vBlog (Another planned blog system)
 

After attempting to contact Gamingforce.com about their ChocoJournal system with no reply, I've decided to start working on my own blogging mod by the name of vBlog (I'm surprised nobody has released a mod of this name previously). I feel that the 2 currently released mods (Ryangel's ported vB2 Journal for vB3 and vBJournal for vB3 by AN-Net) lack certain features, and certainly I'm going to design completely new templates.

I have the templating side of things covered, but I do however require assistance with the coding. I can only do the basics, which aren't up to scratch for such a system.. So if anyone is interested in helping out that has some PHP and MySQL knowledge, send me a PM or something - no beta testing requests please! :)

funnily enough i had the exact same though today as well, i had it all planned in my head and then slapped myself as i'm already working on something.

good luck :)

sadly my heads stuck in another coding project or i'd offer assistance although i think you're a better coder than me anyway, good luck, any help you need i'd love to help although saying that i've been bugging this place and Pie for help with my code lol.

ooo what features is my journal missing...

- Ability to design your own journal.
- Statistics (x Entries, y Comments, z Views, a Journals).
- Random entry.

Probably a couple of other things too.. It's 10am, I can't think of them all. ;)

OK: were you involved in the development over @ BearFacts2?

Yes, but that Journal system was taken the exact opposite way development wise that I had in mind..


vBlog will be merging with vBJournal (by AN-Net) when he releases v2 and will be under the vBJournal name - so if anyone else wants to use vBlog as a name for a blog hack, they can. For now, I will be working with his v1 code to give a demo of what I have in mind.. It seemed crazy for me to write a new script from scratch when there's already a stable system in development that I feel I can help improve upon.

good luck :)

i am very grateful to have another coder joining me in this next version and someone with fresh new ideas on how to take this addition to the next level and become a better quality and more usable addon:) I will also be reading up on some php and other coding lanuages throughout my christmas break which will hopefully prepare me for version 2:)

Vbjournal is a great hack and a big one also, but it is a nightmare when it comes to translation, I have this hack translated to spanish and since there is a new version coming up soon, in the near future when I update vbjournal I will have to go again throw all templates and files to transalate the hack, could you please use phrases for your next realese, thanks for this great hack but it will be very appreciated by your international users if you take this in consideration, thanks anyway for this master piece.

yes the next version will be completely phrased;)

Cool!! Thanks.

There are some terrific coders here at vB.org ... and when two of the best decide to put their talents together ... manohmanohman! ... great news!!! Thanks, guys.

I am well in to playing around with AN-Net's code.. :)

The templates are somewhat tricky to do what I have in mind, but I haven't given up.

How's it going? Really want Journals to have more of a Blog feel.

I am very interested in this, any updates?

I'd rather see the name changed to VBlog. What's a journal? Sounds like a little girl writing about her first crush in her diary or some stuffy English writer.

Whats a blog? Has the news covered these? Haven't bloggers been big headlines in the last election? Its new. Its marketable. Its cutting edge.

Not that it will matter too much to me. I take the vbjournal code and do case sensative replacements of journal, Journal and JOURNAL for blog, Blog and BLOG.

i'd like to use the name vBlog is no one else has taken it.

well vBlog is still in the air for the next version so we dont know if we will change the name. maybe let the public decide but this discussion on the name isnt needed yet until we get closer to an actual release

The recent upgrades of vBulletin had slowed down progress. Gamers Euphoria has over 60 modifications installed, and I always do them manually - I like to be in control and do not trust compare programs.

Now that I have finished the upgrade, progress will continue on vBlog / vBJournal. I've recently downloaded the latest zip from the vBJournal thread and will make a start on re-editing it tomorrow most likely.

oblivionknight, whats wrong w/ the journal system that gamerseuphoria is currently using?

I really look forward to a new release of VBJournal, I love it and so do my users!

It's outdated code.. It lacks many features that this system has, and this is also more efficient query and server load wise. I'm not sure if a conversion script will be possible, but we'll have a stab at it.!

Any idea on a release date... my members want this.. gits :P

I think AN-Net is waiting for me to implement the changes that I had in mind before work starts on the updates that he has planned.. Due to recent vBulletin upgrades and college work, it's hard for me to find some spare time at the minute.

I'll hopefully be well in to the template design and optimising a couple of things by the weekend.

yes i am awaiting any changes Oblivion finds in the core design of the system before I go expanding the journal system. After he is done making recommendationa and those changes implemented, I will start working on the new features;)

Sweet, I'm patiently waiting :)

Do people want to keep the journal buddy list, use the normal buddy list instead or have an option in the user cp options that allows users to decide whether to use the normal buddy list array or to build a special journal buddy list array for them?

We're open on this one, but a majority vote would be good..

build a special journal buddy list array for them sounds good :D

Please keep it "journal" instead of "blog" ... because

1. Blog is a more internet savvy term that not all users will relate to

2. The nature of a blog is to publish to the internet ... and since the present journal system allows for totally private entries the word journal can be more readily interpreted to mean a "blog" OR "diary", "project", etc... the kinds of things one might expect to keep "private" rather than "published".

3. With everybody and their brother offering "free blogs" to users, the word "journal" seems to add an aire of distinction to our boards.

4. This is just my opinion. :D

5. Thanks for your work!

I also vote for sticking with vB Journal. I can't wait untill the new version, keep up the great work! ;)

Edit:

Oh, and I vote for

"user cp options that allows users to decide whether to use the normal buddy list array or to build a special journal buddy list array for them"

I don't care what you call it, as long as it's all phrased, so you can use blog or journal or whatever you like when it's implemented.

this new version is also being optimized;) the index is currently down to 12 queries:D

I couldn't disagree more. The buzz around blogs is EXACTLY what you are trying to capture. Journal? Sounds like a diary to me. Leave junk like that for teenage girls and their crushes.

You can use a hot, internet term or an effeminate one.

And the abilility to change the binary name and have it work:

Coolness!

Someone please tell me what hack causes successive posts by the same user to append rather than create a new one? I must have missed that one and I've got to have it! :up:

I think you are looking for this Prevent Doubleposting hack by Xenon ;)

Im interested, you got a date?

there is no release date yet;)

Unfortunately, the majority of my work towards the next version has been lost.. Version 2 of his vBJournal is still going ahead, but it will be all of his own work. I don't have the time right now to re-do everything, and so I've spoken to AN-Net and I will come in to the project at a later date if I feel that I can still improve on things.

That sucks, still looking forward to it though.

Probably a dumb question, but I run vbindex on my site www.zgeek.com

Will this interfere? My members want blogging too.

No, alot of people are using vbindex and vbadvanced with the existing journal hacks.