The intent is to create a “sub-site” of this site that is completely dedicated to the BMLT. It would provide a community, tutorials, articles, ES&H, and support for the BMLT.

The most important issue is that I desperately need to get more people involved in the BMLT. I guess that maintaining the codebase is a bit intimidating for folks, but I think a support site would be a lot more fun, and would be a lot more palatable for many folks. I sent out this email, and have received a few responses (not too many).

Now, what do I do next? I am more than willing to do the “heavy lifting” for the site, such as setting up the code, creating the theme, etc. I expect the BMLT site to be a lot more customized than the current MAGSHARE site. I would probably develop a common theme for the site, and customize it (the current site uses an off-the-shelf theme).

To start with, I have created a new discussion board on the forums site. If you wish to participate, but do not have a forum login, please contact me, and I’ll get you set up.

We need to start figuring out what the site will look like. It is clear that it will be at least a standard CMS, like WordPress, Drupal or Joomla. Additionally, we may want to add some kind of wiki and some kind of discussion forum system.

Folks,

I have a couple of items that I’m working on now, for the BMLT, such as a new plugin that will fix a couple of minor issues and make localization a bit easier. I also have a sticky CSV/PDF issue that only happens on the Swedish translation.

I am rather disappointed with the work I’ve done on MAGSHARE (http://magshare.org). I think the documentation for the BMLT is a mess. I get constant requests for info that is available on the site, which is a HUGE red flag that my site design and information architecture sucks. More info DOES NOT mean better info. In fact, it usually indicates exactly the opposite.

I have given thought to redesigning MAGSHARE, but I think that’s switching deck chairs on the Titanic. The same idiot that wrote the current mess would be working on the new mess. I need to create a whole site, dedicated to the BMLT, and nothing but.

However, this also means that I have my work cut out for me, and I’d really like to ask for help. I think a lot of you guys have great communications skills, and have racked up some pretty damn relevant experience in the techniques, thereof. Also, I know some of you are already accomplished writers and “explainers,” so I think that y’all could do better than I at this incredibly important task.

I am more than willing to provide the tech work to get the site up and going. However, we’d need to set up a “working group,” and start hammering out some “basics,” such as what tech we’d use, who would be willing to do what, etc. There’s a lot to think about. This would be a pretty damn sizable project, just on the content side (which is the important part).

I know a lot of folks would like to help, but have been intimidated by the tech. This would be an absolutely perfect way to dive into the BMLT, and do some work that cannot be overstated in its importance. Good documentation and good support are at least as important as good tech, and I really need some help, here.

If folks are interested, I can set up a forum in the MAGSHARE forums (http://magshare.org/forums/), and add anyone who wants to join.

This is just an “icebreaker” email. However, it can be an extremely exciting (and sometimes, frustrating) project. It will directly help an incalculable number of addicts. I know that it won’t wreath anyone in glory and make you a hot item on the convention speaker circuit, but it will be an amazingly rewarding Service.

What do you folks think about making 2012 the year that the BMLT gets all gussied up and plays the debutant?

Read this to find out more.

Basically, NA Web sites tend to see so little traffic, that we are in no danger of reaching these limits. In any case, you can always check your site logs, and see if your usage fits (25,000 page loads per day, as we don’t use styled maps).

If you have a major Regional site, there may be a possibility that your page loads could reach these levels, but at GNYR, we only see a tiny fraction of that traffic.

Florida

Maryland, Washington DC and Northern Virginia

New York

Minnesota

Texas and Oklahoma

UKNA

Connecticut

Sweden

I have more waiting in the wings, but these have been tested and released. If you don’t live in a covered area, you can test out the app by going into the advanced search options, and entering an address in the covered areas.

NOTE: Due to some new rules from Apple, I won’t be able to release new variants of the app! It’s a long story, but they have cut off the spigot. There may be way around it, but it will take some finagling. Contact me for more info.

To the folks who have sent me your device IDs, you can pick your copy up here.

To those who haven’t (or haven’t actually bothered installing and trying it out), then you really don’t know what you are missing.

Instructions for beta-testing are here.

I plan to submit whatever local variants I have tested and ready to the App Store around the end of this month.

iOS apps need to be approved by Apple before they can be downloaded onto just any device, and this approval only takes place after the app has completed testing, and is ready for distribution (sale or public download via the App Store).

However, we need to be able to test on real-world devices in order to reach that “tested and ready for release” state, so Apple provides a mechanism for a developer (that’s me) to “tune” their app for certain devices. In order to have the app work on your device, I need to create a provisioning profile that includes your device.

UPDATE. Ignore The Old Way of Doing Things

I am now using a service called TestFlight. It rocks. In order to help beta test, you need to register yourself (and the device you will use for testing) with TestFlight. You do that by going to this page, and signing up an account.

In order to have your device considered in my provisioning profile, you need to send me the device’s UDID. The easiest way to do this, is to download this free iTunes Store app, install it on your phone, and send me the email it generates. That email will include the UDID for the phone. You can delete the app after that.

When’s the Android/Windows Mobile Version Coming Out?

How about “never”? Does “never” work for you?

The iOS development environment is TOTALLY different from the Android and Windows development environments. Companies that release on multiple platforms have multiple developers, or complex systems of managing simultaneous code bases. Testing is a nightmare, and the logistics are non-trivial.

Every time I count myself, I come up “1″.

If an aspiring Android or Windows Mobile developer feels like pitching in and helping out, I’ll be glad to help them. They won’t be able to re-use most of the code I’ve written, as it is in an Apple-only language, known as Objective-C.

The app completely rocks. It is designed to produce “tuned” versions for various root servers. The current ones I have are:

• Greater New York Region (which includes Eastern New York Region). This is BMLT-NY.
• Florida Region (BMLT-FL).
• Minnesota Region (BMLT-MN).
• Tejas-Bluebonnet Region (Which includes a number of nearby Regions). This is BMLT-TXOK.

I currently have testers for Florida, New York, Texas and Minnesota.

If you have an iOS device (sorry, no Android, Blackberry or Windows Mobile), and would be interested in testing a “tuned” version for your root server, let me know.

If you want to test, I can’t just send you the app. It needs to be tuned for your device, so you need to install and run a free app that will send an email to me. This app sends me the device identifier.

If your area is not covered by one of the BMLT root servers, then the app won’t be nearly as much fun.

I’m also not gonna approve a whole ton of folks. Maybe just a couple from each root server. First come, first serve.

FYI: I have detailed instructions for helping test in this post.

Some years ago, I wrote a 400-page book (Downloads a 4MB PDF file).

This book was hopelessly naive, and isn’t something that I am currently pushing, but it was where the term “MAGNAWS” was born. “MAGNAWS” stands for “Making A Great NA Web Site”, which was the title of the book.

The Beanie was a character that I introduced on Page 13. This was The Dreaded Propeller Beanie of Death. Here is the text that I used to describe The Beanie:

It will be pretty awesome. However, the first version is likely to be pretty “geeky,” and I’ll have to work out a more user-friendly version from there. I may not submit Version 1 to the App Store.

I did pretty much the same with the NACC App. The first version released was 2.0.

One of the nice things about the new app will be that it will allow simultaneous searches across multiple servers. It is prototyping some tech I’d like to see Web-based, sooner or later.

In any case, it will be some time before I have anything to show. Unlike Web apps, it takes quite some time for native code apps to come out from under wraps. I have to do very stringent testing at each step. I am currently just beginning to pay attention to the data returned from searches, and it will be some time until I can display it.

This is a Firefox bug. However, I need to work around it, so I will probably find some way to use links, instead of the popup menu.