Of coding and such

I'm undergoing labor pains trying to birth a brand new e-commerce store. I managed to completely hose the store by trying to satisfy the client's requirements of having handling fees that vary with the product sold. Somehow I managed to replace enough old code to keep it from error-messaging out now, and I refuse to touch it any more: PHP, you have made me afraid. Very very afraid. Am using OS Commerce, if anyone out there reading this has any ideas. Already installed UPS XML with Dimensions support, which also nearly frightened me.

The client is now consulting with a real coder, not an actionscript hack like myself who is much better at choosing colors and font sizes.

Speaking of Actionscript I had created a file in 2004 that never went live pending permissions, well permissions are here but when I try to edit the file with Flash 8, hah! the thing crashes, chokes, frustrates. So I'm redoing the entire file set with cleaner, meaner code - whereas before it was a different set of images and whatnot on every frame, it is now all action script on a couple frames even using (gasp!) XML. I like XML. I can create the names of my own descriptive tags. For instance, the "it took a PH.D to write that unintellible gibberish!" interpretations of the sculpture are called "hightower". Some of the button names are rather interesting as well. I tried not to put any script on the buttons but control them through the actionscript. Only worked for certain things, but not others.. such as moving a movie clip that was previous loaded into on _x and _y spot... nor loading the various xml files for each hunk of rotting steel/concrete/etc.

And what iis the difference between a rotting car in a front yard and what is deemed "sculpture"? I see very little. They're both fun to look at, make fun of, make you wonder why it's there and notice its interaction with the landscape.

Big relief. And..

Turns out it was my error in customizing the javascript, making one file not show up.

I am constantly revising famous quotes in my head. Here's the latest one that popped into my demented mind:
Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish, he eats for a lifetime... as long as the native tribes aren't allowed to gillnet the streams to extinction.

IE Hell

All those pretty sites I posted will need reworking. Bloody Microsoft sucks. No one should use their browser. But as I was writing this a minute ago, Firefox crashed. I can't win.

One solution works but won't display more than one swf on a page. The other displays two swfs but won't allow transparency. Do I use up one of my two free tech support calls to Adobe? First I'm trying a forum. Cyan Blue, an old timer there, has responded but obviously didn't read my post very thoroughly... Here's all the action on that one, http://www.actionscript.org/forums/showthread.php3?t=111106

Okay I'm going for a walk. Clear my head.

Site Launches

I've been very busy these days helping some folks out with their web sites. I've finally launched a few, with a few more yet to come or be completed.

A.D. Maddox Gallery
My first "e-commerce" web site -- I'm having all kinds of fun figuring out how to modify a PHP based shopping cart that is a free download. The third install had to be done by the host (InMotion Hosting) to get the secure server to work correctly. Which means all the work I did to upload products and modify the UI on the second install had to be redone. The first cart system I tried, Zen-cart, was a piece of work. After uploading an update, I could no longer assign quantities. And it never went to a secure server to log in . The shopping cart site still probably needs another 10-15 hours of work, including links from the site that is live. We're still working out how to handle shipping of products so varied that going by weight alone just ain't gonna cut it.

The Cottage Photographer
I met Jennifer Stanton through a friend of her boyfriend at the time. Her original site had been done on a trade, but after the wedding the site languished. The slide shows were thrown together with another free PHP download, this one is a lazy-man script: just throw everything in a directory, list the file names in order if you want in a text file, and the script does the rest. Only problem is very little is controllable, and it didn't integrate very well with the rest of the site. So I switched to Flash. I still have two more galleries to add and another magazine spread.

Mark Gamba Photographs
I got introduced to Mark by a friend who had known him in New York. Mark wanted the universe when it came to a web site: fast loading, huge images that couldn't be downloaded anonymously, and a page that filled any browser's acreage. User-controlled slide show option without thumbnails. A registration process. The old site had been done in Zope. I could not find anyone who knew how to use Zope, and after trying unsuccessfully to install it on my Mac using Gnu and the Unix equivalent of DOS, I gave up. The host eventually shut down, which gave us a chance to start from scratch. We decided on Inmotion Hosting, which has been great. I hired out some of the coding for the registration functionality. I wish I could design AND program. Few can do both well.

The Wild Bunch Ranch
I met these guys while living in Wyoming. I hadn't done any interface updating since y2k. Nuff said.

I still have to fix up what was formerly the Cajun Babes, and is now CZ and the Bon Vivants. And my own web site, megabite.com. It's a little embarassing, but I just don't have time to keep it up to date.

Netflix follow up

So I complained hard enough that they extended my free trial 10 days. When they sent the replacement DVD, it was not the Director's cut. Will they ever get it right?

Watched it anyway...

Had an appointment this morning with an asbestos abatement company to scrape the popcorn off of my ceiling. They can do it all in one day. It would take me a week, so the money I spend would be made up for with quality of life. It will, however, take me at least a few days to move my furniture away from the affected areas. Which will render my home unlivable mostly... argh. I know already what a messy job it is and I don't need that kind of torture to my neck and shoulders.

On Weds. I am meeting with a skylight installer... once these two things are accomplished will paint the walls... then perhaps new floors and redo my kitchen cabinets... it's endless when you buy a 70's era living unit.