August updates

1. Entry categories were not saved properly at all.
2. Tags can now be saved in drafts.
3. I turned bad-behavior off for a while, (mainly to test speed and load times)
4. I got rid of the 'Total members that have visited us in the last 24 hours: ...', it was ugly, slowing the db, and all in all not telling us anything very interesting.
   You are welcome to go on the stats page to have a look at who has/has not visited us.
5. I upgraded the default editor to version 3.4.4
   I fixed a bug that was causing the spell checker to not work properly, (for the record, we use Google spell check).
6. I re-wrote the messages section, just to make sure it looks a little better.

 I also updated the 'lifeless', 'forced energy', and 'exotic' templates, because they were ugly... I know there are others, but I am working on them slowly.

19h55 - 9/4/2011 - comments {0} - post comment

Link your blog to your LinkedIn accounts

I have added one more social network to allow you to connect to JournalHome, LinkedIn.

Simply click on the button on the top banner to link your LinkedIn account to JournalHome, as usual you will be asked to allow JournalHome to connect to your profile.
Once this is done you will be able to login to Journalhome using your LinkedIn credentials.

If you are a new user you can also create a new account here using your LinkedIn user-name and password, simply click on the button and follow the various prompts.

So you can now login to JournalHome with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

As usual, if you come across any issues just drop me a message and I will look into it right away.

16h57 - 7/9/2011 - comments {0} - post comment

Google +1 button

I created a new plugin for the Google +1 button, it is basically similar to the 'I like' button. Watch the video below explaining a bit more about the new button.

Simply go to your plugin page and activate Google +1 button, (at the bottom of the list). The The jury is still out about the real use of such a button, but, what do I know...
I get the feeling that Google has not quite finished adding new options, so I will be changing the plugin as need be.

As always, let me know if you find something wrong.

19h45 - 6/6/2011 - comments {0} - post comment

Using bad-behavior, sometimes.

I have re-enabled bad-behaviour, (and updated it to their latest version in the 2.0 branch), but I don't think I will keep it on permanently. I think it does have a lot of false positives.

So I think the best option is to leave it in most of the time, but not always. I will just need to monitor when our friendly spammers are visiting :). I am looking at their 'new' version, 2.1.x, to see if it will make any big difference with JournalHome.

On the spamming front we are up to about 90% deletion rate, almost every single new account is a spam account, but I am not too worried about it, (for now), I will do proper advertising once everything has been upgraded to the new system.

On that note, the migration is taking a lot longer than expected, this is, (as I have said before), mostly because I am trying to rebuild the engine while the car is still running :). But I am making some good progress, the new templates that I had promised are still some way away, but I am still working on it.

21h47 - 6/2/2011 - comments {0} - post comment

Set your timezone!

I made a small change to the weblogs general settings.
Please go to your general settings page and choose the city closest to your location, (for your timezone).

Dates and time should now be displayed a little bit better, (and using your own time zone).

I have also made a small change to the draft entries, until the entry is published the date will be set to the current time, (in your timezone).

20h42 - 5/10/2011 - comments {0} - post comment

Some small fixes.

Hi,

I have made some minor changes to JournalHome, mostly bug fixes.

1. The facebook login was creating some crazy username rather than been clever and using the user name/surname.
2. Twitter plugin was not saving some information properly.
3. The blog general settings page was not giving a reason if the avatar is/was not saved properly.
   1. The avatar is now saved properly, (did not always work in some edge cases).
4. Added Vimeo shortcode support, (use [vimeo:url]).
5. Changed the youtube short code to use [youtube:url], (all entries using the old tag(s) have been updated).
6. Changed the retweet short code to use [retweet], (all entries have been updated as well).
7. Removed pseudo short code 'help' next to entry title.
8. Fixed an issue with spam links in comments, (the links would not always work).
9. Updated to the lattest version of PHP (5.3.6).
10. Small google analytic changes.

As always, let me know if you come across any issue you think I might have left out.

12h33 - 4/21/2011 - comments {0} - post comment

Twitter users can now update their status

I have made a small change to the twitter plugin, you can now update your status whenever you add a new entry.
The default behaviour is to use your title and url as the status update, (it will also add a #Journalhome tag).

If you haven't linked your twitter account with Journalhome then simply:

1. click the twitter button on the main page
2. Login to twitter.
3. you will be asked to 'link' your account.
4. ... that's all you need to do.

Let me know if you see anything wrong

Thanks

13h24 - 3/5/2011 - comments {0} - post comment

Bring on March!

I thought I'd give a small update with what is happening here on JournalHome.

1. The spam bot is now checking entries, weblogs, comments, walls and so on. I still think it is doing a good job .
2. I have fixed some broken templates, there are still more to work on but I am getting there, slowly... My aim is still to, eventually, be able to use Wordpress and Blogger templates. They were designed by professionals and most of them will be more than happy to have their work used here, (I'll ask them first of course!).
3. I added a few more plugins:
   
   1. Retweet button
   2. Facebook 'I like' button as well as the comment box, (there is a new one out now so I will update the comment box later today).
   3. CKEditor advanced editor, (and updated the tinymce editor as well).
   I am always keen to create new plugins, so if there are any plugin that you feel should be added, or simply would be 'nice' to have, please let me know.
4. Re-wrote the comment section, it now uses and is a bit more interactive, (I hope). I also added a small simple editor to allow users to add links and so forth.
5. The load on the database has dropped drastically thanks to some very basic/small changes.
6. You can now create an account with your twitter and/or Facebook account.

I have mentioned it before, this is part of my ultimate push to keep Journalhome active, (and alive!), but also to make it easier to move to a new platform, (wordpress?), if need be. The way the code is structured now it is simply impossible for me do much more than react to an issue rather than been pro-active at dealing with them. But I am actively cleaning up as much of the mess as I can, trust me it is not pretty :)

I have been looking at Google Analytic and so far the result seem to have been rather positive, (believe it or not Journalhome has seen a traffic increase of about 10% to 20% since I got rid of a lot of spammers and cleaned a lot of broken code).

The only thing that saddens me is how few 'real' users are actually joining JournalHome, I can only hope that new users will slowly start to come in, this site, like any social websites, needs user interaction to survive and this can only be achieved with new users, (it's a bit of a catch 22 I fear).

As always, please remember that my virtual door is always open, feel free to post a comment or send me a private message if there is anything you fee is not working properly, or you feel should be fixed/changed.

15h06 - 3/2/2011 - comments {0} - post comment

Important update to Facebook plugin

I have made one important change to the facebook plugin, (version 0.3), it now includes the facebook comment box by default.

If you do not want this behaviour, simply go to the plugins page and change were you want the facebook button to appear, (or even if you want it to appear at all).

I hope this small change won't affect your blogs too much, of course I am open to any suggestions you might have.

I also created a new category for the Journalhome changelog where those kind of updated will be listed.

15h04 - 2/20/2011 - comments {0} - post comment

Disabled trackbacks

Hi,

I had to disable trackbacks for a while, there is an issue with them slowing down most submission.
I will update the system and re-enable track backs as soon as posible.

Thanks

FFMG

23h38 - 2/17/2011 - comments {0} - post comment

JournalHome.com has created this blog for the purpose of keeping members and visitors up to date with JournalHome.com site information.
The easiest way to stay up to date is by using the RSS/XML feed.
Place this URL within your rss aggregator and it will automatically update itself whenever a new journal entry is published.