WWW posts page 45

Server running again, ibook back

My ibook’s logic board failed for the second time since I got it. The failure is a common problem among certain ibook’s, so the board was replaced free.

When I first took it in to the Apple Store (my first visit to one by the way), the guy said it’d cost like $300 because it looked like I spilled something on it. There had been, but it was a long time ago and before the first logic board was replaced. I had been worried then, but they replaced it no problems. I was a bit angry at the apple store at that point and unsure of what would become of my ibook.

I decided to call the same number I had called the first time (then it was shipped from home, in a box provided by apple). The guy seemed familiar with the problem, and had me hold down the power button for 30 seconds with no power connected, then zap the PRAM. It started up fine, though I had since the problem started not been able to get past the login screen, and usually got no video at all. He told me just to take it to the apple store if something went wrong, and gave me a case number.

After two days, it froze up and wouldn’t start again. I tried the same routine he had me do, but to no avail. I cleaned it up a bit and took it back to the apple store. There was a different guy there, more talkative and friendly, who sent it in for me this time. Phew.

I watched the progress on the apple site. It was done the next day. It shipped back a little slower, but was with me only four days after first taking it in. That’s mighty fast for sure, and all free. It sucks that the logic boards fail on these computers, but at least apple takes care of it quickly and freely. Unfortunately, Their program will expire for my model soon, so this’ll be the last time. I probably have perhaps a year left with it, as it has gone thus far. Hopefully the next computer will be a little more reliable. Hopefully I’ll have money for it when the time comes.

They replaced both the logic board and the keyboard. Bonus. Sweet.

So the server is back up again, not that anyone but search bots and hacker bots visit it anyway.


Hierarchical Site DB Storage

a prototype hierarchical site database will be made containing a description and discussion of everything I own organized by category. for now this’ll allow children to have only one parent, but it will need multiple parents in the future.

page display:
a nav box at the side of each page will have links to its parent, siblings, and children. children will be ordered by type
the content will be in a box. content may also contain links to other pages, especially children, when mentioned.
a site map will provide a hierarchical link list of all pages in database

each page will be a entry in a database. It will have:
a unique id to identify it
the id of its parent page (what links to it)
type/template defining display of page by type
style of page (style sheet for colors, etc of sections). parent inherited if blank. will be unimplemented at first
content of page

root page will be home, with links to all first level sub pages.

example for stuff
transportation page
children: car, sailboat, bicycle, foot
content: It is essential to get from point A to point B: to get products stored elsewhere, see different things and people, go to locations better suited for certain functions. One comes with feet with which to travel about. This mode of transportation is very easily accomplished, requires as little as oneself, allows careful manuevering in tight places, and can easily handle terrain other transportation types have trouble with. It is also relatively very slow and tiring for longer lengths and can only handle ground. A bicycle provides transportation with the body as a motor, allowing more speedy and efficient travel. The bicycle is a fairly simple device, lightweight and easily storable in most places. A car is a much faster mode of transportation that requires very little exertion on the users part. It allows great distances to be achieved within less time and easy transport of goods. It is also big and much more expensive to own and operate…
(this is a brief overview of transportation. children are linked to in content with a brief summary of each. Each child will go into more depth.)
template: this would probably be a “summary” or “directory” type template, just a overview of a category with summaries of each child. Its children would probably be as well. The car category might have children that are of a “product” type, giving a review/discussion of specific instances of the parent. the parent of a collection of “product” pages may contain a comparison summary that provides a conclusion as to which is best for a given situation.


Design Problem Solutions/Tutorial Database

I spend a lot of time writing html, php, and css for my website to implement various ideas and create a certain look. I very often find myself having trouble with one particular thing. I search the web with google or search forums to try to find a solution. Sometimes it’s extremely simple, while others it creates new problems. As I am often working on one part of my site at once, these problems are often related. I would like a site that is a central repository for solutions for all of these problems to exist.

The site would probably be a wiki so as to get input from many people, have a large source of authors, and continue to be updated with new problems.

Posts would be much like a tutorial. They would explain what to do, and also why.

Navigation would be critical, allowing one to quickly find solutions to a specific problem as well as for a more generic learning how to do something type fashion. A good search system would exist like most wikis have, allowing search of the title as well as the content. Also needed is a good way to relate articles and navigate to them through relations. A good, specific category system would be important, with related articles in related categories. The articles should be organized in such a way that they could be followed in a general sequence towards a specific goal like a tutorial. As an example, many people like to create CMSs to manage their site. They go through the same or comparable problems to those who’ve already made them, and thus would benefit from the knowledge of those who’ve already been through it. The cms tutorial would guide them through the process, with the most basic articles being the main path they follow and the less important articles forming side paths. Branching off based upon decisions would also lead through different paths. CMSs are similar in many ways, but some decisions in the design process lead to certain differences in the design process; branches would allow one to design their CMS and choose the branches that apply to them.

This would become sort of a code repository, with code for anything already generically written, and branches in logic allowing for all possible different needs to be accomodated.

Though I came up with this for programming and web design, it could apply to any problems, and thus web-design and programming would only be sub-categories. Examples of where this could be used are in designing a car or planning the construction of a house. Numerous decisions are made in each, though the basic concepts would be used in every implementation: every housebuilder must look at the types of flooring available and decide which is best for the application; every car body design must choose a balance between factors such as aerodynamics, appearance, and capacity to accomodate other parts; every design must choose between a more costly or less costly path based on available resource (money, time, etc).

This seems to work best for problems of design.