Hello again.
Work on my updated web site is now ploughing onwards. Poor Norm Douglas, the computer guru who is doing all the customizing of the Joomla! template and VirtueMart shopping basket has been putting in some long hours. But then so have I.
Right now we're getting the products sorted out. This will be the bread-and-butter of the site, which, after all, is meant to earn me some money. There will be 5 broad product categories: DVDs, Books, CD Soundtracks; CD Roms; Artwork. Then there'll be two sub categories for DVDs - NTSC and PAL; and three sub cats for Artwork - Japanese art, Western art and Cartoons.
A large part of the recent work has been customizing the database for the new-look site. This has been tedious, since the existing site runs on several databases, and the new one will just have one for the products. Given that there are different field names for the different products, poor Norm has had to use a lot of query statements to get the right fields to display in the appropriate categories.
The good news is that we are now getting close, with mainly some styling and reformatting yet to be done. The old database had over 8,000 products, many of which were redundant (anyone interested in buying VHS anime anymore? I kinda doubt it!); the new one has about half that many, but they are all current and have relevant info.
All the images have been uploaded, which makes a huge difference. I will be very interested to get your feedback once the site is open for testing - you will be informed! I will also have a secure online payment system this time, something which is common on other sites, but which I've never had before. This will present some challenges to me, but I suspect that once the site settles down, it should work very nicely.
There are still a lot of things to be set up: I have written quite a few articles which are yet to be included; there will be links to anime clubs; histories of anime and films in general; cartooning organizations; and what I hope to call "Mike's Shed", a place where I will put in links to things which I like but which have nothing at all to do with anime or cartooning. I do want to have some fun with this site, after all. Then there's the forum to set up, and a mailing list. I want to produce a regular online letter, which will be sent out to registered users; I plan to do regular podcasts; I've done a practice video (which I will redo) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF9OXwPTFW4 - I'll put a link to the final version on the front page of the site. Hopefully it doesn't prove to be too scary for new visitors.
All this activity has certainly kept me glued to my computer seat over the past few weeks. I'm beginning to think about what I will occupy myself with once this project has been completed and the new site is up and running. Of course, work on the site will never end, but it won't involve hours of work every day. I might have to go back to looking for gainful full-time employment again - urgh.
I saw a hilarious spoof on The Onion about outsourcing your own work - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYaZ57Bn4pQ - if this doesn't make you howl with laughter, I'd check for a pulse. What is almost as funny is some of the posts from viewers, thinking that this may not be a bad idea. One of the joys of watching the wonderful Onion clips is reading the comments. Quite a few people seem to take them seriously, which is a tribute to the skills of the film makers, and a rather sad commentary on the mental age of some YouTube viewers (who can't all be 10 years old).
I'm feeling more positive lately, about myself and what I'm doing with my time. This is a good thing. I have to keep myself motivated and engaged. A good laugh every now and again is also very good medicine for me.
Stay well until next time.
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