Due to a recent server change, I'm afraid the site is going to be down for awhile. Three years ago when I designed arc7, I obviously did not have portability as one of my objectives. When I tried to move the site to the new server, all I got was a mess of errors. Once I got one page of errors fixed, another page would be full of errors... and another. Fixing all those errors and making sure all my backend administration scripts still work is something I definitely do not have the time for right now. I'd much rather invest that time into completely redesigning everything into something a lot better and up-to-date with my current skill level. The site was a horrible mess of 2-3 years of development and mixed PHP skill levels. I think it's definitely time to come out with something new and better for your enjoyment and to prevent me from going insane.
So when can we expect this new stuff?
Honestly, I have no clue. Right now I've been extremely busy with my senior year in high school, work, and trying to maintain a social life. This leaves little spare time for me to do web design as the hobby it first started out as. If I had to dish out an estimate, I would say at least 3-4 months, if not into this summer when I'm no longer as busy with school.
What can we expect?
I've been thinking about a redesign/rewrite for arc7 for awhile, so I've had some ideas brewed up in my head as to what you can expect in a new release (which will be called arc8 when it's all said and done). Here are some ideas:
- CSS/XHTML Compliant Design -- Simple and Fast. Everything will be a lot easier to find and browse.
- iReed CMS Website Infrastructure
- New Paint Shop Pro 8/9 Tutorial Sections (although, over time, it seems I have drifted further and further away from doing PSP tutorials anymore, so these sections might turn out to be more of a user-contribution area. I have a feeling I'm going to concentrate more on computer hardware and web programming.)
- Tutorial Rating (1-5 stars) system
- Discussion areas on every tutorial
- And, of course, everything the site has now...
I am open to comments, ideas, and suggestions. You can contact me at andrew at arc dot ireed dot net.
Is there any way I can help?
Sure, helping me in my quest of getting a Free Mac Mini (yes, free) will be considered just as good as PayPal'ing me money or something and much more motivating. You can help by signing up and completing an offer with my referral link below:
http://www.freeminimacs.com/?r=15294905
Once you've done this, you also can get your own free Mac Mini by getting 10 of your friends to sign up and complete an offer for you.
No, these types of promotions are not scams. The experiences of several of my friends, and mainstream press have proven that these types of promotions are real.
If you would like, I have 6 Gmail invites I will gladly give away to those who help me.
I'm going through arc7-withdrawel!
If you absolutely must access the old site, here are some ways you can do so:
- The Old Server -- the old server is still online. For now, anyway. Good luck browsing -- there a ton of non-relative links and you'll be brought right back to the new server. The old server will be officially unplugged around February 7, 2005.
- Archive.org -- not too up-to-date, but works none-the-less. Ahh, the internet library...