Messed up links

[David]

Some of you may have noticed that there is a bug in the way long link addresses are handled by the forum software. The bug adds a "%20" (space) in the middle of links causing them not to work correctly.

I am currently following this up with the developer and I would hope to have a fix in a couple of weeks. The Good news is that when the bug is fixed, all existing messed up links will work - posts will not need to be edited.

Note: this topic relates to problems with the old forum

[francis]

In the meantime, if the link is a particularly long one and you can't work out where the problem is, hover your mouse over it and look in your browsers' status bar (bottom left near the Windows start button). You'll see a space in there somewhere, for example:

www.example.com/mypage.php?first=1&last =10&user=loggedout

There shouldn't be any spaces in a URL, so that one after the word "last" is a forum bug. When you click on the link you'll get this:

www.example.com/mypage.php?first=1&last%20=10&user=loggedout

Browsers will automatically change (encode) a space into a %20 to try and ensure the link works. However, if there was no space in the URL for the target page, it very likely won't. Taking the %20 (or more if there are any) out will make the link work. From memory, IE6 (at least my version) was really temperamental about showing the status bar. Just go to View > status bar to turn it on/off

*** helpful note: www.example.com has been permantently reserved to use in examples/documentation such as this. It will never be put up for sale and can be used freely used without fear of accessing someone's site ***

[David]

Thanks for that Francis. I didn't know about www.example.com but what a good idea. Sometimes I am really impressed by the web and those who organise/use it.

Also, congratulations on making our 500th post. At this rate, Ronald will need to take a month out just to catch up!

[francis]

And you get the Levis award for the "501" post :D

Is Ronald still with us? I noticed Stephen has put his presentation up over the last couple of days, which I'll read through in the next day or so, but nobody has heard or seen anything from Ronald.

[David]

Well he's still around. I checked his folder on this domain recently and noticed that he uploaded this site (http://websitearchitecture.co.uk/ng/abacus/). Also, judging by the date stamps on the files, it is being regularly updated. Most recent files were changed last week. I don't mind him using this domain for a bit of free hosting but I think we should demand some forum participation in return ;)

Hmm, another
little gem (http://websitearchitecture.co.uk/ng/mados/home.htm) from Ronald. Maybe he only signed up for the course for the hosting.

[francis]

You should add a "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat" emoticon thing to the list of faces we can add. I take it your reseller account is unlimited bandwidth?

[David]

Originally posted by: francis
I take it your reseller account is unlimited bandwidth?

Yes it is and just as well because data transfer on this domain has quadrupled since Ronald's site went live <_<

[James]

I think you're very good natured about it David.

Still, £1,500 (course fee) is a very expensive way of getting some webspace.

[David]

Originally posted by: francis

You should add a "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat" emoticon thing to the list of faces we can add.

You mean...

http://www.websitearchitecture.co.uk/watson/postimages/icon_eek.gif

[David]

Originally posted by: James Barker
Still, £1,500 (course fee) is a very expensive way of getting some webspace.

Yes, he could have had a dedicated server for that sort of money ;)

[francis]

No, I was thinking more of something like this:

http://www.websitearchitecture.co.uk/storr/forumimgs/jawdrop.gif

That more sort of sums up my feelings on the matter.

Still, on the BARTS one at least he put "British" and not "English", eh Stuart :D (although it would pretty much spoil the acronym if he had...)

[James]

Have to say, I'm not over the moon :( about my university project work being available to strangers like this. I was expecting to share it with fellow students, not total strangers. The websitearchitecture domain is now "out there" thanks to Ronald.

[David]

Well, if you would like your student home areas to be password protected, that can easily be arranged but my feeling is that anything you put online should be good enough to be seen by anyone. Let me know what you think.

[James]

Yes I agree David, I'm proud of my work. Guess I'm peeved that it wasn't my decision. No need to password protect on my account. B)

[Terry]

An interesting point that perhaps needs to be discussed at the Programme committee meeting.

I agree with David but perhaps we need to make it clear at the beginning that your work will be out there in the public domain.

Terry

[francis]

I was going to suggest something similar. Either that or something like "you will be provided with Web space for use when completing work for your MA. This space is only to be used for your MA work unless you have the express permission of the site owner". But that's obviously David's call as it's his space.

I'd echo James B's points. While I stand by the work that I've done and obviously realise that the Web is open to the global community, it irks me considerably that the decision to publicise it has been taken completely out of my hands by someone who isn't contributing one iota to this MA other than turning up once a week.

Password protecting our work would be a shame. For that to work effectively we'd all have to have different passwords. I like the ability to look at my peers' work; password protecting it would take that away. Maybe David could sell Ronald some cheap space and move his non-MA content out?

[Tom]

Another point to consider is that as part of the Content Management course we are going to write a report for David on how to shift www.websitearchitecture.co.uk up the Google rankings. If we do a good job, leaving your work un-password-protected could make you all famous! Personally, I would put on the protection because the space is likely to be useful for work in progress. I assume that it will be used next year for progressive publication of thesis projects.

[David]

Perhaps the solution is to provide students with two folders. One private and one public. The private folder is used for work-in-progress or sensitive stuff and the public folder for finished work. However, Francis's point about looking at other students work is a good one and it would be a shame to lose that ability. Perhaps a sub-domain (work.websitearchitecture.co.uk) might be the answer or a completely new domain.

I am not happy with the way Ronald has (ab)used the facilities but I'm not going to take any action until I have spoken to him.

[francis]

A sub-domains would be good, although it will leave the top domain fairly bereft of anything.