Hublog

Saturday, February 06, 2010

Facelift, pt 6

[mood: reminiscent] [listening to: oldies, but goodies]

A little shocking, eh?

Those of you who have been here since the start know the drill. You've seen this site change seven times now, changing from flavor to flavor and look to look. I've had many-a-urge to scratch my web developing itch. For those of you who haven't been here since the start, well, just be glad you never saw Hublog 5... It was blue. And kind of ugly. Hint: Classic Hublog Blue still wasn't discovered yet.

But in any case, whether you were here when Asia was still making posts or you heard about this site with familiar ol' Jesus around already, lately you have heard me speak oft about Hublog changing to fit the needs of the community. Hublog 7 is the latest manifestation of this need.

Many members of the community have moved on to college, have increasingly diverse circles of friends, and are using other social networking tools and alternatives to Hublog such as Twitter and Tumblr. Rather than foster a sense of awkward competition with these other sites, I've chosen to embrace the current situation and realize that our use of the Web is growing more and more dependent on social networking. But with all these other networks around, where does Hublog stand?

Here's where the "Hublog changes to fits the need of the community" comes into play. There will still be posts and the Bloober, the custom tagline and eventually backgrounds (if you guys see fit). Comments are still around, and tags will be back soonish. But the greatest addition to Hublog 7 isn't really about Hublog at all... its about the community, and you've probably noticed it by now: the lone tab sitting to the left, disjoint yet still connected to the rest of the site. The Hub.

Yes, the Hub. What is the Hub (besides a clever play on HubLog)? It's just what it sounds like--a central place for all of us to come together, connect. It takes other parts of our presence on the Web and integrates it into one location. So far on the Hub, I've integrated the Twitter, Tumblr, and Xanga feeds of people relevant to our community. (If you'd like to see your content on there, drop me a line in the comments with your info) It would have been great to integrate Facebook feeds as well, but due to obvious security issues, that wasn't possible. But what's great about the Hub is that it intertwines these other feeds with Hublog itself. Posts, comments, and Bloobs show up in the Hub as well. In addition to eliminating the need for a "recent comments" section, you'll get a more coherent picture of the lives of people we care about on this site.

You'll notice other improvements as well. Authors have a new authoring system, which will make posts easier and livelier, especially for those who don't know HTML... and hopefully they'll be more frequent too. Many text boxes have evolved into a Facebook-style shrinking box, making the site officially "cool." But perhaps the biggest improvement of all is that I've rewritten the entire site in PHP again. Hublog 6 was a good experiment in Ruby on Rails, but in the end, flawed because it didn't do what a website should fundamentally do: exist. Every so often, there'd be a "Bad gateway" error and the site would be dead. I'm happy to say that this will no longer happen with Hublog 7.

You'll likely take note of other little things here or there, and I hope you'll welcome them as refreshing changes. For those that care, I've been developing this version since around October, and did most of the hardcore coding over this past winter break. Having time off from school and writing Hublog really did bring back fond memories of old times. I had originally intended to have it finished before break ended and throw a launch party, but alas, seeing as it's February, that did not happen. As always, there might be a few kinks here or there during the first few days, but let me know about any bugs you encounter in the comments and I'll try to iron them out.

I know this has been a long post, probably one of the longest Facelifts ever, but I really do hope that you read it over so you can better understand what direction I am taking the site. It's been a long journey for us, coming all the way here. Along the way, I hope you've enjoyed indulging the dream of a little boy who wanted to be a web developer as much as I've enjoyed living that dream. And I hope you will continue to do so. After all, like I've always said, Hublog wouldn't exist if it weren't for you readers. So, once again, thank you.

Now go be merry.

Humbly,

Your captain

Friday, January 29, 2010

Back.

[mood: good overall] [listening to: 30 Seconds to Mars]

I'm going to start off this post with the obligatory "It's been a while." It truly has. I had a pretty 2010/New Year's post prepared, but I think it's a bit too late for the post to be relevant now or have as much impact as it would have. If I get enough people asking to read it, I may fix it up and post it. Your favorite authors at theblacktop always promise to update more often, but I guess things just get in the way. If it weren't for the loyal readers we have still visiting this site and participating in the bloober, I don't think we would have any more reason to write here anymore. Most of our lives appears on the rougher, more up-to-date mediums of Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr now anyways.

So why am I updating Hublog now? Well, I am supposed to be writing a joke of a paper right now [500 words? Psh.] for a class that I have in about 7 hours, but it's late nights like these that inspire me to write. I also feel that today has been a pretty significant day in my life. Today, for one of the first times in probably years, I feel at ease and in fact even optimistic. The faithless, cynical side of me has slowly been becoming less and less relevant in my mind. This is due to a culmination of many things, but I feel today is the climax of these series of events. I think one of the biggest factors has to be Conan O'Brien's closing monologue on his final episode as the host of The Tonight Show. All the feelings I had concerning the Tonight Show controversy really magnified my cynicism, but watching Conan's parting words blew that all away. My experiences at VCU have been becoming even more and more enjoyable. I realized this is not only because I am seeing things in a more positive light, but in fact my loss of cynicism has pushed me to go out and do new things and meet new people, which has led to more enjoyable days. Getting back to Hublog just happens to be concordant with all these feelings. [There's even more to this, but I think I'll leave my more personal posts to my xanga, which I will try to update more often as well! So look out for those posts Alyssa, Irene, Krista, David, Sonia, and even JoNgo.]

I had an actual post to post, but it was way too long to post along with this, so I'll post that another time.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Flat, like the old days

[mood: retrospective] [listening to: appropriate music!]

December 31, 2009. The ending of a month, year, decade. Ten years is a long time. And for us, these ten years were probably the most important years of our lives that will no doubt have a profound impact on our futures.

Come in the DeLorean with me and travel back to ten years ago: George Bush was just elected, we were still in 3rd grade, and Gladiator recently came out. Now think about all that happened between then and now. When you consider all that we went through during this decade, it's kinda startling, isn't it? We essentially grew up; our experiences during these years will never go away and will always be with us. In times of distress and duress, when we are the most lost and confused, we will instinctively recall experiences from our past to help us guide our present and ultimately impact our future.

And make no mistake about it, many of the experiences we recall will be from this decade. There will always be something in the future to remind us about where we were on September 11th or the rigorous work of Kemps Landing and IB or the joy we got from snickering in the back of Mrs. Earles' class. In the infamous (paraphrased) words of Mr. McGrath, if we don't learn from our mistakes of the past, we are doomed to repeat them. So let us learn, and let us also repeat, but only the good parts.

And I hope you will agree with me when I say that one of the good parts of the majority of this last decade has been Hublog. Started on March 11th, 2004, as a parody of the trite nature people's Xanga's, Hublog has officially been here for more than half of the decade, and I am humbled by that. I have always said that Hublog would not be here if it weren't for you; that it's a site driven by the people. So that's why I mean it more than ever when I say thank you, the readers, for being here and behind the site for such a long time, and for indulging a little boy's dream of making websites. Hublog has been a greater success than it ever could have been in my wildest dreams, and neither I nor the site could have made it so far without your constant readership, support, and presence.

However, while it's important think about the past, it is just as important not dwell in it, and as we look forward to a new decade, so does Hublog. Don't worry, we aren't going anywhere. As I have said many times before, Hublog becomes what the community needs it to be. So keeping that in mind, look for changes coming soon. Many of us have moved on to college, have drastically different social lives, and have changed in so many different ways. Taking that into account, Hublog is also changing to better suit our needs as a community.

And with that purposefully ambiguous ending to this post, I wish everyone a Happy New Year and Decade. May our next ten be as good as our last. And no matter where our lives carry us, I hope that you will always think of Hublog as a place for friends to come together and realize that yes, the world still is flat, and there really is no distance between anyone. We just had to fold the map.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Hey.

[mood: wintery] [watching: Inglourious Basterds]

Merry Christmas!
or
Happy Holidays!
or
Happy Birthday! [to some]
or
Happy anniversary of the first successful trial run of the internet!
or
Happy Quaid-e-Azam's Day!
or
Happy Constitution Day!
or
Just have a nice day!
or
Whatever it is that you are in to.


A message from the culturally aware, politically correct, and always classy authors of Hublog.