New Website

[Christopher Mallon]

Overall my impression so far is... well I don't really have an impression. I was able to see the site for about thirty seconds. All other times I've had Lock Wait Timeout errors. Which seems rather... odd, since the tables should only be locked when they are being updated, and this error usually occurs when an update fails. How often are you updating items on the site??

It's also extremely slow. I'd be interested to see the server specs - by the error information it looks like it's on a $6 per month shared server which is vastly inferior even to the old crappy server the CFC had.

2. Ratings look-up for O'Neil returns no names. The field formatting seems to be wrong. My guess is that O'Brien and similar names with an apostrophe would have the same problem.

This is a potentially MAJOR issue! Put this at the absolute top of your list. If it is not handling apostrophes properly, then it could potentially be extremely vulnerable to hacking. This is basic SQL 101 stuff here, I wouldn't expect a professional company to miss something like this.

[John Coleman]

This is a potentially MAJOR issue! Put this at the absolute top of your list. If it is not handling apostrophes properly, then it could potentially be extremely vulnerable to hacking. This is basic SQL 101 stuff here, I wouldn't expect a professional company to miss something like this.

In addition, French accents are not handled correctly. A search for Hebert or Hébert does not return Jean Hébert.

As you say, this is really basic database stuff. Remarkable.

[Fred McKim]

In addition, French accents are not handled correctly. A search for Hebert or Hébert does not return Jean Hébert.

As you say, this is really basic database stuff. Remarkable.

John there are a lot of issues with accents that will all eventually be worked out. The accents in the crosstables are really off.

The whole release was one of those issues, where we eventually had to set a date that we wouldn't go past (end of June).

[John Coleman]

Hi Fred

I'm glad you are on top of this... there are lots of issues with any launch, but really basic stuff should have been checked out. It's hard to imagine a programmer designing a search mask that didn't allow for diacritical marks.

Jean Hébert, I discovered, is listed as

101280 No Expiry Hébert, Jean QC Longueuil 2486 2534 2476 10

I don't know why I didn't think to search for that variation of his name.

[Bob Gillanders]

After a brief test drive, the new website is back in the shop for fixin!
Ah, computer stuff never works the first time.

The old site is back for the long weekend, we'll try again on monday.

[Bob Gillanders]

Okay, so we launched again on monday.
It took a long time for the servers to find it, and then another oops!

Fortunately, Resolution was able to fix the problem very late monday evening. This morning, all seems okay. Honestly, I cross my fingers each time I check it.

Does everyone see the new website now? If not, please let us know. After refreshing your browser please.

[Jonathan Berry]

No comments on the new website for a month? Its superior organization and bland colour scheme must have a calming effect.

Under "Upcoming Tournaments" on the home page, I can click "Other Tournaments" which leads to a page entitled "Upcoming Tournaments" with a main header "Tournaments", divided into two sections: "Bids for Canadian Events" and "National Events". Amusingly, the "National Events" section consists of two further sections "CFC Tournaments" (with clickable provinces) and "Outside Canada". This scheme needs correction and tightening up. The webmaster needs at least to conceive of what really is "national" ...

When you finally get to the "upcoming tournaments", some of them are in the past, some over a year in the past. It looks lax. May I suggest that, once the finish date of a tournament is in the past, its announcement gets archived. Right at the top of each list, a clickable "Archive" link. Archiving should happen automatically, triggered by the system date. An old tournament announcement is still useful to the prospective player ("Hmm, maybe there'll be another one like it this year" or "Now I know who to contact about chess in this town" [if it couldn't be found elsewhere], or "I can just copy the html code from this 2011 tournament and with a correction of dates, make it my announcement for the 2012 event" or ...).

Although it may be stated elsewhere at chess.ca, I don't see any distinction of "CFC Rated" events. If all advertised events are CFC Rated (not the case for events offsite linked), perhaps that needs to be stated, and its requirements too, even if only a sentence. If CFC-unrated events are allowed (surely the USA and world events would be CFC-unrated), then you might consider more prominence for the CFC-rated events.

I'm not sure what is the best way to display tournament calendars is. Many sites (MCA, FQE ...) have a monthly calendar (you know, a 7x5 grid), but perhaps a rolling three-month calendar would work. I seem to recall that the use of a web content database is part of the new site. Surely that would come pre-coded for a calendar, and also calendars which combine areas (such as "Toronto" and "Ontario"--or the Maritime Provinces--or even the whole country) to be displayed.

The coming events facility looks like it's still being done manually, which was not the idea, was it?

[Fred McKim]

No comments on the new website for a month? Its superior organization and bland colour scheme must have a calming effect.

Under "Upcoming Tournaments" on the home page, I can click "Other Tournaments" which leads to a page entitled "Upcoming Tournaments" with a main header "Tournaments", divided into two sections: "Bids for Canadian Events" and "National Events". Amusingly, the "National Events" section consists of two further sections "CFC Tournaments" (with clickable provinces) and "Outside Canada". This scheme needs correction and tightening up. The webmaster needs at least to conceive of what really is "national" ...

When you finally get to the "upcoming tournaments", some of them are in the past, some over a year in the past. It looks lax. May I suggest that, once the finish date of a tournament is in the past, its announcement gets archived. Right at the top of each list, a clickable "Archive" link. Archiving should happen automatically, triggered by the system date. An old tournament announcement is still useful to the prospective player ("Hmm, maybe there'll be another one like it this year" or "Now I know who to contact about chess in this town" [if it couldn't be found elsewhere], or "I can just copy the html code from this 2011 tournament and with a correction of dates, make it my announcement for the 2012 event" or ...).

Although it may be stated elsewhere at chess.ca, I don't see any distinction of "CFC Rated" events. If all advertised events are CFC Rated (not the case for events offsite linked), perhaps that needs to be stated, and its requirements too, even if only a sentence. If CFC-unrated events are allowed (surely the USA and world events would be CFC-unrated), then you might consider more prominence for the CFC-rated events.

I'm not sure what is the best way to display tournament calendars is. Many sites (MCA, FQE ...) have a monthly calendar (you know, a 7x5 grid), but perhaps a rolling three-month calendar would work. I seem to recall that the use of a web content database is part of the new site. Surely that would come pre-coded for a calendar, and also calendars which combine areas (such as "Toronto" and "Ontario"--or the Maritime Provinces--or even the whole country) to be displayed.

The coming events facility looks like it's still being done manually, which was not the idea, was it?

I've fixed up the issue of the formatting. Try it again now. Right now we have no National events. As soon as Gerry gets the details from the organizers of the 2012 BC events they'll be posted there.

There are also the mini-announcements for upcoming events on the front page: National and Other (click on thr < or > to toggle). To keep the Other list usable, there'll have to be some editorial decisions on what will go here. I'm trying to limit them to major (ie ~100 player) open events.

There is still human intervention on the posting of Upcoming Events by Gerry. He receives an e-mail from the website with the event all formatted, and I would assume that it's then a simple cut and paste.

Archiving of Upcoming Events could be looked into, but I have to say there a lot more pressing issues right now.

Thanks for the constructive input.

[Jonathan Berry]

I've fixed up the issue of the formatting.

When one clicks on "Other Tournaments", one has to scroll down the page. The # name label facilities of html are not used. It's exactly the same place as when you click "National Tournaments". A minor quibble, but there you are.

Either way, when one clicks for upcoming tournament announcements, the first text (not headlines) one sees is:

Bid forms can be found on our Tournament Director Resources web page. We require both the Bid Form and Budget Form to be completed and submitted to info@chess.ca. Bids are welcome for all official CFC events. Note to our Chessplayers.

I can't think of a reason for it, except that the previous website fell into that sort of disorder of things.

Sorry to disturb if other web design issues are more pressing. I did wait for a month of silence.

I'll shut up for another month.

[Fred McKim]

When one clicks on "Other Tournaments", one has to scroll down the page. The # name label facilities of html are not used. It's exactly the same place as when you click "National Tournaments". A minor quibble, but there you are.

Either way, when one clicks for upcoming tournament announcements, the first text (not headlines) one sees is:



I can't think of a reason for it, except that the previous website fell into that sort of disorder of things.

Sorry to disturb if other web design issues are more pressing. I did wait for a month of silence.

I'll shut up for another month.

Yes. It's probably based on the old design. I can reorganize this a bit more.