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VectorLeave a comment on Trailing Slashes Removed From URLsWebsite

Trailing Slashes Removed From URLs

This is not something I’ve really consciously thought of until now. With the Code Speak Distribution System, part of the web frontend includes a changelog section for each program. I want to take a similar approach to a project I had done before to track version changes, although not everything on this page will be a part of the web frontend changelog section.

In wanting to get things right, I thought about the URL structure for the pages on my own site. I like the lack of a trailing slash better than I do a slash to end a URL. It is for this reason that the URLs on this site will no longer automatically include the trailing slash.

VectorLeave a comment on New Theme And Other ChangesWebsite

New Theme And Other Changes

When it comes to the design of my site, the previous theme worked but it wasn’t good enough. The main reason why I chose to go with a new theme was that I wanted to emphasize programming a bit more. To accomplish this I wanted a theme with a header image containing some code from one of my projects. I looked at so many themes trying to find one that worked for me and finally stumbled upon the one you’re looking at now.

Another change I have decided to make is the inclusion of the Contact and Donate pages to the main menu section. They were previously located in the footer on the left-hand side. This doesn’t really help things as someone may wish to get in contact with me or want to donate. The visibility of these links was a necessary part of this theme change.

Another change is that the archives page is now a child of the links page and can be found by hovering over the links item in the top menu.

The social media buttons are now no longer part of the footer but in the header area as smaller buttons.

And as always, do enjoy your stay on my site!

VectorLeave a comment on Take Two, Live Chat Restored And ChangesWebsite

Take Two, Live Chat Restored And Changes

Widgetbot, which is what powers the web chat widget on this website, unfortunately has never been truly stable and because of this, the reliability of the chat experience hasn’t been guaranteed. However, that was version 1 of the software. Earlier today I went to the discord server for the project and asked for support. They told me to sign up for their beta version which I did. They also said that the beta version, also known as version 2, is much more reliable and is recommended. So,  I have decided to go ahead with that.

Another change you’ll notice is that I’ve removed the live chat page. Previously, I was using the embedded version and it was provided on the live chat page. Now, there is a button to the lower right that when clicked will open up the web chat interface. Much more user-friendly because it appears on all the pages, so you can chat from whatever page you’re on!

VectorLeave a comment on Battle.Net Services UpdateWebsite

Battle.Net Services Update

At the bottom of my website in the footer section there used to be a link called Services. This went to a small page that listed the location of my JBLS server, JBLS statistics, and a link to Battle.Net Hashes. That link changed to go directly to the Battle.Net Hashes page (it changed rather recently so I doubt anyone noticed). I’ve since changed the name to Battle.Net Resources. It goes to https://davnit.net/battle-net-resources/. I primarily made this change because I don’t want to manage the distribution of Battle.Net hashes anymore.

I have also removed the sub-domain jbls.codespeak.org as I don’t wish to have that as a service anymore. I actually stopped hosting a public JBLS awhile ago and it was simply a redirect to bnls.bnetdocs.org. As I decide where I want to focus development on I want to focus less on Battle.Net development and more on other things.

VectorLeave a comment on About the Code Speak Distribution SystemProjects

About the Code Speak Distribution System

You’ve probably been wondering what on earth this project is and why is it taking so long? It’s a large project and the largest I’ve ever undertaken myself. It involves a lot of knowledge I previously didn’t have much of so on that note it’s a great project to get me to learn new things. So, as of this writing I’m learning WordPress plugin development in order to be able to work on part of the project. In this post I’ll go over what the project is so you have a pretty good idea on what exactly it is.

Also, I’m doing something different this time. Since previous projects of mine, such as Maelstrom and Simplicity, made use of Visual Basic 6 (VB6) which is over 20 years old at this point and obsolete, this time around I chose a new language to focus on: Java. Part of the reason for this was cross-compatibility with Windows, Linux and Mac, something that I had not focused on in my other projects. Another thing is that it’s modern, so no need to download special runtime libraries just to be able to use it. All you need is Java! With that said, I’d like to describe what this project is exactly.

What is the Code Speak Distribution System?

This project aims to provide a centralized means of access for programs that I make available to download. While projects like Simplicity and Maelstrom are accessible via my GitHub repository, I wanted a way where programs could be accessed in a single place. The way things work right now just aren’t centralized and so a system like this would introduce more flexibility for me. Also, something that I’ve been wanting to do is statistics tracking. It would be nice to track usage data for programs to get an idea of exactly how many people are using such programs. Not completely sure how I want to do that but that is something that’s been on my mind.

There are two main parts to this project intended for you to use: the client and the web frontend. The client is the program that you download. The way it works is similar to the Blizzard Launcher or even elements of the Steam client . It will keep track of which programs you download and automatically (or manually, depending on a setting) update any program that requires an update. You can also launch programs from the client. The web frontend will allow you to have access to these programs from this website. If you’re unable to download the client or for whatever reason don’t wish to download it you can still access programs this way.

Conclusion

This is by far not a simple project. A lot of work has gone into the planning of it and there is still a lot more to do to figure out exactly how this project is going to go. It serves specific needs I have that make the whole process of managing project releases so much easier. And it will also hopefully make things easier for you too.