CMS: MODx CMS
PHP Load: 1.0621 s
MySQL Load: 0.0102 s (10 Requests)
Total Load: 1.0723 s
|
 |
All of the news posts made from the start of when we started using MyBB to today should now be updated. This mainly consisted of fixing spelling/URL errors, as well as cleaning up the code we were using. Also, the Tales of LIMS posts now use the "correct" icon for each round.
You may notice the news icons loading faster now. This is due to an image optimizing script we are going to use on the image files on the website (namely .png files). The rest of the site files will have this done during the "visual refresh" that will be taking place during May. This shouldn't affect the site, since our CMS allows us to update every page with one "click". However, we will notify all of our visitors prior to this update. : )
(As for the Oekaki fix, I should be able to do that sometime during this weekend.)
|
|
As you can notice above this news post, we now have a "Latest News" rotator that displays the latest news, automatically rotating through each one every couple seconds. This allows for an unlimited number of news bits, so we are planning on adding the "newest" news to the top of the list, and "flushing" them out at the end of the month. This update marks off 3) the Goals for 2008 page (only difference was that we weren't limited to just three news posts ^.^). Note that this only appears on the main page, to act as a "gateway" of sorts, to pages throughout the website.
In other site news, the Staff Applications page was revised to make note of changes on the site, such as switching to the new Gallery script, and the Blog being relaunched recently. Please make note that some requirements have changed (namely on those two mentioned earlier), so please recheck them if you are interested in applying for a position. : )
There was a few other minor changes, namely styling/coding fixes, but they were purely subjective fixes, and shouldn't be noticed by most visitors. This is in preparation for a "overhaul" of the core template during the Summer, which should speed up the loading of the site a little bit, plus make the site structure more "clean" (namely the URL's of pages/images/etc.).
|
|
Remember a few weeks ago, when we talked about the image location updates we were making (to condense folders and to remove some old images that weren't being used anymore)? Well, this indirectly caused a few issues, such as images not appearing on Luke's page in our Tales of the Abyss section, and the Enemy Book page in our Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology section. Those two sections should be working as expected now.
We also added a "Soundtrack" link under the Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology section on the PlayStation Portable page. Speaking of console pages, we removed the Mootools code that powered the tooltips. This was causing loading issues, and didn't provide anything besides just making it look nicer. Depending on your connection, you should notice either a small or a big change in the loading of each page. This update is only fully done on the website at the moment, so please give us a week or so to apply the change elsewhere.
Also, our Gallery styling issues are fixed now, so we are in the process of reuploading the images (the directory names changed, which means we need to do a full reupload of everything. There are still some minor issues, such as getting the "icons" CSS right, and the script wanting to sort by the last upload, instead of alphabetically, but those should be fixed in a few weeks or so.
UPDATE: Two other changes were made after the initial posting of this news. A new affiliate, Zelda Dungeon, has been added. Also, the links under Site Information have been reorganized & the News Archives links are now under the Forum Information, which should make searching for old news articles easier.
|
|
Just an FYI that DBAM (Adam) will be in charge of the site from February 29th to March 4th. I will be attending the Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds concert in Chicago this Saturday, as well as seeing the sights during the other days.
If you have any issues, please contact DBAM (Adam) instead of me --- since you will not get a response till next Wednesday, at the earliest.
|
|
After almost two months worth of work, the tagging revisions are finally finished. All of the console pages are now in the new "tag" format, which allows us to easily share the same "templated" code and makes changing minor details of the layout as easy as changing one item in our CMS. As you may have seen already, this was the first "goal" for 2008 (which will be stroked off next time I access the CMS's backend).
Now that the revisions are out of the way, we can now focus on getting new content done. The first order of business will be to get mySymphonic updated with the previously mentioned updates (Achievements, Wishlist/Collection, Fanclubs/Fanlistings, etc.) --- note that the Blog will not be included in this update, due to the immense code that will need to be written up for it (it currently has a Spring/Summer 2008 planned release).
Afterwords, the Forum/Gallery/Oekaki templating/updating work will be done. The Gallery will have a few minor CSS tweaks (there's a few things I've noticed that need some "touching up"), the Forum will have it's plugins updated & minor CSS fixes made. I have a couple neat new plugins I'm planning to install, so keep a look out for that. And the Oekaki will get reskinned --- since I had to deal with this script before, this should be much easier to skin the second time around. : ) Also, there's some Tales of Symphonia: The Animation images that need to be added to the Gallery, so that will be done during the Gallery update.
Once that's all taken care of, expect some new content --- which will likely be getting the basics (character/video/etc.) up for each section (we already have images pre-done for each of the characters in all of the games), since that's something we've been sorely lacking in the past. More LiveJournal icons will be added, as well.
|
|
First off, I'd like to inform everyone as to why there was such an influx of news posts today. I was on vacation during the weekend, and I was planning on making a news post explaining this on Friday. Due to circumstances outside my control, I couldn't access a computer till this morning, and thus, I had to make all these news posts to catch up (since Tales Channel was unusually active this weekend).
Now, to get on to more pressing matters. As you've seen in the last few months, I've been chugging along converting content over to the new "tag" system, and with only myself doing the conversions, it naturally takes quite a while (since I have to find time outside of college/real life to work on the website). So, I thought I would make a page that has a "checklist" of things I would like to accomplish in 2008 for the site, in no particular order. It helps me to become more organized, and it allows you, the visitor, to see what's in the "pipeline", so to speak. I might have time to do this this afternoon, but if not, it should be done sometime before the weekend.
EDIT (1/30): The Goals for 2008 is now live. Remember that this list is not final, so goals might be added/removed at will. The list is also in no particular order.
|
|
As the title says, this news post is going to talk about more fixes we've been making to better your experience at Symphonic Heaven.
This fix is only in the Xbox360-PS2 sections so far, but we have fixed the game section URL's so they point to just /*console*/*game*/, instead of a long symphonicheaven.com address. We also removed the Ratings column in the game data (not many people would need to know it, so it was just taking up space), and used an "acronym" tag (just hover over the text) for the Mega Hits/The Best/Special Edition release dates (instead of having to shorten the name and making the text hard to see at a glance).
This will be done to the other sections, and new boxart (such as the Tales of Destiny 2 (PS2)'s Mega Hits release) will be added, such as in the Tales of Innocence and Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology.
We also fixed the Inventory Shop issue that stopped any new items being added (couldn't access the controls on the Admin end), as well as the "tags" image not showing up in news posts on the Forum.
|
|
As we get closer to Spring in the new year, everyone usually does some "spring cleaning", right? ; )
Thus, we at Symphonic Heaven decided this would be a good time to "clean" up some parts of the backend, improving the loading times for our visitors --- one of them was just finished today. Some astute visitors probably noticed that you could get to page.php the same as page/. We've fixed the URL scheme so it works in a / fashion, aka a "Wordpress"-style. This should help make the URL's neater, and improve our search results on sites like Google.
The other updates have been in the back-end. We use categories to separate the different "chunks" that make up the website. They were a un-orderly mess (due to the v2.0 conversion), so we've been updating/removing old categories and moving some around to other categories. This should help productivity in the long-run.
|
|
As you may have noticed, a new link is added in the Site Information section in our navigation, entitled Staff Applications. You may have noticed this page appear in the Latest Updates section in the navigation a few days ago (college = only having a half-hour or so at a time to update pages, etc.).
This is where we will list all of the open staff positions available at Symphonic Heaven. As you can see, due to the size and scope of the website, we have a lot of open positions. All of them have multiple spots, unless mentioned otherwise (like for Co-Webmaster). Note that for the Content positions, we aren't restricting spots to "one per person" --- due to the sheer amount of content that each game will have, multiple staffers for each game is not just needed, but is a necessity.
Any new positions that come up will be added to that section, as well as "commenting" out any positions that are already taken.
|
|
This post is meant as a way to let you all know what's to be expected in the next few months (from now to around early-May), since college starts back up for my this upcoming Monday.
As I just stated, college classes for the Spring are starting, which means college > site as far as my priorities. So there's likely to be times where I'll be MIA or just checking the forum/the homepages of the programs we use instead of big site updates. Thus, I can't give an ETA on any of the projects we are working on, such as the new Blog or Directory system. I'm also working with the other Tales site owners on that "secret" website, which will take some of my time away from Symphonic Heaven (although I can say this website we're working on is gonna kick some serious a** once it's online).
Updating the pages on the site is my first goal --- then I'll get the "extras" finished. We have a little over 50% of the conversions done content-wise, so I'm hoping to have that done in a month --- I can do one or two conversions every couple days, since it's just running search+replace commands on the current code. As for mySH updates, that'll be next after that. I might not get the Blogs back in that first update, but I have figured out a way to get Achievements back up (WLPE had an issue, so I've had to think of a workaround for it), as well as implementing a Wishlist / Collection-type system. That will be v3.1.0, and the Blogs will be in v3.2.0.
There's some other new additions that are also in the "works", so I'll let you all know more about those in a future news post.
|
|
Now that the Gallery is finished, I've finally had some time to update the main website. Tonight was mainly some small updates, centered around text and bugfixes.
The copyright for the website was changed up to 2008, Tales of Destiny (PS2)'s description was updated to reflect the new "Lilith Mode" info revealed last month, and the "PlayStation2 the Best" was shortened to "PS2 the Best" to stop the table from being so constricted with all of the text inside of it.
In our Tales of the Abyss section, the links in the Non-Playable and Videos sections were fixed (they pointed to non-existent pages, causing 404 errors) --- this was due to some reshuffling of content during the revamp. The "Archived News" link was removed from the navigation in that section, since it was a remnant from before the News link existed in the console pages.
The next update will consist of any other bug fixes in the already-revamped pages, then finishing the revamping of the other remaining console pages. After that's all said and done, expect some work done on new content, as well as the revival of the Blog and Directory projects.
|
|
Now that 2008 has officially started, this is a good a time as any to look back on the events at Symphonic Heaven in 2007, and look forward to the new advancements in 2008.
In 2007, we launched the new "Tales 2.0" layout, as well as v3 of mySymphonic. We also revamped the backend of the website to allow for content to be added much easier, and started work on revamping the Gallery. Even the Forum got a new look and new features.
In 2008, we at Symphonic Heaven want to carry on with those advancements while starting some new ones. The Gallery is about 90% finished, with just the Mobile and DVD Dramas images left to upload. You may have noticed that the Packaging and some other albums have been removed --- this is due to a change in how the Gallery is structured. We already added a album at the "root" of the Gallery for hi-res logos (we removed all of the small, non-usable ones), and we will be having a "Merchandise" section in the Gallery. This will tie into a new section of the website that will be solely for all the Tales merchandise out there --- with links to buy them! This is a WIP, so I can only give an estimate that it should be up in late Spring / early Summer (my Spring college semester is going to be helluva crazy this year).
The previously-mentioned Blog system should be relaunched during the Spring as well. Everything's been planned out --- it's just a matter of configuring all of the scripts needed correctly, plus a healthy dose of beta testing before it goes live. Our Directory section will be moved into our CMS, so you will only need to be signed in to add links (this is because the developer of the script has basically abandoned the code). This will likely be up before the Blog system, since it won't take long to configure everything for it.
The conversion of the site content is going along smoothly. Once the final bits of the Gallery are back online, we have the GBA->Anime sections left. Then we can start to get some content / other stuff wrapped up.
As for the "new" stuff, I can tell you about one of them. We are working with the other Tales websites to have a "Digg"-like site just for the Tales series. It's currently in beta-testing / skinning, so more info will be revealed in the coming months.
(BTW, as a quick FYI, upgrades to the Forum and Oekaki will be done soon. The Forum will be centered around a few small bugfixes and adding more items to the Inventory Shop. The Oekaki will be reset to the "default" template (since code editing our version to the current version is going to be a huge pain) --- the "SH" template will be done when I have the time to reedit it.)
|
|
We got a new affiliate today, Tales Channel. They are planning to open their site soon in the next few months, so be sure to check back to see if it's launched. Also, they are having a logo contest, which has a prize of a Japanese copy of Tales of Innocence, which was just released a few weeks ago.
BTW, the "space" issue with mySymphonic has been fixed --- when you are logged into your account, you shouldn't notice a space in-between the Forum Info and Affiliates sections anymore.
|
|
I only have one more exam left tomorrow (a pretty easy one), so I had some time this afternoon to work on the website.
This was mainly geared towards trimming code to shorten the loading time on the pages on the main website. Our affiliates are now changed to text links, which removed over 30 images that had to be grabbed by your browser. The "header" image for the content was altered so it now properly aligns with the navigation "header" (it was a few pixels off before). Other various CSS edits can be found throughout the website. Our JavaScript code was also moved to the end of the page, so you no longer need to wait for it to "pre-load" before you can navigate the page --- as far as we know, this should not cause any issues (please contact us if you find one, though!).
The site is only loading about 50 or so images on the index page (used to 80+), so I'd say that's a modest improvement. Expect similar "behind-the-scenes" updates during the rest of the month, as improve the code during the content "revamp" that's been going on in the game sections.
EDIT (12/12): GZIP, a compression technique for web servers, has been enabled site-wide on Symphonic Heaven. After the initial page load, you should notice a dramatic difference --- usually only 1-3 seconds to load compared to the 7-10 before. There was an initial issue with the forum, but that was resolved quickly. After a quick test in other areas of the site, no issues have been found.
|
|
You may have noticed some new items in the navigation, as well as the 404 Error page. These were all part of some "behind-the-scenes" updates that were more for making things "people-friendly" instead of being so strict and rigid.
Under the Topsites section, we have a new section entitled Site Information. This has a link to our host, Gamespy (required to be hosted under our domain name), a link to MODx CMS (the CMS that powers the website), and the last five pages that were updated on the website (with the date that they were updated). Some PHP/MySQL/Loading Times stats are also listed there, but it's mainly for us to be able to debug any issues --- everyone who visits the website shouldn't need to worry about that info at all.
The 404 error page has a list of all of the pages created on the website, in an ordered list. So in case the page moved, or you mistyped the URL, you can easily find the link to the page that you need.
We are working to show the last date a page was updated + the original date it was created, as well as a "tagging" system that allows for you to view pages that have a selected tag attached to them. We hope this kind of functionality will allow for everyone to find the content they are looking for more easily.
Finals week is next week, so don't expect any big updates till after mid-way through next week (barring some small updates to convert the old code over to the new).
|
|
Our CMS, MODx CMS was upgraded to v0.9.6.1, which included some bug fixes. This should not affect the site in any way (no errors/bugs found after some quick checks around the site), but if you encounter any issues, please contact us so we can remedy the situation.
|
|
About a week ago, I talked about the code changes being made in the backend of the website (the CMS), which would allow pages on the website to use the same, common code --- allowing for faster addition of new content. This post is mainly to "update" everyone on the progress of those changes.
The code changes have been finalized for the console pages, and the PS2 section is now using the new code. As you'll notice, the "blocks" that had either anime cutscenes or a tan background are gone, replaced by an image + text link. This is done for two reasons: to make adding new links easier and to make it look more professional. Direct links to the Videos and User Content (submitted by someone's mySymphonic account) are new --- more of these kinds of direct links may be added in the future. There were some other "minor" styling tweaks added, but nothing groundbreaking (just adjustments to the space some text got, etc.).
The game content is the next in line. It is about 40% revised --- the major chunk of the work will be fixing up the Artes/etc. from the Playable Character section. Once this is finished, it is expected that the other sections will change over to the new code much faster (staff member will be given access to the finalized new code, so they'll be able to "update" their respective sections). I will likely focus on the Gallery and getting the new Blog up and running after I finish off the Tales of the Abyss code revisions.
I have a important Calculus III test early next week, so I likely will be away from the computer until late Tuesday/mid-Wednesday. I will try to check my e-mail once or twice a day, so feel free to contact me if it's something important.
|
|
On the outside, it might not seem like much has been updated, but we've been working quite a bit on the backend.
If you check out the spot for Tales of the Abyss on the PlayStation2 page, you'll see some changes, notably in the new icons and the new links. This is a change to both make the site look more professional, and to make adding these links easier (instead of needing to crop anime cutscenes from each game for the link images).
Now, why haven't the other games been updated yet? To make updating content easier, we are moving to a new system that, instead of copying common code to each page (which makes bugs hard to fix, since many pages need to be fixed), we are moving the common code into "tags", so in one-click, every page that uses that tag will be updated instantaneously. This system needs to be set up, which is what we are in the process of doing. Once that's done, we will be going site-wide, fixing the errors from the server move (such as some links going to non-existent pages, like some game section links in the Console pages) in the process of fixing up the code. In the short-term, this will mean less content updates, but this should allow content to pick back up once everything's fixed up.
I also apologize for the backlog in posting news such as our LiveJournal affiliate updates. Due to hectic college assignments, my free time devoted to the site has been considerably constrained --- which of course affects updating the site. ; )
|
|
We apologize for the recent downtime that occurred on the website during the latter half of this week. Due to the move to the new server, we had to change the URL's to the various pages, as well as the database that powers all of our scripts, which isn't a simple process.
Everything should be fixed now, although there were some changes. We had to get rid of the sub-domains for the time being, since this new server needs Gamespy to fix some things to enable them (you get thrown to a server page if you try to go to them). Thus, all of the links were changed to reflect this. We also tried to convert all of the old tales.rpgplanet.gamespy.com to symphonicheaven.com, but there may be some links that might have not been caught by us yet --- please report them if you find any.
The News Archives section has been renamed to Archived News. Instead of being archived by month, they are archived by "section". So all of the non-game news posts are found in the Archived News, and the news for the various games will be found in a link on the Console pages. The PS2 section will see the first of these kinds of updates in the next site update. We are hoping this will make finding the news you want simpler and easier.
The mySymphonic program has been upgraded to v3.0.1, a bug fix. This fixed some bugs that were caught by the developers/users of the script, and a bug where a Tales game/anime was automatically added as your favorite, even if you didn't want to pick one. Some other links were also fixed, and the mySymphonic-related news was moved to the mySH homepage. If you want to see the complete changelog, please click this link.
Future site updates will consist of finishing adding the images to the Gallery and updating the console pages on the website, along with any other small fixes that need to be made.
All of the news made in between the server move and today have been added. Two LiveJournal-related news posts will be added later today (tired from all the updates this morning xd).
Editor's Note: The News Archives page has been removed since this news post.
|
|
As you may have noticed, the security measures I put into place haven't done much to curb the spam accounts created in our Wordpress install.
Thus, I will be taking the Blog offline for the time being. I am planning to code a custom Blog script that runs off of the CMS that powers the website. It will be restricted to only what the user needs to see to post in their blog, and will be much easier to use than the Wordpress interface. If anyone is interested in testing it out, please contact me or reply to this thread --- I will be opening up the mySH Blog Beta Tester Achievement for this, by the way.
|
|
Since Symphonic Heaven got it's own domain name, it's been merely a redirect to the Gamespy address. After talking with Gamespy, we have been allowed to move over to having the "real" URL be the domain name, like any other major site you visit.
This will require changes in the backend to almost every script, so when the move happens, the site could, and very well likely, will be going offline, online, having errors somewhere, etc. We'll notify everyone via a news post once the move is finished, and we will make one before the move if we can.
I'd expect it to happen either this weekend or during the next week, as a rough estimate.
|
|
Due to a bug in our install of the new script for mySymphonic, I decided to spend some time fixing up things around the website. This included some CSS fixes, upgrading some scripts, etc. On every page (except the Forums, which will be getting a more extensive update in a few days), the "Tooltips" from the main page were added.
In the Gallery, I updated the Gallery to v1.4.13, which fixed a security flaw in the script. I also removed the extra box next to the "Powered by..." line.
In the Topsite, I fixed up the template for rating a website (something I accidentally forgot from the visual refresh earlier), and removed buttons from showing up, due to issues with some users. This also means that the field for adding a button in the UserCP was also removed.
The Blog got a big update, with the updating of the core WordpressMU script and some of the plugins. I am hoping to add some more plugins and some sort of contest to bring new accounts in the next few weeks, so be sure to keep an eye out for that. ^ . ^
As I said before, the Forums will be getting a lot of different fixes, such as fixing some CSS errors (three or so I missed in the visual refresh earlier), updating any old plugins, adding some new plugins, adding new forum games, and adding new Status/Loading icons, just to name a few things. The forum should not have to go offline during this update, unless something unforeseen happens and we have to temporarily it down for a few hours, at the most.
|
|
While I was porting the code over to the new "secret" project, since it uses the same basic code as Symphonic Heaven, I made some code fixes which either made things easier or improved loading times.
As you can see above the banner, I moved the "breadcrumbs" to the left-hand corner. This allows me to show a "full" view of the path, which had to be shortened when it was next to the console icons. Hopefully, this should ease the need to have to keep clicking on the navigation if you're deep into a section and don't want to have to start from the beginning. I also moved the "Latest News" ticker to the right-hand side, so our most important updates get some more recognition.
Some minor code fixes were made elsewhere in the backend (removing redundant code, moving things around, consolidating code, etc.), so you should notice a minor decrease in the time it takes to load a page.
Like I stated before, ToS: Knights of Ratatosk and Tales of Innocence are the next sections to be updated --- expect them in a week or so (lots of exams, so I won't have much time till Friday).
UPDATE (10:24 PM EST): We have a new affiliate, Luminous Arc: The Experience, which covers the game Luminous Arc, published by Atlus USA. "Web 2.0" social networking links were also added next to the Print and Go to Top! links --- if you use one of those services, please feel free to add us, or in the case of Digg, "digg" us.
The "full" boxart images have replaced with better, more hi-res images. As you can see for the Tales of Symphonia (PS2) and Tales of the Abyss sections, we have images of Sony's "PlayStation2 The Best" boxarts. We have these images for a few other games as well. We are in the process the rest of them --- they should be up by the end of the week or early next week, if everything goes as planned.
Note that any European boxart is unavailable at the moment. We changed the filename method we use, so the current links are incorrect. This will be fixed with the update mentioned in the last paragraph.
UPDATE (9/11 - 9:25 PM EST): The Wii and PlayStation2 sections have now had their "mini" profiles edited. These fixes will be made to the other sections --- then content such as the characters and videos for Tales of Innocence will be done.
|
|
You've probably noticed some changes lately on the main website. Although not all of them have been added yet, we wanted to let you have a heads-up on what we've been doing. This post will be edited once the remaining fixes are added --- I've been having bad thunderstorms around here, today, so it hampers how much I can get done at a time.
First off, the coding for the news posts has been altered. Remember the "news icon wrap" issue that appeared when a post was longer than the news icon's height? Now, all of the text is in it's own table, so we won't have that issue anymore.
In the Console icons, and the Quickbar, when you hover over the images, a window will "pop up". For the consoles, you will see the current list of games, so you don't have to search through our listings just to check if a certain game is located there. The Quickbar just has some text to let you know what is contained in each section.
If you browsed the website in the last hour or so (9:37-10:37 EST approx.), you may have noticed some changes in the menu styling. We decided this wouldn't be that useful, and might be annoying to our visitors, so we reverted back to the normal style. This may be used in other sections, however, on a future date.
Those two last additions will be carried over to the other sections in a few days. After that, I am hoping to get the v2.0.1 mySH upgrade finished, then work on the v2.1.0 upgrade. (since kaos_knight is taking over the Gallery duties for the time being).
UPDATE: Due to a issue with the update "ticker" in Internet Explorer 7, I had to remove it. I am thinking of implementing a small news ticker in it's place, once I can find a suitable one.
|
|
While working on the new project, I implemented some new ideas that are now implemented into Symphonic Heaven, which will be very useful in the future.
First off, the games that currently have content now have their own template. This means that once Roy finishes the new banners, they'll be up in few minutes or so --- this also makes things easier for our Website Staff, since it lessens the items they need to see in our CMS.
Secondly, a new script has been installed that shows off X number of images from a category or album in our Gallery. Once we tweak the forum-site script, each game's "splash" page will show the latest Forum + Gallery posts, as well as links to the other versions of the game. "Hubs" for each game "series" will be launched, ala links like abyss.symphonicheaven.com. There was some thought to change over to having sections based on games, rather than console, but we thought that would make things too cluttered in the long run --- so we decided on having those "hubs", which will just have a link to each section if multiple versions exist. Otherwise, you will go to normal page (like Abyss's link will go directly to the PS2 page).
I am hoping to launch v2.0.1 of mySymphonic sometime this week, or early next week. This will contain a update to our Login script, which will be a big update. Notice how you logout of your account when you exit our website? This update will give you various options as to how long you want to be logged in (a day, month, year, etc.). The Collection/Wishlist addition mentioned in the last post will in our next Minor update, v2.1.0, since it will require more time than the Login fix.
On a side note, kaos_knight and myself will be working on adding the remaining images to the Gallery in the next few weeks. Due to the amount left to upload, a proper update won't occur till all of the files are uploaded. Also, college starts back up for me this week, so obviously, updates will likely be less than in the Summer, due to the classes I am taking in my Fall semester.
|
|
It's been almost a half a month without any updates, right? This was due to a decision by the staff to hold off on this news post till all of the minor/major updates we had to do were finished, so we wouldn't have tons of little news posts spread around everywhere.
First off, you should notice that the content area is a tad bit bigger than earlier. This is so we can have more content in each page, without stretching out the page height-wise. It also gets rid of some of the "dead" space that we had before. Next, we have done a complete overhaul of the Playable Characters/Non-Playable Characters section. You can see the PC's here, and the NPC's here. In Luke's section, we removed the "tabs" system, since it only could hold so many links till it wouldn't work right anymore. We replaced it with those long "buttons", which I think gives it a more Web2.0-ish look. On Luke's Base Artes section, for example, you'll notice we revamped the code entirely. This will be carried over to the Phantasia and Destiny sections, once Dahveed and Cloud are able to recode those sections. I will likely be using this new style when I recode the Video sections in the near future.
Our mySymphonic system has been upgraded to v2.0.0, which is a Major Revision. This include some bug fixes, like the infamous "Your information was already submitted...", and added new features, like adding the Fanlistings and Clubs you belong to. Since there are numerous fanlistings and clubs out there, we have submission forms for submitting them to us. Achievements were also added for all submissions --- member Kaos Knight received the first Achievement for a submission for her avatars, which are now live in the Phantasia, Symphonia, and Abyss sections. The big update here, however, was the addition of ratings and comments for specific sections (like Character sections). If you are not a member, you can still rate and look at the comments, but you cannot add any. The last update is a page just for the Achievements, with their availability status and how to receive them. In mySH v2.1.0, I am expecting to add the ability to have members have a Collection and Wishlist list for the games in the Tales series --- kinda like an extension of the field for one's Favorite Tales Game.
On the Interactive Media front, we have a plethora of updates...
Our Blog program is now open to anyone who wants an account --- you no longer have to be a mySH member to register. If you do not have an account, click the link in the left-hand navigation when you click on the Blog link above. If you are logged in, that area will have a link to your AdminCP, as well as a link to logout out of your account. The core script as well as some plugins have been updated to their latest versions, as well. If you want to see all of the different Blogs, look at the bottom of the navigation --- any Blogs that are not set to Private status will appear in that list. We will be adding new features in the future, so check the Development blog for those updates.
To the left of the Blog link is a link to our new Directory script, Sybak. It is named after the city in Tethe'alla in Tales of Symphonia, since that city was a research facility. This project aims to become a list of everything "Tales", with links to Tales-related deviantART accounts, Tales websites, LiveJournal communities, etc. So if you are a owner of a Tales-related website, please feel free to add your link (only owners of the websites can add the link).
On the far-right, you will see a Fanlistings link. This is a new program at Symphonic Heaven for prospective fanlisting owners. If you need a host, but don't have the money to spend on a domain name + host + bandwidth, fill out the form on that page, and we will review your submission. If we accept you, a copy of Enthusiast will be installed for you, and you will have technical support from our Staff members, in case something goes wrong. We will also upgrade the script when a new version/bugfix/etc. is released.
And obviously, all of the July news posts are now archived, and viewable via the 2007 Archives on the forum and the website.
I am going to be concentrating on my "project" for the next few weeks, so don't expect any huge updates, outside of small bug fixes and upgrades to our scripts. Once the project is operational, the more intensive updates will resume. See ya in a few weeks!
Editor's Note: Sybak was removed after this news was originally posted. Also, due to a issue with mySymphonic, the user list had to wiped, removing Kaos Knight's profile.
|
|
Look at that! We launched a day early. xd
As you can see, there are tons of changes in this new layout. The links to the different consoles has been moved to the banner, clearing up room in the navigation. The Affiliates now have buttons, and have been reorganized somewhat, with the additions of a Sisters and "Tales of" Series. The Sisters category is for websites that have been long-time affiliates with Symphonic Heaven, or know us through other connections --- these websites help share information with us, help out if they wish, etc. And obviously, the "Tales of" Series is for Tales websites.
The navigation links have a new "bulleted" effect, and the console pages have been revamped. We seperated the regions this time around, which should make it easier to see at a glance what data belongs to which country. The Cover Song and Developer sections were removed, but they will be readded later on in their own sections, where we can give more detailed information on them.
However, with this "visual refresh", some things were taken offline while we revamp them. This includes the Character sections (except for Tales of the Abyss), due to having to recode the tables to match our new layout. The Videos sections were also taken offline, since we will be having a live preview of every video, instead of just a teaser image, along with some other changes.
mySymphonic was upgraded to v1.3.0 (a minor revision), but due to a bug with our new registering system, we had to disable any new members from registering till the issue is resolved. Also, all members who did not have avatars selected to have themselves listed on the Userlist were removed --- this was due to some spam bots creating accounts. If your account was deleted, please recreate it once the registering system goes back online. More info on how we will be purging bad accounts will come with the proper "mySH Update" post when the system goes back online. FYI to all members who registered beforehand --- you can still login to your account and use everything as normal.
Anyways, we would like to welcome you to the "new" Symphonic Heaven. We have some awesome things lined up, like the live commenting system, as an example, so stay tuned! Also, once I get my copy of Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology, I am hoping to have some screenshots available of things like the item shop lists, enemy data, etc. You can use these until we get an HTML formatted version up.
NOTE: The "changing" banner and the footer are missing right now, as you can see. This was due to unforeseeable issues with our image designer not being able to have the time to work on them before the launch. Hopefully, they should be done in a few days after Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology's launch.
|
|
I will be on vacation until mid-next week, so I am giving control of Symphonic Heaven to DBAM and KeiKusanagi. kaos knight will be in charge of the Oekaki, like usual. I am doing this, since I will not have access to the Internet while I am gone --- so any e-mails or PM's will not be answered until I get back.
DBAM will be in charge of anything site-related, and KeiKusanagi will be helping him out in regards to the forum.
I will be archiving all of the old news posts once I return, btw.
*goes to finish packing*
|
|
You may have noticed a lack of updates to the main site lately. This is why I made this post --- so I can let you all know what we're planning behind the scenes.
Around the time Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology is released, we will be launching what would normally be v5. However, this update has a tagline of "Tales2.0", which means we are rethinking part of the core of SH. We will still have content on the site, but we are going to be having more a "community" feel to the site, which is integrated into our mySymphonic program. On pages that would use them (Luke's page in the Tales of the Abyss section), we will allow mySH members to rate the page, as well as comment on it (like to add a new strategy, or post if we made a goof somewhere). Of course, they will be moderated, and guests cannot post comment (but they can see the comments). The new layout will also have more of a professional look, so we will be dropping the v2-v4 layouts, since each game will have it's own "banner". We have some other surprises in store, so keep your eyes peeled for them once it launches!
As for mySymphonic, we are planning to roll out a new registration form that will automatically add the default Achievement, as well as stuff like a default avatar/desc., so you will show up in the Userlist automatically (right now, you have to manually do that). However, due to a bug in the script, I cannot use it till it is fixed. This also affects rolling out the next version of the system, which will have some neat features (such as adding Fanlistings/Clubs you belong to), sadly.
For the time being, until either the layout is finished, or that bug is fixed, I will be adding new content and fixing up things around the site, as well as adding more images back to the Gallery.
As a notice, I will be on vacation next week and during the first half of the second week of July. I am going to have someone to post Tales news in case any new updates are made, however.
|
|
Gamespy has upgraded the server to PHP5 for Symphonic Heaven. As far as I know, all of the scripts that power our Interactive Content were unaffected, as well as the CMS.
We initially had an issue with the CMS properly showing the site content, but that should be fixed now. Please contact us if you encounter any errors.
The spam filter for our Blog script is finally operational, so I will be rolling out the plugin to all current members, as well as adding some new features and removing the ability to create accounts (ideally, I would want a way to have people create accounts, and Adam or I activate them, but no such plugin exists yet --- this is to prevent spam registrations, btw). I am hoping to have this fixed in a few days.
(BTW, to anyone that sent a affiliation request and was accepted --- you will be added in the next update.)
|
|
You may notice the site running faster this evening. This is due in part to some tweaks I made on the backend of the website.
Mootools, as well as Slimbox (what powers the spiffy full-size preview image script) were upgraded to the latest versions. Since we are using the tab script instead of the Mootools "accordion" script, that means the mootools.js file is smaller, and will take less time to load. The "delay" for the resizing of the "box" around the image was lowered, so it should be more "snappy" now.
Another change was the reenabling of the "cached pages" option in the backend. Basically, this means that the site will only recache certain parts of the site (like most of the things in mySH, or contact forms), and everything else will only recache when a coding change is made. We had disabled that setting originally due to a conflict with another script, but that had been fixed a few days ago.
In other news, the News Archives section has finally been updated with September 2006 (imported from CuteNews) and April/May 2007's (MyBB) news. The other links for the pages already there before were corrected as well (needed to change the URL due to the site folder structure change we made a few weeks ago).
Finally, the Contact Forms were brought back, but this time with a "humanity" test to thwart spambots (since I will be running a filter in Thunderbird that will remove any messages that have that question answered incorrectly (which means all the spambots). To all of our Staff members --- if you have a e-mail client that can run filters on e-mails, please contact me so I can set up your Contact Form, as well as give you instructions on how to properly filter the bad e-mails out.
|
|
I apologize for the extended downtime the site experienced in the last week. As you can see, we are using a new DIV-based content structure, instead of the old Table-based one. This meant a change in many parts of the site --- I didn't realize that it would take as long as it did. A big thanks goes to KeiKusanagi and Cloud for helping to convert the content for me.
v2 and v3 are temporarily offline for the moment, until I can "skin" the new look for those two layouts (give me a day or two to get that done). Also, the Contact Us! and the Staff Contact forms are temporarily removed, due to attacks by spambots. They will be moved to the mySymphonic area, to make sure the robots cannot access, and therefore spam the page.
Speaking of the mySymphonic system, some of you might have noticed that you cannot edit your User Info. We are installing a new system that offers options such as avatars, sorting by categories (so if you want to find someone who likes the same Tales game as you do, or someone who has an AIM account, etc.), and much, much more. This is about 60% finished, and now that the site content is redone, it shouldn't be too long before it can go live (after some slight beta-testing --- please reply to this thread or contact me if you wish to help).
Afterwards, some much-needed updates to the Forum (including adding all of the old Site News from CuteNews) and Gallery (adding the rest of the albums) can commence. There's also some "secret" projects we are working on, so be sure to keep checking back to see if we release any news on them.
(Note: If you didn't already notice, the Wiki was removed. This was a staff decision, partially due to some other Wiki's already having standing before we created ours, as well as it being a drain on site resources.)
EDIT (4/7): Two things I wanted to add. One, all of the main site pages should now be XHTML 1.0 Trans. valid. However, some pages were "altered" to do this. The game info "tables" are more spaced out, and the Tag/Replies+Post Date box is no longer shrinkwrapped. Secondly, the entire mySymphonic system is down right now due to a bug with installing another plugin. We believe we know what caused it, and are planning on reverting the database to fix the bug. So if you notice the site going offline in the next few days out of the blue, that might be why.
|
|
Symphonic Heaven now has two new Staff members, Cloud and Dahveed.
Cloud is in charge of the Tales of Destiny (PSX/PS2) section, and Dahveed is in charge of the Tales of Phantasia (SNES/PSX/GBA/PSP) and Tales of Symphonia (GCN/PS2). This will help out very much for me to work on finishing the Gallery, as well as finally adding some Tales of the Abyss and Tales of Legendia content.
They both have their bios added to the Staff page, as well as contact forms. 4th Fonist, a Moderator on the forum, also has his bio / Contact Form added.
(Expect a delay in updates for a few days, while I write up "User Guides" for the new Staff members. Once that is done, expect a new update to everyone's mySymphonic account.)
|
|
The old v3 layout (based on Tales of Legendia) has been added as a available layout for use on the site, now titled "Seas of Legend". It is very similar to v4//Eternal Abyss, but blue.
As always, please contact us if you find any styling that was left over from a previous layout (the style.css file was based of off v4 and v2's CSS, so something might have been left over by accident).
EDIT: You may have noticed the news bit about skinning the Wiki and Oekaki being removed from the previous news post. For the Wiki, core code changes in the 1.6.x and 1.9.x branches will likely mean that any custom skin made for it will need to be redone, so a "integrated" skin will have to wait till Gamespy upgraded to PHP5. As for the Oekaki, some of the layout coding is done in the core files, so multiple layouts would be impossible, since none of them use the same base code. In light of this, all of the Interactive Media, save the forum, will use the most current layout (v4 as of now) for their skin.
(On a side note, the Topsite is about 50% skinned at the moment. The rest of the skinning should be done in a few days.)
|
|
Much quicker than I expected (I was thinking one or two errors would pop up during the transfer), the new backend is now running on Symphonic Heaven, with no errors that I can see.
This is going to be a long post, just as a warning, due to all of the new features this new backend has...
1. Many more new subdomains. The game sections have ones like this, which can all be seen in the navigation area. Currently, the games do not have individual ones --- I need to decide how to do them before I make any.
2. Improved user readability. Above the content (in a bar / banner, depending on which layout you use), is a "breadcrumbs"-type scheme that lists the hierarchy of the section. Especially in v4's layout, this shouldn't cause an error in the layout (due to too much text being in the area, but please inform us if you notice a problem on a specific page.
This also means the look + feel of many of the pages was redone. We now have system-index pages, instead of a huge list of all of the Tales games. They have all of the info you need, and links to enter each section if we have made content for it. And remember how we had one image of all of the boxart, so you would have to manually take out the other ones in a imaging program? The infamous Lightbox2 script has been implemented, so clicking on a boxart will have a little window pop-up in the page (not in another window ^.^). And if there is multiple boxarts, hover near the edge of the image, and a Next button will appear (or Prev image if you're looking at the second boxart in the series). This is implemented site-wide, so the Video pages have been drastically altered. You now have a link to see an preview image of the movie (instead of having it load automatically), and estimated download times are added (which should be nice for our 56k users) --- although your download time may vary due to server issues, etc. The "Stream" links are now to the page the video is on, instead of a direct link like before (Gamespy and IGN altered the links, so they didn't work anymore) --- we will try to rectify this soon.
3. Forum intergration. You can now see the forum statistics (members, posts, topics, etc.) as well as the five most recent posts. Having a login box/register link/etc. is in the works (some bugs need to be worked out beforehand).
4. The new mySymphonic program. This is a service separate from our other interactive media outlets (Forum/Gallery/etc.) --- i.e., requiring a separate account. In time, this will become the central hub for submitting content / meeting people / etc. on the site. Right now, there is pages to vote in a poll related to the site (which will change occasionally), and to edit your mySymphonic account info. In the coming months, forms to submit content (missing game info, .txt guides, and even XHTML-coded content), and possibly user blogs will be added, so be sure to register an account and keep checking for new additions! (More detailed info can be found when you register, and any updates will be added in your account.)
5. Better loading time. The image rotator for the Allies was removed (also due to the list getting too big to properly use it). Much of this came from XHTML and CSS-valid coding, as well as all site images being coded in .png format now.
6. Vastly improved backend. Most users can't see it, but the templating engine that creates the content is much more user friendly (tags now represent content tables instead of the XHTML coding, which means all of them can be updated from one source). This also helps any new staff members create content much faster than before.
7. Small, minute thing, but you can now pick our previous layouts to use. This is cookie-based, so it stays the same for all other pages you visit. Right now, v3 (the Legendia layout) is MIA, but Roy is sending me it, so expect to see it soon. One word, the v2 layout is slightly different than the original (due to content changes made in v4), but keeps many of the same features the original layout had.
For right now, the Interactive Media sections will not have alternate layouts for the time being, although I hope to add them at some point.
Our Interactive Media sections will be updated next. Then, expect to see some new content and new additions to your mySymphonic account. As always, report any errors you encounter on the site to our contact page (and the Staff page now has contact forms for each staff members, btw).
|
|
The surgery went well, and I've partially recovered now (I'll still be taking it easy for the next month, while everything heals), so no worries there.
A lot of work has been done on the new CMS backend. Almost all of the PS2 section + main content is finished now, and almost all of the scripts running the new CMS are written and implemented. I am hoping to have it launch in the next month or so, along with a few other neat surprises.
The affiliates, as well as the new forum game/status icons/spinner will be added later this week, since my backlog of work (school/etc.) should be finished by then, btw.
|
|
I had intensive oral surgery today, so I will be away from the computer for a few days while everything is allowed to heal. I'll try to check my e-mail once a day, but besides that, I will not be accessible via Instant Messenger.
Adam (DBAM) is in control of the site during this leave, so please contact him if something urgent happens.
(Once I feel better, expect some updates on the forum, the new Affiliates to be added --- you know who you are, as well as the Oekaki update.)
|
|
Symphonic Heaven now has its own domain name, symphonicheaven.com. Sub domains for the Forum, Gallery, Topsite, Oekaki, and Wiki are also usable (the links can be found on the main page at the moment --- they will be changed on the other sections in the next week or so).
If you happen to link to our site via affiliation, or just in your forum signature, please update your link to the new domain name. Many thanks! ^.^
|
|
The Gamespy server will be down for maintenance next Tuesday (1/9/07). This will affect all of the hosted sites, including Symphonic Heaven. The main site, as well as the sub-sites (Forum, Gallery, etc.) will be down as well.
This should last only a few minutes, but it could last longer depending on if something goes wrong. The downtime should be limited to less than half-a-day, at the most.
|
|
The staff at Symphonic Heaven would like to wish everyone a Happy Holiday and a Merry Christmas.
There hasn't been much of a site update lately, but there is a reason behind it. Notice how the game listings are really huge and cumbersome? I am reworking them to be links such as PlayStation2, Nintendo DS, etc. Then, you will have a list of the games, done very much like how the game pages are now. Then you click a game, and you can view the content for it. This should make that section much smaller than it is right now. An near-final mock-up image of this is attached to this post.
As for the rest of the site, the Gallery and Wiki will be updated as I do the updates to the game sections. I am redoing the Gallery categories by the place they are found, so battle screenshots for a game would be listed as coming from Tales Channel, the official US website, Gamespy, IGN, etc. And character artwork will be named, to make finding a select character easier.
Content will finally be worked on again, probably starting with some for Tales of the Abyss. The content for Tales of Symphonia (GCN) that was on the v4 layout (pre-Etomite) will also be revised to fit the new layout.
And lastly, the Forum will be getting more "Tales-ish" buttons, along with updates to some of the plugins, along with some new ones. The contest mentioned earlier this month will have to wait till then, but I assure you it will be worth it.
EDIT: The new pages have been made (just some minor altercations to make), and the new "game" navigation scheme has been finalized. A new teaser image is also attached.
|
|
As the headline says above, this news post will be talking about the plans I have for the site in the next few weeks.
- Due to the bridge problem with the Gallery, I will be setting up stuff like the profile fields, so it's more like a "forum" profile.
- Use the "scanline" idea used prominently in this forum on the other areas, such as the Gallery and Oekaki.
- Possibly fix up the Gallery some, such as separating artwork by character, instead of lumping it all together. Also, maybe organizing the screenshots by the source.
That last idea might be done later, or in parts, due to the work it would require, since site content is a much-needed priority right now (I was able to pick up the Tales of the Abyss Strategy Guide, so adding content will be much easier now, and we might have images of the items / weapons / etc., if I can get access to a good enough scanner.
This will likely start Friday evening, since it's almost exam week here...eep.
|
|
