Site Changes coming soon

[thunderchero]

Hi Everyone,

With the help of cleverwise over the next few weeks the site will be going though some updates.

The forum will get a style update and the site index and downloads will be based on wordpress with a new look.

You may experience some down time towards the end of November.

More changes will continue throughout the next few months.

thunderchero

[Martok]

Cool! Looking forward to seeing what's new.

[cleverwise]

The changes coming are significant and numerous. Most of the infrastructure for our community is being modified and altered.

Short of keeping PHPBB as the forum software this is a complete redo and reorganization. Raven Nuke is being retired. The new layout will be mobile friendly and more streamlined.

Downtime should be minimal, and additional notices will be made, however a few minutes here and there will probably occur.

[Flocke]

Thanks for all your effort on this cleverwise!
I am looking forward to new site changes

[cleverwise]

Thanks for the appreciation Flocke.

The new setup will be MUCH nicer and more streamlined. This is due to the backend getting a major overhaul and cleaning out along with the frontend changes you'll see. This will make our community infrastructure easier to work with and keep up-to-date. Due to this there will be some intervals of minor downtime as things get moved around and cleaned up. I will keep the downtime as low as possible during this process.

Goodbye Raven Nuke I won't miss you!

[cleverwise]

On Nov 25th we will be taking the new design live. This means, as stated, Raven Nuke will be retired on that date. It was originally planned to launch the redesign early next year. However the hosting company is going to force the latest version of PHP onto our community starting December 1st. This has created a forced deadline as it will break Raven Nuke by causing fatal errors. If you aren't already aware this is the system used to run this community.

While it could be patched this would take some doing and just isn't worth the effort when we can cut over to the new layout. Unfortunately this forced deadline means some of the features we originally planned to have working with the launch will just have to come online over the next few months. There just isn't enough time to get it all done as first mapped out. So be it.

As for downtime; it should be minimal. On that day we will be upgrading the site itself, the Armada community, and Birth community. These will be done one at a time. When upgrading the communities there will be a few minutes perhaps up to 15 minutes or so of time locked out of the boards. Many tests have been run importing data and doing upgrades to the download sections and boards via development areas. Still I would rather quote a longer time and have it take less than the other way around.

There will be no exact time set other than the 25th. TC and I will be working together to cut over when possible, starting in the afternoon EST. We will just get a section going and verify things are okay before moving onto the next. Obviously should you reach the boards and site during the upgrading/transformation period simply please be patient and know we are working on it.

I know this community has been burned in the past with multi-week downtimes. I can promise this will NOT occur as I am an experience server administrator and programmer with official database training. I am guessing getting off these older systems and streamlining the backend will take a few hours from start to finish. Therefore expect certain parts of the site to be temporarily unavailable as these changes occur.

Two Additional Points:

1) Why the 25th? To give us some breathing time in case something doesn't go right. While I doubt any major issues, due to much testing, I still prefer a fallback plan just in case. So if the upgrade failed we can fall back onto Raven for a few more days. It is just smart planning to have a cushion. Plus on the 28th it is Thanksgiving in the USA and not the best day to coordinate a change over.

2) It is important to note StarTrekModding.com is being retired and everything will be consolidated onto ArmadaFleetCommand.com with each community having only ONE unique forum and a shared website portal. All old links will receive redirects, as both communities will have new URL homes.

[BenMaxwell]

This will certainly boost morale and have bigger, and more, oh waits the saying, Interesting tournaments/Multiplayer games >:D

[KrazeeXXL]

srsly guys. I wish you:




on this one


finally getting rid of that half-assed STM raven nuke X?/)"=# is really great. Going to be interesting @wordpress. Just know this one as a place for bloggers to set up their stuff.

This will certainly boost morale...

couldn't have it said better myself.

[cleverwise]

Thanks KrazeeXXL! :-)

When Wordpress started it was definitely for blogs only but over the years it has been altered to serve many kinds of sites. I am sure a few things here and there will be missed as no two software packages do exactly the same thing. Still overall the new layout and system should rock. Plus I can custom code most missing items. I couldn't find a good download system for Wordpress so over about three weeks I custom coded one for our community.

It has been a journey but TC and I have been working hard at it for about six weeks. TC has done a great job working on the new PHPBB themes, cleaning up the downloads (Armada and Birth), grabbing and cleaning up content (Armada and Birth), and providing valuable feedback while I have worked on the Wordpress theme, moved things around, and perform custom coding. Anjel has even generously stepped in and designed the new AFC logo the community will soon see and enjoy.

Thanks Anjel and TC as you have definitely helped!

[thunderchero]

It should also be known,

without cleverwise's interest and support the sites would be no where close to being ready for this forced change by the server.

So we need to give a big thanks to him.

thunderchero

[Martok]

My (additional) thanks to cleverwise, then -- and to our esteemed admin. While I cheerfully admit to having no real understanding for the technical side of things, I've been hanging around forums long enough to at least have a rough idea as to what a PITA it can be to upgrade them, so I very much appreciate the effort.

[captaindusk]

Hi Guys and Gals, great to be finally back, I probably went through the hardest passage of my way of life 'til now but as usual I mastered it without greater difficulties. Just as: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue_UDHH-EzY taught me.

cleverwise you're really living up to your name. Bring it on. Really looking forward to the new layout. It will ez up things enormously once it will be up and running in ca. 2 weeks.

Krazee, Flocke, Greetz to both of you, and my deep apology to you pal, but I went through really heavy RL shit this year, and specially the last 18 days that's why I kinda cowardly retreated and blocked you on various sites. You weren't the only one by far, I just...needed to sort things out again big time, human, and technical as you noticed. Borg style More via pm or so, doesn't really belong into public.

So come on AFC (speaking to the whole community) let's rock 2014 as we did for the last nearly 4 years already. (nearly 14 since BOTF's release in 1999): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3pOkhU9iYM

[anjel]

indeed, what cleverwise it´s doing it´s a monumental change to the site, and a really helpfull step todaward all the AFC community, so we can keep track on what´s going on everyday. By updating the site, this community will keep alive, as we all help in our area of expertise. So THANK YOU cleverwise, really
And of course TC, he´s only supervising everything goes well, while he´s sitting drinking a beer on his desk... he wish, lol, he´s working against the clock to let us all enjoy the new site, so a respectfull salute to him too !!!

regards

Anjel

[thunderchero]

he´s sitting drinking a beer on his desk

I don't drink beer. only Bacardi and coke.

thunderchero

[titaniumsub]

That is good to know that this site is changing towards better