Internet Office Weekly Report #5 - 18 April 2005

I apologise for the lack of reports on my behalf. This is disgraceful and I will attempt to not do so again.

I will be going on leave between Monday the 18th of April 2005 and Wednesday the 20th of April 2005. Do not expect a response to any emails until I return. I apologise for the short notice.

Things that may interest coders and designers as well as the general membership are a current thread discussing the EH Domain Revamp to come, as well as an offer looking for people to create a new template for the TC site and the EH site as well as components for the new TC uniform system. The details for that are located at this thread.

News

The new Internet Office Site has been created and it is located at the usual address of http://ehnet.org/. Features and content are currently being added so please be patient.

The EH Links Database has accordingly moved to http://links.ehnet.org/. The old address at lenvik.org redirects to the new location. A new service is being provided for users of the Emperor's Hammer! Free webhosting (for EH purposes) is being provided to people who want it! In the time period before I acquire a dedicated server, my hosting solution provides 20MB of space per person, with 200MB of bandwidth transfer allowance per month. PHP is installed on the server and you receive one MySQL database as well as one PostgreSQL database. To apply send a username, subdomain (on ehnet.org) you would like, password and a short reason as to what you would like to use the hosting for to Lenvik. Free 10MB of email space (with POP3 and Webmail Interfaces) is also available.

Site of the Week

No Site of the Week; Submit something damnit.

I ask you, the membership of the Emperor's Hammer, to submit sites that you believe are worthy of a site of the week award. To qualify as site of the week, a site should look alright (doesn't need uber graphics to win though), have plenty of relevant information about the particular unit or function, and is updated regularly. Sites must be in the EH Site Database to qualify for Site of the Week.

Internet Office Projects

• Operation: Audit
  
  To maintain the high standard expected of Emperor's Hammer websites, I will be running a continual audit of all Emperor's Hammer websites. I will post the schedule of the next week's audits on here and on the soon to be up audit site. No EH site will be exempt from this audit. Sites will be checked periodically (approximately once every 6 months) for link integrity (broken/outdated links etc), layout quality and content as well as regular news updates.

  As early as next week I will be displaying a list of sites that will be receiving an audit in the following week. Please check here each week to see if your site is scheduled for an audit.
  

• Talk to the IO
  
  I want to receive feedback from as many members of the Emperor's Hammer as possible over the coming weeks. You can email me with comments at io@emperorshammer.org or chat with me on IRC on Undernet in #emperor's_hammer or #tiecorps, PM me as Lenvik or Iodine (or variants of those nicks). I would like to know what you've thought of IO Projects in the past, what you liked and what you didn't, where you would like the EH Internet Office to head in the future, and any and all ideas you have.
  
  
• Imperial Senate Site Recode
  
  I am currently recoding the official site of the Imperial Senate subgroup of the Emperor's Hammer. Progress thus far includes the news system, dossier records, ID Line generator and I've started on the roster system.
  
  
• Project: Condor Datapad
  
  Can't share much on this except that I'm coding the datapad for Project: Condor. I put this here because Khadgar made me. :P
  
  
• Emperor's Hammer Site Database
  
  In line with my views that sites need to be more closely monitored for news updates, quality content and so links don't get out of date, I've set up an Emperor's Hammer Link Database. ALL Emperor's Hammer (including all subgroup sites) are required to submit their site to this database. Submit your sites, and request changes at io@emperorshammer.org or lenvik@gmail.com. The information required is:
  • Name of the Site
  • The link to the site
  • Subgroup it Pertains to
  • Unit type (Squadron, Battleteam, Wing etc.)
  • What units it falls under (eg. Odin Squadron is on Wing XIII of the ISD Greywolf in the Aggressor Strike Force in the Emperor's Hammer TIE Corps Strike Fleet.)
  • The current webmaster/maintainer of the site.
  • The commanding officer of the unit
  • Any and all scripting and database technologies it employs.
  • Description of the site and/or it's purpose. (Optional)

  Progress Update:
  

  • The directory contains 58 sites (+/-0).
  
  

Internet Office Tasks List 2005

• Image Archive: The Image Archive will be re-released in the coming months.
• HoloNet awards: The HoloNet awards will be in May, if things go according to schedule. Look forward to some new categories for your site to win.
• Open sourcing IO projects: Most future Internet Office projects will be open source, ie. the source code will be available to download.
• More member-orientated projects: EHNet Hosting services available. I shall be reviewing and making suggestions regarding the IO IWATS courses to Stuart and his related PROFs.
• Expansion and addition on projects that help members become more skilled about web design such as the Code Archive: The next release of SquadFirst will be modular, allowing PHP enthusiasts to write extra or updated functions for SquadFirst and upload them to a repositry of SquadFirst mods. Interested users will be able to download these and copy the file in and add the addition using the control panel of squadfirst. Also in the next version of SquadFirst will be a better install interface.
• Updating of SquadFirst code to take into account the new TIE Corps site URL: SquadFirst will receive an update soon including modularity (as above) and updated functions and links.
• Coordinate with Communication and Executive Offices in porting ELS system to ASP: Task suspended indefinetly.

Contact the Internet Office

Feel free to contact me relating any Internet Office related issues you may have, including ideas and feedback etc (see Talk to the IO project). You can contact me at io@emperorshammer.org via email, or with the nicks Lenvik or Iodine (or a variant of the aforementioned nicks) on most official EH channels on UnderNet. An Internet Office site shall be up soon where feedback can be given.

Internet Office Links

• http://ehnet.org/ - Internet Office Site
• http://links.ehnet.org/ - EH IO Links Database
• http://mb.emperorshammer.net/ - EH Message Boards

Closing Comments

Please participate in the IO feedback competition so as I can tailor projects to EH needs. Prepare your sites for auditing, and prepare for lots of useful and fun IO projects in the near future!

Submitted By:

Internet Officer Admiral Lenvik

IO/AD Lenvik/CS-5/SSSD Sovereign
SSx2/BSx2/PCx2/ISM/IS-3BW-2BR-2SW-3SR-1GW-4GR/LoC-CSx4-Rx2/CoL/CoB/OV [ARCN]
{IWATS-AIM-BOT-CBX-FLA-FW-IBX-ICQ-IIC/1/2/3-JS-M/1/2-MP-PHP-SM/3-TLN-VBS}