4 posts tagged “thinkmac”

I've been working on creating a new website for thinkmac.net since mid January. I have so many ideas, but was never sure what I wanted the site to become. I investigated several CMS (content management systems), and whittled it down to Drupal or Joomla!.  I made my choice. Joomla!. It had a nice interface on the back end for posting and administering, and looked easier than Drupal 4.7. I could find several theme packages for Joomla!, which especially sparked my interest. The plug-ins looked pretty cool too. 

I joined the Rocket Themes template club. For $50, you get 3 months access to their templates made specifically for Joomla!. Then, I simply needed to customize them however I wanted.  I played around with it and had to learn some new skills. Fireworks 8, CSS, and how to install a CMS.

It didn't take me long to figure out this was going to take awhile. I am not a 'read the manual first' type of guy. I prefer to get in and play around, and look for every way possible to implement what I want done, without doing it myself. I know it doesn't make sense.. but that's how I tend to operate.

Then I enlisted some help from some outsourcing clubs. I paid a bit over $100 to have someone customize a couple things. It was at a point where it was cheaper for me to pay someone, instead of killing any more time doing it.  Well, that didn't work out so well..... not that he didn't do a good job, but I just didn't like the final results. So, I had to go back to the drawing board and start playing around with it myself, to tweak it just so.. 

Well... it was coming to the point where I had the site looking pretty good... but I noticed one thing. It took for freaking ever to load. I didn't know Joomla! was such a server hog...... and Dreamhost.com servers weren't helping it much either.  There were other problems with Joomla! that I didn't care for... to make it SEO you had to do all kinds of hacks and such, etc. I checked out the beta version about to be released, and it didn't impress me. I'd had it with Joomla!, so off to Drupal.org I went. Compare performance here at this very cool comparison.

I was pleased to see that Drupal 5 was released, with a much easier to understand interface.  So, here I am working with Drupal, and I love it. It's so robust & configurable, the biggest challenge is adding and configuring all of the features I want thinkmac.net to have.

It will feature the latest technologies (including the much requested Tag Clouds). One thing that I am having some trouble with is working on one feature. I need to be more task oriented, instead of working on 10 things at a time.. I need to focus on one.

I also left dreamhost, and went to a Virtual Private Server, and that has added a whole additional level of complexity. Now I have to know how to manage a server and administer domains, linux, etc. In over my head... yea  a bit. But man, this is an incredible learning opportunity.

If you have features you would like to see.. be sure to let me know.  I am hoping to launch the new site in about a week.  I am also looking for a few people to help review software, products, do tutorials, etc.  If you are SERIOUSLY interested, please drop me an email: tips@thinkmac.net

Here is a quick peek at the new site...

UPDATE:  The show is posted.  Listen to it here.

Tonight I was lucky enough to be selected for an interview on "The Mac Attack" podcast. We talked about software, my first macs, a couple tips, and more. Hopefully the edit will make me sound like I know what I am talking about... but if not, oh well..
We had a couple technical difficulties during the interview... makes you wonder how these live shows even get done.

I'll post a note about it when he adds the show to his feed.

It's always great fun to get to talk to someone that loves the Mac too. If I hadn't had to leave to watch Survivor Fiji... we might still be going at it.

 

I really like this VOX blog. It's very cool. However, for posting, it only partially works with my browser of choice - Safari.  I have to go over to Firefox to create this post. 

I am using a combination of browsers currently,and wish I could take all of the features and create the Ultimate Browser. If you haven't tried a browser other than Safari - or Internet Explorer 5 (there are some of you out there...), try out FLOCK, Camino, and the ubiquitous FireFox.

I have been lucky enough to be featured in iTunes in the Top Technology podcast page. In fact, they have me 'Featured' on the 'Tech News' page right on the front. Now this is very very cool.. except for one thing. My podcast isn't Tech News. It would probably fit in better under Software-how-to.

 I am afraid to change anything or let iTunes know, since I don't want to lose my spot!

I've been prominently listed there for several months now. It sure is nice to get the exposure, however, I have to admit that  have see my subscription rate plateau.  One of these days something will prompt a flurry of new subscribers, but for now I feel like I am not going to be getting many new subscribers.

The Mac is a niche market, and I am doing pretty good with it. I reliably update the podcast almost every day, and I think this is helping me keep the subscribers that I do have.  In the big scheme of things, with 40,000+ podcasts out there, my 2500 daily subscribers is pretty good. 

Since the middle of the year, I have had almost 400,000 unique IP addresses pull down the show, and that is pretty amazing.