Kinect the Dots.

Anyway, was just thinking about some possible things. I definitely did not want to add “studios” to it, and I’d rather not explain why for that one. I thought maybe “games” would be something to add, but it just didn’t seem to fit right. But then, it hit me. Just one little change would make all the difference.

Shadow Falco.

Whether I’ll stick with it or go back and forth between the original, I have no idea. But for now, I own it.

Shadow Falcon.

My classes this semester are: an astronomy lecture and lab, a web programming class, and a game programming class. I hope to somehow use these to better my site. Maybe even end up making this all rather portfolio-y. Who knows.

In the web programming class, we make use of the Apache Tomcat server, which is pretty nifty. We also began using Cloudscape for databases.

The game programming class has us using Visual Basic C# in conjunction with XNA Gaming Studio.

I will go into more detail on things in future posts. At least that’ll give me something to write about.

I ended up finding the solutions here. It said it’s something Macs tag on files that haven’t been run yet to prevent them from doing anything until they have been approved. A very good feature, but it made the situation a bit annoying. What I did was deleted the plugin and downloaded again through Ubuntu. Problem solved.

But then, the permalinks weren’t working. =/ After some searching, I found the answer here.

To enable the mod_rewrite module at apache, I just simply do this 3 step:

First, add the rewrite.load to /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/
sudo ln -s /etc/apache2/mods-available/rewrite.load /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/

Second, edit the apache configuration for my virtualhosting. For example, in my computer I only have one virtual hosting (/var/www) that is default from installation, so I make some adjustment for that (In my case I have to edit this file /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default)
sudo vi /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default
Change the Allowoverride value to all for the document root directory
For example, I made change to this part of the configuration:

Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride all
Order allow,deny
allow from all
# This directive allows us to have apache2′s default start page
# in /apache2-default/, but still have / go to the right place
# Commented out for Ubuntu
#RedirectMatch ^/$ /apache2-default/

Finnaly, just restart the apache
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

My suggestion though would be, for the second step, to do
sudo pico /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default
instead. Much easier, in my opinion.

Then, I found that I needed to put this into the terminal:
chown -R www-data /var/www/wordpress

That was it. Did that, and it worked! Crazy, huh?

If you haven’t fully activated Akismet but have it turned on, disable it. It seems that little bugger is causing the issue. Otherwise, finish activating it and get it up to date. See if that works.

I had to help someone fix this issue and couldn’t find the solution on the internet. So I post this here for someone else. I did the same for the last couple posts. Maybe I’ll do this more often.

Sure, there’s many more complex things out there for webpages, such as PHP and Javascript, but that’s not the place to start.

One thing that helped me greatly with learning HTML was Neopets. Yes, that online game where you take care of pets, that eventually made card games and toys. On their site, there is an option to make a webpage for each one of your pets.

With little kids being the target audience, they would have to make editing the page simple, right? That’s why they made the Neopets HTML Guide.

Those familiar with forums (like TN ) may find the coding a bit similar to BBcode, which is what those tend to use. BBcode is basically a simplified version of HTML that lets forums only allow certain coding, as well as being much more simple.

Anyway, take a look in the guide and sign up. Experiment on your Neopet’s page. Go ahead and post a link to the page so I can check it out.

When I finally got to get my hands on working on my websites, I had already knew what to do. Why? This was because I had already had some experience in using cPanel, as well as with using an FTP client.

Perhaps I’ll make website-making guides in the future. Yeah, I think I will

Anyway, with the experience there, it was all a matter of uploading stuff. I could figure it out pretty easily.

Although, there were things I did not understand, I figured them out by looking the issue up on Google, or better yet, searching the Lunarpages’ forums. I don’t think I’ve had a case where someone hadn’t already asked the problem I had. Which is totally great because then you already have the answer.

My plan, at $7.95 a month, offered a high amount of bandwidth and hard drive space. It also gave a free domain name for as long as I was with Lunarpages, which was cool because I really wanted two websites.

I really enjoy having unlimited subdomains. Although you can only get them for which site is your main one, it is fun to have. I always liked to build websites, so I could put together and experiment as much as I wanted because of the unlimited amount.

In time, Lunarpages eventually gave unlimited bandwidth and hard drive space. I know that it’s probably not really unlimited, but I don’t think I’ll be making the next YouTube, so I’ll be perfectly fine.

I knew how to install forums and other web resources, but Lunarpages offered Fantistico, which has a list of forums, CMSs, and other website-wants that it could automatically install for you. This was just more stuff for me to play with.

If you work with Fantistico, you don’t have to worry about setting up MySQL databases or uploading and unzipping stuff. You can get right into using your forum or blog right after you fill you what info you want.

Although, you may have to upload any alternative or custom templates for your site. You can use an FTP client, or cPanel’s File Manager.

Some other things that sweetened the LP deal was the free $700 worth of software you get to use for your site.

PageMason allows you to build your website using an online WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) site builder. This is awesome for anyone who doesn’t really know about HTML or just wants an easier and faster way to put a site together.

You can see more on this list here.

However, I will miss the original offer of free CoffeeCup Software. CoffeeCup made some nice stuff, even custom video players.

Another change that LP made was a new Starter Plan at $2.95 a month, which may be the plan some are looking for. Although you have to pay yearly for your domain, a $20 cost, it’s nice and cheap for a first site. You can only have one domain, and there are limits on bandwidth and space, but if you’re using more than that, you should probably upgrade to the Basic Plan.

Now, there are plans where you can have Lunarpages do everything for you, but you have to be willing to pay a pretty penny.

I think if you’re ready to take on making your own website, Lunarpages is the way to go. It’s best if you’re willing to learn and ask questions, but if you’re not and have the cash, you can fork it over and have them do it for you.

Anyway, go for Lunarpages. They often have coupons, so look for them!

This was the other banner I had considered using, but I liked the look of the rectangular one better. It just seemed nicer, even if it doesn’t take up the whole block of red.

Anyway, I would like to share my experiences with Lunarpages. I recommend it to anyone with some web experience and who wants a great host. Although, who would want a bad one anyway?

In my last year of high school, I had saved up money and purchased a web hosting package with Lunarpages for $7.95 a month for a year. It came with a free domain name for as long as you were with them, and I also wanted to purchase a second domain. With a discount coupon I had found, the package came to just under $80.

I had researched webhosts long and hard before doing this, probably at least a year. Actually, probably longer. Although I didn’t expect to have the money to do so anytime soon, it was a fun pastime. As someone who always fiddled with making websites and a frequenter on the ol’ World Wide Web, it was a bit of a dream to have my own website. I think that’s something just about everyone wishes to have nowadays.

Anyway, I would check out prices, look up domain names, and see what was available and how much it would cost. My long research came down to three hosts: Hostmonster, Bluehost, and Lunarpages.

I originally was going to go with Hostmonster, but I believe something happened with them when I had come up with the money to get my own site. I don’t remember why I didn’t pick them. However, there were two reasons why I chose LP, even though it cost a whole $2 more a month than Bluehost.

Support reputation and I had a coupon.

Lunarpages has been known for it’s great support, and I felt that was important. Some hosts make you pay to get support 24/7. With all the craziness that is hackers and servers, you don’t want to skimp out on support.

The coupon? It was for $25 off and 2 free months after the year. Nice, huh? I know I thought so. xD

After ordering, which was great because LP took money orders (which is awesome), things didn’t go totally smooth sailing. After a couple days, although I could log into their site, my domains weren’t up. I checked domain availability, and it said my domains were still available for purchase! I quickly went to their help support and submitted a ticket about the problem.

In about an hour, there was a response, telling me there seemed to be a computer error during my purchase, and that they would get to it right away. But it might take up to 24 hours after they fix it for the websites to be up on the web.

If that quick response time wasn’t enough, I had submitted that ticket in the late evening. When I checked the next afternoon, the sites were up and working. That was fast work!

Ever since, I have only sent LP one other ticket, and that was to edit something in the purchase I made for this domain. After 10 minutes, I was told it was shifted to their technical support. Then in just under an hour later, it was taken care of.

Another awesome thing is that LP, after over a year with them, offered me a deal. I could buy more years for my package for the cost of their new $4.95 starter plan. How nice is that? I could only afford to pay for two more years at the time, but that saved me a lot! Totally awesome.

Well, this post is getting long. I’ve told you about why I chose LP and how amazing their support team is. I will write up a post next time about the actual hosting and how it works.