint of what the design will become eventually. This means that by then, I'll have decided whether I'm going for a fixed width, liquid or elastic design for the main design^[2]
4. elements in place; positioning of menu, content and sidebar. Graphics will be added to the site at this point
5. finishing touches for the main design

After the main design is done, I'll be redesigning GeckoSkin, and when done with that, I'll also finally let GeckoSkin become what I envisioned two-three years ago: you, as a visitor, can sign up to have an account here, and can then color-customize GeckoSkin entirely to suit your own preference.

Furthermore, when redesigning, you really should have a completed site, no? Yes. During this upgrade, I'll be finishing content for all pages that are currently filled with excuses for the missing real content.

So what'll be left to do after this upgrade is complete? Feeds. Yes, it's a terrible thing that I still won't have feeds, but at least you'll be able to publicly complain about that on the site by then. Feeds will be added as soon as I can, I promise. I'm not going to set a deadline anymore, though. This remains to be a site for experimenting, and experimenting takes time.

Edit (2005-05-01 2:06 PM): if you want, you can add my temporary notification feed to your feedreader of choice, which will inform you when I update my site, but no more than that. Still, it's a feed that you can use. :)

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