Yesterday I loaded up with several cups of coffee and I haven't slept since.   I'm sure I'll hit a wall soon... but I'm pushing forward as much as I can.

The good news is that I was able to work on the site and get a lot of user interface done, and got some response from some folks as to being relieved they were able to test out the site a little bit.

I'm rather excited to share what's going on with Autisable right now, so I thought I'd push out a few pics....

Now I'm sharing bits and pieces, but by the time the new design launches - it will all make sense.

First up is how users navigate.     For those of us on Xanga, we currently log into the back-end of a wordpress powered site and make our blog posts, etc...

But as we all know, we kinda miss the old look and feel....

Here's what I've come up with so far... (almost all being done on the front end of the site)...

The Cover Photo and User pic is customizable by the user, along with a short bio and social media outlets.
You can keep up with your own comments, do a bit of a write up about yourself, and people will be able to follow you and visa versa.

Does all this seem rather familiar?   hmmm...

Eventually, as the budget permits, I'll be adding on other functionality to the user interface - such as private messaging, etc....    (each function I'd like to add costs a minimum of $65... so as the funds permit I'll roll those out)

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!!!

As you scroll down, you'll be able to submit blog posts.

Now, we're still working out the work flows to make sure everything rolls onto the front page through the editors, but eventually we want to automate this process a bit more.
Also, since the site is mobile friendly, people will be able to easily use the site on their smart phone/tablet.  (and as you can see by the second pic, there's still some work to be done on how things lay out.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

Now not EVERYONE likes to blog regularly, and over the course of the past 8 years there were a lot of requests from organizations and individuals alike that just wanted to submit a post to the editors.

The pic above is actually a reserved account where all of the Guest/Submitted posts will reside. We will have a separate page and some guidelines where people can share their journey with autism... OR they could become a Member.

BUT WAIT, YES, THERE'S MORE!!!

Here's where the real fun begins!

The Members of the site will be listed as you see above.  But to see the individuals account, you'll need to sign up on the site.

The site will still be free, and for those who don't want to be members, the articles we highlight will still be viewable and searchable.
The important thing to note is that I want to make sure we're able to keep in touch with anyone that wants to contact us and is willing to share their journey with Autism.

Well, that's it for an update at the moment.   Until later, back to the grind I go....

Hope everyone is having a great Fourth of July Weekend!

Please let the professionals handle the fireworks... and please be mindful of those with sensory issues.

Ok, onto the latest of updates -

My focus this month is to get Autisable off of Xanga's servers and the new design launched.

To help expedite the process of getting Autisable moving forward in its transition, we're going to set to 'private' all posts that still have to be matched to their respective authors.   We have enough on the site to relaunch that is already matched up, so we can take care of the remainder after we make the switch.  There's still over 50 author's that need to be added to the user database, and a few hundred articles still needing to be matched up.  This can be done after we relaunch.

We're connecting with several businesses to get the advertising displayed regularly, with one being an ad serving company that has already vetted companies that want to promote to the Autism community.  The person we're in touch with to help facilitate serving ads is also an autism dad, which is just a pretty cool thing - considering what we're doing.

To help test out the site from a user standpoint, a few select users were asked to log in and test drive the new design.   I want to be sure their experience is pretty seamless before we launch the site into its next phase.
Due to budgetary constraints, Autisable will not be a multi-site when we go into this next phase.   For those curious as to what a multisite is, the short version is that users would have their own subdomain when they sign up for an account.   Such as username.autisable.com.   Having a multisite set up is similar to what Xanga is now, where people have some controls over their accounts look and feel.  Of course we could 'flip the switch' and allow this to happen, but there's some other infrastructure with the site we'd like to build in to make sure users have the best experience.  In short, I don't want to launch something halfway.

Other priorities will be taking precedence on the site once we launch the new design - such as updating all SEO, and setting up the RSS feed importer.   Updating SEO will help with the sites search engine rankings, and the RSS feed importer will help us share the stories from other bloggers and non-profits on a more regular basis.

We want to make sure all the basic work flows for the site are in place and most of the bugs worked out, before we start opening things up more.

I've been asked a few times why I don't just pay for some of these things out of pocket to get them done?    Well, for those who have known me over the years, I have one major rule:   Whatever I do online has to have the ability to pay for itself.   Nothing I've done is an out of pocket expense, except when people gift me money.

Over the next several weeks there will be some more updates as to what specifically we are doing with site - what plugins we're using and why... what third party sites we use....etc...

Eventually these autisable updates will be switched to autisable, while this blog will remain more xangan.

Which leads me to the standard Xanga update:  nothing new to report.   But, if you have ANY issues regarding an account - e-mail Eugenia at 'help@xanga.net' with your account username and the e-mail address associated with the account.

Ok - back to the grind - and hope you're able to enjoy today!

Summer is upon us, and so is the change in daily routine.

But, progress is being made on all fronts, and I'm incredibly grateful.

Short Stack is adjusting to the warmer weather rather well (try saying that ten times fast)...

This time of year is always a period of adjustment as weather related migraines impact him dramatically.  But, all is doing well.

My new job has me using and learning a LOT of things associated with social media and blogging and marketing.

I'm already in the process of using what I'm learning on the new Autisable website - and will be tweaking the site even after its initial relaunch on the new servers.

Which leads me quickly into a few things about what's next:

• Soon we'll be launching the new site, but I have to get a PO box, and the business papers filed.
• We've found a company that will help populate ads on the site that caters to the special needs/autism community.  This will help take care of the minor overhead that the site will initially have.  They will also assist in making sure we're maximizing our ad revenue without distracting our users experience.
• The social component of the site will eventually be added.  But once launched our focus will to get some key people back to blogging on the site - and to get us highlighting on the main page all the bloggers and non-profits we've been working with over the years.  After all, we have to get used to using the new design regularly before we start diving into further development.

On another note - I'm being further encouraged to finish my book about being an Autism Dad.   There are several people, including my new co-workers, boss, and a publicist  (and family) who want this book to be written.    Would you buy my book?
As for Xanga - Nothing new.   Just reach out to Eugenia at 'help@xanga.net' if you have any questions regarding your account.  She's been very good at addressing any account questions.

I've received some messages and e-mails asking what's going on with my new job, with Xanga, and with Autisable.

So, here's a bit of an update - although some of it may be status quo...

Of course there is nothing new with Xanga at the moment, except just reminding folks to e-mail the Xanga team at 'help@xanga.net' for ANY account issues.   The Xanga Team is making sure that people can access their archives, upgrade their account, etc...   Remember, the content is YOURS, and the team wants to make sure you have access to it - regardless if you upgrade or not.

Beyond that level of an update, there's really nothing new to report.

There are many Xangans still on the site, and whether or not you've upgraded you can still subscribe and comment on people's blogs. To upgrade, however, e-mail the team.

Up next... Autisable....

The site is progressing rather nicely, but some delay has occurred due to my time being diverted to my new job and spending some time with my family.   With that being said, here's some bullet points about the site upgrade for Autisable:

• Only the articles that were highlighted on Autisable's main page made the transition to the wordpress platform, what Xanga switched everything to from their proprietary platform.  This means all user accounts were lost in the void called data migration, and we're having to recreate the user database on Autisable based on the posts that we've highlighted.
• Almost 2,300 articles made the transfer to the new platform, which we have to match to Author's/users.   Right now I have about 350 articles to still sort through to match to an author, and about 60+ authors/users to add to Autisable's database.
• An Advertising plugin has been added, and we're already working with some businesses to populate the ad units so we can test out how well it works for them.
• If y'all remember a fellow Xangan LaNeshe, she's still helping me out with Autisable.  We're working on finding a good editing/scheduler plug in for the site - so we can be able to manage all the content that will be flowing through the site.  She's also helping me with some upcoming e-mail campaigns.  If you're curious as to where she's regularly blogging now, check out her new blog at Nesheaholic.com.

Once we've finished recreating the user database and matched those users with the remaining blog posts, we'll be relaunching the site.   The other tweaks and upgrades, along with importing over a hundred blogs and non-profits RSS feeds into the site will be set up after we deal with these and other primary issues.

There's more to discuss about Autisable, but until these things are taken care of, you'll probably hear me repeat these things until they are done.

Now onto the last topic of the post... my new job.

Yes, after a little over two years a company made a brave and daring move to hire me as their Content Marketing Manager.   It's a title, and it's nice, but the people at my new job are incredibly supportive and encouraging - and very hard working.   I'm learning a lot, and am very grateful to be amongst an Island of Misfits that seem to accept a crazy co-worker such as myself.

Of course on the home the weather prompts us to take care of yard work, and so it's the weekend and back to the grind I go.

Until later, be kind to one another.

Back in 2012 I received a Direct Message from AJ Rafael's team regarding an Autism Awareness Concert that he was doing.   Besides being a fan of his work, I love the idea that Youtube personalities getting together promoting a cause so close to my heart.  The concept was something that's been a part of what I've wanted to do for a very long time.

There wasn't much we could do financially at the time, but we could promote it like crazy.   I also wanted to be sure that his efforts were well received by the Autism community (which they were!).   AJ is not only a great songwriter/singer, but has a serious talent for producing.

There's plenty of videos online from the packed church where the concert was held.  Lots of people attended.

Suffice it to say, AJ and his team did an awesome job.   I'd LOVE to see these concerts return, and I also know how much hard work it takes to make concerts like these happen.

I didn't even know much about a friend of his until I saw several of his Youtube vids... but yes, that's Tori Kelly - and Angie Girl in the above picture.   Also, the Autisable Triangle Puzzle Piece Logo you can see behind them.

The top two things about all of this I wish I could've done better:
1 - I wish I could've done a lot more to help this concert series financially...

and

2 - Attend that concert... as it looked like a lot of fun.

I encourage you to Subscribe to AJ's youtube channel:   https://www.youtube.com/user/ilajil

And as for the Music Speaks concert I've been talking about... here's the video that matches up with the picture above...

------------
In regards to Autisable, I'm still glad we're moving forward with the site.  We're well over halfway in organizing the blog posts and matching them up with the authors.  There's still some functionality we need to tend to after we eventually make the move.... but excited about it all.  Looking forward to completing a list of things to do so we can actually make it happen.

Until then... back to the grind.

Well, it happened.

The process of moving data from the current Autisable website to the new one occurred over this past weekend.

But, there's still the sorting and organization of data.

Unlike most Xanga related accounts, the ISH sites (like Autisable) weren't relaunched with a clean bill of health in terms of data migration.

In fact, any accounts on autisable were/are essentially lost.  This means recreating a database of Authors and matching that up with the articles that we highlighted in the main account.   This was not intended by the team, but as a result of moving data from Xanga 1.0's platform to being powered by wordpress.

We started the process after the current version of Autisable was relaunched, but realized about halfway through that we'd need more bells and whistles to the site to make the process easier.   Primarily I needed more access to easily manipulate the data on the site.   Most of the author's we highlighted I had been in contact with via e-mail.  This was because we focused on syndicating content outside of the Xanga network.   Saintvi really helped out on that campaign, and it's paying off in getting us reorganized with Autisable's rebuild.

Thanks to another Autism Dad, my Co-Host Rob of the Life with Autism: Autisable Dad's podcast, we got the BETA site up and running on different servers.   This allowed me to get some of the theme and structure to the site ready for some data migration.

Now that the files were exported out of the current Autisable site (as best that we could salvage), we are rebuilding Autisable's database of articles and author's that we've highlighted over the past 7 years.

We're already about a third of the way through the process of organizing and sorting.  After the basics are done we'll launch the site and continue making things look pretty and enhance the site further.

If we're unable to match up blog posts (articles) and the author's (users)....we will either place those articles on Private status for further research... or delete them.   We cannot share articles without citing where we got them from.

In other good news, Eugenia is assisting us in switching ownership of the Autisable URL from Xanga to my own company. Eugenia is still fielding a lot of questions and helping Xangans out with their accounts at 'help@xanga.net'.

What does this mean?

Well, Autisable will eventually be off of Xanga's servers and it's ownership will go to my own company.

My involvement on Xanga will remain unchanged.   I'll still blog here, and I'll still remain the community liaison.

Xanga team will still help me out with advice, except Autisable will no longer be their responsibility.   They just want to see Autisable succeed and move forward.  After all, they have a lot more people to help and focus on... and Autisable is getting back on its feet with my team.

Well, back to the land of data migration ....

------------

Xanga status:  nothing new to report except as noted above

With all that has been going on recently, I'm finally able to sit down and write a few updates....

Let's start with Autisable, so we can get that out of the way....

First the new BETA site... a bit of a sneek peek at how it's looking so far....

I'll share more in another post on Autisable... but the look and feel is coming together rather nicely, I think.  But I'm always looking for feedback.

As for the switch from the current site to this new BETA version?  Well, coordinating with the team on some data being exported/imported and getting a few other things taken care of first.

The Home projects are becoming more like things to attack over a weekend.

This all leads me to a small life event....

I've been offered a position.   The job hunt is over.   So I'll be learning new things at a new company very soon.

Thank you all for your kind and encouraging words over the past couple of years.   I'll share more in the coming weeks and months.

Now... this thing called Xanga.

Yes, there's nothing new that I can report at this time.

HA, this is one of those it only happens every few years types of posts.

Go figure....

Let the Xanga jokes commence!

And of course, no updates from the Xanga Team to report.   Just me, hanging out catching up on my home projects and getting things done on Autisable.

The podcasts right now are a weekly thing... or at least an attempt at a weekly thing...

Here's Autisable's post regarding the first several podcasts:

http://autisable.com/2016/02/29/life-with-autism-autisable-dads-our-first-episodes/

I'm still working with a few folks on getting the next phase of Autisable launched.

Although it won't have all the bells and whistles that we'd all love for a website to have, it will be back on track in content curation and for a few folks to be able to blog on their accounts again.   I'm optimistic when I say that we should have the next phased launched by the end of March.    A lot has been done already.   I'll share a few sneak peaks on Autisable in an upcoming blog post there....

To keep things rolling on the Xanga Facebook page... feel free to share your blog posts in the comments section below, and we'll schedule those posts to reconnect folks with you via the FB page.

until then... back to the grind!

So our year started of with a bang...

Besides our attic unit failing, and our dryer dying on us... and as of yesterday our microwave....

It's been a constant on home improvement and reorganizing on the home front, looking for more 'paid' work to do (job hunting or other income generating work).

Now that things have roughly calmed down, I'm finally able to sit down and share with y'all some updates...

I am going to create a separate post regarding Xanga.   Although nothing new has transpired, there are couple of regularly asked questions that need to be reposted....

Now, as for Autisable?  Well, I am working with the folks at Hatch.com to help improve the functionality of the site.

Wish I could share what I have so far, but we're just not yet ready.

For the wordpress tech geeks out there, we're making it a wordpress multi site, migrating the data from the current site to the new site servers, etc...

Other Autisable related fun is collaborating with the folks at The Coffee Klatch Special Needs Radio and The Autism Dad.

Why?  Well, we discussed the fact that there really aren't a lot of podcasts out there that are hosted by Autism Dad's... talking about Autism.

For our promo - click the link:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thecoffeeklatch/2016/01/12/life-with-autism--autisable-dads--autism-parenting-from-the-dads-perspective

Hopefully we can get back on track in February... and keep things moving....

Until later, back to the grind...

Xanga Status:  Nothing New (upcoming blog post to address commonly asked questions)

I hope everyone has had a great Holiday Season.

We had a great season here, but now that 2016 is here, it's time to get back to work.

Last month I spent a lot of time with family or home improvement projects, so not a lot was able to get done with Autisable.

I was, however, able to get things planned out for the next month or so - which is progress.

January will be a busy month.   I'm collaborating with Rob Gorski at http://www.theautismdad.com/ .   We will be recording a couple of promos for a podcast this week.
We plan on this podcast to be a weekly thing, and we will be discussing Live with Autism (from a Dad's perspective).  I've shared a little about this podcast in previous blog posts.   The podcast will be a regular show on http://thecoffeeklatch.com/.   It will also be promoted on several other social media outlets of Autisable and other groups/organizations.

I'm also excited at getting Autisable back to some of the functionality that it once had this month.  For those wordpress tech savvy folks, here's some notes:
- making autisable a multi-site (allowing people to have their own blogs on autisable).  Wordpress already has this functionality out of the box, however we have to make sure when we turn this feature on we have it set up correctly based on the direction we want the site to go.   As an example, Xanga is now a wordpress powered site with multisite turned on.
- working out the social components of Autisable (private messages, extra connectivity when people reply to each other, etc... on blog posts).  There are plugins that will need to be tested, etc... so this will be looked at further as we move forward.
- moving the site to its new server location (off of xanga servers).   This is a move that has been in discussion since Xanga 2.0 fundraising was in full effect.   For the functionality and security of both Xanga and Autisable, the move is required.

Over the Holiday's I've received several e-mails, messages, etc...  from individuals who used to blog on Autisable exclusively, asking when they can start blogging again.   Our goal is to get their accounts active by end of January.

Of course we are always looking for advertisers/sponsors for the site/podcast and web series.   We aim to be able to serve our advertisers as soon as possible.

Until next update... back to the grind....

Xanga Status:  No new developments.  However, here's some info for those that need it.  Some common questions have been asked...

Eugenia is still assisting Xangans on a regular basis with their accounts.  Please e-mail her at 'help@xanga.net' with your username and e-mail address associated with the account if you need assistance.  I've read at least a dozen messages via facebook that people don't use the same e-mail as before.  That's OK.  Eugenia can still help out.  The e-mail address is a way for her to find and verify the account belongs to the right person.

Also, if you want to upgrade your account (e-mail her).

If you don't want to upgrade your account (and can't see your blog) - you may download your archives (for free).  Any further questions regarding your account, than e-mail her.