Updates
September 14, 2009
Added a more "user friendly" page users will see when database updates are occuring. Rather than just "ERROR" on a blank page, users will be directed to a page describing what we're doing with a link to the page they originally requested.
September 9, 2009
Made a slight change to the home page and Members page so that the list of newest members shows their profile picture.
August 25, 2009
More Twitter! Registered users can now display their latest Twitter status on their Triathlete.com profile page. When you are logged in, just click on the PREFERENCES link on your profile page (your profile page is Triathlete.com/username).
August 24, 2009
Edit capabilites have now been added to forum posts. When you are logged in you now have the ability to edit your past forum posts.
Note: When you edit a post, a note (with timestamp) is added to the end of your message. This is done so everyone knows your post was edited. Not that it's a big deal, but I want to avoid confusion in case someone posts something on the forum, gets replies and then completely edits their original post. *shrug*
August 22, 2009
Made some enhancements to the Twitter page. I added some styling so the updates aren't just a bulleted list; I think it looks much better.
August 20, 2009
I've been very busy but have been pretty bad about updating this page. Over the past few days I've been working on consolidating the Triathlete.com photo section with iRunForFun.com. This will provide greater redundancy and scalability for both sites as well as allow me to keep my sanity.
July 20, 2009
Blog users now have an archive allowing visitors to read all blog entries.
July 10, 2009
Updates have been happening but not getting recorded on the UPDATES page. I'll try to make sure updates are recorded here from now on.
Triathlete.com is now on Twitter! Our username is Triathlete_com check us out!
June 26, 2009
Nothing too spectacular today, but I made a slight change to optimize how "Recent Blog Posts" will be displayed on the home page and Members page. So now the poster's username is displayed after their post.
June 25, 2009
I did some work to the some of the background tasks I have running. The latest goes through all the photos and rotates any that need rotating. This should reduce the load on the server, reduce the need for funky, client-side rotation scripts and eliminate some of the resource bottlenecks I'be been encountering.
Though I only got one, single thing done today, it should prove to be very helpful; it was a productive day.
June 24, 2009
I didn't get a whole lot done in terms of productive work. I had a phone call with someone that derailed me for the rest of the day. I spent most of the day and all night doing research.
June 23, 2009
I ran through my first test of the super-optimized upload for the photo section. I uploaded a few hundred photos and it seems to work very quickly. I have more optimizations in mind and hope to crank those out soon.
June 23, 2009
I fixed a tiny little problem with the page you use to upload your profile picture... The little problem didn't let the page load so it was totally unusable. Tiny problem fixed, and now the page works. Sorry to those that were trying to get there over the past few days.
I removed the SETTINGS link from the top navigation bar and replaced it with a link to your profile page. The profile page has a link to your settings (now called "preferences") and a link to post on your blog.
I also spent some time working on some optimization for the photo upload. I'm still in the early stages, but this should dramatically speed things up; I'm very excited to get this working.
June 22, 2009
After a really fun weekend with the girls, it's time to get back to work...
I put a limit on the number of board posts that are displayed on your user page. I set the limit to 15.
The "Remove From Board" button 
is now displayed (and usable) for board posts you make on other peoples' boards. In other words, you can now delete any post on your board, plus any post you make on someone else's board.
Users now have the ability to edit and delete their existing blog posts. Just click on the edit icon (
) on the top right of each blog post to edit. Once on the edit page, you have the option of deleting the post... use with caution!
Late in the evening I realized there was a problem with the code for adding to the blogs... So, people couldn't post to their blogs. *sigh* It seems to be working now. Sorry to those who wrote something and it didn't get posted.
June 20, 2009
I created a Triathlete.com group on Facebook and added a link to the group on the bottom of each page. 
June 19, 2009
Now you have the ability to delete posts to your board. When you are logged in and viewing your board posts, you should see little delete button on the right of each board post. Click it, and you'll be asked if you are sure you want the post deleted. Click "OK" and guess what?... The board post gets deleted. :-)
I also did some work on the new top-secret project.
June 18, 2009
I fixed a problem that affecting only certain users. In some cases, a user's profile page (Triathlete.com/username) would redirect them back to the home page. I found the problem and it has been corrected.
I removed the DONATE button from the bottom right of all the pages. I then moved the 
Site Updates and 
Labs links to the vacant spot.
I spent the rest of the day going through all of the files on the site to make things possible for a new, top-secret project (more on that later). In any case... Because I'm messing around with virtually every single thing, I fully expect something to break. If/when you find something broken you would gain uber-points in my book if you could leave me a note on my board. Thanks!
June 17, 2009
Minor improvements to the blog section. Profile pages now limit the number of "Recent Blog Posts" to five. Also, a permalink is now available for all blog posts.
I started work on a MEMBERS page that will display a list of newest members and most recent blogs, but I feel like the page needs more work. If you have any suggestions I would greatly appreciate those going on my board. Thanks!
Later in the evening I removed the 
Help link in the navigation bar and replaced it with the 
Members icon. I also placed a "Top 5" list of recently updated blogs and community members... To go ten deep, visit the Members page.
June 16, 2009
The emails for Manitou finished this morning. I re-started the emails for the Minneapolis Marathon; it's going to be a multi-day process, but seems to be going well so far.
I spent some time exchanging emails and setting up a future project with domain names and DNS entries.
I was hoping to get more done on the blog side of things but it just didn't happen today. *shrug* I'll make it a priority to get that going tomorrow.
June 15, 2009
Today I realized that the email notification messages that were sent for the Minneapolis Marathon and Manitou triathlon did not properly send. I made some changes and started the process of SLOWLY sending out Manitou emails... Those should be done sending by tomorrow morning.
I also made an addition to the photo browsing section. Users now have the ability to look through all photos from the event; no filters, just every single photo.
June 14, 2009
Most of the day was spent working on photos, however, I made a change to the watermark function that SHOULD increase the number of properly oriented watermarks on photo preview images.
I was hoping to work on a feature someone suggested today... That is, the ability to just look though all the photos of a race... no searches, no filters, just look though all the thousands of pictues. I hope to have this done tomorrow.
Right now it is very late and I'm very tired... I'm off to bed.
June 12, 2009
I spent a good part of the day adding blog functionality to the user profile pages. So now, not only can you leave messages for other members by writing on their board, but now you can tell the world just about anything you like in your own blog. Remember, this is at your profile page, to find it, visit Triathlete.com/username and replace the word "username" with your username. :-)
Right now, the blog acts like a post on the forum... You post and that's about it... I'll be sure to add some additional features within the next few days.
To write to your blog, make sure you're logged in, go to your profile page and click on the little blog icon 
on the top, right of your page.
June 11, 2009
I added email notifications to the "social networking" pages... So now, when a person writes on your board, an email is sent to your @Triathlete.com email address. These emails can be turned off on the "Settings" page.
June 10, 2009
I updated user pages and added "social networking" functionality to leave messages on a user's board/page. To see your user page, go to http://www.triathlete.com/username. My user page is Triathlete.com/giancarlo. Feel free to leave me a note... I'll do my best to leave a note for you.
June 9, 2009
I finished putting the store together. The first product in the store is "If I Were A Triathlete" kid's book. My friend wrote the book and I think it's great.
June 8, 2009
Time was spent creating some activity reports for the photo section.
I also spent some time putting together a small store to sell some copies of tish's triathlon book. I hope to have this up and running tomorrow.
I helped someone who couldn't get into his email account... He tried all the tips I have on the home page but still couldn't get in. Turns out the email account was locked. I emailed my contact at Everyone.net (our email provider) and received the following reply:
Unfortunately, these kinds of locks are a result of our system detecting spam-like emails going out of our system. The status of the email account is controlled by our system so only we can unrestrict an account. Feel free to let me know which accounts are locked and I'll unlock them for you. This one has been unlocked.
One of the reasons that accounts get locked in the first place is that our system thinks that an outgoing email is more spam than legitimate email. Free accounts are categorized as high risk because spammers use these free accounts. These high risk accounts have a more restrictive filter and can often set off our spam flags. One way to reduce these locks is to move the accounts to a low risk category by way of upgrading to a paid account. We know that spammers won't pay to send out spam so there is less restrictive filters on these paid accounts.
That's just one suggestion you can give your users.
You can upgrade to paid accounts by logging in to your email and clicking on "Options" then "Buy Email Upgrades."
June 4, 2009
For the past few days I've been breaking my back preparing for and working on the deluge of photos from the Minneapolis Marathon on Sunday. There is still quite a bit of work, but I'm happy to report that all photos are tagged and I can finally get to sleep.
May 29, 2009
I optimized the automation function today and backed up some from the photo section.
I also did some more prep for the Minneapolis Marathon on Sunday.
May 28, 2009
I finally finished the automation process I have been struggling with over the past few days. The process is slowly plugging away and appears to be working.
I made some updates to the photo page for the upcoming Minneapolis Marathon. These participants will be able to download their digital photos for a discounted price (i.e., $6.95 v.s. $10.00)... Not bad.
May 27, 2009
The day was spent working on more automation. Towards the end of the day I realized I was making things too complicated, so I decided to re-do things in a simpler way. I wasn't able to finish today, but I'm hoping to get close (if not completely) done tomorrow.
In the evening I worked on some reporting tools for the photo section.
May 26, 2009
I spent the day/night working on more automation for the photo section. I hope to get this done tomorrow. I'll be glad when this is done because this will enable more scalability. It's a shame it takes so much work.
May 25, 2009
I turned on a feature that automatically sends a purchased photo via email. This feature was tested to death, but finally turned on today. If you purchased a photo today and opted for the electronic copy, please let me know if the photo(s) showed up in your inbox.
May 24, 2009
I fixed a problem that occured under certain search conditions in the photo section. In some cases, no photos would show up even though there were plenty to see.
I also made a slight modification to the photo display page. When you were viewing a photo from a filtered search in the Lost & Found, the navigation links were a bit confusing. This problem has been corrected.
May 23, 2009
I corrected a problem that I created when fixing the multiple-event upload issue in the photos section. It "appears" to be fully functional now. My apologies for anyone who tried uploading photos since the 19th.
May 22, 2009
I fixed a problem that occured when a user verifies their email address (during sign up). This has been corrected.
There was also an adjustment made to a query for the home page. The change was made to the "Popular in the Forum" list.
I made another adjustment to the home page. I moved the slideshow for the "Popular Photos" a little bit. Not exactly a major change, but I think it looks better.
In the evening I spent some time working on an automation script for the photo section. The script is still in "test mode" but should be ready for prime time this weekend.
May 21, 2009
I spent the day trying to figure out some automated tasks for the photo section; not super easy, but I made lots of progress. I hope to be done tomorrow and have everything ready for lots of new photos this weekend.
May 20, 2009
I moved the photo navigation arrows from the bottom to the top of the top of the photos; I think it looks better and makes it a little easier to see/use.
I did some early work on a new section and research for an even newer, upcoming section. :-)
In the evening I worked on some reporting for the photo section.
May 19, 2009
I fixed a problem we were encountering when trying to rotate large images.
I also fixed a problem that occured while trying to upload photos for two events (i.e., in two seperate tabs) at the same time. A big thanks to Okieroyal for getting this to my attention.
I made a slight change to the slideshow script. There were situations were blank slides would get displayed. This has been corrected.
I spent most of the night working on adding "Previous" and "Next" navigation arrows on the photo pages. Thanks Julie and Kerry!
The last thing I did today was another slight change to the forum. The automatic link conversion didn't work for the most recent forum post by BrotherJosh so I made a small change and it appears to be working.
May 18, 2009
Most of the day was spent optimizing the photo tagging process.
May 17, 2009
I spent the first half of my day taking photos at the Gear West Duathlon.
I spent the rest of the day watching over the brand new Photos Section. Here's how it works. If you have any questions or would like to participate, send an email to photos at triathlete.com.
May 16, 2009
I made a slight change to the navigation bar so users who have uploaded an avatar see their avatar rather than the normal "settings" icon. 
I also made some minor modifications to the user pages so it will only display events that you will be attending in the future (i.e., hide the events that have already passed).
I did some poking around the photo section to see if I could find any lingering test code I may have missed yesterday. Though I haven't uncovered any issues, my paranoia will keep my brain occupied until I know (for certain) the photo section is working properly.
I'm going to bed early so I can be refreshed for the Gear West Duathlon tomorrow.
May 15, 2009
I spent the entire day finishing up everything in the photo section; I probably ran thousands of tests. At the end of the night I turned off all the testing code and started the long process of deleting thousands of test photos. We're now at the point where things have been tested (to death) in the test environment and we are ready for our first official ride without the training wheels.
May 14, 2009
I spent the entire day working on a newer, better way to tighten down the photo ordering process.
I also spent some time communicating with a photographer who might be (weather permitting) taking photos on Saturday. This DOES come before our official launch on Sunday, but I fully expect everything to be "race ready" tomorrow (Friday).
May 13, 2009
I made a slight change to the event details pages.
I also put together a few pages for people to reset their password (if they forget).
I spent the rest of the day (and most of my evening) working on some flashy photo section stuff. I realized I have just one more thing to do and we're ready for prime time.
On a serious note, more news about the passing of our good friend David Lapoff.
May 12, 2009
Another day spent on the photo section... I think we're ALMOST completely ready for the Gear West Duathlon on Sunday.
Lots of work on the ordering side of the photo section... I think I might be done? I'll do some more testing tomorrow to make sure.
May 11, 2009
I spent the entire day working on the photo section.
May 10, 2009
During training yesterday, a problem with the tagging page was exposed. This "issue" was popping up with only Internet Explorer. I spent a few hours this morning squashing that bug. As of this writing, I believe the issue has been resolved; I'll be able to better test later in the day.
I didn't get a chance to test as much as I liked, but I heard (from someone else) that everything in the tagging area is now working properly. :-D
I spent the rest of the evening working on a way to view tag history as well as update tags.
May 9, 2009
I did some photo training today. I'm getting really excited for our first run at the photos!
I found a problem with the photo upload during the last test. I think I fixed the problem (so people don't get automatically logged out at midnight) so photo uploads can go overnight without issue. So... I deleted all the 2,000+ photos from the second test and I will upload all of them again while I (hopefully) sleep.
May 8, 2009
Lots of photo section testing today. I also made some improvements to the tagging area. I get to perform my first training session tomorrow.
Our first official photo test will be at the Gear West Duathlon on May 17th.
May 7, 2009
I spent last night trying to fix what I had broken. It was almost 2:00 AM, things weren't working and my eyes were starting to close on their own. I ended up disabling a few things (i.e., avatars, the help video) and called it a night.
First thing in the morning I started fixing what I had broken. I hope to get things back (in a better state) by the time I get to bed tonight.
I got everything back up and running... I even made an improvement to the photo section during the process.
I'm in the process of running another photo upload test (overnight) and going through the results tomorrow morning. Hopefully that goes well. :-)
May 6, 2009
After some analysis of the first photo test, I made some massive changes to the photo section today. I think the changes are very positive and (hopefully) worth the time. :-)
At nearly midnight I broke something. *sigh*
May 5, 2009
More photo section work today.
I made a slight code change to the forum to better handle blank messages.
May 4, 2009
I didn't waste any time this morning and got right to working on the photo section.
During the day I made some improvements to the tagging section.
Around dinner time I had a number of conversations focused around the new photo section.
May 3, 2009
I spent the day making more updates to the upcoming photo section.
The early evening was spent with yndecam setting up a photo test. I was up until 1:30 AM working on photo stuff. Yndecam gave me lots of good ideas so I need to get on those tomorrow.
May 2, 2009
I think I solved a resizing problem I found in the photo section.
I'm trying to get as much done before the test run of the photo section tomorrow.
I spent the rest of the day completing a method for hiding and displaying product descriptions for the soon-to-be tested photo section. I spent the last few hours of the evening working on exception handling for Safari, Chrome and IE6 browsers. *sigh* Today, more than ever, I am an even bigger fan of Firefox.
May 1, 2009
Spent some time updating some code to fix a link tamirras_husband posted in the forum. Apparently, the code didn't work if you included a link with a hyphen in it. Oops! It took a while, but I THINK the code works properly now. :-)
April 30, 2009
I made a video tutorial to help people use the Event Calendar. I know the techno music is cheezy, but I couldn't help myself. :-) I also know the address bar is cut off, but I figured people would get the idea. If I get a chance, I'll remake the video and make sure the address bar is visible.
Along the same vein, I needed a place where others could easily locate this video (and other future tutorials) so I created a Help page.
April 29, 2009
Another day full of discussion with very little for which to show.
I DID finally solve the multi-day problem I was having with the help page. Now all I need to do is create my first tutorial and we are in business... I will try to have this done tomorrow.
April 28, 2009
I met with tish and his wife to learn more about their book. I'm going to put my nerd hat on and check into some web site stuff for them this evening.
I also exchanged some phone conversations and papwerwork with some people about one of our upcoming sections. Lots of talking today, not a whole lot of doing... *shrug*
I did make some progress on a new HELP section I'm working on. Don't know how to do something? Hopefully this section will help you figure it out.
April 26, 2009
I made a modification to the Events page. You can now find an event calendar by visiting Triathlete.com/City/State. For example, to see the event calendar for Minneapolis, Minnesota, visit Triathlete.com/Minneapolis/MN, for Los Angeles, visit, Triathlete.com/Los Angeles/CA. Sorry, we're still only listing events in the USA.
April 25, 2009
Feedback from Mel24 convinced me to change the links for usernames from Triathlete.com/users/username to simply Triathlete.com/username.
Some changes were made to the member "Settings" page. In addition to changing your password, users now have the ability to upload a picture of themself. This picture will be displayed beside their posts in the forum and on their profile page (i.e., Triathlete.com/username).
April 24, 2009
I did some more background work for the new section... lots of homework and reading... yuck.
I also made a modification to the user pages so they can be located a bit easier. You can now get to a user's profile page by going to www.Triathlete.com/users/username so Triathlete.com/users/giancarlo goes to my profile page instead of having to type (or remember) Triathlete.com/user.php?id=26.
April 23, 2009
Not a whole lot of coding today, but did a lot of administrative/background work for the upcoming photo section.
I started work on a new section too (still very early) but did a lot of research.
April 22, 2009
Added MORE and LESS page navigation to the forum so the number of discussions per page doesn't get out of control.
I also added support for bold, italic and underlined text in the forum.
Also spent some more time finishing up some odds and ends with the upcoming photo section. At this point there is very little needed to release this new section to everyone. If you are interested in taking photos at triathlons and selling those photos, please send an email to photos at triathlete.com.
April 21, 2009
Users now have the ability to mark if they will/won't be at an event in the event calendar.
As it relates to event participants, user pages now list the events that the respective user has marked as "I'LL BE THERE."
I also added a sign up link in the top navigation bar. This link is only displayed when you are not logged in.
April 20, 2009
Made a quick addition to the event pages... There is a TODAY bar displaying where (you guessed it) today would be located in the calendar. The TODAY bar lets you hide past events.
I put some additional code in the forum to automatically turn URLs into links. So now, when someone posts a link to another page (like this forum post) the link automatically becomes clickable.
I also added some emoticons (e.g., 
) to the forum.
April 19, 2009
I worked on finishing up the new photo section. I still have some things to finish up here and there, but I should have those tasks completed later tonight or tomorrow. I am now looking for a photographer to participate in a beta test to ensure everything is working. If you are willing to take lots of photos at a race this weekend (April 25 or 26) and would like to participate in our official test run, please send an email to photos at triathlete.com, I'll be in touch. Thanks!
April 18, 2009
Hallelujah! I spent most of the day trying to figure out why my watermark function wasn't working; I got things working around 9:00 PM.
All I have to do is sort out photo purchasing and clean up the photo display, then we're ready to have the photo system integrated with the rest of the site. :-)
April 17, 2009
Today was just one of those days. It's almost 10:00 PM and I'm still struggling with some watermark code I thought would take me les than an hour to finish this morning. I'll be spending the next couple of hours attempting to finish this up. *sigh*
April 16, 2009
I finished up the first pass at photo tagging.
I made some progress with the photo display but didn't get as far as I liked. I'll try to catch up tomorrow.
April 15, 2009
I did some backend work on photo tagging. I think this will be done early tomorrow. :-)
Once tagging is complete I'll be plugging away at display, purchase and delivery of photos, then... up it goes. I wanted to have this up and ready for Monday but I'm not sure if everything will be working by then.
April 14, 2009
I removed the UPDATES link from the top of all the pages. There is still a link to this page on the bottom of all pages.
I added a link on event pages allowing people to sign up as photographers at events. I don't have everything ready for this section quite yet, but I think the sign up process is working properly.
I created a LABS page (link at the bottom of each page) to provide further explanation of multi-day projects. I figure the UPDATES page is more for the day-to-day stuff and the LABS page acts more like a roadmap.
I also wanted to leave a note about my friend David. I found out today that my friend David Lapoff (aka. Muscledawg) died on Feb. 15th this year. Though I consider myself somewhat of an expert at interpreting internet traffic and forum posts, there is really no telling how many thousands of people David helped. I never had the chance to meet David in person, we exchanged a number of emails, phone calls and packages through the mail. I feel so sad that someone so selfless didn't have the chance to live to 100 and help thousands more. You will be missed.
April 13, 2009
Okay... Back to work. I added a few hundred events to the triathlon event calendar.
I also did a lot of backend work for the new section. I hope to have this section open to the public by next week so we can have the bugs worked out in time for Wildflower.
April 8, 2009
I figured out the problem I was having yesterday. :-) The new section is one step closer to completion.
April 7, 2009
I spent some time struggling with some technology for the new section.
April 6, 2009
I feel like I worked all day but didn't get anything done. I did lots of work on a new section but didn't get as far as I liked. I'll be working late into the evening to try to reach my evening goal.
I also spent some time checking in on a question I asked in the forum but nobody answered. :-(
April 5, 2009
I made some changes to the home page. I added a list of the most popular event calendars and moved the "Latest News" blurb to the top of the page.
April 4, 2009
Being the weekend, I didn't do much heavy lifting on the site today... I fixed a problem with the events page and added the two-letter state abbreviations following each of the US states I have listed.
I also did some backend work to track the popularity of the event calendars as well as individual races. I think I'll wait a while before posting popular calendars and events until we have a few more in the database.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.
April 3, 2009
I added a function to track the popularity of forum pages. The most popular forum pages are featured on the home page.
I also added Google Ads to the bottom of all the pages.
The new section I have been working on is now up... Events lets users add and find triathlons in their area. Users can either click on their city name or type it in. Unfortunately, there is only support for events in the USA. I will be working on adding the rest of the world in the near future.
Please bear with me if you encounter any bugs as this section is (as you well know) brand new. I also appreciate any getting notice of any problems you may encounter. Enjoy!
April 2, 2009
I'm ALMOST done with the new section... Getting it right is proving harder than I thought.
I did get a chance to speak with my buddy about the next new section... We didn't get into any details, but we will be having a whiteboard discussion soon.
April 1, 2009
I made a change to the forum suggested by tamirras_husband so replies automatically have the original subject in the subject line.
More time was spent on the new section, but I didn't get it finished. I'm now thinking this section should by ready by Thursday or Friday...
I also remembered today that I had forgotten to call my buddy about a different new section. I made a note for me to call him tomorrow.
After the kids went to sleep I figured out a way to get the "Logout" link on the email section to log you out of the Triathlete.com Community pages as well. Thanks to sjudice for bringing it up in the forum.
March 31, 2009
More work on the new section... I hope to have this ready for tomorrow.
March 30, 2009
Spent more time on the upcoming section... It's actually starting to look like a real set of pages. *shrug* I'm still behind my schedule, but I'm still hoping this section will be going live before the end of the week.
I also spent some time checking out the forum. I'm glad to see people (other than just me) participating. :-)
March 29, 2009
More work on the upcoming section today... Though I feel very far behind, I'm guessing this section will be opening up this week. I'm excited for this section (on its own) but I'm even more excited about the sections that will stem off from here.
March 27, 2009
I enabled the new user signup and forum. I ran into a few problems with the login. If you are having problems getting into your email account, send an email to giancarlo at triathlete dot com.
I spent the rest of the evening making sure the signup and login processes were working properly. I THINK I have things working properly, but you never really know until people start using it.
I am now officially behind with my development schedule but I won't worry too much as I finally got the site back up. Coincidentally, today is also the one-year anniversary of the Updates page... If you scroll down to the bottom of this page, the first entry was exactly a year ago today. This was not done on purpose.
Anyway... I'm happy to see things (somewhat) moving again. I'll keep plugging away with backend development. Please shoot me an email if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.
March 26, 2009
I called and left a voicemail message for Jim (our email provider) about moving forward with importing existing email accounts.
Later in the day Jim sent me an email and I started the process of importing all current email users into the new user database. So now all of the users are in the database. I am now working on a way to get people to enter their username, verify their password and provide a secondary email address (just in case). Whenever I get that done, I'll be making the signup form and message board public.
In preparation for the upcoming change, I am now forwarding users from the previous login page to the Triathlete.com home page. I'm excited to get this back up and running.
March 25, 2009
Spent all day working on a new top-secret section. I think visitors will find this new section very useful. I felt a bit frustrated with my lack of progress during the day but made some headway late in the evening.
I was supposed to hear back from the email provider today, but he didn't call; I'll call Jim tomorrow.
March 24, 2009
I spent more time working on the message board; it isn't exactly finished, but I think it's far enough along to say it is "usable."
So there is now a method to sign up and (somewhat) usable message board. All I need now is to import the existing Triathlete.com email users and we are ready for launch.
I called our email provider and spoke with Jim. We have a plan and he will get back to me tomorrow. I don't know how difficult it will be to import the existing email users, but I'm guessing we'll be ready to launch before the end of the week. Yay!
March 23, 2009
I spent most of the day working on the message board.
March 22, 2009
I FINALLY got everything in the signup process working. Is is perfect? No. Good enough to get started... I think so.
I'm beind with my tasks so I hope to get a little caught up tomorrow.
March 21, 2009
I am stuck on one last part of the signup process. Once that is finished I can move on to the next set of tasks. This final step is taking a bit longer than I had hoped, but (if it works the way I want it to) it should be pretty slick.
March 20, 2009
I spent a lot of time workin on finishing up the "new user sign-up process" but it ended up being too much for me to finish in one day. I'll try to finish that up tomorrow.
March 19, 2009
Users are now able to change their password. A password change updates both the Triathlete.com community and email passwords.
At this point, it looks like we're still on track for an April 15 launch.
March 18, 2009
I got the integrated email login working again. Triathlete.com Community members will be able to check their Triathlete.com email account with one click. :-)
I called and spoke with a friend about an upcoming project on Triathlete.com. We had a good conversation and will be talking again soon.
March 17, 2009
I'm still waiting on stuff for email so I did some more work on the new message board.
Towards the end of the day I received word from our email provider that authorization had been restored... I did a quick test and the stuff I was working on actually works. :-)
It may be a bit early, but I think I'll be aiming for April 15th as a launch date for the new site. What will be available? Well... Integrated email and message board (for sure) and I want to have a third section ready (currently top secret). More information soon.
March 16, 2009
I exchanged email with our email provider... I hope to get more email work done tomorrow.
I also did a little more back-end work on the new message board.
March 15, 2009
I did some more email work but couldn't get some basic authorization stuff working. I finally realized that the IP address for our server recently changed so I need to wait for a message back from our email provider before I can get that working.
I also did a little work on the new message board.
March 14, 2009
Not exactly a MAJOR update, but I shrunk the navigation buttons and placed them in the top right (rather than top left) corner.
I also did some work on one of the projects that I am hoping to have ready before May 1. I have to re-do some email stuff, create the message board and then finish work on that project... I hope to have the email portion complete by March 20; we'll see.
March 1, 2009
Okay... Back to work... I had a problem with some files and lost some work. I now have LOTS of time to work on the site so updates SHOULD come sooner.
October 19, 2008
More Email integration work. Thankfully, I'm making a lot of progress... I made a lot of progress today. I am now able to login to both Triathlete.com and email. The next steps would be to automatically create an email username (when you sign up for a Triathlete.com account) and get the message board up and running. I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. :-)
October 18, 2008
Pretty much a copy of yesterday. Not a whole lot of time for development and worked on more integration stuff.
October 17, 2008
Not a whole lot of time to work today. Time was spent trying to figure out the integrated login. *sigh*
October 16, 2008
I have been EXTREMELY busy for the past few days. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to work on the site until today.
I spent more time trying to figure out how to automatically log users into email.
October 13, 2008
Looks like the login process is mostly done. I'm now working on automatically logging users in to email when they login to the site. This would mean once you login to your Triathlete.com account all you need to do is click the email link and you will be looking at your inbox (no need to login to email. If it doesn't make any sense, it should make sense soon (once it's up).
October 12, 2008
More work on the sign up and login pages. :-)
October 11, 2008
More email integration work... It's been pretty slow, but progress is being made. *shrug* Later in the evening I started work on a login page.
October 10, 2008
This evening I spent a little time working on email integration.
October 9, 2008
I didn't have as much time to available today. I made some minor changes to the user sign up form and an even smaller change to the email system. I hope to get more done tomorrow.
October 8, 2008
After spending quite a bit of time trying to decipher some (seemingly) old documentation, I made some progress with the email integration.
I also realized I will need to make a login so people can actually use the upcoming message board. :-)
October 7, 2008
"New Feature" voting is closed. I took the poll off the homepage. The new feature to the site will be (by popular demand) a message board. Thanks again to those who voted.
I started work on the new message board. Nothing actually useful but at least you can't say I haven't started. :-)
October 6, 2008
I think the new user sign up form is FINALLY ready to go. I'm waiting on the email guys to get something set up for me so so signing up for an account at Triathlete.com will automatically get you a matching Triathlete.com email address.
The "New Feature" poll closes tonight/tomorrow so I will start on that feature ASAP. Once that section is in a usable state, I'll open the doors and let people sign up and start using the site again. All of this is assuming the email stuff gets set up in a timely fashion.
No shirt sales yet. Head over to the store for a Triathlete.com Polo T-Shirt; they're cool, you should get one.
October 5, 2008
Today I spent a few hours working on the new user signup form. Aside from integrating this form with email, I think it's ready to go. That said, I still need to work on email/site integration.
If you haven't already, please vote for the first new feature for the new site. The poll is located on the homepage. Voting ends Tuesday. Thanks to everyone who has voted so far.
In the evening, I put together a little Triathlete.com store. It isn't much, but I need the cash and can't afford the Ebay fees. *shrug* Feel free to purchase or donate (bottom of the page).
October 4, 2008
Today I did a lot of reading (for email integration). I also did a lot of work re-doing the captcha (i.e., human verify code) for the new user signup form.
October 3, 2008
Not a whole lot today. I'm pretty tired; long week. I worked a little bit on email integration. I'm excited to see that started.
October 2, 2008
I spoke with our email provider and confirmed all email is safe. There will be some changes to Triathlete.com email in the coming weeks, however, we are no longer planning on changing our email provider.
October 1, 2008
I exchanged a number of emails with personnel at our current email provider. I set up a time to talk tomorrow. Hopefully that goes well.
I also spent some time working on a signup form for new members. This should be ready for primetime pretty soon. I will then start working on the new message board or mySpace-type pages. Vote on the homepage to determine what gets done first.
September 30, 2008
In an effort to get more votes, I placed the "First Feature" poll on the home page.
I also added a PayPal donate button to the bottom right of the pages.
Feel free to send as much or as little (for the cause) as you please. The more I get, the easier it is for me to spend less time training and more time coding.
September 29, 2008
I'm looking for a Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for the site. I'm working on a new user signup form and would like to have users view and accept a Terms of Service and Privacy Policy document before signup. If anyone can help or send me links to a good (preferably free) resource, I would appreciate it. Send email to Giancarlo AT triathlete.com. Thanks!
Additionally, the new user signup is almost complete. Once this happens I'll need to make something for these new users to do. My initial thoughts for community-building features would be a message board and a MySpace-type of scenario (e.g., profile pages, walls, friends, etc.)... I will probably end up creating both, but I'm looking for feedback regarding which feature to build first.
I also changed the Updates icon and the little calendar on the Updates page.
Thanks for voting. As always, let me know if you have any questions.
September 27, 2008
Ebay link was taken down.
I started making some changes to the navigation bar. I moved the small icons down under the logo and made them larger. I also placed a smiley 
in the upper, right corner of the page. This area will be used shortly (but isn't ready) so I wanted to put something there as a placeholder.
Current plan is to have the next update produce something that is actually useful for site visitors (rather than just moving things around).
September 22, 2008
Ebay link is back up. *shrug*
I also decided to take down the roadmap page. I have a super-secret, ninja plan of attack and I think I want to make it a surprise. I think the updates from this page (i.e., Updates Page) will work well enough.
September 16, 2008
I removed the link to my Ebay page and Roadmap. I have a pretty clear picture of what I want to do. I'm trying to move in smaller, baby steps.
I've put together a plan to be back in production in time for Wildflower (i.e., May, 2009).
July 19, 2008
I did some more database work and a little coding on a form to sign up as a community member. I hope to have this up within the next few days.
July 12, 2008
I've been doing a little more database work. I should have a community member signup ready soon... What will you be able to do?... Not much to start, but at least it's more than just email. *shrug*
I put a link to my Ebay auctions up on the home page. Cheezy, I know, but I'm in need of the money (it's a long story)...
July 7, 2008
I did a little work on some upcoming changes to email. Just setting the groundwork for the email provider switch.
On a side note, if anyone wants to get a hold of me, you can reach me by sending an email to my first name (that's Giancarlo) at Triathlete.com.
June 18, 2008
Looks like I have passed the first milestone for the image work I started on the 6th. Time was also spent testing on old, nasty browsers.
June 6, 2008
Started some image work. Part of a new project kind of a big deal.
May 30, 2008
Started some database work. Did the setup for a basic user table.
May 29, 2008
Re-Initiated research into email hosting. Looks like the in-house plan isn't a viable solution. Thanks to a suggestion from Chris D., I am looking at an attractive alternative.
April 9, 2008
In an effort to keep people aware of site changes I added a note with a link to the updates page.
April 8, 2008
I heard back from hosting company with some good and bad news. Looks like email CAN be brought in-house. There will be some hurdles to jump, but I think the project is still possible. More homework is required.
I officially added the revitalization of Triathlete.com email to the roadmap.
April 7, 2008
Sent a question off to someone at our hosting comapny to clarify a question which would allow me to move Triathlete.com email in-house.
April 4, 2008
Created an UPDATE page and added the link in the navbar.
April 3, 2008
Did some more work on the roadmap page. Though the page looks the same, I changed most of its guts so I can easily update the page and have multiple projects displayed.
I also added the HOME link in the navbar.
April 2, 2008
I added the little footer bar (with the copyright) at the bottom of the pages.
April 1, 2008
Spent some time making the roadmap a little prettier. Next step will probably be adding some scalability to the roadmap (so I can track multiple projects).
March 31, 2008
I added an animated progress bar to the roadmap page. This will show how close/far I am to completing a roadmap task.
I added some date functionality into the roadmap page so the progress bar automatically increments (based how close we are to a working codebase).
March 30, 2008
I added the little calendar image to the update dates (on the right).
March 29, 2008
Created a navbar (top right of the page).
Created a roadmap page so people know what the heck I'm working on.
March 28, 2008
Added a little section below the email login to display updates.
Added the Email link at the top of the page.
March 27, 2008
Friends...
I've been away for quite some time (about two years) dealing with some things in my personal life.
I was planning on getting back online in the near future, but something went very wrong with the Triathlete.com database and the entire site appeaars to be unusable.
Changes will (slowly but surely) be coming in the near future.
-giancarlo
