Recently in website Category

Woohoo! I worked some Apache mojo today to "alias" the file-name of this home page (index2.html) to » index.rad.

That's so cool! Thanks to Nigel (Ghost Developer from New Zealand) for holding my hand. Here's the code I used to work this magic (added to .htaccess file):

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^index.rad index2.html

Thus far, this technique has only been applied to the home page (starting with a baby-step). But in the future, I'd like to expand its use .. to 'radify' other key pages.

It has been a week since the home page was redesigned .. with a new table-less layout. Have you gotten used to it yet? Like it? (I'm diggin' it.) Been making slight tweaks here and there...

.. such as adding left-padding to the graphics in the center section, to keep text from butting up against images.

This padding also adds a slight indent (6 pixels) to the yellow tri-blade radiation symbols which begin each post.

Speaking of design .. I got a call from somebody saying they wanted to hire me to redesign their web site. (Cool.) My nuclear training instilled in me the notion that I need to know everything about everything before doing anything professionally.

Which might be true in the nuclear world, but friends say that ain't how the real world works, and that I already know more than enough to do web design professionally.

And I must admit, after reading (studying) those excellent books (» Head First XHTML/CSS, » CSS Mastery & » Dreamweaver: The Missing Manual), I *do* feel comfortable wielding web design mojo.

So if you know somebody who needs web work, I'm available. (And cheap.) I don't know PHP yet, but that's coming. Rad Web Design .. has a nice ring, no?

We exceeded the memory limit on our new VPS today (for the first time). Our current memory limit is 384-MB (256-regular + 128-upgrade).

I noticed the forums set the record today for most guests ever online at one time. So maybe that has something to do with it. See » here. [More info here.]

Note: today's entry applies to the site home page (not this blog entry page).

Notice anything different? The old/previous design was based on pre-XHTML standards mark-up .. which I had *converted* to XHTML-valid (using Dreamweaver). But the guts still contained a table-based layout (kludge).

The layout of this page however, is not based on tables (rather » on CSS). My new CSS page (if you're interested) is aqui » radified_xhtml2.css.

Been meaning to start over from scratch and layout this page based on CSS .. ever since I started upgrading my web design skills.

Now that the site is busy enough to require a VPS, I figure we probably oughta have a homepage laid-out with CSS. (Modern.)

So I finally just put my head down and went for it. Spur-of-the-moment decision. More involved than I expected. A million little details required attention .. in order to massage current content (you see here) into the new layout. And once I start a project like this, I don't like to stop until it's done. (Worked 'til 1AM.)

This CSS-based layout will let me tweak the design more easily as my CSS skills (continue to) develop.

I chose that bluish-green color (sidebars) cuz I was searching for a link-color that doesn't distract from reading this normal gray text.

The old light-blue links I was using before were so bright (on a black background) they jumped out .. which I found distracting, since I tend to use copious linkage. (Design should complement content .. not overpower it, right?) But sometimes we don't notice things, until we're looking for them. My design-aim was/is to present a content-focused website.

Logged into my Paypal account today, planning to move fund$ (from my checking account) .. in preparation for paying this month's web hosting fee (with our new provider) .. when I noticed...

.. there was already plenty of cash in the account. (Woohoo!) How did it get in there?

You might've noticed the small Make a Donation button .. found in the left side-bar (have to scroll down). As you know, I don't solicit donations. But if readers feel inspired, there it is.

Timely Donations

Several generous readers donated amounts ranging from $50 to $100 (less a small percentage Paypal keeps for their trouble). Boy, was I stoked!

Funny how donations always seem to arrive when they're needed most.

As a side note, I find it interesting that most donations (by far) come from » Texans. Why is that? Are they more generous than most? .. or drawn more strongly to the site? I have lived in many states, but Texas isn't one of them. So I can't say for sure.

Priorities & Sacrifice

Speaking of money .. all my life, cash was never a problem. I mean (not to brag), I was earning close to $100K fifteen years ago .. (back when 100K was still 100K). I paid ca$h for a Porsche (the Rad-mobile) .. back in the '80's. Even at age 11, I was delivering newspapers 7 days a week. So I've always had plenty of spending-cash .. for long as I can recall.

But ever since I started going to court a few years ago .. well, that wiped me out. And you can't work nuclear just any ol' place. Reactors aren't found on every street corner, or in every town. (Or even in every state.)

Today I paid for our second month of hosting at our new web host .. WiredTree (using half the refund I received from cancelling my annual subscription with Lunarpages).

During our first month of service, I've been closely monitoring resource usage .. at our new VPS server. So I have a good idea where we stand.

Everything in the world of Virtual Privates Servers, I learned, boils down to memory usage (RAM). Our hosting plan dedicates 384-MB to the site. (256-MB standard plan, plus a 128-MB upgrade).

If we exceed 384-MB, we would have to purcha$e more memory .. at a rate of $7.50/month per additional 64-MB RAM.

Here's what I found » the highest amount of RAM we've used thus far is 366-MB (see here), which equals 95% of our allowable limit. Kinda close, but this was only a short-term transient (1 hour).

Our highest *sustained* memory use is ~325-MB (lasting a few days), so that number might be more meaningful (85% max). Our average memory use tends to be in the range of 270-to-290 MB (75%)...

.. which is actually pretty comfortable. And it's not uncommon, following a reboot, for our usage to drop down to the 220-240 area, tho these low numbers tend to creep up over time (as Apache caches more pages).

The Lunarpages chapter in Radified's webhosting history officially came to a close yesterday .. when I cancelled the account. See here » Lunarpages Account Cancelled

If the site continues to grow and develop, our next move might be to a Hybrid Dedicated Server (which sounds pretty cool).

If I had cancelled after today, I would've lost $95 (my annual renewal fee) .. which will pay for two months of service at our new VPS (with WiredTree).

This last-hurrah with Lunarpages began back in November, when we were booted off the Production server .. for using "excessive resources." Closure always feels good. "Adios, Lunarpages. It was fun while it lasted."

While laying in the sauna last night (where I had a great sweat going), I was thinking how pleased I am with the way things turned out .. with our move to the new VPS server (upgrade).

The site is more enjoyable to use, now that's much zippier. Both the blog and the forum are way faster.

And I like how the world of VPS contains such cool language. Consider, for example, the phrase, "Rad on VPS ala Xen." Sounds Ferrari-like, doesn't it?

Laying there (in the steam), I was thinking how many people have worked very hard to make all this cool software (such as MTOS) available .. that I get to play with!

The last few months have been hectic, trying to lower our usage of server resources. I upgraded both the forum & blog scripts. And when that wasn't enough, I had no choice but to move the site. Lunarpages kept threatening to cancel my account, so I had to do something.

Feel like I can finally relax. The move is complete. The site is stable. Nobody is threatening to turn off the lights. Plus these WiredTree support techs are great.

Biggest problem I had moving the site (to our new VPS server) .. was the blog not working.

Readers could still view pages/entries, but the blog-interface (which allows me to create new entries) would not load.

Instead of launching the interface, the master script-file (mt.cgi) prompted a *download*. ("Would you like to download, open or cancel?")

That suk'ed .. cuz I make much use of the blog .. to help keep the home-page lean-n-mean.

(Tho I create these entries in Dreamweaver, cuz it's a far superior tool to what you find in the MT interface, far as web page creation goes. Then I copy-n-paste into MT. That's why the blog entries always come after you see/read it on the home page.)

Normally I have a plenty of tools in my Troubleshooting bag-of-tricks, but this problem left me scratching my head.

I'd never seen this type of behavior. And neither had anyone at the Movable Type forums. (I use the new Open Source version of Movable Type » v4.1.)

Not being able to use the blog was a major bummer. Fortunately, I found an article that offered a solution .. even tho it appeared to address a different problem.

First thing I did after moving the site to a new server is .. find out if the move was really necessary.

You'll recall that Lunarpages support told me the site used too many resources to qualify for their VPS plan, and that I needed a dedicate server (something I found hard to believe).

So now that we are here, I've been pinging the sppt techs at WiredTree, asking them exactly what resources we're using.

You can find all the gory details here » Resource Usage at New VPS Server .. but they basically said our CPU usage is "minimal."

Surprisingly however, they also said our allotment of memory would've already been exceeded .. had it not been for the free 128-MB RAM upgrade ( .. for which I found a coupon).

WiredTree offers two VPS plans. One comes with 256-MB ($49/mo), the other 512-MB ($89/mo). So it seems we already exceed the 256 .. currently using 270-MB, and the specs of our current plan (with 384-MB dedicated memory) are half-way between the 256 and 512-MB VPS plans.

WT offers incremental memory upgrades at a rate of $7.50/mo per 64-MB. So it seems my (free) 128-MB upgrade is worth $15/mo. Plus the coupon also provides a 10% discount .. equal to $5/mo. So the coupon is worth $20/mo (total) .. without which we'd be paying $65/mo.