9 February - Bonkers update. A running commentary
Bonkers is undergoing a transformation today, much of it under the surface. I
know a very small number of readers like to know what is going on and it is
quite useful to keep notes for myself; so here they are.
Phase 1
For a long time I have disliked the terms Blog, it sounds far too twenty noughties to me and it is being changed to Comment. Folders that were
labelled ‘blogs’ have been renamed ‘comment’. It is a name that conveniently
sits in the same alphabetic position as blogs so I won’t have to scroll down a
long list every time a new one is written as would be the case if it had been
renamed ‘notes’ or something even further down the alphabet.
The change will break all search engine references and possibly your own
preferred link if you are reaching Bonkers via an unusual route.
Placing blogs - old habits die hard - on the front Index page of the site will mean
that the .info and .com domains can be ceased which will save a decent chunk of money.
Readable text will be changed from ‘Blogs’ to ‘Comment’ or ‘Comment and News’ in some places.
The first snag was hit when my file transfer program baulked at the idea of
uploading tens of thousands of revised files in one go so they have been going
up piecemeal. The 2020 URLs to blogs - here I go again - should already be
displaying /blogs/ rather than /blogs/.
For the time being both are on-line but if you find yourself in /blogs/ it may
be that you need to clear the browser cache.
Phase 2
The automated processes which Index old comment (was blogs) require at least one
entry per month if site failure is to be avoided. The Index back to 2009 will
shortly reappear above each comment and will arbitrarily only include old comments
dated 1st of each month.
There is currently corruption of displayed dates on some Index pages the cause
of which is proving to be elusive.
The Menu on the Contact page will remain hopelessly out of date until the
transformation is completed. Meanwhile use Menu>Home to navigate away from it.
Phase 3
The various support files named 'blog' will be deleted. They are getting in the way of tracking down bugs.
A small number of old comment/news items have been restored to allow various Index pages to be tested.
Phase 4
The shell into which old comment files may be dropped is completed so in theory restoration of those not
totally out of date can begin.
An idea for further code simplification will put the site out of reach or at least
error prone for a short while. The new folder ‘comment’ has been abbreviated to
‘commsְ’. It will save a lot of typing over time but more importantly it is the
same length as the word blogs so various arithmetical process will not need to be changed.
This news item will be updated as things progress.
Phase 5
The technical basics should be completed now. I have not managed to break the site
for the past hour or two. Very few of the daily comments from the past remain,
just enough to keep things functional.
A great deal of the historical stuff will reappear,