In which James talks about recent changes to the site, copy/pastes a changelog, answers some questions, and talks about some nifty tool.

Once more, a month has passed. Time for another report from your friendly neighorhood Seneschal with the latest ins and outs related to the site.

Deployed Code Changes

Below is a list of most of the code checkins done to the site since my last report. This isn't an exhaustisve list, and does not contain code changes that haven't been deployed, notably those regarding the ACC and Possessions. To summarize, here's the TLDR:

1. Much, much Orv-love to the graphical side of the website (as I'm sure everyone has noticed by now :P). Have I told you all Orv is awesome yet? Also, avatars.
2. Promotheus changes (notably the new promotion guidelines and plumbing for the SA society)
3. CSV export of some stuff for summits
4. SA changes (saving exams, easier retaking)
5. 'Invite' others to append recommendations to a request
6. Magical unicorns to improve the site's performance
7. Random tweaks and bugfixes

[James Entar] Re-enable manual admin for M:MAA's - Please don't break the site ;)
[James Entar] Fix redcarpet 3 breaking the ugly alignment hacks
[James Entar] Update redcarpet (Markdown library) to 3.0.0 from 2.3.0
[Orv Dessrx] Show the usage number of each saber/robe/accessory in admin
[James Entar] Sexify sidebar
[James Entar] Ensure site header image overflow does not block click events to other elements
[James Entar] Fix avatar/warbanner upload page layouts
[Orv Dessrx] Fixing style selector for accessories
[Orv Dessrx] Linking the member in the carousel
[Orv Dessrx] Tweak the carousel to show the full image & match post format better.
[Orv Dessrx] Adding meta description and meta keywords to the site
[Orv Dessrx] Change the style of blockquotes in comments
[James Entar] Add rule acceptance checkbox and a link to the wiki to avatar form
[James Entar] Avatar Request Tool
[James Entar] Darken text on odyssey form fields
[James Entar] Fix header image position for SA and ACC
[Orv Dessrx] Make news page avatar boxes white in Oberstified theme
[Orv Dessrx] Adding the DJB title as a clickable image above content.
[James Entar] Push down content area by 35px on Odyssey so logo isn't obscured
[James Entar] Grant Deploy abilities to Herald
[Orv Dessrx] Make input fields darker for odyssey them so they don't hurt your eyes
[Orv Dessrx] Move read-less link left. Make read more/less gray so doesn't look like it is part of the post
[Orv Dessrx] Changing the size of comment avatars
[James Entar] Add SA icon to rosters dropdown
[James Entar] Don't error out on news posts made by deleted members
[James Entar] Some Oberstified layout tweaks to new news layout
[Orv Dessrx] New news styles!
[James Entar] Further restyle news items, add avatars to comments
[James Entar] News item restyle, pass 1
[Orv Dessrx] Adding SA logo to the djb icon font
[James Entar] Remove duplicate avatar on CS introduced in 16cfe21
[James Entar] Show unit logo on dossier/CS if no avatar present
[James Entar] Ensure development machines don't break looking for nonexisting unicorns
[James Entar] Update Deployment commands to restart Unicorn instead of Passenger
[Kalen] update form to properly allow for recommendation of titles
[James Entar] Scale back to 3 workers from 4 on prod
[James Entar] Make memory killer more conservative
[James Entar] Force performing garbage collection in between requests, not during
[James Entar] Assign recruits from indy BT members to random house instead of clan
[James Entar] Kallisto changes to HOU and HSD
[Kalen] add JST to display of DC members on news page
[Orv Dessrx] Styling the 404 and 500 error pages a bit more
[James Entar] Scale back Staging to 1 Unicorn worker
[James Entar] Switch to Unicorn and Foreman from Passenger
[James Entar] Add TOC option for SA courses
[James Entar] Fix anchor offset
[James Entar] Add TOC anchors to markdown output
[James Entar] Add awesome Orv-images to 404 and 500 error pages
[James Entar] Actually show 'none' option on accessory selector now
[James Entar] Some join flow tweaks
[James Entar] Allow sharing access to CS preview using token
[James Entar] Allow creator of request to 'invite' others to append reccs
[James Entar] Fix CS display on Firefox
[James Entar] Allow unselecting robe/saber/accessory
[James Entar] Give HM and P:HM access to security logs
[James Entar] Fix course admin not showing up for DOCs/PROFs
[James Entar] Properly link to the Test of Lore in case people find their way to the Course Listing first
[Orv Dessrx] Don't put a bright border around the avatar
[Orv Dessrx] New Join Us image
[James Entar] Attempt to relayout skill ladder stuff on CS wizard
[James Entar] Update text on accessory selector
[James Entar] SA: Change average grading time calculation to only consider the last month
[James Entar] Replace name with wrench in navbar on small-screen layout
[James Entar] Let Promotheus use Kalen's average function; Clarify RecurringCompetitions
[Kalen] fix academic_average_score to handle when no scores present
[Kalen] fix error in average_score
[Kalen] small refactor to displaying SA average score
[James Entar] Slightly optimize grading page
[James Entar] Specifically exclude inactive courses from average
[James Entar] Weekly check all recently logged in members for SA society progress in case someone just transferred in from rogues
[James Entar] Show PROF/DOC on SA pages; Show AC totals and average score on training tab
[James Entar] Make sure SA isn't confused when exam score and dossier score for a course is different somehow
[James Entar] Revamp Shadow Academy Exam System
[Kalen] additional fix for checkbox questions
[Kalen] Can now click on the text to select an answer in SA multiple choice questions, instead of just the checkbox/radio button
[James Entar] Allow HRLD and superuser to override dossier accessory choice
[James Entar] Enable Markdown in SA Questions; Add SeparatorQuestion
[James Entar] Turn M:FIST stuff back on
[James Entar] Kallisto rule additions
[James Entar] Fix broken saber admin
[James Entar] Add search to participation overview
[James Entar] Add search boxes to HRLD admin tools
[James Entar] Make navbar more robust against long member names, add notification to header bar on mobile view; add admin button on mobile header bar
[James Entar] Don't error out dossier pages if wiki refuses connection
[James Entar] Display on course list whether a course grants ACs
[James Entar] Only darken dossier item border on Odyssey
[James Entar] Reflect some course renames in Promotheus SA Degree Checking
[Orv Dessrx] Darkening the border on the dossier items
[James Entar] Describe why people are promoted in SA society rank gain e-mails
[James Entar] Add SA staff to Kallisto
[James Entar] No placement does not mean placment is hidden
[James Entar] Add CSV export functionality to competition participation overview and promotheus reports
[James Entar] Fix competition e-mail address checking code
[James Entar] Add SA rank to Promotheus Promotion Guidelines
[James Entar] Once again try to fix sabers that are too large
[James Entar] Allow doubling fiction tasks; add MAA staff to welcome mail CCs; link logo on top right box to roster page
[James Entar] Fix Accessory Selector Preview
[James Entar] Finalize SA Society
[James Entar] Prevent sabers from extending beyond bounding box
[James Entar] Preparations for SA society
[James Entar] Optimize robe/saber selectors
[James Entar] Show Promotheus Progress on request admin; grant GM access to more robes/sabers
[James Entar] Keep PromotheusReports at 100% until member promoted; don't keep spamming if report unchanged
[James Entar] Refactor award images to be uploadable
[James Entar] Update Warbanner request URL on admin home
[James Entar] Update Promotheus with new promo guidelines; Separate M:MAA and P:MAA perms
[James Entar] Add HOU to Kallisto
[James Entar] Fix SA sync appointing people multiple times if they are DOC of multiple courses
[James Entar] Swap Promotheus processing order; Add HQD and Tar to Kallisto
[James Entar] Add Taldryan and Wardens to Kallisto; teach Kallisto that gmail and googlemail are the same thing
[James Entar] Add link to degree progress page to main site admin panel

Ask the Seneschal

Q: Esca (Arcia) asks: Can you make me an IT robot that does all my work for me?
A: I did. Then some people complained when it tried to take over the site last April :P

Q: Esca (Arcia) asks: Are there plans for different layouts for the site in the future?
A: I'm hesitant to add more layouts, as every layout has to be maintained, and every code addition has to be checked in all layouts to check if it doesn't look weird or out of place. Simple color theme variations should be doable (and the frameworks for those are already in place), but completely different layouts probably won't be. For example: I already had to drop the 1994 layout because upstream CSS changes made it impossible to maintain.

Q: Halc asks: Are there anymore dossier-changes coming up? (More tabs, or additions to the layout)?
A: With the exception of any Possessions-related features, I currently have no dossier changes or new tabs planned. That said, I can't promise I won't get a neat idea tomorrow and implement it :)

Q: Halc asks: Will there be a Ruby on Rails course for the SA?
A: If Solari allows me to write one, and once I find the time to do it, I certainly would like to implement both a Ruby and a Rails course at some point in time. In the meantime, there are plenty of resources to be found online. :)

Seneschal's Nifty Tricks

In this section, I try to highlight some neat tool or trick that makes your life easier. This month, no nifty software tool, but rather a SA exam that needs some love. At this moment, the Markdown 201 course only has 9 graduates, most of which are SA staff. The exam explains how to include images, tables, linking to youtube movies, DB-specific markdown hacks, and more!. Also, if you haven't taken Markdown 101, go do it now! Even if you don't write reports or news items, you can still use Markdown in the comments section! Go try it out below!

Closing/TLDR

So, lots of fixes and additions to the site, and even more to come. As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to either e-mail me personally, or have a look at the Forum.

James L. Entar
Seneschal of the Brotherhood