2010-07-16

Revamped: clearcubic.com back-end

It's been a while since I posted photos and that's because I have been revamping my web site's back-end. I'm happy to say that in terms of what people can see, it's close to 90% done. While the site still looks pretty much the same as before, how it operates in the background has been completely changed.

Before:
  • Web Hosting: 1and1.com
  • Language: PHP
  • Database: MySQL
  • Web Application Framework: None

After:
  • Web Hosting: Google App Engine
  • Language: Python
  • Database: App Engine Datastore (non-relational)
  • Web Application Framework: Django

Before this revamp, I did not know any of the technologies that I have switched to and that was the reason that the site hasn't been updated for close to 3 months. It took me about 4 non consecutive weeks (nights and weekends) to get the site looking like the original. Because it was almost like starting the site from scratch, I rethought certain ways to do things. To enhance performance, the website is now practically static html pages that are pregenerated by my new administration tools. Administration tools were dispersed throughout my site before but they have been separated from the main site into a centralized location (still a work in progress).

What prompted me to make such a drastic change? Two main reasons. One, I was thinking about the future. Two, I wanted to try out some of these new technologies. Didn't I say I love technology? I honestly do. =D

About the "thinking about the future" part. I was thinking what would happen to clearcubic.com once I'm gone from this world. By using a paid hosting company, if no one pays the hosting fee, this site would surely disappear from this world forever. The Google App Engine service I'm using now is currently free. While I can not be certain that it'll be free forever, I do think my site would have a much better chance to survive at Google.com than 1and1.com. And yes, the domain, "clearcubic.com", is also a paid service but once it dies, remember this free alternative address, "http://clearcubic.appspot.com".

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