As I was preparing for the big launch of 1957ford.com the other day, I ran into a potentially big problem. It seems my webhosting service is Linux based, good, but does not support asp.net or Microsoft SQL, which the website was originally developed in. My options were to scrap my hosting service, which I have paid up for 3 years, or rewrite the entire asp portion of the website, which includes all of the image handling, etc, or just use all the info from the old site and move forward into a modern package. I chose the latter. If you try to go to the main site in the coming days, you will find a Wordpress placeholder page there. I am converting teh entire site to Wordpress, including all of the image handling,e tc. It is a huge task. instead of waiting until it is finishhed, I will launch each section as I get it finished. For instance, obviously, the home page will come first, then the History, Paint and Trim page, model list and each of the individual pages that go with that. Because this site had so many images, probably over 30,000 or so, that will take a little while to get done. However, not a long time, as I am able to batch upload files, it automatically makes thumbnails for the individual gallery albums, and renames everythign for me. I believe this will be a step in the right direction once I get it done. I have already bought the software I need to make it look good, and hopefully soon, can start adding the content. I have contemplated selling advertisement to pay for the site, and have not ruled that out yet. Most of you guys are aware that this kind of site can get pretty costly pretty quickly. John had some amount of ads on before, but if I do it, it will be in a little less intrusive way, in a sidebar specifically for ads, not just popping up everywhere at any time. And I still may not do that. If I do, I will limit it to items that are related to or can be used on 57 Fords, ie no condom ads, beer, aftershave, etc. It is coming, it IS going to be great. Artwork is on the way, and it should be stellar. Let me hear your thoughts....
Appreciate all your work James. As far as ads, I agree that as long as they're not popping up all over the screen and are relevant to the content it's not a big deal.
With you all the way, no problem with unobtrusive advertising, especially if it is specific to us. Great work, looking forward to it.
James, what a project! I think ads could actually be a good thing providing a place to introduce newly available stuff and services. Launching the web site in sections is a great plan as well. Keep up the great work!
This forum is the only thing that wont change much. The only change I have planned right now, is a new club logo, and a navigation bar that will get you to any part of the whole site from here without having to go back to the main site., maybe a slight color change to match the rest of the site better. Whatever I do with it, the basic mechanics of the forum wont change and we wont lose any of the info that is already here, just a little visual integration...
A few other sites I visit ( not automotive ) use sidebar adds which is nicer then the pop ups but they are only on the main page. They aren't always related to the subject of the site but easily ignored for me. It would be nice to have related content but isn't always possible, I say take anyone who is willing to pay for an ad if you can't find related advertisers..
Sidebar ads is what I was conisdering, from vendors such as EMS, Dennis Carpenters, etc, if they are interested in ads
James just ignore my email....got on the site with Google.
James,
As a dedicated `57 Fords International Club Member, I hope you don't make a complete change of the logo as you will see my dedication to the club in the picture. And no it didn't hurt.
Rick.
57Tudor
:unitedstates:
Now THAT is cool, man.....wow.
I have Just a minute, we've got to be at closing for the new house in an hour. This is the first time I was able to get on the site in a week. Firefox won't open it still, I used a different brouser this time. From Bill's post, others may have had the same issue.
Back later
:burnout:
So is the 1957ford.com site working?
James, take your time, don't stress out. We all appreciate everything you have done for us so far!
X2
James:
Yeah, I've been going bonkers in trying to get onto the web site. I finally talked to Rick, he laughed and told me to key into my brouser 57Fordsforever.com/index. Sure enough up came the site and my life can go back to normal (at least for me) again. So keep on truckn, Fordn & workn on this great web site.
Bob
57 AGIN
PS: Yes, 57 AGIN's finally home in my garage at last. Got it back last Friday, but haven't been able to tell anyone yet. More of this in the proper thread.
Maybe what people are talking about, but when I key in "57fordsforever.com" I get a page that wants me to "admin sign into" MOJO. When I hit the sign in, before entering any info I get a notification that the site is not secure. ????????????? Got into the site from an old "remebered" access. Bob
I did what Rick told Bob to do, and it works with Firefox now!
Thanks Bob.
I wonder how many aren't figuring it out, just assuming the "website coming" page is indicating it's not available now.
I'll post it on the Hamb so at least some will see it.
I have a lot of photos to add over the next several weeks. I have a work trip coming up in about a week and a half, so in the evenings, that is what I will be doing. You guys know how many photos was on the site before, well, I have those and probably twice that many more to add. Aside from what I got from John, I also had my own collection, plus several thousand photographs that had been sent to me in the mail over the last 20 years of doing this. Yeah, I have a lot of work to do to get all this info up. I have the site functioning now, but it is only a skeleton with place holders on the pages. I still have to add all of the content now, and that is the real time consuming part. I am going to be at the mercy of the bandwidth I am connected to. Motel WiFi is not very fast, but it will get the job done. I believe you guys will like the interface I have built to view the ohotos with, maybe better than the old one. It is pretty snazzy I think. As soon as I get at least SOME content on the site, I will launch it as it is. I want at least most of the pages available to have at least 10 or more images. This will, of course, be with the knowledge that much, much more is coming.
James,
I think it's good for all of us to see adds from suppliers of items that relate to what we all enjoy -- and if it brings a few bucks to the sight, thats even more cool !