Notice anything different?
After a week (and a bit) of downtime, TSS is back and ready for business! It’s not just a new coat of paint either, as the whole site has been remade to be friendlier and easier to use. The old articles are back in Shining Aid, and we’re also accepting new content. If you’d like to submit an article, you can read our submission guidelines.
As a result of these changes, main site accounts now have new passwords. If you get an “already registered” error when registering, send me a PM and I’ll send over your password. If you have a project you’d like to share with us, either send me an email or private message with a few details and I’ll get right on it.
We’re also on the lookout for new projects to add, so if you have something you’d like to share please see the section entitled “Join Us“.
A more detailed list of changes follows.
New Forum Software
Ye Olde Blah now uses SimpleMachines instead of phpBB. Although phpBB has served the site very well for the last few years, lately it’s been hammered by spam attacks that take a lot of time and energy to clean up. Forum accounts and main site accounts are still separate, mainly as a security and anti-spam measure.
All of the old accounts and posts have been transferred, and everything seems to be relatively intact. If you’re new to the site, we’d love to meet you at Ye Olde Blah!
New Software
As much as I like writing software, it seemed like a stupid idea to write the back-end myself when there are so many good platforms around. We’re now using WordPress, and you can read more about all the plugins and tweaks that were made in the “Colophon“.
The end result is that it’s now very easy to post news and worklog entries, and you can also use an offline blog editor such as “Windows Live Writer”. We’ve also changed the site so that all projects have a little section of the site that their team can edit. More info on this is at “Your Project Pages“.
Future Improvements
The first few weeks of a new site are always difficult, and I intend to make a few changes as time goes on. Such changes include adding a gallery, and getting the downloads section working again. I’ll also be tweaking the design depending on how people react to it, so if you have any comments please feel free to add them.
Bug Reports
If you notice any weirdness, please use the forum topic “Site upgrade – bug reports”.
