Reverb: The Official UTF Blog

This is just a quick reminder to say that the UTF message board will be shut down either sometime tonight or tomorrow. All traces of links should be removed from the UTF web site.

On a side note, I have made significant progress for UTF version 5. Most of the content available on UTF version 4 has been added to the new version of the site with the exception of the picture galleries; that’s a task still on my to-do list for UTF. In addition to the galleries, I still need to set up the newsletter. To be honest, I’m still trying to determine if I should continue to publish it. UTF version 5 will be on a new platform that will allow you to subscribe to news and site updates via RSS feed. There may not be a need for the Official UTF Newsletter anymore; I will make that determination over the next couple of weeks.

I still have some additional behind the scenes tasks to complete for UTF version 5, but I’m pleased to say that the site is becoming more of a reality. I’m not going to rush things and am taking my time to make sure that everything is done right. Soon, everyone will be able to see the fruits of my labor. I think you’re going to love the new version; I do!

I have made a decision to shut the UTF message board down. The daily spam fights have just grown too overwhelming and has involved too much of my time over the past year. I’m one person against an army of spam robots. Maintaining the message board has become more work than I’m willing to put in, so at the end of January, the message board will go away.

As most of you are aware, you can contact Timmy directly at his web site. I will be directing any communications I have with you here at Reverb. If any of you have made friends here and want to keep in touch with them, I urge you to send that person a private message through the message board while you still can. I would not recommend putting your private email address in the forums as you don’t really know if everyone on the Memberlist is a real person. Thanks.

First off, with the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, I want to wish everyone a safe trip who might be traveling. Don’t eat too much, and remember you only have to hang out with that one obnoxious family member once (maybe twice) per year.

Now, I know it’s been a couple of months since I posted anything here. Fortunately, it’s because I’ve been busy preparing UTF version 5 for a 2008 launch. With other things going on in my life, I just didn’t have time to code the site from the ground up like I originally planned. The good news is that by using a CMS (content management system), I will be able to get the new version up on time. I still have some customization to complete before I can start adding the content, but it’s coming along nicely. I really think everyone will like the new version.

As some of you are aware, I never did get around to putting up the Ken Dolls mini site with version 4. That actually slipped through the cracks, but I do plan to get that done this time around. It may not be up when version 5 launches since I do plan to code the Ken Dolls site from the ground up. The main thing I’m focused on is changing the design and making UTF easier for me to manage when I have to perform updates.

It’s been a busy few months, hence the reason why posting here on Reverb and the message board has been scarce. Aside from work, I am working on other top priority projects that has taken up much of my free time. It’s been difficult trying to find the proper balance for managing all that’s going on, and I admittedly let the new version of UTF slip through the cracks. UTF version 5 is way overdue, and I know it. I finally carved in some time out of my busy schedule to put several hours of work into the site this week. I went back and did some more graphics work after rethinking some things, and I think I have the graphics side of UTF version 5 at least 99% complete. My plan is to have the site coded, finished, and online by the end of this year. That being said, the hard part is just about to start since I am coding the new version of UTF completely from scratch and am restructuring the site’s architecture. That means I won’t be using pre-existing code, since much of it is not as “clean” and manageable as it could be. In layman’s terms, recoding the site from scratch and making it cleaner will make updating the site much more easier for me. Cross your fingers that you will no longer be looking at this by the end of the year.

No, I have not forgotten that I’ve been promising a new layout for UTF. Now that my computer problems are resolved, I can start working on this again. Believe me, I’m tired of looking at the current layout, too.

I was able to retrieve most of the new graphics for the new version, but I did not have the newest graphics that I designed backed up. This means I have to redesign a couple of key graphics from scratch. I worked on that a little today, but I’m not satisfied with the results. I’ll keep going at it (but not today) until I get it just right. I want to have the graphics finished before I start to code the site. Since I’m building UTF version 5 off of a new code base (from scratch and not using pre-existing code), it will take me some time to have the site finished before I can even start to test it.

It may seem like I haven’t been paying that much attention to UTF, which is a true statement. Besides being mega busy at my new job, I’ve been thinking about doing a startup and coming up with ideas for it. I also have a couple of other side projects going on, which have pushed UTF to the back burner. However, I plan to move UTF up my priority list. I would like to have this project (UTF version 5) finished before I dive into plans for my possible startup. So, that means that UTF will be the only Web project I’ll work on for now.