Main Journal

Developing Robert Johnson Online

05 07 09 - 17:39

Introduction

A couple of months after the new version of Robert Johnson Online went live, Robert looks at some challenges overcome, and some more still to come.

Journal Article

Tending to my website is fast becoming a luxury of time and effort that is difficult to afford. It has never ceased to amaze me how, on many many occasions, having sat down to correct an error in my site's menu, or to upload some photographs, I find that half a day has passed by. So it is today - I started this morning, reasonably early, trying to automate the posting of journal articles with the integration of "Pivot" into Robert Johnson Online", only to find hurdles after hurdles placed in my way. First it was the FTP program that wouldn't transfer, then another prgram which refused to show the contents of folders. Finally it is the complete refusal of some pages to show in the correct format. I certainly can't claim to be an expert in these things, and generally make up much of the HTML, CSS and the like as I go along, however I did naively think that this task might be capable of being accomplished in a little less time than has already elapsed - and I still have a way to go.

Over eighteen months ago I finally decided to make a concerted effort at renewing my rather faded website. After several years of paying for web hosting, and not doing a vast amount with it, I thought that it was time to create a place for my photographs and other odds-and-ends of news. The original design process went fairly well, but then the pressures of work, and sailing - not to mention the need to sleep every now and again - got the better of me, and progress stalled. Issues with the menu, with the display of stories on the front page, and the CSS formatting of the main body of text took much longer to resolve than I expected, and, quite frankly, I found better things yto do.

In early 2009 however, I thought it was high time to, regardless of the half-finished state of the new site, giving it an airing, whilst finally once and for all, banishing the old pages. This process went relatively well, and now I have a website which I can be relatively proud of - notwithstanding the teething issues, including a clunky process for adding photograph pages, and the problems I am experiencing with the journal.

So, the point of posting this article? Well, it's two-fold really. Firstly, as a matter of practicality, it is easier to refine the templates for the journal when there is already content in the pages. And secondly, I just wanted to show that, whilst several areas of the site still appear unfinished, I really am getting there! ... fingers crossed.

Robert