As part of my on-going project to make all the pages on he website into blog posts I've been updating the Tools and Techniques sections. You won't notice a huge difference at first (although the front page is better presented) but using blog posts for all entries makes it much easier for me to add new material and edit existing stuff. Now that that is done, let me know if there are any tools or techniques you'd like me to add.

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The new blog/shop is up and running, hopefully I've ironed most of the problems out of it so now it should be running smoothly. 

This web site is built using the Drupal content management system at its base. This flexible system lets me build a database holding all the information I want to display on the website then control just how that information is displayed. So, to use the blog/shop as an example. I fill in one form with information for the blog and I can use that one set of information to display the showcase on the front page, the workshop notes and recent highlights on the fornt page, the shop grid and each individual blog post page. All of these are just different ways of displaying the same information. It's fantastically powerful and lets me make changes and add things to the site quickly and easily. 

As I've put together the structure of the website I've moved more and more of it to the core of the workshop notes blog. Each blog post is based on a single database record and each record is divided into fields, each containing a separate piece of information. Drupal lets me add new fields as I need them so the blog entry page is now quite comprehensive. These are the fields each blog entry contains.

Title: The title of the blog post

Product Name : If the blog entry contains a project to download, this is its name. The product name is used in the shop grid page.

Product: A tick box to say whether the blog entry contains a product.

Download: A tick box for if the blog entry has a download associated with it. Not all products are downloads, the Caffeine T-shirt for example.

Repost: Tick box, is the blog entry a repost? If I am re-posting an old project I don't want it o appear in the shop twice.

Free: Tick box, is the product free?

Members Only: Tick box, if its free, is it available to everyone or just members.

Show Case: Last of the tick boxes. Is the project to be displayed in the show case on the front page.

Image 200: A 200x200 pixel image that s shown at various sizes as the thumbnail picture at the beginning of the blog post.

Image 300: A 300x300 pixel image that is used in the show case display on the front page.

Taxonomy: The tags associated with the blog post, useful for grouping related posts together.

Teaser: The short text used in the show case.

Body: The main body of the blog post with all the pictures and text.

Price: Project price if it is in the shop

AddToCart: The main Add To Cart link

ATCFree: The free Add To Cart link for members

Publishing info: Information about authoring, date of publication, whether the post is published and who can see it.

There are various other fields which control comments, spam protection and other such bits an pieces.

It has become surprising complicated! I've actually removed a few fields that I no longer use. In the just over a year that the site has been on line this structure has changed a lot, I now think that it is about where I want it. I have loads of control over how blog posts are displayed. I can use all this information and display it as I want it. As a final example, in the main workshop notes blog posts some posts need an Add To Cart link, some need a free link and others have nothing. I used the php programming language to control how each link is displayed. the flow chart below show how the decision as to what is displayed is made. 

My apologies for digressing from the paper engineering but as people who like making things I hope that you might be interested in how the back end of this website is made.

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I was sent this link by Carolina Chang from the University Simón Bolívar Caracas in Venezuela. Carolina used this model to introduce her course in robotics. My Spanish is very ropey. (No entiendo, no hablo Espanol is about my limit) but from what I can understand, the computer controlled Agreeable Sheep agrees with everything you say! Speak into the microphone and the sheep nods while her eyes light up mysteriously!  

Thanks Carolina, it's fantastic!

USEFUL LINKS:
Agreeable Sheep
Link to YouTube video

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I've been finishing off the new blog shop over the past few days. It is now online and ready for action! Click on the 'Shop' button in the right hand column for a visit. If you come across any problems please let me know and I'll do my best o get it sorted.

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When I originally set up robives.com I had some downloadable models that I'd brought over from flying pig and a few new models looking for a new home. After setting up the blog, the first thing I added to the web site was the shop. As I created new models I wrote about them in the blog then added them to the shop. Gradually this evolved into the models appearing on the blog then being added to to the shop in batches as and when I got round to it. As time went on and the website evolved the shop has become more and more sidelined to the point when it is now just a slightly out of date mirror of the downloads on the blog.

I've been thinking about the structure of the website and the time it takes to do things, it seems like the whole, copying things to the shop thing is just wasted time. I copy models to the shop then link back to the blog for more information about the project, it seems rather redundant.

Time to make some changes. What I've done is add a few fields to the blog database. Now when I type in a new blog entry I can click a switch to say that it contains a product, another field contains the price and a third has a space for the big picture that appears in the show case on the front page. That done I can set up a page that just shows the blog items that contain a product, that way the blog itself can be used as a shop and I don't have to do this silly double entry thing.

You can see progress here.

The only problem is that I'm having to go through all the shop entries and add them to the shop, then go through all the blog entries and tick the appropriate switches in those that contain products. It is dull beyond words. But it needs doing and once done should streamline things considerably. As Jay who you'll have seen in the comments, says:  "infrastructure makes growth possible."

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One of the cool things about drupal, the engine behind my website, it that I can customise the way pages are displayed for different people. 

When I look at the front page it has all sorts extra bits if info so I can see how many people are online (68 at the moment!) who has left a comment, and various bits of debugging information. All the extra stuff is just kind of dumped on the page but it's useful and I thought that some of it might be interesting for everyone. To that end, I've added a 'recent comments' block at the bottom of the front home page. This took much longer to do than it should have done - I had CSS brain fade and got completely stuck after failing to spot a really basic mistake. It was so frustrating going round and round in circle that by the time I'd spotted the mistake I could have danced for joy! Anyway, all working now. Write some comments and see it work!

Friday Morning: I've changed the way the comments look. Less space - more comment and rather than a preview of the text I've put up the title of the post being commented about. 

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At last! School membership is available! And for a special starting price of only £49.95 per annum.

As a school member your school will have:

• Open access to all the downloads on the site.
• The Cardboard Engineering Sourcebook, a fantastic school resource.
• Use of the offline version of the mechanisms pages.
• Twelve months of varied new projects using all sorts of different techniques and mechanisms.

Initially this is for UK schools only while I work out how to accept payments from overseas. Please visit the Education page for more details and to apply.

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I'm testing the code on the website, I've added a couple of lines at the end of the blog posts. If you are a member and there is a download with the post it should tell you how long you have been a member. 

There should also be a code, like the' fdm' in the picture here. The codes are as follows.

fdm = Free Download for Members

nd = No download

fd = Free download

1/2atc = Half price add to cart

atc = Add to cart.

Please feel free to let me know if this works for you, or if it doesn't! It is only in the blog at the moment but I'll be adding it to the shop soon as well. Thanks for your help! Testing, testing 1, 1...

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"What's to stop me becoming a member for a month, downloading everything, then cancelling my membership" went the recent email. And of course he was correct, if he did do that he wouldn't be the only person. It is becoming increasingly obvious, as the back catalogue grows, that whole system is just not right. It seems almost as if monthly members who are regular, loyal payers are missing out compared to those who swoop in and download. I've been thinking about this for a while, looking round, to see if there are any solutions out there. I've found lots of websites that have subscriptions but all seem to have the same problem. After lots of thinking and planning and researching I think I've come up with a solution. Tell me what you think of this. Does it sound fair? This'll be for new subscribers, current subscribers will stay as they are.

For example: On 14th Feb 2011 you sign up for a monthly membership. You pay your £3. This lets you download all the projects produced until 14th March 2011. You can also download all the projects from the archive back to 14th Jan 2011.

The next month, you pay your £3 monthly membership, this gives you access to all the projects until 14th April 2011 but also, you now have access further back in the archive to 14th Dec 2010. (True Love's birthday by the way :-) And so it goes, each month you get access further back into the archive.

If you sign up for an annual membership you'll have immediate access one year back into the archive and if you buy the plus membership you'll have instant access to it all. 

I'm really pleased with it as a way forward. What do you think?

Oh, and I've linked the snap up heart model with this post, in case you missed it in the archives. Happy Valentine's Day

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My website membership system is now a little over a year old. It's been great to see so many people signing up for a second year. Thanks for your support and interest!

I've recently added a few more options to the membership plan. For starters, you can pay in US dollars if you would prefer. Details are here. The system that I use for membership currently only allows for one currency at a time so the membership takes an extra step to set up but once started it runs like an oiled machine!

I've also introduced a discount for students and retired people which has proved popular. Send me an email and I'll tell you how you can receive the 33% discount on subscriptions. Up until now the discount rate had only been available on the annual subscriptions. This was because the smaller monthly rate was largely eaten up by processing fees. I'm pleased to say though, that I have now added quarterly membership. Payment is once every three months and the full student discount is available.

Thanks everybody!

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