AOTA.net - Washed, Rinsed, and Waxed

[Deb]

We have been reading your reviews of FutureQuest faithfully and are working toward improvements in all areas especially where feedback provided via the http://www.FutureQuest.net/GradeUs.php form is concerned.

The tutorials, provided via Aota.net, have received the poorest rating so far from those who have taken the time (thank you!) to fill out the form.

The question is:
In General, how would you rate the help files/tutorials provided by FutureQuest?
The Answers Were: (so far)
[nbsp][nbsp]# of
[nbsp]votes / Answer
[nbsp][nbsp](9) I'd be lost without them!
[nbsp](30) I've found my answers within them
[nbsp](10) Average
[nbsp][nbsp](1) Needs improvement
[nbsp][nbsp](0) Positively no help at all[nbsp][nbsp]


Since Aota.net has received the poorest ratings so far, they have been one of the priorities for me to begin working on! As such I hounded on Justin to pull out a fresh sheet of notepad and begin coding! *smile*

We have now made Aota.net totally dynamic utilizing the features provided with PHP and his handy dandy skills ;)

Making updates/additions to Aota.net will be much simpler for me now and I do plan to make many of them as time goes on![nbsp][nbsp]We also feel the new Aota.net web site will be easier to navigate and search through.

Aota.net will never be a completed web site (what site is?) but I do believe I have everything that was still current on the old site moved over and will continue to build using the content provided within posts to these forums and emails sent to tech support.[nbsp][nbsp]Also note: We are still quite willing (begging?) for any hints/tips/tutorials that any of you may like to add.

At any rate -- check it out at http://www.aota.net/ and let us know if you find it to be an improvement, without forgetting that I'm still working on it ;)

Deb

[tedloh]

I, for one, like it better.[nbsp][nbsp]But I was wondering why each page has to be a separate PHP page - if all you wanted to do was add a header and footer... (I'm guessing).[nbsp][nbsp]Is it any faster?

In my pages, I simply pass the name of the file I want loaded to proc.php3, which adds header, relevant page, and footer.

Overall, it's much easier to use - I didn't particularly care for pull-down menus.

------------------
Ted (Chief Do-It-All)
Tygre Systems Co Ltd
Bangkok, Thailand, Land of Smiles :) :)
http://www.tygresystems.com (work in progress)
ted@tygresystems.com

[Armand]

Nicer look Deb & Justin.[nbsp][nbsp]And seems more extensive now.

Couple points on design, ™ doesn't work at least in my browser... try &153; I think it is.[nbsp][nbsp]And how about some more consistent spacing in between the top and bottom menu links.[nbsp][nbsp]Some of those run under all the seperate links... bit confusing perhaps.[nbsp][nbsp]Sorry, I'm always nit picking!

Remember the deleting password in password protect tutorial ;)[nbsp]

[Meikel]

Hi Deb,

let me tell what's missing in AOTA.net in my opinion. All these are questions I once had and I once had real trouble getting started with.

a) "How to move my business on the web?"
It was hard to find good information on this relating to the shareware business. It's now easier as descriptions of the working process have been improved in the last year. I once stood here in germany with the need to get a "merchant account", a "secure certificate" and and and. It took a while until I learned that there are services like www.kagi.com (http://www.kagi.com) or www.shareit.com (http://www.shareit.com) or or or that handle all that stuff for me for a good price.
I'm sure that these registration services don't fit any business, but it would give many people a head start to have infos on these topics and maybe a preselection of 5 links to go to.

b) JavaScript (or JScript)
Here it is totally the opposite. I found too much information too fast. Finally I know there was a site that had a link collection of around 5 or 6 links to
- good tutorials
- references at microsoft and netscape
- samples
On this topic, search engines like altavista.com turned out totally useless as they offered just too much information.

c) "How do I design a good website?"
I'm sure that this is a question everybody has. Everybody has different opinions of course, but I'm still constantly looking for advice in that area. There are so many things to look after that making a good website is really a tough job. In order of personal experience one would need infos on
- screen resolution topics (how to look good at any resolution)
- browser topics (how to avoid the compatibility pitfalls)
- imaging stuff (how many images)
- how much to write on one page
- how to organize a site
- what colors to use (color blindness)
- maybe some comments on "new" technology
-- radio broadcasting
-- active channels or the netscape equivalent
-- tv broadcasting
There are topics in this area that are more important. coloring and imaging are the most important. When looking over websites, I often find sites that offer dark green text on light green background (a pain to read). Others need hours to download a super-colorful imagemap, just to offer one link like "continue" or "enter".

d) "How to use affiliate programs?"
A good sorted list on this topic could make sense.

e) How do I make a "Search Meikel.com" feature?
That would be interesting to know as I might need it in the future :) I'm sure there are many solutions to this, but I just need one working solution, not hundereds I have to select from.

These are just questions, I once had. The most ongoing question is c) and I have a lot new ideas for my website now, but I'm missing the time to implement them all.

Another topic is the wording of titles on aota.net.
By looking through it, I can get answers on "scripts" and "pre-installed scripts", but I just still don't know what CGI is and I know that CGI is very important as everybody tells this.

You don't have to ofer all tutorials/information yourself, but on many topics, a small list of preselected links would help enormously. At the moment that's in my opinion the main missing thing (at least on the topics interesting to me) and that's the main reason I'm not checking aota.net very often.

Greetings from someone who still doesn't know what a "good" website is
[nbsp][nbsp]Meikel Weber
http://www.meikel.com

[Tatu]

.

[This message has been edited by Tatu (edited 02-15-01@4:01 pm)]

[Stephen]

Having just investigated SSH clients I would make the point that under the Download Software section where there is a link to the SecureCRT software, one gets the impression that this will probably be shareware or such. As I remember, while it's probably very good software, its not free ($99, I think).

An alternative cost-free SSH client is TTSSH, an encrypting plug-in for the free Tera Term Pro telnet program.

The link for TTSSH (which links to Tera Term Pro) is:
http://www.zip.com.au/~roca/ttssh.html

It was easy to install and relies (in part) on software written by the author of SSLeay so it's probably worth linking to from AOTA.net

On the other hand I have not figured out how to use TTSSH in combination with email programs. So if anyone has done that (such as with Outlook Express or Outlook 98) let me know! Thanks.

[This message has been edited by Stephen (edited 09-26-99)]

[Deb]

we used a bit of trickery ;)[nbsp][nbsp]It also makes linking to the files in forum posts and emails much easier as the links are more "normal" w/o the question marks etc.

Meikel -- There are a LOT of things still to be added as time allows -- heh I believe a whole InterNET Bag's worth -- I'll be working on an e-commerce section as well as many other areas but there are some things I'm a bit shy about simply because I know my own knowledge lacks in many areas such as Java, JavaScript, and affiliate programs for these things I'll be adding a links section and hopefully others will also contribute as well... I do agree that a few good links is much better than a whole lot of "stuff".

Armand, I'm not quite sure what you are referring to in the spacing area?

Stephen, the legalities of offering TTSSH on a US site are a bit strict.[nbsp][nbsp]I will offer a link to their site when I add the "links" section but will not be offering it as a 'promoted/recommended' tool due to the legalities of it.[nbsp][nbsp]I wish I knew of cheaper/free versions of SSH but it's a touchy area still and I'd rather not skate the lines. So links to those sites that do offer it will be what I lean towards.[nbsp][nbsp]If anyone knows of other Telnet/SSH clients that are low cost, by all means, please let me know.[nbsp][nbsp]We use SecureCRT over here so that's the one I am most familiar with and it really is an awesome program.

Deb

[Terra]

the legalities of offering TTSSH on a US site are a bit strict
The U.S. ITAR laws are really pathetic and unforgiving...[nbsp][nbsp]

We could be thrown in jail for a very long time labeled as ARMS (munitions/guns/etc) traders/trafficers...

Yes, in the Governments eyes, Crypto == Guns/Explosives/Munitions/ICBM's... :(

The U.S. is beginning to reevaluate their Crypto export laws, but still have a *long* ways to go...[nbsp][nbsp]Something about Big Brother wanting the ability to snoop on stuff you do...

--
Terra
--I kid you not--
FutureQuest

PS: This is NOT a post saying you cannot use Crypto, it is only making light of the fact about US Crypto **export** laws...

[Armand]

Deb... here's a screen shot as seen on my browser to help point out what I meant (color may be off a shade due to compressing).

http://www.arcanumcafe.com/images/aotascr.gif

See one big line underneath.[nbsp][nbsp]Little of that through out site like that, not always affecting all the links.[nbsp][nbsp]There's place where only two links are adjoined.


[This message has been edited by Armand (edited 09-26-99)]

[Justin]

That looks to me like a Netscape problem - the site uses a little bit of CSS, which Netscape does not *officially* support... they added some capabilities in the 4.x versions, but it is nowhere near what IE (or Opera for that matter) can do :(

I'll look into fixing it, but it *shouldn't* cause any problems other than cosmetic... (I get that in NN 4.08).

------------------
Justin Nelson
FutureQuest Support

[Justin]

Ted - it only appears to be separate .php3 files - the entire site is actually only 3 files ;)[nbsp][nbsp] The index.php file takes the "directory" and "filename" as the category and title in the database, and returns the header.php, footer.php, and body. The reason we give the appearance of being separate files is that search engines won't index pages like http://www.aota.net/index.php?ID=8, but will more readily index pages such as http://www.aota.net/Email/extraemail.php3 - so we used a bit of trickery :)[nbsp][nbsp]Also note the many hyperlinks throughout the site - these are dynamic, meaning if we add a new page relating to, for example, apples, and we add the word "apple" to the keywords list, any appearance of the word "apple" will link to that new page automatically, site-wide :)

We would have used .html, but there are a lot of actual html/shtml/htm/etc pages still at aota... .php3 was the only extention we knew of that is not used on any real files, so that's what we picked to give the appearance of an 80+ file site (so far) with 3 files (4 if you count the random keyword generator... )

Meikel - you bring up some excellent points - Deb and I are planning to keep adding to the tutorials, and I like most of your ideas. I was in the same boat when I first started, too - I didn't know where to find basic HTML and design help at all, and ended up learning a lot from various Geocities sites (argh!). And the e-commerce thing is great - I got tired of hearing that I need a merchant's account (I still hear that a lot), when there are companies such as www.Regnow.com (http://www.Regnow.com) (which I use for my shareware / banner ad sales) that make getting started a lot easier and less expensive.

I'll be taking note of your suggestions, keeping in mind that AOTA.Net is not just for FutureQuest site owners, but anyone who may need help on the web :)

I was originally going to use &0153;, but I thought ™ was more "universal" and wouldn't be font-dependant (although we specified a font family...) - I know the TM symbol isn't supported in all fonts, but figured browsers knew what ™ was (like for © )... I may change that.

Thanks for the tips and suggestions :)

------------------
Justin Nelson
FutureQuest Support

[Armand]

Didn't bother to look at the source code and never thought of CSS.... ahh!

[tedloh]

Justin - I had figured you probably used some trickery, didn't see why you would code all those pages.[nbsp][nbsp]Having said that, can you show what you did?[nbsp][nbsp]Does it require SQL?[nbsp][nbsp]Obviously that's the next step I would like to take...

Meikel/Justin - ditto on the e-commerce issues.[nbsp][nbsp]When I finish with my research, I will be completing a column on the Internet, and why "e-commerce" is so widely misunderstood - but until I gather enough information I am hardly in a position to provide any insight :)

Stephen/Deb/Terra - re: encryption, the laws may already have been superceded by a recent announcement (let me go find it):[nbsp][nbsp]Sept.16, White House allows overseas encryption sales, basically meaning that US companies are no longer restricted in sales of cryptographic products, provided they submit the product once for technical review. In theory, that opens the doors for said products to be used on websites as well.[nbsp][nbsp]I would need to go read about ITAR a bit more, but I can't see any problem with the encryption issues anymore - unless someone has already gone and taken expert advice on this already.

------------------
Ted (Chief Do-It-All)
Tygre Systems Co Ltd
Bangkok, Thailand, Land of Smiles :) :)
http://www.tygresystems.com (work in progress)
ted@tygresystems.com

[heath]

Did you guys use mod_rewrite to accomplish this, and is?
[nbsp]
Which servers is mod_rewrite available on?
[nbsp]
Thanks

heath

[Deb]

Yes we did for some of it.[nbsp][nbsp]mod_rewrite is available on all servers... BUT... before anyone utilizes it I highly recommend reading TeRRa's post here http://www.aota.net/ubb/Forum5/HTML/000244.html first.

Deb

[sheila]

I had gotten very used to the way the old AOTA was set up. Guess I don't like change and having to find my way around (I always HATE IT when the grocery store rearranges their aisles and I have to figure out where everything is all over again)...

So, what happened to the FAQ-O-Matic User Docs?

[Deb]

The FAQ-O-Matic (as well as all of the other pages that were on aota.net) are still there ;)[nbsp][nbsp] The only page removed was the old index page... but I did leave everything else in place to avoid "lost links".

FAQ-O-Matic is at http://www.aota.net/cgi-bin/FAQ/fom

We will be adding everything that "was" there to the new aota.net plus some.[nbsp][nbsp]Just about all of it is already in place within the new design...

Deb

[sheila]

OK, so the reason I couldn't find it is because I never bookmarked the link for the FAQ-O-Matic, and you don't currently have a link pointing to it from the new AOTA? But you will be putting a link in soon?

Is my understanding above correct?

I had really been using AOTA often times as my starting point to find the other things at your site.

[Deb]

I will add a link to it as an example of the FAQ-O-Matic where we link to the "Pre-installed FAQ-O-Matic" option.

I do not plan to continue adding things to the aota Faq-o-matic simply because one of the common complaints is that we have information scattered all over the place... on the FutureQuest site, in the forums, and in various areas all over aota.net...[nbsp][nbsp]The goal is to consolidate all of that information into one general location and add to that location as time goes on rather than adding one thing to the FAQ-O-Matic another thing to the aota.net tutorials, more things to the forums, and even more on the FutureQuest site etc etc etc....

What I was meaning is that any information found in the FAQ-O-Matic will be found within the current AOTA.net site...

Deb

[tedloh]

Justin - I had figured you probably used some trickery, didn't see why you would code all those pages.[nbsp][nbsp]Having said that, can you show what you did?[nbsp][nbsp]Does it require SQL?[nbsp][nbsp]Obviously that's the next step I would like to take...

The sound of silence... ;)[nbsp]
------------------
Ted (Chief Do-It-All)
Tygre Systems Co Ltd
Bangkok, Thailand, Land of Smiles :) :)
http://www.tygresystems.com (work in progress)
ted@tygresystems.com

[Justin]

Sorry Ted, I must have missed that one - been a busy week/weekend...

What we did was use PHP and mySQL to accomplish the task. Basically the database holds these fields:

Unique id
Category
Name
Page Title
Keywords (for searching and auto linking as well as meta tags)

A page's category appears as the directory, where the name would be the filename. http://www.aota.net/Category/Name.php3 is what it would look like.

Via MOD_REWRITE, it splits it up and turns the above URL into this:

http://www.aota.net/index.php?C=Category&T=Name

Then of course it performs the query:

$result = mysql_query ("select * from html where category = '$C' and title = '$T'");

And so on. It's really quite simple - then of course we have a back end for creating/deleting/editing pages which makes updating AOTA.Net much easier for all of us.

Nothing to it, really ;)

------------------
Justin Nelson
FutureQuest Support

[tedloh]

Well, I guessed right - don't know whether to :) or :(...

I was sure it was a database or list - but I don't have MySQL yet :([nbsp][nbsp]nor do I have the time to learn it for the next couple of months - enough with Perl and PHP and JS for the time being LOL.

Very slick, though.[nbsp][nbsp]I'm going to see if I can create a way around that... perhaps I have far less pages to manage than you, so it might be simple to refer to a list...

------------------
Ted (Chief Do-It-All)
Tygre Systems Co Ltd
Bangkok, Thailand, Land of Smiles :) :)
http://www.tygresystems.com (work in progress)
ted@tygresystems.com

[brainiac-d]

Justin, it would be cool if you could post the source to the php pages. Would help a lot of PHP newbies like me.
[This message has been edited by brainiac-d (edited 10-02-99)]

[heath]

Via MOD_REWRITE, it splits it up and turns the above URL into this:

http://www.aota.net/index.php?C=Category&T=Name

All this sounds lovely - except what happens if you want multiple templates?[nbsp][nbsp]

Does index.php3 contain the template of the page, or is that in the database too?
[nbsp]
Would be nice to have a table with different templates, and store the template # in the table with the page info - but maybe this is the way you already do it?
[nbsp]
In any event - I am a very novice PHP coder and created something very similar without using mod_rewrite - your way sounds much better.
[nbsp]
I created all the static HTML files and then just throw the same mySQL query on every page that serves the page based by searching the database for the html path.
[nbsp]
Like I said -your way sounds better if it allows for different layouts. (haven't surfed the aota.net site enough to know if you are using canned template on every page or not).
[nbsp]
In any event, this is an excellent way to code a "Content management" system that can be tailored to your own needs without shelling out 50k or more to Vignette or Allaire for their management systems.

Thanks for the insight.
[nbsp]
Heath