May 7
Today I will review
finder, a popular Joomla! search extension.
First let me outline my experience with it: I have built four sites that are currently running their RC1 version. Each with very different needs and structure.
Finder is a fantastic search system, it uses similar concepts to Google but locally for your site. Instead of matching the content simply by the keyword values or repetition it matches the content by phrases and concepts.
For example if a user types in 'blackberry' it will execute a fairly acute search for that term. It searches the meta, content, url and title based on the weights you give to each. Thus you can specify a higher weight to the meta then lets say the url.
How does this help?
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May 7
I have used the
Agora 3.0 forum system since it just came out in early alpha. After over a year of following it closely and working with numerous installs I think I can provide a fairly accurate assessment of the system and the team that is creating it, among other products.
Overall Agora is a fantastic feature rich forum solution. That is 100% native to Joomla. It works and it works well.
The best aspects of it are the wide range of features, from easy image and video embedding to the robust group and permission settings.
The bb code editor that is in Agora provides a vast array of features that accommodates the needs of any community. I have used it on a wide range of niche websites, from game developers to artists. All in all it has been satisfactory.
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Nov 19
With the recent set of upgrades
Lightwyrm has grown into something that can be considered a full social network for digital artists. If comparing it to other networks it would be similar to linked in in the way it handles the 'contact' list.
Unlike LinkedIn the focus here is less on networking and more on learning and sharing. What separates this from other art communities is that it is not focused on favourites and following. From the start we wanted to eliminate that, instead Lightwyrm is focused on providing a knowledge base for digital artists.
The difference? In layman's terms there is less 'that looks nice' and more 'that looks nice because... and here is how... oh and don't forget to... and in personal experience... ' so on and so forth.
How was this accomplished?
After long consideration we decided that it is best to put two aspects of the website as the top priority, the
tutorial articles and the
discussion community [Forum]. The forum is there to receive direct help, immediate critique and more. While the tutorials are there to give you access to a volume of information that can be searched as you need it, be it for a project or just to get to know a technique. Everything else is there to help accommodate this; a robust user point system to have more users participate in day to day activities and the profile system to place valuable information about yourself.
Our hope is that this will get the artists to collaborate with each other further. Important milestones get met when you work with others. Humans are a group oriented species, we do most things better when we are together and the more we work together the greater the outcomes become.
If you agree with what we said help us out with getting this to a larger public. The more people participating the more effective this will become.
Take a look at some of the ways you can contribute
in this thread For the full description of all the new features take a look
here -The Lightwyrm Team
Nov 11
Short answer: I have no idea.
Long answer? I am too lazy to write it up, or perhaps even think of it?
Which could be the reason why I am up so late. I think I am now capable of being too lazy to go to bed.
But who knows? I am tired and chances are I will collapse shortly after sending this message.
I guess I should really do a legitimate update. But that would be just vile and evil!
Anyway, Chen just sent me the next tutorial. Sadly you will have to wait till I get up, whenever that is.
I might just get too lazy to get up.
I must be starting to overwork in my dreams as well. That would explain everything.
Good night ;)
Nov 5
So, two new tutorials are up on Lightwyrm.
Chen's
Creature tutorial Birdo Mine
How to create Perspective Grids in Photoshop If you like the Birdo one give it a quick fav on Deviant Art:
http://fav.me/n98926 Going to be restructuring the community in the next few days, just to make the forums a little neater.
The user galleries will be rolling out sometime next week, and more focus towards profiles will be given.
If you have any ideas now is the time to tell me!
Nov 5
Good thing I still have oil for the heater for a few weeks!
Two new tutorials are coming up on Lightwyrm today, I will also try to apply Lightwyrm for the smashing network.
Hopefully they will accept us. Have to get a site done today, woot.
So I am pretty much out for a while.
The reaction to Dragon Age is quite hilarious, 90% scream "It is bloody amazing!" and 10% have no idea what they are trying to complain about.
If you still have any ideas for short digital painting tutorials that I can do, give me a shout.
Nov 4
Ugh so much work to do tomorrow!
Bioware social net has really picked up, the mod group is growing by the second.
Will probably launch the first project soon with Owen and Myazuid.
Thinking of starting a solid ad campaign for
Lightwyrm, hopefully will reel in interested users.
Other than that doing some iPhone graphics and websites. @ZachRI will get a new blog design pretty soon.
Anyway,
/out
Nov 4
Just testing to see how well it works.
