Snap, I'm Back
I'm back. Fran forbade me from posting. She wanted all the comment love for herself. She's tried to keep me out of this game, but I can't leave all the Pat Reed fans hangin'. 2009 is my year.
As you can plainly, see we have revamped pnf.com. It was long overdue. We launched the site in November of 2002, and we really hadn't updated the back end or look of the site until now. Ooops. Hope you like it because we are not due to update it again until March of 2016.
If you like the nerdy crap and want to know about the site development, keep reading. If not, skip it.
I ditched the old home-grown blog platform in favor of a Drupal-based site. Drupal is an open-source content management system (CMS) that is developed and maintained by a community of thousands of developers (and it kicks @$$$$). I started messing with it about a year ago when RIT Libraries was looking for a CMS for our sites. RIT Libraries now has about 12 sites running on the Drupal platform. I am definitely partial, and when I decided to ditch the home-grown system, it was the clear pick for me. Porting the content from the old site to the new one was a bit of a biatch. We had roughly 700 blog posts and almost 6,000 comments. I had to spend several hours understanding the database differences and working on the scripts to massage and port the content. Now that it is done, I am really excited about all the possibilities. I created the custom site template. It is based on the Genesis framework. I'll be prettying it up some more over the next few days/weeks. I wrote most of the JavaScript on the site using the jQuery library. I plan on writing a lot more Ajax-y site functionality soon. I configured Drupal to work with the TinyMCE WYSIWYG editor. Our home-grown CMS required us to write the HTML for the posts, so this is a welcomed addition. I think that about sums up the majority of the technical aspects of the project. If anyone wants any more information on any of this stuff, please don't hesitate to get a hold of me.
The things that I am excited about:
- A stop to the daily hate mail demanding an RSS feed
- Relief from the shame and ridicule that I had to endure for the outdated site look
- The ability to easily reposition site elements
- Easier site updating
- Larger images in blog posts
- Keyword tagging
- Picture of the day
- WYSIWYG editing during blog posts
-Pat
A picture of my girl.
The Bean - 1/2/2009
Comments
#1 Love it!
Great job, Pat! I love the new site! I'm glad you included the nerdy part (maybe I'm the only one). I'll expose my own geekiness by saying that I think Ajax rocks! You've inspired me to update our site a bit. I have been using TinyMCE, but I'll have to start experimenting with Drupal and jQuery.
#2 The new web site face lift is
The new web site face lift is refreshing. The "Greta wrapped in a swirl" photo is really what seals the look.
#3 Re:
Courtney: Thanks! We were really motivated by our friends' great sites.
Fran: I'm hot for you.
Taryn: You are passionate about putting your hands in peoples' mouths. It's a little strange.
Amanda: Thanks! Come back to NY.
V Murder: Change can be hard. Fortunately the Internet Archive understands. Enjoy the old site here:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.patandfran.com
Sarah C: Thanks from the memory. It made me smile. We miss you. Come back to NY.
Fatz: It's good to hear from you too. Let's ditch our families some time soon for Beers and Ribs.
#4 One more thing
I remember when we were all living on Cambridge Street and you were working on the computer in the dining room with book titled "Learning HTML"
You've come a long way Pat Reed!
#5 GoOD Ta HEar FruM My LOnG
GoOD Ta HEar FruM My LOnG LoST RapPEr P-DiDDY...
#6 Nice site!
Good to hear from you Pat!
#7 Change
I hate change. Although I'm getting used to the new site, I will always hold a special nostalgia for the old site. I'm sad that I can no longer take a tour of your apartment or Fran's shoe, which I used to do bi-monthly : (.
#8 What now?
I don't understand anything that you said, Pat, but "WOO-HOO" on the new site---whatever you did, you did a great job at it...
#9 you are a nerd
but we like you that way
#10 Pat Reed rocks my socks
I like Pat's excuse for not blogging for so long (not really). I would like to add that I am also excited to stop getting requests for an RSS feed, but mostly I am happy that we can finally give some proper link love to those who have liked to us!
#11 Whoa!
Love it, p-rizzle. Looks fantastic!
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