Just as sure as the sun comes up in the morning, Myspace has without notice or good reason decided to block links to MyBannerMaker.com. Furthermore, they are claiming that links to mybannermaker.com are spam or phishing attempts, neither of which are true. I believe this is libel and I will be consulting an attorney about the matter.
In the meantime, we have switched new code to our alternate myspacebanners.com URL so that new banners will work. You can re-create your banner to get the new code, or leave the banner on your page and email Myspace until they get enough complaints and they'll fix it again.
Sorry for the inconveniences. Such is life with anything regarding News Corp. Sigh.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Update
Sorry it's been so long since I've updated this. I'll be posting up a longer story about the banner maker and the situation I'm in, but for now it should suffice to say the following.
VIP accounts are selling pretty well, but ad revenue is down substantially due to the economy. The trend for ad revenue is showing it will continue to drop below the level at which I can afford to pay my bills. That's not good.
I have had the luxury of working for pay sparingly for quite sometime now, but it's now time that I start to pursue other avenues of generating an income. Improvements on the website will not help enough to bring enough traffic to make them fiscally responsible. The website will not drop in traffic at a rate which I can not tolerate simply due to a lack of updates. I will continue to ensure it operates smoothly, but I do not expect to be adding new features anytime in the immediate future.
VIP accounts are selling pretty well, but ad revenue is down substantially due to the economy. The trend for ad revenue is showing it will continue to drop below the level at which I can afford to pay my bills. That's not good.
I have had the luxury of working for pay sparingly for quite sometime now, but it's now time that I start to pursue other avenues of generating an income. Improvements on the website will not help enough to bring enough traffic to make them fiscally responsible. The website will not drop in traffic at a rate which I can not tolerate simply due to a lack of updates. I will continue to ensure it operates smoothly, but I do not expect to be adding new features anytime in the immediate future.
Monday, June 23, 2008
523 Strong!
Earlier today traffic jumped up a bit and we saw 523 visitors using the site simultaneously. Normally this hovers around 450, so we jumped up almost 80 users for a while there!
We know that thanks to a new logging system I put together a couple days ago! Now we'll be able to see all sorts of neat stuff like that!
Some other neat stats:
We know that thanks to a new logging system I put together a couple days ago! Now we'll be able to see all sorts of neat stuff like that!
Some other neat stats:
- Over 300 million banners have been created over the last year.
- Approximately 75 million images are uploaded to be used as backgrounds each year.
- Our current servers can create over 2.5 million banners every day!
Funky Characters!
Okay so for the longest time the banner maker has had some trouble with "funky characters" like #, = or & because they're used to tell the banner maker different things about your banner. I'm proud to say that finally it's all fixed. You can use funky characters, including accents, until your falling out of your chair.
You might want to note, though, that not all of the fonts display all of the characters you might want them to. If you see X's or ?'s in place of some of your characters, try using a different font and it just might work!
You might want to note, though, that not all of the fonts display all of the characters you might want them to. If you see X's or ?'s in place of some of your characters, try using a different font and it just might work!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
VIP Logout and Account Page
VIPs, you can now logout by going into your account page and clicking on "Logout" right below the page title.
Unless you're using a public computer, there's really not much of a reason to logout, by the way.
I've also given the account page a really quick makeover. Soon a totally updated page will replace that one and will give you access to more features that we're working on (like renewing your account).
Unless you're using a public computer, there's really not much of a reason to logout, by the way.
I've also given the account page a really quick makeover. Soon a totally updated page will replace that one and will give you access to more features that we're working on (like renewing your account).
New FAQ System, Change Banner Links (VIPs)
Alright I got a new FAQ system put together that makes it easier for me to add, edit, and remove questions. More importantly, it makes it easier for you to find your question and, hopefully, an answer to it. I'll continue working on it to implement a search or category function sometime in the relatively near future.
There was an issue with the logo being chopped off on most of the pages on the banner maker. That is now fixed.
For all of you VIPs, you can now change the link that you saved your banner with when you generate new code for it. To use it, go to your account, click on View/Edit Saved Banners, click on Get Code for the banner you want to get new code for, and then change the link in the box up under your banner on the Get Code page and click the "Change Link for Code Below" button, and it will update right away.
For the record, this does not update the settings for the banner, so if you edit the banner or get code for it again, it will have the same link it was originally saved with.
There was an issue with the logo being chopped off on most of the pages on the banner maker. That is now fixed.
For all of you VIPs, you can now change the link that you saved your banner with when you generate new code for it. To use it, go to your account, click on View/Edit Saved Banners, click on Get Code for the banner you want to get new code for, and then change the link in the box up under your banner on the Get Code page and click the "Change Link for Code Below" button, and it will update right away.
For the record, this does not update the settings for the banner, so if you edit the banner or get code for it again, it will have the same link it was originally saved with.
Time for Improvements
I'm pretty excited to share with all of you that for at least the next couple of weeks I'll have roughly 20 hours a week to work on MyBannerMaker. This will allow me to make tons of improvements, from new features to bug fixes.
If you have any requests, feel free to post 'em in a comment or email them to me (contact page of the website).
If you have any requests, feel free to post 'em in a comment or email them to me (contact page of the website).
Friday, June 20, 2008
VIPS: Get Banner Code from Saved Banners
I think just about everybody that's a VIP will be thrilled with the way this has been done. Now you can go to your banner list (click on view banners in your account page) and you will see a new option for each banner: 'Get Code'. Just click on that option and you'll be shown a page with the code for every single banner type for that banner...including the instructions. Now you can easily use the same banner for a variety of different uses...headers, regular banners, extended network banners, mastheads, etc.!
Soon I'll be adding in something to allow you to change the link on the fly on that page as well so you can make a single banner and link it to several different places. This works great if you're using your web stats to track where visitors are finding you from...you can change the URL so you notice it in your statistics. It also works great if you have different landing pages for users from different places, but that use the same banner.
Have a good day! :)
Soon I'll be adding in something to allow you to change the link on the fly on that page as well so you can make a single banner and link it to several different places. This works great if you're using your web stats to track where visitors are finding you from...you can change the URL so you notice it in your statistics. It also works great if you have different landing pages for users from different places, but that use the same banner.
Have a good day! :)
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Working on VIP Stuff
UPDATE: This is finished so there should not be any issues!
I'm working on VIP stuff right now, so if you're not able to get into your account for some reason be sure to email me so I can let you know how to get in. Your account might be expired if you signed up a while ago!
I'm working on VIP stuff right now, so if you're not able to get into your account for some reason be sure to email me so I can let you know how to get in. Your account might be expired if you signed up a while ago!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Update on the June 10th Blog
So far there haven't been any issues with the new setup, so every banner is, in fact, being saved properly to either ImageShack or our own banner servers! Hooray to that!
:)
:)
VIP Updates
I've made some changes in the way banners are deleted so that you get a confirmation page before the banner is actually deleted. This should help with any accidental deletions.
Soon I'll be adding in the much-requested option to get the code for a saved banner. Something even I admit should have been there all along. You'll be able to get code for any banner type for that particular banner, just by selecting that option.
I'll also be cleaning up the page where you view your saved banners...making it easier to see what is what.
Enjoy!
Soon I'll be adding in the much-requested option to get the code for a saved banner. Something even I admit should have been there all along. You'll be able to get code for any banner type for that particular banner, just by selecting that option.
I'll also be cleaning up the page where you view your saved banners...making it easier to see what is what.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Some Updates for Everyone
It's been about a month since the last blog post here, and for that I apologize. I've been pretty busy lately with other things and have spent the little time I've had for the website on putting in improvements and not really blogging about it.
There have been some improvements to the processing/saving of the banners so every banner should save without any issues. Previously the constant issues with ImageShack's hosting has caused some pretty frequent outages. Now, if ImageShack doesn't successfully host the banner our banner server will take it instead!
A few other glitches have been fixed here and there. Hopefully within the next few weeks I'll have more time to work on the site and get some new features implemented!
There have been some improvements to the processing/saving of the banners so every banner should save without any issues. Previously the constant issues with ImageShack's hosting has caused some pretty frequent outages. Now, if ImageShack doesn't successfully host the banner our banner server will take it instead!
A few other glitches have been fixed here and there. Hopefully within the next few weeks I'll have more time to work on the site and get some new features implemented!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Banner Server Back to ImageShack
Sorry, but bandwidth is getting high on the banner backup server so we had to switch back to ImageShack. If we can, we'll switch back in a few days. It depends how much of the bandwidth is sucked up on the first day the banner is created.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Banning for Extremely Large File Sizes
Excessively large files are being uploaded far too often. The banner maker already allows up to 10MB per file, which is more than generous and actually means we've got a lot of processing to do on your file, so when someone uploads a file that is 60MB, it's pretty moronic. Since most people that upload files that are too large not only fail to read the maximum size limit but also the error message that appears immediately afterward, we're going to start banning them after the third upload. For those select few that chose to upload files like EXE's and DLL's, we'll be banning them after their first warning. On the extremely large files (over 30MB), we'll be banning them on the first upload.
It's unfortunate, but these people are sucking up way more than their fair share of resources. On a standard cable connection it takes well over 5 minutes to upload a single 50MB file, and that entire time that it is happening it keeps someone else from using that connection from the server. Not cool.
These changes will go into effect later today or tomorrow.
It's unfortunate, but these people are sucking up way more than their fair share of resources. On a standard cable connection it takes well over 5 minutes to upload a single 50MB file, and that entire time that it is happening it keeps someone else from using that connection from the server. Not cool.
These changes will go into effect later today or tomorrow.
Going Smoothly Thus Far
We are still hosting banners off of the backup server without any issues thus far! I'm pretty hopeful about this, since it is an affordable method of hosting the banners without relying on an image host. If this works for at least 2 weeks worth of banners I'll go ahead and get an additional shared hosting account with Dreamhost as needed so there is more latitude. For the price, we could use five accounts without incurring any crippling costs. What will happen when we have multiple accounts is that the server responsible for the next saved banner will rotate so the banners are evenly distributed amongst them.
Keeping the fingers crossed!
Keeping the fingers crossed!
Friday, May 2, 2008
Changing Traffic; Any Insight?
Alright above is a graph showing the traffic trend from profile.myspace.com over the last few months. The big dip in the middle is when Myspace blocked traffic to MyBannerMaker.com. After a couple weeks of that, they realized they made a mistake and unblocked it, and traffic went back up. Well, over the last month it's slowly been dropping and right now it's actually lower than when we were completely blocked, but I'm not getting any complaints from Myspace users and when I test, everything seems to be working just fine.
I'm really starting to wonder what's going on here. From what I can ascertain, Myspace hasn't been losing traffic over the same period of time, and nothing that I could imagine altering the click patterns of Myspace users has occurred. I figured I'd put this up and see if any of you might have some clues as to what's going on. It's getting pretty bad, and with the massive toll on ad revenue, decreasing traffic isn't going to help keep the site running and the A/C on this summer.
Note: You have to click on the graph to see the full thing.
Testing a Permanent Switch to the Banner Server
Since the last post we've been switched to the backup server and we're doing ok on it. It's hosted with Dreamhost since they're great people over there and offer a pretty good uptime for dirt cheap. They also give us a plethora of bandwidth. No, I'm not advertising for them...I won't even bother with an affiliate link (if you want to contribute, get a VIP account), but I wanted to clarify that before the following:
I'm going to try to keep the banners going to the banner server at Dreamhost as long as possible because it's super fast compared to ImageShack and it means we have less dependency upon someone else. However, we may have issues like we have in the past since there are so many banners saved and accessed every day it places a huge strain on the server. They've made some changes exclusively for us that should allow us to do this, but I can't promise it'll work. Don't blame them, either...it's a pretty hairy situation and they're doing a lot more than any other shared hosting provider would ever even consider simply because they understand and they rock.
Keep your fingers crossed!
I'm going to try to keep the banners going to the banner server at Dreamhost as long as possible because it's super fast compared to ImageShack and it means we have less dependency upon someone else. However, we may have issues like we have in the past since there are so many banners saved and accessed every day it places a huge strain on the server. They've made some changes exclusively for us that should allow us to do this, but I can't promise it'll work. Don't blame them, either...it's a pretty hairy situation and they're doing a lot more than any other shared hosting provider would ever even consider simply because they understand and they rock.
Keep your fingers crossed!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Switching to Backup Server for Banners
We're still having trouble with ImageShack timing out. It's been an on-going issue for a few months now, and I don't expect to have it resolved anytime soon. It appears that it's been acting up more than usual lately, judging by the number of errors that are logged and reported by visitors.
In an attempt to alleviate some of the symptoms, I'll be implementing a system that will detect when timeouts are occurring too frequently and automatically route people to our backup banner server. Additionally, it will detect when your banner has a timeout and push your banner to the backup server without a reload or anything. This should be pretty seamless for you, and should only really result in having a different URL to your banner.
I'll update when I have it setup and working. For now, though, all banners are saving to our banner server and not ImageShack.
In an attempt to alleviate some of the symptoms, I'll be implementing a system that will detect when timeouts are occurring too frequently and automatically route people to our backup banner server. Additionally, it will detect when your banner has a timeout and push your banner to the backup server without a reload or anything. This should be pretty seamless for you, and should only really result in having a different URL to your banner.
I'll update when I have it setup and working. For now, though, all banners are saving to our banner server and not ImageShack.
Monday, April 21, 2008
VIP Banner Settings
Somewhere in the mix of things the piece of code that actually gathers and saves the banner settings for you VIP's was broken, causing it to only save the URL and banner type, which aren't too useful. This resulted in lots of banners not working with the edit function. Due to all of the confusion and the relative uselessness of the settings saved by the broken function, I have purged all broken save settings from the database. If you're missing a banner or two, this is where they went.
The function is all fixed now, and with any luck it will remain working this time. Sorry for the complications and inconvenience this might cause!
For the record, the banner settings that are saved do not include the image. In order for us to store your image settings, we'd have to store the original copy of your image. Since some images are as large as 10MB and some of you have hundreds of saved banners, we'd be needing a lot of extra space.
The function is all fixed now, and with any luck it will remain working this time. Sorry for the complications and inconvenience this might cause!
For the record, the banner settings that are saved do not include the image. In order for us to store your image settings, we'd have to store the original copy of your image. Since some images are as large as 10MB and some of you have hundreds of saved banners, we'd be needing a lot of extra space.
ImageShack is down/slow
UPDATE: There are still some intermittent issues with ImageShack. If your banner doesn't save try to refresh/re-save the banner and probability says you've got a great chance of it working.
UPDATE: ImageShack is back online and hosting, so all of your banners should be back to normal as well!
Currently ImageShack is experiencing REALLY long connect times...resulting in the connection timing out when we try to upload a banner to them. In the meantime, we're hosting the banners on our backup banner server, but it's only capable of so much. Hopefully ImageShack gets everything working again ASAP and we can switch back over.
If you know of or have administrative say in another image host, we are currently seeking partnerships in that department.
UPDATE: ImageShack is back online and hosting, so all of your banners should be back to normal as well!
Currently ImageShack is experiencing REALLY long connect times...resulting in the connection timing out when we try to upload a banner to them. In the meantime, we're hosting the banners on our backup banner server, but it's only capable of so much. Hopefully ImageShack gets everything working again ASAP and we can switch back over.
If you know of or have administrative say in another image host, we are currently seeking partnerships in that department.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Phew!
Today went off pretty smoothly. I didn't really receive any emails with issues/complaints, so that's a plus. I'm hoping the issue with Google Ads crashing Safari is fixed. More extensive testing is on the board for tomorrow.
PS: Thanks to anybody voting in the little poll. Normally, I don't like 'em, but the questions will help make sure the banner maker is headed in the right direction.
PS: Thanks to anybody voting in the little poll. Normally, I don't like 'em, but the questions will help make sure the banner maker is headed in the right direction.
Banner Save Time Out
There is a known and on-going issue with the banner-upload to ImageShack.us (for hosting) timing out or not receiving a response. I've been experimenting with different types of uploading, but it doesn't seem to have much effect. It is believed that the issue is due to new hardware installed at ImageShack, which is beyond our control. In the meantime, the page should retry continuously until it gets it to upload. Since I can't control when it times out, though, it's hard to verify that it works correctly. If you have feedback on the page taking longer than 30 seconds to finish saving your banner...whether it was successful in finally saving or not, please let me know so I know whether stuff is working correctly.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Code Box Fixed
As quite a few people noticed, the code box wasn't working for a few days there. It was an accidental overwrite of a newer file by an older one that caused the problem. Despite my doubts that people were trying to use it with non-"Normal" type banners, it was, in fact, messed up. It's all fixed now, though!
FAQ Updated
A bunch of new questions were added to the FAQ, in addition to updating a couple of existing answers.
Google AdSense Ads Are Now Text Only
After having that irritating ad by Smiley Central up for a few weeks and realizing it was flash (which isn't supposed to be allowed per Google's TOS) I decided to trash the image ads from the AdSense ads. I don't really think it'll hurt much in the way of ad-revenue, and it's a lot easier on the eyes this way.
PS: Advertising is available directly through me if you're interested in advertising.
PS: Advertising is available directly through me if you're interested in advertising.
Header "Squashed"
I didn't really change the header...I just hid some of it where you can't see it. The idea was to shorten the length of the page a bit so you don't have as much scrolling to do. Every little bit helps...right?
Menu Updated
It's not the most attractive thing, but it's faster, doesn't use images, and has updated words and links. The JavaScript used to make the old menu work is gone, too...so that's even more speed for you.
Updates
The code/saved-banner page has received a minor update on the visual side of things. Now it's a bit easier to see what is going on...not quite as messy. It doesn't look as good as the annoying interstitial page that talented Reuben did, but it's better than it was.
For VIP's, I'm working on something so you can delete banners. VIP's can now delete banners saved to their accounts. The saved banner page has been updated so it looks better now.
---
The menu is being worked on. The About page is useless, and instead there needs to be a link to this blog, and I don't have the original files. Besides, the hover overs was done pretty poorly and so this will actually mean faster performance. :)
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The menu is being worked on. The About page is useless, and instead there needs to be a link to this blog, and I don't have the original files. Besides, the hover overs was done pretty poorly and so this will actually mean faster performance. :)
Having Some Issues
There are some weird things going on right now with the banner maker.
First, Google Ads seem to be crashing Safari. As much as I'd love to trash the ads, I have to pay bills. If you're using Safari, I apologize, and I apologize for the crashing too. Use Firefox instead...it's good for you, or something.
Second, the color picker has gone nuts. It's the color picker from colourmod.com, and despite being gorgeous, coding wasn't Keegan Jones' (the 'kid' that created it) number one talent at the time. I've talked to him about it, and we agree that it's pretty messy. I tried (but failed apparently) to improve it and make it work better, but it has just caused issues. Ever since I touched it, entering the color code doesn't really work right, and changing the Hue (up-down slider) shifts the saturation and value (blue marker/circle/dot). Well, now it's not working for some people at all....instead of having the blue marker moved, it moves the color picker. Since I aren't too good at that there JavaScript (syntax is fine, but not familiar with the methods and objects...and certainly not with browser quirks) I can't figure out what's going on with it. Strangely enough, Safari refuses to claim anything is having an error when it happens. Oh, for the record, this is only on some of the color pickers...the background color ones still work. No idea. I'm enlisting the help of a guru.
Third, traffic is going down. It's hard to notice, but it is pretty bad...as contradictory as that is. It's almost ALL from Myspace, leading me to believe they're doing something funky again...or maybe people have realized banners suck and they should all just have plain Myspace profiles. I don't know, but if you do, tell me. I'm only one person.
For the record, Keegan Jones kicks ass at design. If he wasn't already designing for a company that charges more than I make in 6 months for design, I'd have him give you a pretty new site. Alas, I'll just keep hoping that people sign up for VIP accounts and traffic increases.
Oh. This is a new blog. I'm too busy to create a real news page, and you all deserve (I think so anyways, since I profit off of you...muahaha) to know what's going on.
Corey
First, Google Ads seem to be crashing Safari. As much as I'd love to trash the ads, I have to pay bills. If you're using Safari, I apologize, and I apologize for the crashing too. Use Firefox instead...it's good for you, or something.
Second, the color picker has gone nuts. It's the color picker from colourmod.com, and despite being gorgeous, coding wasn't Keegan Jones' (the 'kid' that created it) number one talent at the time. I've talked to him about it, and we agree that it's pretty messy. I tried (but failed apparently) to improve it and make it work better, but it has just caused issues. Ever since I touched it, entering the color code doesn't really work right, and changing the Hue (up-down slider) shifts the saturation and value (blue marker/circle/dot). Well, now it's not working for some people at all....instead of having the blue marker moved, it moves the color picker. Since I aren't too good at that there JavaScript (syntax is fine, but not familiar with the methods and objects...and certainly not with browser quirks) I can't figure out what's going on with it. Strangely enough, Safari refuses to claim anything is having an error when it happens. Oh, for the record, this is only on some of the color pickers...the background color ones still work. No idea. I'm enlisting the help of a guru.
Third, traffic is going down. It's hard to notice, but it is pretty bad...as contradictory as that is. It's almost ALL from Myspace, leading me to believe they're doing something funky again...or maybe people have realized banners suck and they should all just have plain Myspace profiles. I don't know, but if you do, tell me. I'm only one person.
For the record, Keegan Jones kicks ass at design. If he wasn't already designing for a company that charges more than I make in 6 months for design, I'd have him give you a pretty new site. Alas, I'll just keep hoping that people sign up for VIP accounts and traffic increases.
Oh. This is a new blog. I'm too busy to create a real news page, and you all deserve (I think so anyways, since I profit off of you...muahaha) to know what's going on.
Corey
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