I was getting impatient with how long some pages were still loading, even after turning cache on. Then I ran across this post on Stack Overflow that got me thinking: I should add a "loading progress" page for long processes.

So I did.

And I stole a lot of their messages.

So sue me.

But not really.

I've been playing around with my framework's caching mechanism lately. Although not perfect, I have implemented a caching scheme for (rol) on the pages that seemed to need it the most. Notably, the overall character page and the "Add New ..." sections for advantages, skills, etc. I took an overly conservative outlook on this, so there may be times when you are expecting the page to load quickly and it doesn't. However, at the very least it should reflect any changes that are made (either by you or someone else in the system, such as someone adding a new spell).

If the site starts getting pounded, I may revisit this and attempt to implement something that is slightly smarter.

For right now, I've only turned this on at the demo site, but it will soon be propagated to the main site if I don't hear any negative feedback in the next few days.

Expect to enjoy some quicker page loads in the near future!

Just a few quick updates.

1. I noticed that I wasn't able to access the site from my iPhone, but I could access the site on the old server. I dug around a bit and found out that the underlying framework was now identifying the browser as a "mobile" browser instead of a full featured browser. Having an iPhone version of the site is on my wish list, but at the very least I want to be able to view the full site. This is now fixed
2. My old server is now back in action, but will no longer be hosting the site. It's now fully on an external, redundant, professional hosting service. However, I am now confident that all files are up-to-date, so I can once again start moving forward with actually developing features into the site instead of getting it back into your hands.
3. While testing the latest files on the demo site, I found out that there were some errors on the "addNew" advantage and disadvantage pages. After digging around, I found out that I had some additional security timeout settings on the demo site that I neither had on the old server nor do I have on the main site. I had to disable these timeouts for the demo site, so hopefully you won't see any more "Internal Server Error 500" messages on the demo.
4. I have also had an inquiry about helping development of the site. I welcome any developers to help out. This is pretty much a community project after all. If you are interested, please email me at dev "at" rol-play "dot" com and we will see what we can do to get you developing.

That's about it. With any luck, I'll be able to start working on new features shortly. As usual, if there's anything you are waiting on (or more importantly, something that is just bugging the hell out of you), drop me a line and let me know.

By user request, I have modified the Character Point page (where you can enter new character points) to be able to delete an entry, but only the most recent one. If you want the ability to delete ANY entry, let me know, but I thought it would be a safety feature to be only able to delete the most recent one.

Ok, my old web server still hasn't come back from the dead, but I was able to get into some of the drives and pull the latest database out.  For those wondering, I've spent the last three weeks fighting with a dead motherboard, dealing with a crappy vendor to get me a replacement, dealing with the bad motherboard that they finally did send me, threw up my arms in frustration, and continued to purchase an entirely new server (minus hard drives).  The new server isn't up yet, and probably won't be until next weekend, but I hijacked a friend's machine for a day, dug around, and copied what I desperately needed.  There might be a few outdated files yet, but they will hopefully be corrected once the old/new server is back up and I pull all my CVS files off it.