Warren Shea - World of Warren

Archive for May, 2011

Site Updates – Secondary content boxes + WP 3.1.2 + GMAIL Theme

Saturday, May 21st, 2011 at 1:41 am

Apologies for repeated content…it’s better centralized in this post than the last

Secondary content boxes
Created a PHP Proxy to retrieve Cross-Domain XMLs (RSS Feeds).
Modified the AJAX Request to correctly retrieve various feeds.
With the help of my co-worker, implemented concurrent the AJAX Blog requests.
Boxes only show (with a jQuery fadein) when all the contents of that box have loaded.

Result: Rather than have WordPress load the RSS and have the site load and compile via PHP and render the HTML all at once, now the site will load first, and retrieve the RSS after/during load.

Upgraded to WP3.1.2
Haven’t updated my WordPress in a while…because when I do, I have to make code changes to the files WP changes.
With my recent blog changes, it actually eliminates much of the changes I have to do…updating WP is twice as easy.

GMAIL Theme
Google has changed the top of their page, as well as GMAIL’s top. I modified my site to mimic it. Nothing too fancy. Hover over the top links to see…

Timeout
I think I solved the timeout issue. Also, I know why I never got it…the issue was related. Anyways…let’s see how it goes but hopefully, it’s gone!
(this is like, my 5th time saying that…but maybe it’ll be true this time!)

Posts
I’ve been removing some of my…questionable posts. Well, just “Drafting” them. You will see why in a few weeks or months…

Posted in All Posts, GMail, Site Updates, worldofwarren.com | No Comments »

Site Updates – warrenshea.com VS Timeout…again.

Friday, May 20th, 2011 at 1:54 am

Trying to figure out how to not have my site load incredibly slowly.

A couple of things:
In my last site update, I made the Twitter feed on the right no longer load via JavaScript and tried to get it via PHP. Doing this meant that the entire page would load completely (w/ Twitter) all at once as opposed to having the page load but occasionally not having the Twitter load (because sometimes JavaScript hangs and doesn’t complete loading for a long time).

Anyways…I think what happened was the PHP wouldn’t load Twitter either, and thus, the whole site would load. EPIC FAIL.

I’ve changed it up now so the Twitter is retrieved client side again…but this time using AJAX. If the feed doesn’t load, you’ll just see that damn loading image…
On a plus note, it’s working. Also, the tweets are recent, and not cached (which they used to be when they were loaded via PHP and inside the JavaScript (because the JavaScript would cache).

I’m considering doing it for the Blog feeds, so I don’t have to use WordPress…but as I tried tonight, I ran into some execution problems (namely, multiple AJAX requests only seemed to load the most recently called…)

Anyways, will work more over the weekend, hopefully :)

~~Also, high considering moving all the content to worldofwarren.com, and warrenshea.com because my professional, one theme’d site.~~

Also highly considering moving all the content to worldofwarren.com, and have warrenshea.com become my professional, one theme’d site.

Might explore this over the weekend.

Posted in All Posts, Site Updates, worldofwarren.com | 2 Comments »

livescribe pen is the tool of the devil. or a god.

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 at 12:51 am

Let me summarize with:

Got a gift from a friend. Accepted the gift because it was related to Thor. Found out how awesome the gift was via Z and her “i wanted this pen during school” knowledge. Tested this MAGIC pen out on 1 piece of paper (preserving the rest of the notebook for when I return it to my friend).

Anyways, please (if you’re interested), watch the 4 videos. They’re unrehearsed (which you’ll be able to tell) and I’m not expert at the tool which you’ll clearly see.

“Your ancestors call it science. But I call this magic.” My version of Thor’s quote (from Thor’s movie).

Just noticed: The URL for the third video is : IfNVP4eO_oU
O_o
that’s hilarious…no!?

Also, please ignore my shaky hand. Making video makes me nervous and I couldn’t do takes.

Posted in All Posts, Daily Randomness | 1 Comment »

Accomplishments #7.548387 – Mid May 2011 Edition

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011 at 9:48 pm

Shows / Movies
House (entire series) – In progress – S05E13 and catching up…
Neon Genesis Evangelion (entire series) – In progress – Regular Series, D&R and EOE finished….just have REBUILD left 2/4 movies!

Books & Manga
Azumanga Daioh – To Do

warrenshea.com
Clean up my code a bit – Done
Fix Old Themes – Done

Gaming
Either
– Finish Zelda: Majora’s Mask (N64) – To Do (after House)
or
– Finish Kingdom Hearts (PS2) – To Do (after House)

Web Development and Design
Start Smashing Magazine Book 1 – To Do
Start Smashing Magazine Book 2 – To Do
Start ASP.NET 4.0 book – To Do
Start my HTML5 book – To Do

Other
Learn my Mac OS
Learn how to Tether…

Notes
Not much done this month, as expected.
Cleaned up my themes a bit, modified my “IE6″ theme to be called “legacy”, which can be achieved by going here: http://www.warrenshea.com/legacy. Note: It’s just my blogger theme, without the “Choose your theme” option. It should go to this theme by default if you have IE6 or IE7, the 2 crappiest browsers ever (next to IE9).

Posted in Accomplishments (monthly), All Posts | No Comments »

MIA 3 days…

Thursday, May 12th, 2011 at 9:43 pm

I could just…not blog. No one would notice. But then I wouldn’t be able to blog right now!

So…Going to Montreal for a Bachelor party. Leaving Friday morn, coming back Sunday night?

Went to Best Buy today and randomly purchased 3 games. Call of Duty Modern Warfare. Assassin’s Creed II. And Dance Dance Revolution. I looked at the DDR song list, it’s pretty small…but really, I just bought it for the pad. I can get other games or download other songs or whatever later.

I think I’ll turn off my computer tonight, something I rarely do….no point in wasting all that power until Sunday.

Until next time, my friends!

Posted in All Posts, Daily Randomness, My Life | No Comments »