I've just been pressured into signing up for a facebook account. I'm trying to figure out if I can add more than one e-mail address to the same account as I've had a few invites to a few different e-mail addresses, and until now I've avoided signing up thanks to the "MySpace effect" (or, for the uninitiated, "let's all get ourselves a free but really crap-looking* webpage with Rupert Murdoch's advertising all over it which forces everyone in the world to register for an account just so they can read my really boring blog entries and find out just what a sad-case I am**").

* Yes, I know some MySpace pages look very pretty, but they're definitely in the minority.

** ... and yes, I've spotted the irony in that statement, coming from someone who writes a blog about his work pushing pixels around a website without seeming to actually *do* anything at all. Ever...

So, anyway, I have a Facebook account. Now all I have to do is figure out how, if it's at all possible, we can (a) integrate it into peoples' profiles (have a "my Facebook name" field? An optional "my latest Facebook news" feed on peoples' profile pages? Or...?), and (b) (assuming it turns out to be worth the hype, which it might just be...), to find a way of dropping some hints into UPSU.net about how cool it is, especially since it's aimed squarely at the more transient student communities (and rightly so).

"What I Dun This Crimbo" 

While I'm working that all out (ok, so I'll probably forget about it for a month or so and then come back and rush into it instead), have I mentioned some of the other things I've been fiddling with over Christmas? No? Open wide and say "ahh" then...

• Introduced an "account dashboard" kinda thing - sign in and go to upsu.net/profile to see a summary of your account.
  
  This was the first step in my plan to start creating a coherent, navigable set of webpages which "belong" to each member and is one of the many (currently around 30) tools I've created in the "UPSU Toolbox" - my attempt at a collection of toys to add a whole load of functionality to UPSU, including the beginnings of the tag search system.
  
  
• Changed the way peoples' profiles are found -they're now at upsu.net/people/<username> instead of upsu.net/community/members/<member ID>.htm - much more Google-able.
  
  
• Changed, added and generally hacked about with the URL rewriting system (an endless job, I think...), while simultaneously introducing a stripped-down template layout (not entirely dissimilar in design principles to Flickr's layout if I must be honest) and re-writing a lot of the profile handler code to make everything look vaguely familiar, if not quite uniformly laid out, for example the profile pages, profile picture pages, photo upload pages, and so on.
  
  This means it should be a lot easier to navigate around peoples' profiles, with URLs like "upsu.net/people/alexh" for my main profile, "upsu.net/alexh/picture" to see my photo in full size (not that anyone in their right mind ought to be doing that - it's like one of the less pretty scenes from Deliverance, I'm told...), "upsu.net/people/alexh/blogs" to see my blog entries (although I haven't done that bit yet as it's part of the profile handler re-write, mentioned below...), and so on...
  
  
• Spent an inordinate amount of time separating out what information people maintain for their account (private information - name, address,inside leg measurement, etc...) and their public profile information ("about me", favourites, etc), and created a whole new editor for the public information, which I'm hoping to follow up with more separate (and easier-to-use) pages to edit peoples' blog settings, forum settings, and account details. That's a high priority, as I'm keen to maintain consistency in this area to encourage people to feel more in control of their information.
  
  Ooh, and we desperately need a way of letting people see and edit *all* their newsletter subscriptions in one place, just to make things that bit easier too...
  
  
• Added ... ohhh, lots of things. And I'm getting bored of this list now...
  
  
• Increased the maximum size of profile photos from 60Kb to 1,024Kb, and maximum dimensions from 300x200px to 620x800px (I think... Can't remember now).
  
  Also spent many hours re-writing the photo upload page (at "upsu.net/profile/picture") to tidy up the output and change the non-sensical error messages the system could throw back at you into more meaningful things (for e.g., "Error -18" has become "Your photo's just too damned scary-looking - please try again later...". Maybe...).
  
  
• Created the minibus booking and tracking toy for Sarah Hesni (over at upsu.net/getinvolved/bookabus - great name, I know...). It's not turned "on" yet, but I think it's up and running just fine. I'll be testing it next week and launching shortly afterwards, hopefully!
  
  
• Oh, and I'm rejigging the collection of links at the bottom of each page (the "footer links". It's a beautiful name...) and they should be turned on once I've written a couple of final toys (a "send this to a friend" thingbob, and finished and enabled the blogs and photos tagging systems).
  
  
• Annoyance fix - returning to the administrator console after 15 minutes meant you were logged out and dumped back at the login screen. Now when the same thing happens (it's a security requirement, so I'm not weakening it for anyone), you're at least returned to the URL you were going to before you were logged out. This still doesn't (yet) solve the problem of POSTed information - e.g. from article edits - being lost, but we're heading in the right direction.... Veeeryyyyyy slooooowwwwllyyyyy....
  
  

Things left to do:

• Re-write the profile handler code: the existing system has done its job now, and I think it's time to start polishing up the way we lay out peoples' content in "their" pages, to encourage a bit more audience participation and some more transparency between members.
  
  
• Add "my to-do list" and "my bookmarks" toys to members' profiles - these will be fairly simple-looking, effective, private tools which I hope will again encourage members to switch to UPSU.net as their homepages (or at least to make it a central place to begin a www exploration).
  
  These "inventions" are both borne out of a degree of necessity on my part - I need a way of tracking my endless bug fixes, to dos and crazy ideas I have for UPSU, and blog entries like this aren't exactly easily digested for anyone, even me.
  
  
• Keep gently prodding UPSU.net and its visitors towards the critical mass I'm aiming for where, one day, a bazillion people will descend on the website and start chatting to each other, writing blogs and profiles, getting involved in some real studenty debates on the forums, having a good old rant and natter in the commenting system, and uploading loads of photos*.
  
  I have a feeling I may have better odds if I were to go looking for the Philosopher's Stone, but I've no plans to give up just yet - UPSU is nothing without the involvement of its students, and UPSU.net is one of the best ways for its members to meet, make friends and stay in touch.
  
  
• Redesign the toolbar at the top of every UPSU.net page - this one's table-based and needs to go. Yesterday (I hear it's thoroughly broken in IE7. Oh b*ll*cks...).
  
  
• Create a "friends" system - every "social networking" site out there has a way of letting two members tell the world that they're the best of buddies, and I want that toy to play with on UPSU... That might highlight my Billy No Mates-ness of course, so I'll have to make some alter egos up as well...
  
  
• Work out whether we need a private messaging system at all? I mean, it's just as easy to communicate with people via e-mail, and since most website-based PM systems send an e-mail notification anyway, why not just save on stamps and communicate through the wonder of e-mail anyway?
  
  
• Nail down the design of the contributors' tools page(s) - these are a sort-of dashboard for members with the right access levels to let them jump to the most commonly-used areas of the site.
  
  When I do this work, it'll probably be a good opportunity to start hardening some of the site's more delicate configuration areas to prevent accidental breakage in the hands of next year's new Admins (talking of which, are there any fairly experienced Joomla!/Mambo users out there who fancy taking UPSU.net to the next level - or at least keeping it running by replacing the sticky tape and elastic bands holding it together as they break...? Do get in touch - there's good kids ;o) ).
  
  

Ok, I'm knackered - not slept in ... <thinks> 33 hours and need to go bed. Just want to write a quick entry about the book I've just started and am fascinated by, then sleep. Ahhhh.... Sleeep. Mmmm.... ;o)