matchu Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Yo neoDawgs! Wazzup? I'm here lettin' ya know that, after 2 months of development, neoPortal has been rolled out to open beta! As the welcome page so aptly puts it, "What we have here is an attempt at building the next generation of Neopets "portal" technology. We've built a pseudo-desktop environment, allowing you to not only do your dailies, but resize them, drag them, move their icons over to the trash can... whatever your heart desires!" Since all of the essential features are built, we figured we quit with all the invite-only nonsense and open our doors to the general Neopian public! By the way, some of these lovely essential features are: - A fully customizable desktop (complete with icons and background)! - A login system that keeps your desktop set up just the way you like it, wherever you go. - The ability to open, resize, minimize, and maximize windows to your favorite Neopets dailies. - A news feed that grabs from top Neopets fansites to bring you all the latest NeoNews - cutting through the clutter of duplicates with a simple "anti-redundancy" filter. - Though the current icon offering is small, any user is free to create an icon for either personal use or to be shared with the world! We expect our icon gallery to swifty expand as more and more people hear about our neat little project :) What are you waiting for? Check out neoPortal right now!! We love to hear back from you, so please be sure to fill out our Beta Feedback survey after you've tried things out for a bit! It only takes a few minutes, and you can find it at any time under the Beta menu on your neat-o neoPortal toolbar. Thanks for your help! --Matchu P.S. We're currently running on an in-house development server, so things might be clunky for a while. When we reach the need, we'll be transferring to a production server, and we'll be sure to let you know when the need arises :D Thanks again! P.P.S. To the mods out there: I couldn't find a more suitable forum for this thread. Please let me know if there are any issues with it being placed here - thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FutureTXTurkey Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Matchu I can't get the link to work...and frankly the URL name is a little suspicious. I know you're a fairly active member though, so I was wanting to give you the benefit of the doubt...Can you fix the link and/or explain why it's not working at present? It sounds like a really cool project, but I am just a little concerned about the fact that the link didn't work and sent me to an weird URL. Edit: removed stuff about the link in response to Matchu's prompt and polite response Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matchu Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 Hi, Yep. Link is broken. I'm working on it now :) This is hosted on an in-home dev server rather than a dedicated production server. Which is nice and all, except Verizon came by today and swapped me out a brand new router. Which, quite frankly, hates me. I'll keep working on my server config over here, and let you know when everything is back up. Thanks for sticking with me, and I'm really sad this didn't work the first time xD --Matchu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FutureTXTurkey Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Thanks so much for the prompt response Matchu. Like I said I hate to accuse anyone of wrong doing, but we all value our accounts and our safety here, so better safe than sorry, I'm sure you understand. Good luck getting things up and working...I can't wait to see the beta production of this concept. Please let us know when the link is repaired and I'll be sure to check it out ASAP. *glares at the not working router* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matchu Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 neoPortal LIVES! The "unexpected errors" on registration and login have now been fixed - yay! As a result of the same fix, the shoutbox is now also up and running. neoPortal should now be functioning normally - yaaaaaaaaaaay! Thanks for your patience, and please, please, please help us test this really cool project! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xepha Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Well I guess you are looking for feedback. I quite didn't like it. Probably because I'm a mac user. First, it blocks the browser I am using most of the time (Safari). Then if I enter anyway, it says it's a phishing site so it doesn't help to build good feeling I could have about it. So now not even I'm disappointed because I have to open another browser, but also I already have a bad impression about it. So anyway, I open FF and give it a look. To me, it just looks too much windows-y. Worse, it looks Vista-y with the giant clock. Everything opens at "random" place on the "desktop". And in size that are not suiting for most of them. It just makes me want to do Exposé with my mouse to see whatever I want to see and bring it back to the front plan. But that's impossible, because it's fakes box, not real applications that I can all see when I squish my mouse. I already have my own systems for news and dailies and Neopets in general that I won't give up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matchu Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 Thanks for your feedback ^_^ To address these issues: 1. Webkit's strict mode is far too strict :( Since I'm new to strict coding and <endingtagsinternally />, whenever I make the slightest mistake it spits out giant red textboxes. Until the site is fully tested and confirmed to have no strict HTML errors (a.k.a. no longer in beta) then I'll take down that warning message. Until then, though, I felt the warning was safer and better for overall user experience than the chance of receiving evil red boxes - especially since I was pretty sure Mac users would be understanding :) If you head in with Safari, as far as I know right now, you shouldn't be facing any issues. Even so, please head in regardless and point them out to me! 2. Phishing filter is not due to site content, but the subdomain. Because this was rushed onto a free host, it came with all the scam warnings associated with the domain comyr.com, who gives out subdomains to any loser who wants one. Rest assured, this is what set off the filter, and the entirety of neoPortal is entirely safe. Once we move to a true production server in the very near future this phishing filter alert will no longer be present :) 3. Uhh, eek. I think it's safe to say that a web version of an operating system can never match a true operating system. If we tried to include anything that makes an OS so very wonderful within the constraints of a browser, your computer would lag down a ridiculous amount. As for the design, more themes are planned for the future, but we're looking to build core features for the moment. Thanks for letting me know that this design isn't for everyone, and I'll look to create a brighter theme when we reach that point in development. 4. The next feature planned for development is, in fact, a Startup Manager which allows you to decide what windows pull up on startup rather than the "randomness." Just thought I'd mention it - after all, this is a beta product. We're not done :) Thanks again, and thanks for being willing to test this project. I sincerely hope nobody feels like I'm forcing this on them - there's really no way for me to do that, and I really, really don't want to. Thanks for checking out this site and giving your thoughts - everyone's efforts are appreciated ^_^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shanemk Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 This is a TDN created project, I assume? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xepha Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 This is a TDN created project, I assume? Nope, it's an independant project. If it was a TDN project, we would have made an announcement about it on the front page of the site and here. (Thanks for your reply Matchu) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matchu Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 Yep, independent. If sites become interested, though, I'll push out the Widget API and maybe we'll end up seeing some cross-site partnerships in that way :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragon_677 Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Hey there's something suspicous about that, about 3 seconds after i got there my norton antivirus alerted me that it detected a website trying to get into my computer and also a virus ,that was blocked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matchu Posted February 12, 2009 Author Share Posted February 12, 2009 I'm pretty sure this is the sofrware flipping out because it's on that ugly shared domain. However, I have known some anti-virus software to react to "suspicious-looking" Javascript. Rest assured, there is no ebil Javascript on neoPortal, and I welcome anyone who knows coding to read through the entirety of the Javascript to find something ;) If you're willing to be brave, please head back to the site and PM me the exact name of the "virus" it detects, so I can know what code needs cleaning up. Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackenzie Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I like this idea. The only thing I would suggest is more dailies icons. Overall, it's nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiamondZ Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Wow, i also got one. I got a virus on Window live one care Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matchu Posted February 12, 2009 Author Share Posted February 12, 2009 If anyone gets "virus" alerts, please give me the exact name of the virus reported! I 100% promise you that it's a false alarm, but I need to know what's triggering the false alarm so I can make sure it doesn't bother anyone else :) I know that, in the past, virus scanners I've used even flipped out at my own personal coding projects. For example, on a rather small community I participate in, I put perfectly safe Javascript code on my user lookup, but encrypted it so it was harder for people to view source. Some people's browsers, however, wouldn't let them view my lookup any more, because the Javascript just looked suspicious since it was encoded. A similar thing is going on here. Something about my code apparently triggered your virus programs, and I really, really need to know what that is. Again, neoPortal contains no viruses! Please let me know exactly what your virus software says, and if there is a button offering more details, click it and either copy-paste the text or take a screenshot. Thanks in advance for your help in making neoPortal the best portal the world has ever seen! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen Diva Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Yup, got virus alert here too from my avast... Still, big icons don't do anything for me - I prefer things small and neat on my desktop so anything like that would drive me insane. Good luck with it however! ------------------------------- Here's the warning I got from Avast: http://neoportal.comyr.com/pages/neonews.php - MALWARE: HTML:lframe-inf - Virus/Worm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livvy Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Hm... it's an interesting concept... I doubt I'll actually use it, but it looks pretty good. The virus alerts are a little troublesome. (Since I've had my hard drive die twice in half a year; I'm REALLY careful about what I do on the computer.) And I agree, the layout is a little odd, but other than that, it's fairly useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antiaircraft Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Wow. And I seriously mean wow! :thumbsup: A great concept, very well executed, and simply excellent for something that's still in a beta stage (I've seen supposedly stable, commercial web apps that are just epic failures xD ). If I could give out a 'Creative Use of Ajax' award, this would definitely be my pick. :yes: The only quirks I've found with it are minor usability issues (which plenty of people have mentioned already), but it looks like you're already working on ironing those out. By the way, neoPortal works cleanly and smoothly, even with the latest experimental Tracemonkey code - that's not something I see very often in web apps. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiamondZ Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 matchu-IT didnt really "say" what virus it was if it did i probably missed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matchu Posted February 12, 2009 Author Share Posted February 12, 2009 Alright, then. Thanks for your help. Yeesh, when none of the virus software will say what is wrong... gah, I'm really not sure what to do. Is there any way to add a website to your "whitelist?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragon_677 Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 W32.Virut!html is the name of the virus my Norton pinned it as. As for the website i'm not sure. Good luck developing neoPortal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matchu Posted February 13, 2009 Author Share Posted February 13, 2009 YES! Found the issue! Turns out that during the development on my personal computer, a virus got in and did, in fact, mess with some site files. And it all went undetected until now... Thanks to everyone who helped me locate the problem, and I'll being working as quickly as possible to clear out these files! EDIT: The files have now been removed! Please clear your browser cache to ensure that the potentially problematic versions of the files are updated :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sapphy the Swamp Witch Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Great job! Firstly, it looks really nice. I haven't registered yet, it said something about the server being too busy, but I probably will eventually. Good luck with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Darkest Faerie Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I just joined today, but for some reason, I can't get the shoutbox to load. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiamondZ Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 thanks matchu im going to use it now =D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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